Making Connections: Teaching and the Human Brain

by Renate Nummela Caine, Geoffrey Caine

Explains to educators the neuropsychological functions of the brain during learning and how the brain and learning are affected by health, stress, and teaching approaches. Also suggests how the information can be used to help design and run more effective learning experiences for students. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1994

Reviews

[Paul Groos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rarely agree with educational theorists, finding their ideas utopian and impossible to implement in real world schools with real students. To some extent this book is no different. It sketches an ideal situation where both teacher and students are happily engaged in mutual learning. But even though that ideal seems unattainable (which the authors concede, by the way) the underlying premises are very true and extremely useful. Way too much teaching is teaching to the test, which is there to provide grades and make the educational process measurable.
Caine reasons that that situation is not at all conducive to learning, in fact hampers most students. Instead all teaching should be meaningful, contextual, emotional. It should help students to make sense of the world and themselves in an interesting and, indeed, profoundly meaningful way. All of that helps the human brain to really learn, instead of simply memorising.
The authors go quite some way in giving examples of how this can be achieved, but it is there that I found the book lacking (hence only 4 stars). Even with 20+ years of teaching experience I’m having a hard time translating the ideas, concepts and examples to my own classroom.
At some point the book gets a little too new-agey for me with references to transcendental meditation and mystic contemplation, but those are only minor details in a book that is otherwise very well researched, easy to understand and extremely useful to re-evaluate one’s views of teaching and learning.

[Ezzeren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a brain based book that acknowledges experiences trump routine. It also offers tangible ways to implement theory to create a brain-based school.

[Emily Hunt Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laborious read but intriguing material!