Why Students Don't Like School: A Cognitive Scientist's Insights

A summary of
Why Dont Students

Like
School?
A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About
How The Mind Works And What It Means For The
Cassroom
!y "anie Wiingham
Summari#ed by !ud $ye% &'$'% M'S'
(var(www(a))s(conversion(tm)(scratch*+(,+-./---/'doc Summari#ed and ada)ted by !ud $ye% &'$'% M'S'% ,001'
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age , of ++'
Contents
-' Why do we find it difficut to make schoo en5oyabe for students6'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''7
,' How usefu or useess shoud we consider fact earning6'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''/
7' What makes something stick in memory and what wi ikey si) away6''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''-,
+' Why do we find abstract ideas so difficut to understand% and so difficut to a))y when
e8)ressed in new ways6''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
.' "oes the cognitive benefit of dri make it worth the )otentia cost to motivation6'''''''''''''''''''''',7
9' What can we do to get students to think ike scientists% historians and mathematicians6'''''''''''''',/
/' How shoud a teacher ad5ust their teaching to different ty)es of earners6''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''7-
:' How can we o)timi#e schoo for students who don2t have the raw inteigence that other
students have6'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
1' What about the teacher2s thinking6'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
-0' Summary tabe''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
(var(www(a))s(conversion(tm)(scratch*+(,+-./---/'doc Summari#ed and transated into ;<4rime by !ud $ye% &'$'% M'S'% ,001'
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age 7 of ++'
My comments in brackets [ ].
This )a)er summari#es im)ortant )oints from Why Dont Students Like School? A cognitive Scientist Answers
Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Cassroom% by "anie Wiingham% ,001% =ohn
Wiey > Sons% Inc' It reduces a -:0 )age book to +7 )ages so% obviousy% it eaves out many e8am)es and much
detai' ?ou wi find a summary tabe on )age +7'
@I think that it woud make good sense to share information in at east cha)ters -% ,% . and : with students' They
reay need to know these things to he) with motivationa issues' &esearch shows that students having this kind
of knowedge )erform significanty better than those without it' Ase 4ower4oint6 Conce)tua Change Mode
inBuiries6 Some combination of these6 A student suggests that students read it% write a res)onse% and then discuss
it in cass' C4erha)s one section at a time6D &e)eat(review during the year'E
Question 1: Why do we find it difficut to make schoo en5oyabe for students6
ns!er: Contrary to )o)uar beief% human brains do not naturay and easiy think' Fn the contrary% because the
brain does not think very we% it works hard to save us from having to think'
Critical "rinci"le 1: #eo"le e$hibit naturally curious beha%ior but do not naturally think !ell. We usually
avoid thinkin& unless the ri&ht co&niti%e conditions e$ist.
For this reason% in order to ma8imi#e the ikeihood that they wi get the )easurabe rush that comes from
successfu thought% teachers need to carefuy consider how they encourage their students to think' CThinking here
refers to soving )robems% reasoning% reading com)e8 materia% or doing any menta work that reBuires some
effort'D Henry Ford described the situation we with his cynica observation% GThinking is the hardest work there
is% which is the )robabe reason why so few )eo)e engage in it'H Humans don2t think very often because nature
created our brains not for thought% but for avoiding thought' Thinking occurs not ony with great effort% but aso
slowly and unreliably'
'he minds "oor desi&n (or thinkin&
If we a do so bady with thinking% how does anyone get through the day6 How do we find our way to work or
s)ot a bargain at the grocery store6 The answer6 When we can get away with it, we dont think. Instead, we rely
on memory. Most of the )robems we face% we have soved before% so we 5ust do what we have done in the )ast'
?ou may think that you have a terribe memory% and it )roves true that your memory system does not work as
reiaby as your visua or movement systemIsometimes you forget% sometimes you think you remember when
you don2tIbut your memory system !orks much more reliably than your thinkin& system) and it "ro%ides
ans!ers *uickly and !ith little e((ort'
We usuay think of memory as storing )ersona events Cmemories of my weddingD and facts CJeorge Washington
was the first )resident of the Anited StatesD% but memory aso store strategies and rocedures to guide what we
shoud do% such as where to turn when driving home% how to hande a confict at work% what to do when the )ot on
the stove starts to boi over% how to divide a number by -0% and so on' So we don2t have to think through these
things each time we encounter them' GMost of the time what we do is what we do most of the time'H Asing
memory doesn2t take much of our attention so we have the freedom to daydream even as we sto) for red ights%
)ass cars% watch for )edestrians% and so on' A task that initiay takes a great dea of thought% with )ractice
becomes a task that reBuires itte or no thought'
What im)ications does this have for education6 If )eo)e think bady and try to avoid it% what does this say about
student2s attitudes toward schoo6 Fortunatey% the story doesn2t end with )eo)e stubborny refusing to think'
"es)ite the fact that we don2t think we% we actuay like to think' We naturay fee curious% and we ook for
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age + of ++'
o))ortunities to engage in certain ty)es of thought' !ut because we find thinking so hard% we have to have the
right conditions for this curiosity to thrive or we easiy Buit thinking'
'hou&h naturally curious) our curiosity remains (ra&ile
Soving )robems brings )easure' When we say G)robem sovingH here% we mean any co&niti%e !ork that
succeeds' This might invove understanding a difficut )assage of )rose% )anning a garden% earning to )ay a riff
on the guitar% )assing a footba% or si#ing u) an investment o))ortunity' We get a sense of satisfaction% of
fufiment% in successfu thinking' When you sove a )robem% your brain may reward itsef with a sma dose of
do)amine% a naturay occurring chemica im)ortant to the brain2s )easure system' ;ven though we don2t
com)etey understand it yet% it seems undeniabe that )eo)e take )easure in soving )robems'
$otaby% we get the )easure in solving the )robem' We do not find it )easurabe to work on a )robem with no
sense that we make )rogress on it' Then too% we don2t get great )easure in sim)y knowing the answer' ;ven if
someone doesn2t te you the answer to a )robem% once you have received too many hints you ose the sense that
you have soved it yoursef' This works much ike a 5oke% funnier if you get it than if someone has to e8)ain it to
you' Menta work a))eas to us because it offers the o))ortunity for that )easant feeing when it succeeds'
The content of a )robemIwhether about se8 or human motivationImay )rove sufficient to )rom)t your
interest% but it won2t maintain it' If content does not kee) our attention% when does curiosity have staying )ower6
The answer )robaby ies in the difficuty of the )robem' We get itte or no )easure if we find the )robem too
easy or too difficut' We ike to thinkIor more )ro)ery% we ike to think if we 5udge that the menta work wi
)ay off with the )easurabe feeing we get when we sove a )robem' So no inconsistency e8ists in caiming that
)eo)e avoid thought and in caiming that )eo)e have natura curiosity' Curiosity )rom)ts us to e8)ore new
ideas and )robems' !ut when we do this e8)oration% we Buicky evauate how much menta work it wi take to
sove the )robem' If it2s too much or too itte work% we sto) working on the )robem if we can'
This anaysis of the kinds of menta work that )eo)e seek out or avoid )rovides one answer to why more students
don2t ike schoo' Students find it rewarding to work on )robems at the right eve of difficuty% but they find it
un"leasant to !ork on "roblems either too easy or too di((icult' Students can2t o)t out of these )robems the
way aduts often can' If the student routiney gets work a itte too difficut or too easy% itte wonder e8ists for
why they don2t ike schoo' Few )eo)e woud care to work on the Sunday !ew "ork Ti#es crossword )u##e for
severa hours each day'
+o! thinkin& !orks
Anderstanding a bit about how thinking ha))ens wi he) you understand what makes thinking hard' That wi in
turn he) you understand how to make thinking easier for your students% and therefore he) them en5oy schoo
more'
,n%ironment
Workin& Memory
Csite of awareness and
thinkingD
-on&.'erm
Memory
Cfactua and )rocedura
knowedgeD
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age . of ++'
The diagram above shows a very sim)e mode of the mind' Fn the eft you see the environment% fu of things to
see and hear% )robems to sove% and so on' It hods the stuff you interact with and think about' The arrow from the
environment to working #e#ory shows that working memory works as the )art of your brain where you
e8)erience awareness of the things ha))ening around youK the sight of a shaft of ight faing onto a dusty tabe%
the sound of a dog barking in the distance% and so forth' ?ou can consider working memory synonymous with
consciousness' Ff course% you can aso e8)erience awareness of things not currenty in the environmentL for
e8am)e% you can reca the sound of your mother2s voice% even if not )resent Cor indeed no onger ivingD' Long$
ter# #e#ory e8ists as the vast storehouse in which you maintain your factua knowedge of the wordK that ady
bugs have s)ots% that you find chocoate your favorite favor of ice cream% that your three<year<od sur)rised you
yesterday by mentioning kumBuats% and so on' Factua knowedge can occur abstracty% for e8am)e% it woud
incude the idea that trianges form cosed figures with three sides% and your knowedge of what a dog generay
ooks ike' It ies Buiety unti needed% at which time it enters working memory and so becomes conscious' For
e8am)e% if someone asked you% GWhat coor is a )oar bearH you woud say% GwhiteH amost immediatey' ?ou
had that information stored in ong<term memory thirty seconds ago% but did not e8)erience awareness of it unti
someone )osed the Buestion that made it reevant to ongoing conscious thought% at which time it entered working
memory'
Thinking occurs when you co#bine infor#ation %fro# the environ#ent and long$ter# #e#ory& in new ways. That
combining ha))ens in working memory' Think about some )robem that you don2t immediatey know the answer
to% )erha)s how to muti)y -: by /' $otice what it fees ike to have working memory absorbed by the )robem'
Aso notice that your having knowing how to combine and rearrange ideas in working memory )roves essentia to
successfu thinking' If you have had e8)erience with this )articuar ty)e of )robem% then you ikey have
information in ong<term memory about how to sove it% even if you don2t have the information in a foo)roof
way'
So% our ong<term memory contains not ony factua information% such as the coor of )oar bears and the vaue of
: 8 /% but it aso contains what we may ca rocedural knowledge% you knowedge of your knowedge of the
menta )rocedures necessary to e8ecute tasks' If thinking something invoves combining information in working
memory% then )rocedura knowedge )rovides a ist of what to combine and whenIit works ike a reci)e to
accom)ish a )articuar kind of thought GcakeH' ?ou may have stored )rocedures for the ste)s needed to cacuate
the area of a triange% or to du)icate a com)uter fie using Windows% or to drive from your home to our office'
It seems )retty obvious that having the a))ro)riate )rocedure stored in ong<term memory he)s a great dea when
we think' This accounts for why we may find it easy to sove one math )robem but not another' !ut how about
factua knowedge6 "oes that he) you think as we6 It does in severa different ways discussed soon' For now%
note that soving the -: 8 / math )robem reBuired retrieving factua information% such as the fact that : 8 / M .9'
Thinking entais combining information in working memory' Fften the information )rovided in the environment
does not )rove sufficient to sove a )robem% and you need to su))ement it with information from ong<term
memory'
We have a fina necessity for thinkingK the information we work with cannot take u) too much s)ace' Working
memory has imited s)ace% so thinking becomes increasingy difficut as working memory gets crowded'
Summary. Successfu thinking reies on four factorsK information from the environment% facts in ong<term
memory% )rocedures in ong<term memory% and the amount of s)ace in working memory' If one of these factors
occurs inadeBuatey% thinking wi ikey fai' We do not find )eo)e2s minds es)eciay we<suited to thinkingL
thinking occurs sowy% it reBuires significant effort% and it ha))ens unreiaby' For these reasons% deiberate
thinking does not guide )eo)e2s thinking in most situations' &ather% we rey on our memories% foowing courses
of action that we have taken before' $evertheess% we find successful thinking )easurabe' We ike soving
)robems% understanding new ideas% and so forth' Thus we wi seek out o))ortunities to think% but we use
seectivity when doing soL we choose )robems that )ose some chaenge but that seem ikey we wi have the
abiity to sove% because these )robems ead to feeings of )easure and satisfaction' To sove )robems% the
thinker needs adeBuate information from the environment% room in working memory% and the reBuired facts and
)rocedures in ong<term memory'
Classroom im"lications
From a cognitive )ers)ective% an im)ortant factor invoves whether or not a student consistenty e8)eriences the
)easurabe rush of soving a )robem' What can teachers do to he) ensure that each student gets that )easure6
Make sure that students ha%e "roblems to sol%e. !y G)robemsH% we mean cognitive work that )oses
moderate chaenge% incuding activities such as understanding a )oem or thinking of nove uses for
recycabe materias' Avoid ong strings of teacher e8)anations with itte o))ortunity for students to sove
)robemsN With your essons% kee) an eye on the cognitive work the students wi actually do' How often
does this work occur in the esson6 "oes it get intermi8ed with cognitive breaks at east every -. to ,0
minutes6 Might negative outcomes occur such as faiing to understand what you want them to do% not having
the abiity to do it% or 5ust guessing6 @From The 4hysics Teacher% Fct'% ,001% in cognitive science we define
"roblem sol%in& as a rocess that #ini#i'es the difference between the current state and a desired goal(
ability to aly rior knowledge in new, so#ewhat unfa#iliar situations. We contrast this with e)ercises%
which give )ractice with a ski in fa#iliar situations'E
/es"ect students co&niti%e limits. Do they have the necessary background knowledge in #e#ory to
consider this *uestion or roble#? If students ack the a))ro)riate background knowedge% they wi Buicky
consider the Buestion you )ose GboringH' If they ack the background knowedge to engage with a )robem%
save it for another time when they have that knowedge' @I did with osmosis when I turned from that to the
sma )artice mode after reai#ing that they had no knowedge of it'E &emember working memory imitsN
4eo)e can kee) ony so much information in mind at once' Mutiste) instructions% ists of unconnected facts%
chains of ogic more than two or three ste)s ong% and a))ying a 5ust<earned conce)t to new materia
Cuness Buite sim)eD overoads working memory' @&emember that many of your students have troube
reading% writing% and )erforming the si#lest math o)erations' This% aone% can easiy overoad working
memoryNE What serves as the soution to working memory overoad )robem6 Sow the )ace and use
memory aids such as writing on the board% thus saving the student from kee)ing too much information in
working memory' @!ut this may frustrate the students who do have the knowedge to boredom% so
differentiate instruction to the greatest e8tent )ossibe'E
Clari(y "roblems to sol%e. How can you make the )robem interesting6 A common strategy invoves trying
to make the materia GreevantHIbut this wi ony rarey he)' &ememberK our curiosity gets )rovoked when
we )erceive a )robem that we beieve we can sove' Ask yoursefK What Buestion wi engage students and
he) them want to know the answer6
Sometimes we fee so an8ious for our students to know the answers that we do not devote sufficient time to
deveo)ing the *uestions' !ut the Buestions )iBue )eo)e2s interest' Someone2s teing you an answer doesn2t
do anything for you' When you "lan a lesson) start !ith the in(ormation you !ant students to kno! at
its end) then consider !hat mi&ht !ork best as the key questions that !ill ha%e the right level of
difficulty to en&a&e your students !hile you res"ect their co&niti%e limits.
