Building Learning Power: Helping Young People Become Better Learners

by Guy Claxton

This book is about how teachers can help young people become better learners, both in school and out. It is about creating a climate or a culture in the classroom and in the school more widely that systematically cultivates habits and attitudes that enable young people to face difficulty and uncertainty calmly, confidently and creatively. Building Learning Power explains what this means and why it is a good idea, and introduces some of the small, do-able things that busy teachers can do to create such a climate. Students who are more confident of their own learning ability learn faster and learn better. They concentrate more, think harder and find learning more enjoyable. They do better in their tests and external examinations. And they are easier and more satisfying to teach. Even a small investment in building learning power pays handsome dividends for a school. But it also prepares youngsters better for an uncertain future. Today s schools are educating not just for exam results but for lifelong learning. To thrive in the twenty-first century, it is not enough to leave school with a clutch of examination certificates. You have to have learnt how to be tenacious and resourceful, imaginative and logical, self-disciplined and self-aware, collaborative and inquisitive. So Building Learning Power is for anyone who wants to know how to get better results and contribute to the development of real-life, lifelong learners both at once. In other words, it is for teachers, advisers, teacher trainers, parents and anyone else involved in formal or informal education. It is particularly for people who want more than sound-bites and quick fixes. Some of the early approaches to learning to learn were appealing but unsatisfying. They were built on shaky scientific foundations, and they did not lead to cumulative growth in students real-life self-confidence or ingenuity

Genres: Education

119 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Guy Claxton is Emeritus Professor of the Learning Sciences at the University of Winchester. His many publications include Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: Why Intelligence Increases When You Think Less. He lives in the UK.

Reviews

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ideas behind learning power are seemingly simple but they belie deep and careful consideration. So useful for my current work.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pedagogical material can be rather dry but I found Guy Claxton’s book to be really interesting and inspiring. This will be really useful in my current role.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't enjoy it. Some useful ideas.

[Carlene Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was predisposed to not liking a book which cost £17.50 on Amazon and proved on receipt to be just 117 pages of glossy colourful repetitive photos and text. It screamed Tony Buzan taking a good idea but repeatedly summarising those ideas and giving case studies and quotes to pad out the book. If these ideas had been a pocketbook I would have probably raved. That said there are some good ideas in here and I am enthusiastic about applying its ideas