'hink about !hen to "u00le students. The goa of )u##ing students invoves making them curious' !ut
consider whether you might use these strategies not ony at the beginning of a esson% but aso after they
have earned the basic conce)ts' If students don2t know the basic )rinci)es behind a demonstration it seems
ike a magic trick' @This magic makes it a Gdiscre)ant eventH% cashing with their e8isting conce)tions of how
the word )resumaby works'E They get a momentary thri% but their curiosity to earn may not ast very
ong' Another strategy might invove doing the demonstration after students know the )rinci)e invoved'
,%ery (act or demonstration that !ould "u00le students be(ore they ha%e the rele%ant back&round
kno!led&e has the "otential to become an e$"erience that !ill "u00le students momentarily later) and
then lead to the "leasure o( "roblem sol%in&.
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age / of ++'
cce"t and act on %ariation in student "re"aration. ?ou do not need to acce)t that Gsome students 5ust are
not very brightH and so we ought to track them into ess demanding casses' $either do you need naivey to
)retend that a students come to your cass eBuay )re)ared to e8ce' Students have different rearations,
as well as different levels of suort at ho#e and different biological strengths and weaknesses. They
therefore differ in their abiities' With these and related truths) you !ill (ind it sel(.de(eatin& to &i%e all
o( your students the same !ork. 'he less ca"able students !ill (ind it too di((icult and !ill stru&&le
a&ainst their brains bias to mentally !alk a!ay (rom school!ork. Mean!hile) the more ca"able
students !ill not (ind it su((iciently challen&in& to maintain their interest @differentiate instructionE. To
the e8tent that you can% you wi benefit your students and yoursef to assi&n !ork to indi%iduals or &rou"s
o( students a""ro"riate to their current le%el o( com"etence' $aturay% you need to do this in a sensitive
way% minimi#ing the e8tent to which some students wi 5udge themseves as behind others and create
he)ess beiefs by attributing this to )ermanent% unchangeabe )ersona characteristics' @See Learned
+ellessness and ,ower Theray' Create CCM in*uiries related to such thinkin& and start early !ith
some o( these?E !ut the fact remains that some are behind others% and giving them work beyond them wi
)robaby not he) them catch u)L doing this wi more ikey make them fa sti further behind' @So% how
can you )racticay do the needed individuai#ation6 ?ou need different eves of abs% worksheets and tests'
@&emember Singa)ore Math in Aaska' "r' Schenck suggests knowedge< or ski<matched grou)sIbut you
woud need to do this in a sensitive way that does not )roduce GdumbH and GsmartH grou)sN Asing anguage
that em)hasi#es student2s having background knowedge and skis shoud he) with this'E
Chan&e the "ace. We a ose the attention of our students% at times% and this ha))ens more often when they
fee confused' They mentay check out' Ha))iy% we can fairy easiy get them back' How6 Chan&e &rabs
attention. When you change to)ics% start a new activity% or in some other way show that you have shifted
gears% virtuay every student2s attention wi come back to you and you wi have a new chance to engage
them' So )an shifts and monitor your cass2s attention to see if you need to change things more often or ess
freBuenty @in genera% every -. to ,0 minutesE'
1ee" a diary or lesson notes. The core idea in this cha)ter invoves the fact that sol%in& a "roblem &i%es
"eo"le "leasureIbutIthe indi%idual has to consider the "roblem easy enou&h to sol%e yet di((icult
enou&h to take some mental e((ort' @This hods true for teachers and their teaching as we as for students'E
A teacher does not easiy find this sweet s)ot of difficuty' ?our e8)erience in the cassroom serves as your
best guideK whatever works% do againL whatever doesn2t% discard' !ut don2t e8)ect that you wi reay
remember how we a esson )an worked a year ater' Whether a esson goes briianty we or down in
fames% we tend to think at the time that we wi never forget what ha))enedL but the ravages of memory can
sur)rise us% so !rite it do!n' ;ven if 5ust a Buick scratch on a sticky note% make a habit of recording your
success in gauging the eve of difficuty in the )robem you )ose for your students' @Add a G&efectionsH
section to a abs(inBuiries that you do% and then do that refection immediatey afterward'E
Question 2: How usefu or useess shoud we consider fact earning6
ns!er: For sure% having students memori#e ists of dry facts wi not he)' !ut it also )roves true% and many
)eo)e a))reciate it much ess% that one cannot )ossiby teach students skis such as anaysis or synthesis in the
absence of factua knowedge' The kinds of skis that we want our students to deveo) re*uire e8tensive factua
knowedge'
Critical "rinci"le 2: 3actual kno!led&e must "recede skill.
Here% we define thinking as combining information in new ways' The information can come from ong<term
memoryIfacts you have memori#edIor fro# the environ#ent @$ote this regarding inBuiry earning and the
Cognitive Change Mode' These methods strongy encourage students directy to use the environment for
information'E' In today2s word% do we have a reason to memori#e anything6 We can find any factua information
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age : of ++'
we might need in seconds via the InternetL we can cacuate using a cacuator' Then too% things change so Buicky
that haf of the information you commit to memory wi go out of date within five yearsIor so the arguments go'
4erha)s instead of earning facts% it works better to )ractice critica thinking% to have students work at evaluating
a the information avaiabe on the Internet rather than trying to commit some sma )art of it to memory'
In this cha)ter% we find this argument fase' "ata from the ast thirty years ead to a concusion not scientificay
chaengeabeK thinking well re*uires knowing facts% and that hods true not sim)y because you need something to
think about' We find the very )rocesses teachers care about mostIcritica thinking )rocesses such as )robem
sovingIintertwined intimatey with factua knowedge stored in long$ter# #e#ory, not -ust that found in the
environ#ent.
Many )eo)e find it hard to conceive of thinking )rocesses as intertwined with knowedge' Most )eo)e beieve
that thinking )rocesses work ike the functions of a cacuator' A cacuator has avaiabe a set of )rocedures
Caddition% muti)ication% and so onD that can mani)uate numbers% and one can a))y these )rocedures to any set
of nu#bers' With this cacuator mode% the data Cthe numbersD and the o)erations that mani)uate the data e8ist
se)aratey' Thus% if you earn a new thinking o)eration Cfor e8am)e% how to criticay anay#e historica
documentsD% you can a))y that o)eration to a historica documents% 5ust as a fancier cacuator that com)utes
sines can do so for a anges'
.ut the hu#an brain does not work that way. When we earn to think criticay about% say% the start of the Second
Word War% it does not mean that we can aso think criticay about a chess game or about the current situation in
the Midde ;ast or even about the start of the American &evoutionary War' Fn the contrary% we find that critical
thinking rocesses deend strongly on background knowledge Cathough this ha))ens much ess so when we have
accumuated Buite a bit of e8)erience% as described in Cha)ter Si8D' So% we have a straightforward concusion
from cognitive scienceK !e must ensure that students ac*uire back&round kno!led&e in "arallel !ith
"racticin& critical thinkin& skills. In this cha)ter% you earn how cognitive scientists know that thinking skis
and knowedge bind together'
1no!led&e "ro%es essential to readin& com"rehension
We need background knowedge to he) us understand what someone says or writes' If you have a vocabuary
word or a conce)t missing from your ong<term memory% you wi ikey fee confused' !ut the need for
background knowledge goes #uch deeer than -ust the need for definitions'
Su))ose a sentence contains two ideasIca them A and !' ;ven if you know the vocabuary and you understand
A and !% you sti might need background knowedge to understand the sentence' For e8am)e% su))ose you read
the foowing sentence in a noveK
GI2m not trying my new barbecue when the boss comes to dinnerNH Mark yeed'
We can say that idea A invoves Mark trying out his new barbecue% and idea ! that he won2t do it when his boss
comes to dinner' !ut to understand the sentence% you need to understand the relationshi between A and !' !ut at
this )oint you have two )ieces of information missing that woud he) you bridge A and !K that )eo)e often make
mistakes the first time they try a new a))iance and that Mark woud ike to im)ress his boss in a )ositive way'
4utting those facts together woud he) you understand that Mark fees afraid he2 ruin the food the first time he
uses his new barbecue% and he doesn2t want that to ha))en to the mea he serves to his boss'
&eading com)rehension Cand isteningD de)end on co#bining the ideas in a )assage% not 5ust com)rehending each
idea on its own' And a writing contains ga)sIots of ga)sIwhere the writer omits information necessary to
understand the ogica fow of ideas' Writers Cand s)eakersD assu#e that the reader has the knowedge to fi the
ga)s' In the e8am)e 5ust given% the writer assumed that the reader woud know the reevant fact about new
a))iances and about bosses'
Why do writers eave ga)s6 "on2t they run the risk that the reader wont have the right background knowedge%
and so wi fee confused6 ?es% that e8ists as a risk% but writers si#ly cant include all the factual details' If they
did% )rose woud become im)ossiby ong and tedious'
How do writers Cand s)eakersD decide what to omit6 It de)ends on whom they write for Cor s)eak toD' They write
or s)eak to a seected audience that they assume has the needed background knowedge' Simiary% when asked a
Buestion we caibrate our answers% )roviding more or ess Cor differentD information de)ending on our 5udgment
of what the other )erson knows% thereby deciding what we can safey eave out and what we need to e8)ain'
What ha))ens when the reader or istener does not have the needed missing information6 They misunderstand or
fee confused' So background knowedge in the form of vocabuary and conce)ts )roves necessary not ony in
order to understand a singe idea Cca it AD% but aso in order to understand the connection between two ideas CA
and !D' In sti other situations writers and s)eakers )resent muti)e ideas at the same timeIA% !% C% "% ;% and F
Ie8)ecting that the reader or istener wi knit them together into a coherent whoe' These tasks occur in our
imited working #e#oryIthe )art of your brain in which you combine and mani)uate information% )retty much
synonymous with consciousness'
We ca the )henomenon of tying together se)arate )ieces of information from the environment chunking' This
has the obvious advantage that you can kee) more stuff in working memory if you can chunk it' However%
chunking works only when you have the needed factual knowledge in long$ter# #e#ory. ?ou wi see C$$ as
meaningfu ony if you aready know what C$$ refers to' @Mike !yster2s !rainetics argey teaches )eo)e how
to chunk #ore effectively% as we as )racticing e)tended attention focusing'E
So% factua knowedge in ong<term memory aows chunking% and chunking increases s)ace in working memory'
What does the abiity to chunk have to do with reading com)rehension6 If you read ideas A% !% C% "% ;% and F%
you woud need to reate them to one another in order to com)rehend their meaning' That adds u) to a ot of stuff
to kee) in working memory' !ut su))ose you coud chunk A through ; into a single idea6 Then you woud find
com)rehension much easier'
A number of studies have shown that )eo)e understand what they read much better if they aready have some
background knowedge about the sub5ect' 4art of the reason invoves chunking' A cever study on this )oint
occurred with 5unior high schoo students' Standard reading tests cassified haf of them as good readers and haf
as )oor readers' The researchers asked the students to read a story that described haf an inning of a baseba
game' As they read% the researchers )eriodicay sto))ed the students and asked them to show that they understood
the story by using a mode of a baseba fied and )ayers' Some of the students knew a ot about baseba and
some knew 5ust a itte' CThe researchers made sure that everyone coud com)rehend individua actions% for
e8am)e% what ha))ened when a )ayer got a doube'D Dramatically) the students kno!led&e o( baseball
determined ho! much they understood o( the story. Whether classi(ied as 4&ood readers5 or 4bad readers5
didnt matter nearly as much as !hat they kne!.
'hus) back&round kno!led&e allo!s chunkin&) !hich makes more room in !orkin& memory) !hich makes
it easier to relate ideas) and there(ore to com"rehend. 6ack&round kno!led&e also clari(ies details that
!ould other!ise remain ambi&uous and con(usin&.
We2ve isted four ways that background knowedge has im)ortance in reading com)rehensionK C-D it )rovides
vocabuaryL C,D it aows you to bridge ogica ga)s that writers eaveL C7D it aows chunking% which increases
room in working memory and thereby makes it easier to tie ideas togetherL and C+D it guides the inter)retation of
ambiguous sentences' !ackground knowedge he)s reading in other ways as we% but these cover the high )oints'
Some observers beieve that this )henomenonIthat knowedge makes one a good readerIworks as a factor in
fourth<grade sum)% which refers to students from under)rivieged homes often reading at grade eve through the
third grade% but then suddeny in the forth grade they fa behind% and with each succeeding year they fa even
farther behind' The inter)retation invoves the idea that reading instruction through third grade focuses mosty on
decodingIfiguring out how to sound out words using the )rinted symbosIso reading tests em)hasi#e this' !y
the time the fourth grade ros around% most students have become good decoders% so reading tests start to
em)hasi#e co#rehension' As described here% com)rehension de)ends on background knowedge% and kids from
)rivieged homes have an edge here' They come to schoo with a bigger vocabuary and more knowedge about
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age -0 of ++'
the word than under)rivieged kids' And because knowing things #akes it easier to learn new things Cas
described in the ne8t sectionD% the ga) between )rivieged and under)rivieged kids widens'
7ne needs back&round kno!led&e (or co&niti%e skills
$ot ony does factua knowedge make you a better reader% but we aso need it to become a good thinker' The
)rocess we most ho)e to engender in our studentsIthinking criticay and ogicayIcannot ha))en without
background knowedge'
?ou need to know that much of the time when we see someone a))arenty engaged in ogica thinking% they
actually do #e#ory retrieval' Memory serves as the cognitive )rocess of first resort' When (aced !ith a
"roblem) you !ill (irst search (or a solution in memory) and i( you (ind one) you !ill %ery likely use it.
Doin& so !orks *uickly and easily) and !ill (airly likely !ork e((ecti%ely. To a))reciate this effect% try working
a )robem for which you dont have reevant background knowedge'
In fact% )eo)e draw on memory to sove )robems more often that you might e8)ect' For e8am)e% it a))ears that
much of the difference among the word2s best chess )ayers ies not in their abiity to reason about the game or to
)an the best moveL rather it ies in their memory for game )ositions' 4sychoogists estimate the to) cass chess
)ayers may have fifty thousand board )ositions in ong<term memory' Thus background knowedge )roves
decisive even in chess% which we might think serves as the )rototy)ica game of reasoning' This does not mean to
suggest that we sove a )robems by com)aring them to cases we have seen in the )ast' We do% of course%
sometimes reason% and even when we do% background knowedge can he)'
We need to make a fina )oint about knowedge and thinking skis' Much of what e8)erts te us they do in the
course of thinking about their fied re*uires background knowedge% even if they don2t describe it that way'
Consider a science e8am)e' We coud te students a ot about how scientists think% and they coud memori#e
those bits of advice' For e8am)e% we coud te students that when inter)reting the resuts of an e8)eriment%
scientists fee es)eciay interested in une8)ected CanomaousD outcomes' 8ne$"ected outcomes indicate
incom"lete kno!led&e. 6ut to ha%e une$"ected outcomes) you ha%e to ha%e an e$"ectation9 Mean!hile) one
has an expectation about an outcome based on their knowledge o( the (ield. 'hus students !ill (ind it
im"ossible to use most or all o( !hat !e tell them about scienti(ic thinkin& strate&ies !ithout a""ro"riate
back&round kno!led&e.
The same hods true for history% anguage arts% music% and so on' Jenerai#ations that we can offer students about
how to think and reason successfuy in the fied may look ike they don2t reBuire background knowedge% but
when you consider how to a))y them% they actuay do'
3actual kno!led&e im"ro%es memory
When it comes to knowedge% those who know #ore gain #ore' Many e8)eriments have confirmed the benefit of
background knowedge to memory using the same basic method' The researchers bring into the aboratory some
)eo)e who have some e8)ertise in a fied Cfor e8am)e% footba or dance or eectronic circuitryD and some who
do not' ;veryone reads a story or a brief articeImateria sim)e enough that the )eo)e without e8)ertise have
no difficuty understanding itL they can te you what each sentence means' 6ut the ne$t day the "eo"le !ith
back&round kno!led&e remember substantially more o( the material than the "eo"le !ho do not ha%e the
back&round kno!led&e.
Fne might think that this effect reay occurs due to attention' From this view% if I en5oy basketba% I wi en5oy
reading about basketba and wi )ay cose attention% whereas if I don2t en5oy basketba% reading about it wi
bore me' !ut other studies have actuay created e8)erts out of novices' These researchers had )eo)e earn either
a ot or 5ust a itte about sub5ects new to them Cfor e8am)e% !roadway musicasD' Then they had them read other%
new facts about the sub5ect% and they found that the /e)erts0 %those who had earlier learned a lot of facts about
the sub-ect& learned new facts #ore *uickly and easily than the /novices0 %who had earlier learned -ust a few
facts about the sub-ect&.0
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age -- of ++'
Why do we find it easier to remember materia if we aready know something about the to)ic6 If you know more%
you can better understand new information% and better understanding means better memory' For e8am)e%
)eo)e who know about baseba understand baseba story better than )eo)e who don2t' We remember
much better if something has meaning' $ote that these effects dont co#e fro# co#rehensionK you can
com)rehend something des)ite a ack of background knowedge' !ut mere com)rehension acks
richness and de)th% because if you have background knowedge% your mind can connect the materia you
read with what you aready know about the to)ic% even if you have no awareness of this )rocess
ha))ening' Those connections he) you remember ater' &ememberK remembering things invoves cues
to memory' We dredge u) memories when we think of things related to what we wish to remember'
The fina effect of background knowedge invoves the fact that having factual knowledge in long$ter# #e#ory
#akes it easier to ac*uire still #ore factual knowledge. This means that the amount of information you retain
de)ends argey on what you aready have' So% if you have more than I do% you retain more than I do% which
means you gain more than me' The rich get richer' We aso know where the riches ie' If you want e8)osure to
new vocabuary and new ideas% go to books% maga#ines% and news)a)ers' Anfortunatey% the sorts of content that
students tend to ean toward% such as teevision% video games% socia networking Internet sites% music sites and the
ike% for the most )art )rove unhe)fu' &esearchers have )ainstakingy anay#ed the contents of many ways that
students can s)end their eisure time' 6ooks) ne!s"a"ers) and ma&a0ines sin&ularly hel" in introducin& ne!
ideas and ne! %ocabulary to students.
We began this cha)ter with a Buote from ;insteinK GImagination is more im)ortant than knowedge'H I ho)e that
you now fee )ersuaded that ;instein had this wrong' Knowledge "ro%es more im"ortant) because it e$ists as a
"rere*uisite (or ima&ination) or at least (or the sort o( ima&ination that leads to "roblem sol%in&) decision
makin&) and creati%ity.
The fact that factual knowledge #akes cognitive rocesses work better obviously i#lies that we #ust hel
students learn background knowledge. How can we ensure that that ha))ens6
,%aluate !hich kno!led&e to encoura&e construction o(. Which knowedge shoud we teach students6
This Buestion often Buicky o)ens )oiticay charged debates% but a cognitive scientist sees the issues
differenty' The Buestion moves from What knowledge should we consider i#ortant? to What knowledge
yields the greatest cognitive benefit? This Buestion has two answers and the first answer reates to reading'
The students #ust know whatever infor#ation the writer has assu#ed that they know and has thus left out'
This knowedge wi vary de)ending on what the student reads' The second answer reates to core sub5ects
such as science% history and math' What should students know of science, history and #ath? This Buestion
differs from the first in that these sub5ect areas use knowedge differenty that genera reading does' Jenera
reading reBuires reativey shaow knowedge to understand the word meanings whie science and math
reBuire knowing much more'
Students cant learn e%erythin&) so !hat should they kno!? Co&niti%e science leads to the rather
ob%ious conclusion that students must learn the concepts that come up again and againthe unifying
ideas of each discipline. Some educational thinkers ha%e su&&ested that !e should teach a limited
number o( uni(yin& ideas in &reat de"th) be&innin& in the early &rades and carryin& throu&h the
curriculum (or years as students take u" di((erent to"ics and %ie! the to"ics throu&h the lens o( one or
more o( the uni(yin& ideas. 3rom a co&niti%e "ers"ecti%e) that makes &ood sense.
When you re*uire critical thinkin&) assure that the students ha%e most o( the needed kno!led&e base
in "lace. Fur goa does not invove 5ust having students know a ot of stuffIwe want them to know stuff in
service of thinking effectivey% and thinking effectivey reBuires background knowedge' Critica thinking
does not amount to a set of )rocedures that students can )ractice and )erfect whie divorced from
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age -, of ++'
background knowedge' Thus it makes sense to consider !hether students ha%e the necessary
back&round kno!led&e to carry out a critical thinkin& task you mi&ht assi&n.
Consider shallo! kno!led&e better than no kno!led&e. Some of the benefits of factua knowedge
reBuire fairy dee) knowedge' For e8am)e% to chunk% we need detaied knowedge' !ut other benefits
accrue from shaow knowedge' For e8am)e% we usuay do not need to have detaied knowedge of a
conce)t to understand its meaning in conte8t when reading' Ff course having dee) knowedge works better
than shaow knowedge% but we can2t have dee) knowedge of everything% and shallow knowledge certainly
hels #uch #ore than no knowledge'
Do !hate%er you can to get kids to read. !ooks e8)ose chidren to more facts and to a broader vocabuary
than virtuay any other activity% and )ersuasive data indicate that )eo)e who read for )easure en5oy
cognitive benefits throughout their ifetime' $udge students toward books at the a))ro)riate reading eve' A
student doesn2t gain much from reading books severa grades beow their reading eve' =ust as obviousy% a
too difficut book )robaby won2t work very we either' The student won2t understand it and wi )robaby
5ust end u) frustrated'
1no!led&e ac*uisition can occur incidentally. 3earning factua knowedge can ha))en sim)y by
e8)osure rather than ony by concentrated study or memori#ation' Think about a you have earned by
reading books and maga#ines for )easure% or by watching documentaries and the news on teevision% or
through conversation with friends' Schoo offers many of the same o))ortunities'
Start early. A chid who starts behind in knowedge wi fa even farther behind uness some intervention
occurs' There seems itte doubt that this factor )ays an im)ortant roe in why some chidren fare )oory in
schoo' Home environments vary a great dea' What sort of vocabuary do )arents use6 "o they take their
chid to the museum or aBuarium6 "o they make books avaiabe6 "o they read to their chidren6 "o the
chidren observe their )arents reading6 A of these factors and many others )ay a roe in what chidren
know on their first day of schoo' !efore a chid meets her first teacher% she may be Buite far behind the chid
sitting ne8t to her in terms of how easy she wi find earning' The teacher2s greatest chaenge invoves
trying to eve the )aying fied' $either any shortcuts nor aternatives e8ist to trying to increase the factua
knowedge that the chid has not )icked u) at home'
1no!led&e must ha%e meanin&. Teachers shoud not take the im)ortance of knowedge to mean that they
shoud create ists of facts for students to earn Iwhether shaow or detaied' Sure% some benefits might
accrue% but ony sma ones' Onowedge )ays off when it occurs conce)tuay and when the facts reate to
one another' That does not ha))en with ist earning' Aso% such driing woud do far more harm by making
students miserabe and by encouraging the beief that schoo e8ists as a )ace of boredom and drudgery% not
e8citement and discovery'
Question :: What makes something stick in memory and what wi ikey si) away6
ns!er: We can2t store everything we e8)erience in memory because too much ha))ens' So what shoud the
memory system tuck away6 What about things that ha))en again and again6 What about things that cause
emotion6 Fur non<conscious thinking and memory system ay their bets this wayK i( you think about somethin&
care(ully) you !ill "robably ha%e to think about it a&ain) so store it.
Critical "rinci"le :: Memory occurs as the residue o( thought.
4eo)e re#e#ber whatever they think aboutL the more the thinking% the better and onger the memory' So% to teach
we we need to )ay carefu attention to !hat an assi&nment !ill actually &et students to think aboutInot
what we hoe they wi think aboutIbecause they wi remember that'
'he im"ortance o( memory
;very teacher has had this e8)erienceK you teach what you consider a terrific esson% fu of ivey e8am)es% dee)
content% engaging )robems to sove% and a cear message% but the ne8t day students remember nothing of it e8ce)t
a 5oke you tod and an off<the<sub5ect aside about your famiy' Fr worse% when you say% whie strugging to kee)
your voice cam% GThe )oint of yesterday2s esson was that one )us one eBuas twoH% they ook at you
increduousy and say% GFne )us one eBuas two?H If the message of Cha)ter Two invoved the idea that
Gbackground knowedge mattersH% then we must cosey consider the Buestion How we can he) assure that
students acBuire this background knowedge6 So why do students remember some things and forget other things6
Fne or more of four things may ha))en'
First% they may not have )aid attention to it' If you dont ay attention to so#ething, you cant learn it1 Second% the
)rocess by which we draw things from ong<term memory may fai' CWe discuss this in Cha)ter Four'D Third% the
information may no onger reside in ong<term memoryL we may have forgotten it' &egarding this% a common
myth has it that the mind records in e8Buisite detai everything that ha))ens to you% ike a video camera% but you
5ust can2t get at most of itImemory faiures aways occur as )robems of access' If given the right cue% the
hy)othesis hods% you coud recover anything that ever ha))ened to you' Athough this idea has a))ea% it does not
refect the truth' Hy)nosis% for e8am)e% does not aid memory' &esearchers have tested this many times% and
hy)nosis doesn2t he)' Memory researchers see no reason to beieve that a memories get recorded forever'
Fourth% sometimes you do )ay attention% so the materia rattes around in working memory for a whie% but it
never makes it to ong<term memory' Then, what else needs to haen besides attention for storage in long$ter#
#e#ory to occur?
Fne reasonabe guess invoves the idea that we remember things that have some emotiona reaction attached to
them' "on2t you ikey remember es)eciay ha))y or sad moments6 $aturay we )ay more attention to
emotiona events% and we )robaby tak about them ater% so scientists had to conduct very carefu studies to show
that the emotion% and not the re)eated thought about these events% )rovides the boost to memory' ;motion does
indeed have a rea effect on memory% and researchers have actuay worked out some of the biochemistry behind
it% but emotion has to have reasonabe strength to have much im)act on memory' If memory deended on
emotion% we woud remember itte of what we encounter in schoo' So the answer that Things go into
long$ter# #e#ory if they create an e#otional reaction does not Buite fit' We will re#e#ber things that
create an e#otional reaction better, but we do not re*uire e#otion for learning.
&e)etition serves as another obvious candidate for what makes earning work' &e)etition )roves very im)ortant%
and we discuss it in Cha)ter Five% but it turns out that -ust any reetition will not do' In fact% you may re)eat
materia amost indefinitey and sti it may not stick in your memory' For e8am)e% given a seection of many
variations in the a))earance of a )enny% something you have seen and handed hundreds of times% you )robaby
won2t recogni#e the correct one' So re)etition aone won2t do it'
;Buay cear% wanting to remember something does not serve as the magic ingredient' ;8)eriments have shown
that even teing sub5ects that they wi receive )ay for each remembered word doesn2t he) much' So wanting to
remember has itte or no effect' Interestingy% memory gets a big boost if sub5ects think about whether they
consider a word )easant or un)easant' =udging )easantness causes you to think about what the word #eans and
about other words reated to that meaning' Thus% if you saw the word oven% you might think about cakes and
roasts and about your kitchen oven% which sto))ed working so we% and so on' !ut if you 5udged whether oven
contained an A or Q% you woudn2t have to think about the meaning at a'
So it seems that we can say that thinking about #eaning has a ositive effect on #e#ory. We have gotten cose%
but sti not Buite right' The )enny e8am)e doesn2t fit that generai#ation' In fact% the )enny e8am)e shows 5ust
the o))osite' ?ou have handed )ennies thousands of times% and most of that time you thought about the meaning
of the )ennyIit2s function% its monetary vaue' !ut having thought about the meaning of a )enny doesn2t he)
when you try to remember what the )enny looks ike'
Think about it ike this' Su))ose you see someone muttering something' ?ou can2t hear what they say% but you can
te by their tone that they fee angry' ?ou coud focus on severa different things' ?ou coud think about the sound
of the voice% how they look% or about the #eaning of the incident' ;ach of these thoughts wi ead to different
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age -+ of ++'
memories of the event the ne8t day' If you thought ony about the sound of the voice% you won2t remember the
a))earance' If you focused on the visua detais% you won2t remember the voice% and so on' In the same way% even
though you have handed many )ennies% you robably have not focused your attention on and thought #uch
about their visual details'
Whate%er you think about ;(ocus your attention on<) you remember. Memory works as the residue of
thought 7nce stated) the conclusion seems im"ossibly ob%ious. =i%en that you cant store e%erythin&) ho!
should you "ick !hat to store and !hat to dro"? >our brain lays its bets this !ay: ?( you dont think about
somethin& %ery much) then you "robably !ont !ant to think about it a&ain) so your brain need not store
it. 7n the other hand) i( you do think about somethin&) then you !ill likely !ant to think about it in the
same specific way in the (uture. ?( ? think about the mutters a""earance) ?ll "robably !ant to kno! about
that !hen ? think about that "erson later.
We need to draw out a cou)e of subteties from this obvious concusion' First% when we tak about schoo% we
usuay want students to remember what things #ean' Sometimes we may consider what things look like
im)ortantIfor e8am)e the beautifu faPade of the 4arthenon% or the sha)e of !eninIbut much more often we
want students to think about meaning' 4robaby 1.Q of what students earn in schoo concerns meaning% not what
things ook or sound ike' 'here(ore the teachers &oal should al!ays in%ol%e &ettin& their students to think
about some particular meaning'
The second subtety reates to the idea that the sa#e materia can have different meaning' For e8am)e% the word
iano has ots of meaning<based characteristics' Fne might think about its making music% its fine Buaity wood% its
great e8)ense% or the difficuty in moving it because of its si#e and weight' We cannot 5ust focus on meaning% !e
ha%e to ha%e our students think about the particular aspect of meaning that !e !hich them to remember.
!ummary" 'o learn material@(or it to end u" in lon&.term memory@it must reside (or some "eriod in
!orkin& memory. 'his means that a student must pay attention to it. 3urthermore) how the student thinks o(
the e$"erience com"letely determines !hat !ill end u" in lon&.term memory. 7b%iously) then) teachers
must desi&n lessons that !ill ensure that students think about the particular important meaning o( the
material ;and not somethin& else<. Similarly) a sel(.moti%ated student must (ocus on the "articular
im"ortant meanin&s that they !ish to remember. !ut how do we make sure that students think about the
)articuar im)ortant meaning6
What &ood teachers ha%e in common
If you read Cha)ter Fne% you might guess that a common techniBue not recommended for getting students to
think about meaning invoves trying to make the sub5ect matter reevant to the student2s interests' This sounds odd
in that it contradicts some common fok wisdom concerning teaching% so et2s eaborate'
Trying to #ake the #aterial relevant to students interests doesnt work. As noted in Cha)ter Fne% content sedom
works as the decisive factor in whether one maintains their interest' For e8am)e% you may ove teaching% but this
does not mean that you wi not sometimes get bored at )rofessiona worksho)s or conferences' Another )robem
with trying to use content to engage interest reates to the fact that this often )roves very difficut to do% and the
whoe enter)rise usuay comes off as artificia' How woud a math instructor make agebra reevant to a si8teen<
year<od6 With a Grea<wordH e8am)e using ce )hone minutes6 Any materia has different as)ects of meaning'
If the instructor used a math )robem with ce )hone minutes% might not the student think about ce )hone
minutes rather than about the )robem6 And might thoughts about ce )hones ead to thoughts about the te8t
message they received earier% which woud remind them about changing their )icture on their Facebook )rofie%
which woud ead them to think about the #it they have on their nose6
So% if content won2t do it% how about the teaching style6 Students often refer to good teachers as those who Gmake
the stuff interestingH' The teacher doesn2t reate the materia to the students2 interestsIrather% the teacher has a
way of interacting with students that they find engaging' Fne teacher may effectivey act as a comedian% another
as a den mother% another as a storyteer% and another as a showman' Students refer to each of these as teachers
who make boring materia interesting% and each can get students to think about meaning' ;ach stye works we
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age -. of ++'
for the )erson using it% athough obviousy not everyone woud fee comfortabe taking on some of these styes' It
works as a matter of )ersonaity'
Students do notice stye% but that serves as ony )art of what makes these teachers effective' Anaysis of student
surveys of different teachers bois down to -ust two *uestions' #oes the teacher seem like a nice person) and do
they have a well organi$ed class% 'he emotional bond bet!een students and teacher@(or better or !orse@
accounts (or !hether students learn. 'he brilliantly !ell.or&ani0ed teacher !hom students see as mean !ill
not ha%e much e((ecti%eness. 6ut the (unny teacher) or the &entle storytellin& teacher !ith "oorly or&ani0ed
lessons !ont do much &ood either. ,((ecti%e teachers ha%e both *ualities. 'hey can connect "ersonally !ith
students) and they or&ani0e the material in a !ay that makes it interestin& and easy to understand.
When we think of a good teacher% we tend to focus on )ersonaity and on the way the teacher )resents' !ut that
accounts for ony haf of good teaching' The 5okes% the stories% and the warm manner a generate goodwi and
he) students to )ay attention' .ut then how do we #ake sure they think about #eaning? There, the second
roerty of good teaching co#es in2organi'ing the ideas in a lesson lan in a coherent way so that students will
understand and re#e#ber. A set of )rinci)es that cognitive )sychoogists know about concerning how to he)
students think about the meaning of a esson foows'
'he "o!er o( stories
The human mind seems e8Buisitey tuned to understand and remember storiesIso much so that )sychoogists
sometimes refer to stories as G)sychoogicay )rivieged%H meaning that memory treats them differenty than
other ty)es of materia' 3rgani'ing a lesson lan like a story works as an effective way to hel students
co#rehend and re#e#ber.
Most sources )oint to the foowing four rinciles for creating a story% often summari#ed as the four 4sK
4haracterIA good story buids around strong% interesting characters% and action serves as the key to
deveo)ing them'
4onflictIA story has a main character )ursuing a goa% but they cannot reach that goa due to some obstace'
4o#licationsICom)ications invove sub<)robems that arise from the main goa'
4ausalityI;vents have causa reations to one another' For e8am)e% in a story one woud not say GI saw =aneL
I eft the houseH because that 5ust chronoogicay ists events' Fn the other hand saying% GI saw =ane% my
ho)eess od oveL I eft the house'H estabishes a causa reation between seeing =ane and eaving the house'
Asing a story structure brings severa advantages in communicating with others' 5irst% )eo)e find them easy to
understand because the audience knows the structure% which he)s to inter)ret the action' For e8am)e% the
audience knows that events don2t ha))en randomy in a story% so if they cannot immediatey see cause they wi
think carefuy about )revious action to try to connect to )resent events'
Second% )eo)e find stories interesting' &eaders consistenty rate stories more interesting than other formats such
as e8)ository )rose% even if each )resents the same information' &eca that )robems have interest if neither too
easy nor too difficut' Stories demand these medium<difficuty inferences' C4eo)e rate stories as ess interesting if
they incude too much information% thus eaving no inferences for the istener to make' ?ou can ki a story with
too much information'D
Third% we easily re#e#ber stories for at east two reasons' C-D !ecause com)rehending stories reBuires ots of
medium<difficuty inferences% you #ust think about the storys #eaning throughout% and thinking about meaning
faciitates memory' C,D The causal structure also aids #e#ory' If you remember one )art of the )ot% a good
)robabiity e8ists that this caused the ne8t thing that ha))ened'
#uttin& story structure to !ork
!ut what does this have to do with the cassroom6 Sim)y teing stories wi often work we% but consider this
)ossibiityK you can use a story structure to organi'e the #aterial that you encourage your students to think about'
Structure your lessons using the four 4s6 character, conflict, co#lications and causality' This doesn2t mean that
you must do most of the taking' ?ou can use sma grou) work% )ro5ects% or any other method'
In some cases% the way to structure a esson )an as a story wi seem rather obvious' For e8am)e% we can view
history as a series of stories' ;vents cause other events% often with confict invoved% and so on'
Asing a story structure to teach history seems easy% but can you reay use it in a math cass6 Certainy' Su))ose
that in an introductory statistics cass you want to introduce the conce)t of a R<scoreIa common way to
transform data' !egin with the sim)est and most famiiar e8am)e of )robabiityIthe coin fi)' The conflict for
this esson wi invove raising *uestions about how we %the characters& can deter#ine the robability of an event
occurring by chance' Here% we do not have "arth Sader as our adversary in )ursuit of this goa% but the fact that
most events we care about do not work ike coin fi)sIthey don2t have a imited number of outcomes Cheads or
taisD for which we know the )robabiity C.0 )ercentD' So% here we have a co#lication% which we address with a
)articuar ty)e of gra)h caed a histogramL but im)ementing this a))roach eads to a further co#licationK we
need to cacuate the area under the curve of the histogram% a com)e8 com)utation' We sove this )robem by the
R<score% the )oint of the esson'
In doing this% we might s)end a good bit of timeIoften ten or fifteen minutes of a /.<minute cassIsetting u)
the goa% )ersuading students of the im)ortance of knowing the )robabiity of a chance event' The materia
covered during this setu) ony )artiay reates to the esson' Taking about coin fi)s and advertising cam)aigns
doesn2t have much to do with R<scores% but this eucidates the centra confict of the story' S)ending a ot of time
carifying the confict foows a formua from Hoywood' The centra confict in a Hoywood fim starts about
twenty minutes into the standard -00<minute movie' The screenwriter uses that ,0 minutes to acBuaint you with
the characters and their situation so that when the main confict arises% you already have involve#ent and you care
about what ha))ens to the characters' A fim may start with an action seBuence% but that seBuence sedom reates
to what wi become the main story ine of the movie'
When it comes to teaching% you might think of it this wayK The materia you want students to earn actuay
answers Buestions' 3n its own, the answer al#ost never has #uch interest. !ut if you know the *uestion% then the
answer may seem Buite interesting' For this reason% making the Buestion cear has great im)ortance' !ut
sometimes as teachers we get so focused on getting to the answer that we s)end insufficient time making sure that
students understand the Buestion and a))reciate its significance'
6ut !hat i( it has no meanin&?
This cha)ter started by )osing the Buestion% +ow can we get students to re#e#ber so#ething? From cognitive
science% we have a straightforward answerK get them to think about what it #eans' Asing story structure serves as
one method for getting students to think about meaning' !ut we sometimes have materia cose to meaningess
that students must earn' For e8am)e% how can you em)hasi#e meaning when he)ing students to earn the odd
s)eing of Wednesday% or that enfranchise means to give voting rights% or that travailler refers to the French
verb for work6 Sometimes% some materia 5ust doesn2t have much meaning' Such materia seems es)eciay
)revaent when one enters a new fied or domain of knowedge' A chemistry teacher might want students to earn
in order the symbos for a few eements of the )eriodic tabeIbut how can students think of the symbos H% He%
3i% !e% !% C% $% F% and F in a dee)% meaningfu way when they don2t know any chemistry6
We commony ca memori#ing meaningess materia rote #e#ori'ation' Times occur when a teacher may
consider it im)ortant for a student to have such knowedge ready in ong<term memory as a ste))ing<stone to
understanding something dee)er' CFor e8am)e% muti)ication and addition facts% foreign anguage or scientific
vocabuary% or )hysics and chemistry eBuations'D How can a teacher he) the student get that materia into ong<
term memory6
A grou) of memory tricks caed #ne#onics% he) )eo)e memori#e meaningess materiaK
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age -/ of ++'
Mnemonic +o! ?t Works ,$am"le
4eg word Memori#e a series of eg words by using a
rhymeIfor e8am)e% one M bud% two M shoe%
three M tree% and so on' Then memori#e new
materia by associating it via visua imagery
with the )egs'
To earn the ist radio, shell, nurse you might
imagine a radio sandwiched in a bun% a shoe on a
beach with a conch in it% and a tree growing
nurses2 hats ike fruit'
Method of oci Memori#e a series of ocations on a famiiar
wakIfor e8am)e% the back )orch of your
house% a dying )ear tree% your grave driveway%
and so on' Then visuai#e new materia at each
GstationH of the wak'
visuai#e a radio hanging by your back )orch%
someone grinding shes to use as fertii#er to
revitai#e the dying tree% and a nurse shoveing
fresh grave into your driveway'
3ink method Sisuai#e each of the items connected to one
another in some way'
imagine a nurse istening intenty to a radio
whie wearing arge conch shes on her feet
instead of shoes'
Acronym Create an acronym for the to<remember words%
then remember the acronym'
memori#e the word &AISI$ using the
ca)itai#ed etters as cues for the first etter of
each word'
First etter of
word
Simiar to the acronym method% this method
has you think of a )hrase% the first etter of
which corres)onds to the first etter of the to<
remember materia'
To earn the ist radio, shell, nurse you coud
memori#e the )hrase G&oses sme nastyH% then
use the first etter of each word as a cue for the
words on the ist'
Songs Think of a famiiar tune to which you can sing
the words'
sing the words to GHa))y !irthday to ?ouH'
Short story
method
Create a short story that reates the items or
words'
think of how you were at the beach istening to
the radio% cut your foot on a she% then caed a
nurse'
4eo)e can find the )eg word and method of oci methods hard to use for different sets of materia because
confusion can occur' For e8am)e% if you use your menta wak to earn some eements% can you use the same
wak to earn the con5ugations for some French verbs6 The two ists might interfere in some )aces' Fne can
)arty work around this by visuay waking in different famiiar )aces for different to)ics% but it remains a
)robem'
The other methods have more fe8ibiity because students can create a uniBue mnemonic for each thing they earn%
but they do need some famiiarity with the materia' Setting information to earn to music% chanting it to a rhythm%
creating a )oem% or creating a ra)% aso work Buite we' For e8am)e% most of us earned the etters of the a)habet
by singing the A!C song% and the G!atte Hymn of the &e)ubicH )resents state ca)itas' CInternet searches wi
)roduce songs for many ists'D Music and rhythm can make words remarkaby memorabe% and the song doesn2t
have to have es)eciay good meody'
Why do mnemonics work6 4rimariy by giving you cues. The acronym &F? J' !IS gives you the first etter of
each coor in the s)ectrum of visibe ight' The first etter of a word serves as Buite a good cue to memory' As we
wi discuss in the ne8t cha)ter% memory works on the basis of cues' If you don2t know anything about a to)ic% or
if you need to remember something arbitrary% #ne#onics hel by imposing some order on the #aterial'
To summari#e% if we agree on the im)ortance of background knowedge% then we must think carefuy about how
students acBuire that background knowedgeIhow earning works' Many factors infuence earning% but one
factor trum)s the othersK students re#e#ber what they think about' That rincile highlights the i#ortance of
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age -: of ++'
getting students to think about the right thing at the right ti#e. We usuay want students to understand what
things #ean, and that sets the agenda for a esson )an' How can we ensure that students think about meaning6
Fne suggestion invoves using the structure of a story because )eo)e easiy com)rehend and remember stories%
and find them interesting' !ut one can2t get students to think about meaning if the materia has no meaning'
In those cases one may a))ro)riatey use mnemonic devices'
Thinking about meaning he)s memory' How can teachers ensure that students think about the desirabe meaning
in the cassroom6 Here you have some )ractica suggestions'
A/e%ie! each lesson "lan re&ardin& !hat the student !ill likely think about. This sentence #y serve as
the #ost general and useful idea that cognitive sychology can offer teachers. The most im)ortant thing
about schooing invoves what students wi remember after the schoo day has ended% and a direct
reationshi) e8ists between what they think during the day and their ater memory' So it )roves usefu to
doube<check every esson )an to antici)ate what the esson wi actually encourage students to think about
rather than what you hoe it wi encourage them to think about' If you do this% it may often become cear
that students wi not very ikey get what you intended out of the esson% and then you wi need to make
some changes'
For e8am)e% doing a )ro5ect that invoves com)uters may get students thinking much more about how to use
the com)uter and software than on what you intended with the )ro5ect' ?ou may get a ot of enthusiasm% but
not about what you intended with the esson' Think carefully about how your students will react to an
assign#ent, and what it will actually ro#t the# to think about.
'hink care(ully about attention &rabbers. Teachers often ike to start cass with an attention grabber' They
reason that if you hook students eary in the esson% they shoud fee curious to know the )rinci)es behind
whatever sur)rised or awed them' !ut attention grabbers may not aways work' After )iBuing the cass2s
interest and foowing with an age<a))ro)riate e8)anation% the students may not retain that information'
They may continue thinking about various as)ects of the coo demonstration% and eole re#e#ber what
they think about' @This describes the traditiona Gte Tem and test TemH a))roach% not inBuiry methods that do
not give answers to Buestions% but instead ead students to answer the Buestions themseves over time'
Indeed% the inBuiry methods )robaby work much better than traditiona argey because students remain
curious and kee) thinking about the Buestions and how best to answer them'E
Certainy% it makes sense to use the beginning of cass to buid student interest in the materia% or to deveo)
the confict in a story' ?ou might consider% however% whether the students need an attention grabber at the
beginning of cass' The transition from one sub5ect to another Cor for oder students from one cassroom and
teacher to anotherD works we enough to buy at east a few minutes of attention from students' Asuay% the
#iddle of the esson needs a itte drama or )hysica activity to draw the students back from whatever reverie
they may have faen into' @See Schenck'E !ut regardess of when you use it% think hard about how you will
draw a connection between the attention grabber and the oint you really wish it to #ake. Will your students
understand the connection, and will they set aside the e)cite#ent of the attention grabber and #ove on? If
not% can you change the attention grabber to he) students make that transition6 4erha)s for a &oman esson
you coud wear a toga over your street cothes and remove it after the first few minutes of cass' 4erha)s
some demonstrations woud work better done after the students have earned the basic )rinci)es and they
have )redicted what might ha))en based on their newy constructed knowedge% thus not reying on their
)rior beiefsIor 5ust guessing' @4erha)s better yet% use the Conce)tua Change Mode'E
8se in*uiry learnin& !ith care. In inBuiry earning students earn by e8)oring ob5ects% discussing
)robems with cassmates% designing e8)eriments% or any of a number of other techniBues that use student
inBuiry rather than the teacher teing students things' Indeed% the teacher ideay serves more as a resource
than as a cass director' InBuiry earning has much to recommend it% es)eciay when it comes to the eve of
student engagement' 7n i#ortant risk, however, involves the lower redictability about what students will
think about. If you leave students to e)lore ideas on their own2one of the otions for #anaging in*uiry
learning2they #ay well e)lore unrofitable #ental aths. @This de)ends on the kind of inBuiry methods
usedN InBuiry covers a wide range of student freedom% and Wiingham does not seem to understand that
here% referring ony to one e8treme of the continuum'E If memory serves as the residue of thought% then
students may remember their aternative conce)tions as we as the scientificay acce)ted ones'
Desi&n assi&nments so that students !ill unavoidably think about meaning. If you have as the goa of a
esson )an to get students to think about the meaning of some materia% then ceary the best a))roach wi
invove making their thinking about that meaning unavoidable' For e8am)e% teing )eo)e that you wi test
their memory of a ist of words ater won2t work very we because )eo)e don2t know how to make the
words memorabe' !ut if you give a si#le task in which they #ust think about the word #eaningsIfor
e8am)e% by rating how much they ike each wordIthen they will re#e#ber the words *uite well'
For e8am)e% asking fourth graders to bake biscuits )robaby wi not work very we as a way to get them to
a))reciate the ife on the Anderground &airoad because they wi s)end too much time thinking about
measuring four and mik' The goa invoves getting them to think about the e8)erience of runaway saves'
So a more effective esson woud invove eading the students to consider the e8)erience by% for e8am)e%
asking them where they su))osed runaway saves got food% how they coud )re)are it% how they coud )ay
for it% and so forth'
8se mnemonics. As bad as a cassroom woud seem if a teacher used only mnemonics% they do have their
ti#e and lace and teachers shoud not have this instructiona techniBue taken away from them' When does a
teacher a))ro)riatey ask students to memori#e something before it has much meaning6 $ot very often% but
times occur when a teacher makes the 5udgment that students must earn materia now in order to move
further ahead in the ong term% even though it seems meaningess to them now' Ty)ica e8am)es might
incude earning etter<sound associations )rior to reading% earning vocabuary in both their native anguage
and foreign anguages% earning number facts in arithmetic% and im)ortant eBuations in )hysics' Fne might
aso a))ro)riatey use mnemonics to memori#e some materia in )arae with other work that em)hasi#es
meaning' ?ou shoud have your students do this kind of learning in s#all a#ounts over a long eriod of ti#e
%weeks and #onths&. This hels reduce boredo# and gives the benefits of fre*uent, active recall and
reetition2ractice.
7r&ani0e a lesson "lan) and se*uence o( them) around the story.related con(lict;s<. If you ook for it%
you can find a story<reated confict in amost any esson )an' In other words% the materia we want students
to know answers a *uestion or solves a roble#L the Buestion or )robem serves as the confict' Having great
carity about the confictCsD yieds a natura )rogression for to)ics' In a movie% )ay% or nove% characters
trying to resove a confict often eads to new com)ications' That freBuenty hods true for schoo materia
too' 8se these conflicts to buid and maintain curiosity% engagement% and motivation'
Question B: Why do we find abstract ideas so difficut to understand% and so difficut to
a))y when e8)ressed in new ways6
ns!er: Schooing has the im)ortant goa of abstraction' The teacher wants students to have the abiity to a))y
cassroom earning in new conte8ts% incuding those outside of schoo' !ut this invoves the chaenge that the
#ind does not like abstractions' Fur minds )refer the concrete' For this reason% when we encounter an abstract
)rinci)eIfor e8am)e a aw in )hysics such as net force M mass 8 acceerationIwe ask for a concrete e8am)e
to he) us understand'
Critical "rinci"le B: We understand new thin&s in the conte$t o( things that we already know) and most o(
!hat !e kno!) !e kno! concretely.
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age ,0 of ++'
For this reason% we find it difficut to com)rehend abstract ideas% and difficut to a))y them in new situations'
'he surest !ay to hel" students understand an abstraction in%ol%es exposing them to many different
versions of the abstraction@(or e$am"le) to ha%e them sol%e area calculation "roblems about tableto"s)
soccer (ields) en%elo"es) doors) and so on. Some )romising new techniBues may s)eed u) this )rocess' @Fr in
)hysics% chemistry% math or bioogy% use #ultile reresentationsK )ictures and diagrams and students writing and
s)eaking to describe the situation in their own words% and then using technica words and gra)hs and CfinayD
symbos and eBuations' C$ote this )rogression'DE
8nderstandin&: rememberin& in dis&uise
Factua knowedge has great im)ortance in schooing% and we have discussed how to make sure that students
acBuire those facts and how things get into memory' !ut we must not assume that from accom)ishing these
things students understand what we wish to teach them' Students often find it difficut to understand new ideas%
es)eciay ideas really nove to themImeaning the new ideas don2t reate to other things they have aready
earned' What do cognitive scientists know about how students understand things6 The answerK #eo"le
understand new ideas ;thin&s they dont kno!< by relatin& them to old ideas ;thin&s they do kno!<. This
he)s us understand some famiiar )rinci)es'
C-D 'he use(ulness o( analo&ies. Anaogies he) us understand something new by reating it to something we
aready know about' For e8am)e% we commony and usefuy use water as an anaogy for Fhm2s aw in
eectricity'
C,D 7ur need (or (amiliar) concrete e$am"les. Students find it hard to understand abstractions ike Gnet force
eBua mass times acceerationH% even after defining a of the terms' They need concrete e)a#les to
iustrate what the abstractions mean' For e8am)e% before they can fee confident that they understand
iambic )entameter% they need to hearK
Is this the face that launched a thousand shi)s6
And burnt the toess towers of Illiu#6
and
&ough winds do shake the daring buds of 9ay
And su#mer2s lease hath all too short a date'
and other e8am)es'
,$am"les re*uire somethin& more than Cust makin& abstractions concrete. For an e8am)e to he)% the
student must have famiiarity with it' A concrete e8am)e wi not he) much if the student does not have
fa#iliarity with it' Su))ose we had the foowing conversationK
MeK "ifferent scaes of measurement )rovide different kinds of information' Frdina scaes )rovide ranks%
whereas on an interva scae the differences between measurement )oints have meaning'
?ouK That sounded ike utter gobbedygook to me'
MeK FO% I wi give you some concrete e8am)es' The Mohs scae of minera hardness works as an ordina
scae% whereas the &asch mode )rovides an interva measurement' See6
?ouK I think I2 go get a coffee now'
So 5ust giving concrete e8am)es wi not necessariy he)' They must aso have fa#iliarity to the )erson and
most )eo)e have no famiiarity with the Mohs scae and &asch mode' ?m"ortantly) the familiarity hel"s)
not the concreteness. 6ut most o( !hat students ha%e (amiliarity !ith also (alls into the
concrete cate&ory because !e ha%e concrete e$"eriences in our day.to.day li%es and "eo"le
(ind it hard to understand abstractions.
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age ,- of ++'
So% understanding new ideas mosty invoves getting the right old, fa#iliar ideas into working memory and then
rearranging themImaking com)arisons we had not made before% or thinking about a feature we had )reviousy
ignored' Consider the acceeration outcomes that occur when using a bat to strike the windshied of a car
com)ared with striking a ba' @Show )hotos here'E ;ach iustrates Fnet M ma' ?ou know what ha))ens when you
hit a ba with a bat% and when you hit a windshied with a bat' !ut have you ever before held those two ideas in
#ind at the sa#e ti#e and considered how the different outco#es relate to the difference in #ass? +ave you ever
rearranged the e*uation with these i#ages in #ind to see how
net
5
a
#
= ? +ave you ever considered what
haens to /a0 as /#0 gets larger or s#aller for a given net force?
$ow )erha)s you can better see why we caim that understanding largely e*uals re#e#bering in disguise' As
much as we may wish it% and as much as traditiona education methods may try% no one can )our new ideas into a
student2s head directy' 'he student must build e%ery ne! idea on ideas that they already kno!. 'o &et a
student to understand) a teacher ;or "arent or book or tele%ision "ro&ram< must ensure that the student
"ulls the right familiar ideas (rom their lon&.term memory and put them into working memory. ?n addition)
they must attend to the right features o( these memories and then compare& combine& or manipulate them
appropriately. Thus% for me to he) you understand the difference between ordina and interva measurement% I
cannot 5ust say% GThink of a thermometer and think of a horse race'H "oing so may get those conce)ts into
working memory% but I aso have to make sure that you combine them in the right way'
A teachers know% however% that it does not reay work this sim)y' When we give students one e8)anation and
one set of e8am)es% do they understand6 Asuay not' Su))ose that I te you the foowingK
We have four% and ony four% ways that units on a scae reate to one another' Fn a no#inal scae% each number
refers to one thing but the numbers occur arbitrariyIfor e8am)e% the number on a footba )ayer2s 5ersey
tes you nothing about the Buaity of the )ayer' It ony na#es the )ayer' Fn an ordinal scae% the numbers
have meaning% but they te you nothing about the distance between them' In a horse race% for e8am)e% you
know that the first )ace horse ended ahead of the second )ace finisher% but you don2t know by how much'
Fn an interval scae% not ony do the numbers occur in an ordered way% but aso the intervas have meaningI
for e8am)e% the interva between :0 and 10 degrees on a thermometer' ;ven so% the inventor set the G#eroH on
an interva scae arbitrariy' For e8am)e% #ero degrees Cesius does not mean no tem)erature' A ratio scae%
on the other hand% such as age or the Oevin tem)erature scae% has a true #ero )oint' Rero years means the
absence of any yearsL #ero Oevins means the absence of any tem)erature'
Having read this% woud you say that you GunderstandH measurement scaes6 ?ou )robaby know more than you
did before% but your knowedge )robaby does not fee very dee) and you may not fee confident that you coud
identify the scae measurement for a new e8am)e% say% centimeters on a ruer'
To dig dee)er into what he)s students understand% we need to address these two issues' First% even when students
GunderstandH% degrees of co#rehension occur' Anderstanding does not occur in an a<or<none way' Fne student
may have a shaow understanding whie another2s understanding has much more de)th' Second% even if students
understand in the cassroom% this knowledge #ay not transfer well to the word outside the cassroom' When
students see a new version of what ies at the heart of an od )robem% they may fee stum)ed% even though they
recenty soved the same )robem' They may not know that they actuay know the answerN The ne8t two sections
eaborate on these two issues'
Why do students ha%e shallo! kno!led&e?
?ou ask a student a Buestion in cass and they res)ond using the e8act words you used when you e8)ained the
idea% or with the e8act words from the te8tbook' Athough they have certainy given a correct answer% you can2t
he) but wonder whether the student has sim)y memori#ed the definition by rote and reay does not understand
much of what they have said' &ote knowedge might ead to giving some right res)onse% but it does not mean that
the student understands or can think using that knowedge'
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age ,, of ++'
Actuay% rote knowedge )robaby occurs ony rarey' As used here% rote knowledge means you have no
understanding of the materia' ?ou have 5ust memori#ed words' Fn the other hand% shallo! kno!led&e
occurs much more commonly than rote kno!led&e' This means that students have so#e
understanding of the materia but it remains imited' 4eo)e come to understand new ideas by reating
them to od ideas' If they have shaow knowedge% the )rocess sto)s there' Their knowedge remains
tied to the anaogy or e8)anation )rovided% and they can understand it ony within that narrow conte8t'
Fn the other hand% a )erson with dee) knowedge knows much more about the sub5ect% and the )ieces of
knowedge more richy interconnect' The student understands not 5ust the )arts% but aso the whole' This
understanding aows the student to a))y the knowedge in many different conte8ts% to tak about it in
different ways% to imagine how the system as a whoe woud change if one )art of it changed% and so
forth' The as)ects of knowedge interreate ike the )arts of a machine% and what<if Buestions suggest the
re)acement of one )art with another' Students with dee) knowedge can )redict how the machine woud
work after changing a )art'
Fbviousy% teachers want their students to have dee) knowedge% and most teachers try to insti it' Why
then woud students end u) with shaow knowedge6 Fne obvious reason might invove the student not
aying attention to the esson' A )oem2s mention of GrosebudsH might ead a student to think about the
time they fe off their &a#or scooter into the neighbor2s rose bush% and the rest of the )oem becomes
ost to them'
Fther ess obvious reasons e8ist for why students might end of with shaow knowedge' "ee)
knowedge means understanding essentiay everythingIboth the abstraction and the e8am)es% and
how they fit together' So% we can easiy understand why most students have shaow knowedge% at east
when they begin to study a new to)icK ,eole find it harder to construct dee knowledge than shallow(
it takes #ore work and #ore ti#e.
Why doesnt kno!led&e trans(er?
If someone understands an abstract )rinci)e% we e8)ect it wi show transfer' When knowedge transfers% that
means the )erson can successfuy a))y old knowedge to a new )robem' In a sense% one might argue that every
actua G)robemH occurs as a new one' @This does not hod true for an e8ercise% which refers to )racticing
something aready known'E ;ven if we see the same )robem twice% we might see it in a different setting% and
because some time has )assed% we coud say we have changed% even if ony a itte bit' Most often when
)sychoogists tak about transfer they mean the new roble# looks different fro# the old one, but we do have the
knowledge needed to solve it. A )robem ooking different means that it has the same dee structure2because it
reBuires the same ste)s for sovingIbut it has a different surface structure'
The surface structure of a )robem remains unim)ortant to its soution% and we e8)ect that a student who can
sove the first )robem to have the abiity to sove the second% because the dee) structure matters% not the surface
structure' $evertheess% )eo)e seem much more infuenced by surface structure than we might think' Ty)icay%
ony about 70 )ercent of )eo)e can sove a second )robem% even though they had -ust heard the conce)tuay
identica )robem and its soution'
Why does transfer occur so )oory6 The answer goes back to how we understand things' 3ur #inds assu#e that
new things we read %or hear& will relate to what weve -ust read %or heard&. In genera% this makes understanding
faster and smoother' Anfortunatey% it aso makes it harder to see the dee) structure of )robems' This ha))ens
because our cognitive )rocessing aways strugges to make sense of what we read or hear% to find reevant
background knowedge that wi he) us inter)ret words% )hrases% and sentences' !ut the background knowedge
that see#s to a))y amost aways concerns the surface structure' We take the first )robem as about one thing%
and the second )robem see#s to invove something ese'
The soution to this )robem see#s sef<evidentK =ust te )eo)e to think about the dee) structure as they read or
isten' !ut the dee) structure of a )robem does not a))ear obvious' ;ven worse% an amost imitess number of
dee) structures #ight a))y' As you read about a )articuar )robem% you find it hard to think about )ossibe dee)
structures' To see the dee) structure% you must understand how a )arts of the )robem reate to one another% and
you must know which )arts have im)ortance and which do not' The surface structure% on the other hand% remains
)erfecty obvious'
When given a hint about dee) structure in common with an earier )robem% amost everyone can sove the
)robem' The anaogy becomes easy to see' So the transfer )robem may invove a )erson sim)y not reai#ing the
anaogous nature of the )robems'
At other times% we may get )oor transfer even when students know that a new )robem shares dee) structure with
another )robem they have soved' When a )robem has ots of com)onents and ots of ste)s in its soution%
transfer wi ess ikey occur due to ma))ing difficuty from a soved )robem to the new one'
This discussion makes it sound ike knowedge cannot )ossiby transfer% but obviousy that does not accuratey
describe the situation' So#e )eo)e do think of using the )robem they used before to sove a new one% athough
ony a sur)risingy sma )ercentage' In addition% when faced with a nove situation an adut wi usuay a))roach
it in a more fruitfu way than a chid wi' Somehow% the adut makes use of their e8)erience so that knowedge
transfers' So% we shoud not think that our od knowedge transfers to a new )robem ony when the source of that
background knowedge a))ears obvious to us' We have strategies for coming u) with soutions% even though they
may often not work' Those strategies grow out of our e8)erienceIbased on other )robems we2ve soved% things
we know% and so on' In that sense% we always transfer knowedge of facts and of )robem soutions% even when we
think we2ve never seen this sort of )robem before' However% we don2t know very much about this ty)e of transfer
)recisey because of the difficuty determining where it comes from'
The message of this cha)ter seems de)ressingK we find it hard to understand stuff% and when at ast we do it won2t
transfer to new situations very we' Though not Buite that grim% one shoud not underestimate the difficuty of
dee) understanding' If understanding came easiy% we woud find teaching easy' Some ideas on how to meet this
chaenge in the cassroom foow'
'o hel" student com"rehension) "ro%ide e$am"les and ask students to com"are them. ;8)erience he)s
students to see dee) structure% so rovide that e)erience via lots of e)a#les' Another strategy that might
he) Cathough not e8tensivey testedD invoves asking students to co#are different e8am)es' The students
C)ossiby with some )rom)tingD might come to see what each e8am)e has in common with the others'
Make dee" kno!led&e the s"oken and uns"oken em"hasis. ?ou wi ikey et your students know that
you e8)ect them to earn what things meanIthe dee) structure' ?ou shoud aso ask yourself whether you
send unsoken #essages that #atch that e#hasis. What kind of *uestions do you ose in class? Some
teachers )ose mosty factua Buestions in a ra)id<fire mannerK GWhat does b stand for in the formua6H or
GWhat ha))ens when Huck and =im get back on the raft6H The ow<eve facts do have great im)ortance% but
if you ask only those *uestions, it sends a #essage to students that only those really #atter'
Assignments and assessments aso serve as sources of im)icit messages about im)ortance' When you assign
a )ro5ect% does it demand dee) understanding or can one com)ete it with 5ust the surface knowedge of the
materia6 If you have students od enough to take Bui##es and tests% make sure that these test dee)
knowedge' Students draw a strong i#licit #essage fro# the content of tests' They concudeK GIf it2s on the
test% it2s im)ortant'H
Make your e$"ectations (or dee" kno!led&e realistic. Athough you have dee) knowedge as your goa%
you shoud re#ain clear$eyed about how *uickly students can achieve it. Dee knowledge co#es only with
long, hard work, the roduct of #uch focused ractice' "on2t des)air if your students don2t yet have a dee)
understanding of a com)e8 to)ic' Shallow knowledge roves #uch better than no knowledge at all% and
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age ,+ of ++'
shaow knowedge serves as a natura ste) on the way to dee)er knowedge' It may take years for your
students to deveo) a truy dee) understanding% and the best that any teacher can do invoves starting them
down that road or continuing their )rogress at a good )ace' @With this idea% you may fee a itte better about
not getting -00Q of a cass u) to the eve of understanding that you ho)e to achieve'E
Question D: "oes the cognitive benefit of dri make it worth the )otentia cost to
motivation6
ns!er: The botteneck in our cognitive system invoves the e8tent to which we can 5ugge severa ideas in our
thinking simutaneousy' Fur brains have a few tricks for working around this )robem% one of the most effective
reated to ractice' Why does this work6 !ecause it reduces the amount of GroomH that menta work reBuires'
Critical "rinci"le D: ?t "ro%es %irtually im"ossible to become "ro(icient at a mental task !ithout e$tended
practice.
?ou cannot become a good soccer )ayer if as you dribbe you sti focus on how hard to hit the ba% which
surface of your foot to use% and so on' Low$level rocesses like this #ust beco#e auto#atic, leaving roo# for
higher$level concerns such as ga#e strategy. @Mike !yster2s !rainetics G!reakthrough Math and Memory
SystemH )robaby works by doing thisK giving )eo)e sufficient )ractice with ow<eve )rocesses that these
)rocesses become automatic% thus freeing working memory for other tasks'E Si#ilarly, you cannot get good at
algebra without knowing #any #ath facts and rocedures fluently by #e#ory. Students must )ractice some
things' !ut they don2t need to )ractice a materia' In this cha)ter% you earn why )ractice has such im)ortance%
which materia to consider im)ortant enough to merit )ractice% and how to im)ement )ractice in a way that
students find ma8imay usefu and interesting'
Why )ractice6 Fne reason invoves gaining a minimum eve of com)etence' For e8am)e% a chid )ractices tying
their shoeaces with a )arent or teacher2s he) unti they can reiaby tie the aces without su)ervision' We aso
)ractice tasks that we can )erform but that we woud ike to im)rove' A )rofessiona tennis )ayer can hit a serve
into their o))onent2s court every time% but they nevertheess )ractice serving in an effort to im)rove s)eed and
)acement of the ba' In an educationa setting% both reasonsImastery and ski deveo)mentIseem sensibe'
Students might )ractice ong division unti they master that )rocess% unti they can reiaby work ong<division
)robems' They might )erform other skis adeBuatey% such as writing a )ersuasive essay% but even after students
have the rudiments down% they shoud continue to )ractice the ski in an effort to refine and im)rove their
abiities'
The two reasons to )racticeIto gain com)etence and to im)roveIseem sef<evident and )robaby not very
controversia' Fn the other hand% the reasons to )ractice skis when it a))ears you have mastered something and
it does not obviousy make you better seems ess obvious' Fdd as it may seem% that sort of ractice roves
essential to schooling. Why? .ecause it yields three i#ortant benefits6 it reinforces the basic skills re*uired for
learning #ore advanced skills, it rotects against forgetting, and it i#roves transfer.
#ractice enables (urther learnin&
4ractice has so much im)ortance for students2 earning for two reasonsK C-D working memory serves as the site of
thinking and thinking occurs when we combine information in new ways Crefer to the diagram aboveD% but C,D it
has imited s)ace' If you try to 5ugge too many facts% or to com)are them in too many ways% you ose track of
what you do' This lack of sace in working #e#ory for#s a funda#ental bottleneck for hu#an cognition.
Anfortunatey% no way e8ists to increase a )erson2s working memory ca)acityL each of us has a more or ess fi8ed
si#e of it' ?ou get what you get and )ractice does not change it'
However% ways e8ist to cheat this imitation' Fne way to kee) more information in working memory invoves
com)ressing it using a )rocess caed chunking Cdescribed in cha)ter twoD% where you kee) severa things as a
singe unit' For e8am)e% instead of maintaining the etters c, o, g, n, i, t, i, o, and n se)aratey in working memory%
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age ,. of ++'
you chunk them into the singe word cognition' A whoe word takes u) about the same amount of room in
working memory as a singe etter does' !ut chunking etters into a word reBuires that you know the word' If you
don2t have the word in ong<term memory% you can2t chunk the etters' @This surey hods true for conce)ts as
we' And this )oints to the im)ortance of vocabulary% which students most effectivey gain through genera
reading'E 'hus !e see the im"ortance o( (actual kno!led&eE it allows efficient chunking. @Again% Mike
!yster2s !rainetics G!reakthrough Math and Memory SystemH )robaby works by doing thisK giving )eo)e
sufficient )ractice with ow<eve )rocesses that they begin chunking #ore efficiently'E
So the first way to cheat the imited si#e of your working memory works through factua knowedge' A second
way e8ists to make the )rocesses that mani)uate information in working memory more efficient' In fact% you can
make them so efficient that they have virtuay no cost' @!yster2s !rainetics againNE Think about earning to tie
your shoes' Initiay% it reBuires your fu attention and thus absorbs a of working memory% but with )ractice you
can tie your shoes auto#atically' What used to take a of working memory now takes amost no room' As an
adut% you can tie your shoes whie hoding a conversation or even whie working math )robems in your head'
"riving a car% riding a bicyce and waking serve as other everyday e8am)es' When you first earn these% they
take u) a of your working<memory ca)acity'
!o mental processes can become automati$ed& and automatic processes require little or no working memory
capacity They also tend to occur quite rapidly in that you seem to know 'ust what to do without even making a
conscious decision to do it @!yster2s !rainetics% and othersU' 4eo)e need enough )ractice with im)ortant
fundamentas that they become automatic' !yster and others do this by creating fun games that give the needed
)ractice'E
These same )rinci)es )ay out in mathematics' When students first earn arithmetic% they often sove )robems by
using counting strategies' For e8am)e% they sove . V + by beginning with . and counting u) four more numbers
@things or dotsE to yied the answer 1 @or 1 dotsE' This strategy suffices to sove sim)e )robems% but you can see
what ha))ens as )robems become more com)e8' For e8am)e% in a muti<digit )robem ike 1/ V :1% a counting
strategy becomes much ess effective' This #ore co#le) roble# de#ands that one carry out #ore rocesses in
working #e#ory. The student might add / and 1 by counting and get -9 as the resut' $ow the student must
remember to write down the 9% then sove 1 V : by counting% whie remembering to add the carried - to the resut'
$otice how much sim)er this )robem becomes if the student has memori#ed the fact that / V 1 M -9' Onowing
this% they arrive at the correct answer for that subcom)onent of the )robem at a #uch lower cost to working
#e#ory' 3indin& a (act in lon&.term memory and "uttin& it into !orkin& memory "laces almost no
demands on !orkin& memory. So it comes as no wonder that students who have #e#ori'ed #ath facts and
rocedures do better in all sorts of #ath tasks than students who do not have that knowledge, or only sotty or
uncertain knowledge, of #ath facts and rocedures. &esearch has shown that racticing #ath facts hels low$
achieving students do better on #ore advanced #athe#atics' @!ysterU' And math serves as the best )redictor of
success in coege CFICSSD'E
!esides sounds going with etters and math facts% other sorts of automati#ation entai other )rocesses' $otabe
e8am)es incude handwriting and keyboarding' Initiay% forming or keyboarding etters )roves aborious and
consumes a of working memory' Fne finds it hard to think of the content of what one writes because you have to
focus on getting the etters rightL but with )ractice you can focus on content'
To review% athough we can2t make our working memory arger% we can make the contents of working memory
smaer in two waysK C-D by making facts take u) ess room through chunking% which reBuires knowedge in ong<
term memory Cand discussed in Cha)ter TwoDL and C,D by shrinking the )rocesses we use to bring information into
working memory or to mani)uate it once it has gotten there'
So now we get to the )ayoffK What must ha""en to make these "rocesses shrink) to &et them to become
automati0ed? >ou kno! the ans!er: practice. If any workaround or cheat e8ists whereby you can rea) the
benefits of automaticity without )aying the )rice of )racticing% neither science nor the coected wisdom of the
word2s cutures has reveaed it' 7s far as anyone knows, the only way to develo #ental facility involves
reeating the target rocess again and again and again.
Fo! you can see !hy "ractice ;and over."racticin&< enables (urther learnin&. >ou may ha%e 4mastered5
readin& in the sense that you kno! !hich sounds &o !ith !hich letters) and you can reliably strin& to&ether
sounds into !ords. So) !hy kee" "racticin& i( you kno! the letters? >ou do not "ractice only to &et (aster. ?t
"ro%es im"ortant to &et so &ood at reco&ni0in& letters that retrieving the sound becomes automatic. (f it
happens automatically& you have freed working memory space that you used to devote to retrieving the sounds
from long)term memoryspace that you can now devote to thinking about meaning
What holds true o( readin& holds true o( most or all school subCects) and o( the skills !e !ant out students
to ha%e. 'hey !ork hierarchically. Se%eral basic "rocesses ;like retrie%in& math (acts or usin& deducti%e
lo&ic in science< initially demandin& o( !orkin& memory) become automatic !ith "ractice. 'hose "rocesses
must become automatic in order (or students to ad%ance their thinkin& to the ne$t le%el. The great
)hioso)her% Afred $orth Whitehead ca)tured this )henomenon in this commentK GIt is a )rofoundy erroneous
truism% re)eated by a co)ybooks and by eminent )eo)e when they are making s)eeches% that we shoud cutivate
the habit of thinking of what we are doing' The )recise oosite is the case' Civii#ation advances by e8tending
the number of im)ortant o)erations which we can )erform without thinking about the#'H
#ractice makes memory lon& lastin&
Why earn things in high schoo that we wi soon forget6 A certain amount of truth e8ists in the student com)aint
GWe2re never gonna use this stuff'H So if what we teach students wi sim)y vanish% why the heck do we
teach it6
We% the truth ies somewhere between the two e8tremes' We a remember a little of the things we earned in
high schoo and coege' Certainy we know much ess now than we did right after we finished the casses we took
Ibut we know #ore than we did before we took the#' &esearchers have e8amined student memory more formay
and have drawn the same concusionK we forget much Cbut not aD of what we have earned% and the forgetting
occurs ra)idy'
In one study of students who get A2s com)ared with ! and beow students three years after the cass% the A
students remembered more overa% which does not seem sur)risingIthey )robaby knew more to start with' !ut
they forgot 5ust ike other students did% and at the same rate' So a))arenty studying hard doesn2t )rotect against
forgetting' !ut something ese does )rotect against forgettingK continued )ractice' For e8am)e% a student who gets
a C in their first agebra course but goes on to take severa more math courses wi remember their agebra%
whereas a student who gets an A in their agebra course but doesn2t take more math wi forget it' That ha))ens
because taking more math courses guarantees that you will continue to think about and ractice basic agebra' If
you )ractice agebra enough% you wi effectivey never forget it' @$ote how this and the FICSS study resuts
su))ort each other'E Fther studies have shown e8acty the same resuts with different sub5ect matter% such as
S)anish studies as a foreign anguage'
"o these resuts occur because you study #ore% or because you stretch the study out over ti#e6 "oes it matter
how you s)ace out your studying6 Studying something for two hours works better than studying for one% but how
shoud distribute those -,0 minutes6 Shoud you study for -,0 minutes in a row6 Fr for 90 minutes one day and
then 90 minutes the ne8t6 How about 70 minutes each week for four weeks6
4eo)e commony ca doing a ot of studying 5ust before a test cra##ing' If you )ack ots of studying into a short
)eriod% you2 do okay on an immediate test% but you will forget the #aterial *uickly. If% on the other hand% you
study in severa sessions with deays between them% you may not do Buite as we on the immediate test but%
unike the crammer% you2 remember the materia onger after the test'
So% it makes sense that s)reading out your studying woud )roduce better memory than cramming% but we need to
make e8)icit two im)ortant im)ications of the s)acing effect' C-D ?ou can get away with ess )ractice if you
s)ace it out than if you bunch it together' !ut s)acing )ractice has another benefit' ,ractice% as we2ve used the
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age ,/ of ++'
term% #eans continuing to work at so#ething that you have already #astered' That sounds kind of boring% even
though it brings cognitive benefits' So% C,D this )ractice wi work more easiy for the teacher and student in
kee)ing it interesting if you s)ace it out over time'
#ractice im"ro%es trans(er
As discussed earier% chaenges e8ist in getting what you aready know to transfer to new situations' It occurs% but
rarey' What can we do to increase the odds6 What factors make a student more ikey to say% GHey% I2ve seen
)robems ike this before and I remember how to sove themNH6
It turns out that many factors contribute to successfu transfer% but a few of them seem es)eciay im)ortant' First%
transfer wi more ikey occur when the surface structure of the new )robem has simiarity to the surface
structure of )robems seen before' For e8am)e% a coin coector wi more ikey recogni#e that they can work a
)robem invoving fractions if they see the )robem framed in terms of money e8change rather than if they see a
mathematicay eBuivaent )robem framed as one of cacuating the efficiency of an engine'
4ractice serves as another significant contributor to good transfer' Working ots of )robems of a )articuar ty)e
makes it more ikey that you wi recogni#e the underying structure of the )robem% even if you haven2t seen this
)articuar version of the )robem before' &esearchers think a cou)e of reasons e8)ain this' First% )ractice makes
it more ikey that you wi reay understand the )robem in the first )ace and that you wi remember it ater' If
you dont understand and re#e#ber the rincile, not #uch hoe e)ists for it to transfer to a new situation1
Second% we often use conte8tua information not ony for understanding individua words with severa )ossibe
meanings% but aso for understanding relationshis of different things in what we read' ?our mind stores
functiona reationshi)s between conce)ts 5ust as it stores the meaning of individua words' The first time
someone tes you that eye can refer to the center of a hurricane% you don2t have any troube understanding itL but
that doesn2t mean that the ne8t time you encounter eye the correct meaning wi )o) into mind' More ikey% you
wi fee )u##ed and need to work out from the conte8t what it means' To inter)ret eye automaticay the right
way% you wi need to see it a few more timesIin short% you wi need to ractice it' The same hods true of dee)
structures' ?ou might understand a dee) structure the first time you see it% but that doesn2t mean you wi
recogni#e it automaticay when you encounter it again' ?n sum) "ractice hel"s trans(er because "ractice makes
dee" structure more ob%ious.
This cha)ter started with two obvious reasons to )racticeK to gain #ini#u# co#etence Cas when a teenager
)ractices driving with a manua shift unti they can reiaby use itD and to gain roficiency Cas when a gofer
)ractices )utts to im)rove their accuracyD' We then suggested three more reasons to continue )racticing menta
skis% even when no obvious im)rovements in our abiities occur' Such )ractice yieds three benefitsK C-D it can
he) menta )rocess become automatic and thereby enabe further earningL C,D it makes memory ong astingL and
C7D it increases the ikeihood that earning wi transfer to new situations' The downside of this sort of )ractice
seems )retty obviousK 4eo)e tend to get )retty bored )racticing something they don2t seem to get better atN Some
ideas about how we can rea) some benefits of )ractice whie minimi#ing the costs foow'
*hat should students "ractice? We cannot )ractice everything e8tensivey' We sim)y don2t have time% but
fortunatey we don2t need to )ractice everything' If )ractice makes menta )rocesses automatic% we can then
ask% Which rocesses need to beco#e auto#atic? &etrieving number facts from memory seems a good
candidate% as does retrieving etter sounds from memory' A chemistry teacher may decide that his students
need to have basic facts about the )eriodic tabe at their fingerti)s' A )hysics teacher may decide that her
students need to Buicky retrieve certain eBuations from memory' (n general& the processes that need to
become automatic probably serve as the building blocks of skills that will provide the most benefit in the
short and long term if they become automatic The things one does again and again serve as the building
blocks in a sub'ect area& and they serve as the prerequisites for more advanced work
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age ,: of ++'
S"ace out the "ractice. "o not think that a of the )ractice with a )articuar conce)t or ski needs to occur
within a short s)an of time or even within a )articuar unit' In fact% good reasons e8ist to s)ace out )ractice'
9e#ory beco#es #ore enduring with saced out ractice% and )racticing the same skis again and again
often becomes boring' It works better to offer some change' Students wi get more )ractice thinking through
how to a))y what they know as an additiona benefit of s)acing' If you bunch a of the )ractice of a ski
together% students wi know that every )robem they encounter serves as a variant of the )racticed ski' !ut
if you sometimes incude materia from a week% a month% or three months ago% students must think more
carefuy about how to tacke the )robem% and about what knowedge and skis they have that might a))y'
Then too% remember that your students wi encounter other teachers' An ;ngish teacher might think it very
im)ortant for their students to understand the use of imagery in )oetry% but students wi acBuire the
knowedge and skis necessary to a))reciate imagery over years of instruction'
3old "ractice into more ad%anced skills. ?ou may target a basic ski as one that students need to )ractice
to the )oint of mastery% but that does not #ean that students cannot also ractice it in the conte)t of #ore
advanced skills. For e8am)e% students may need to )ractice retrieving sounds in res)onse to )rinted etters%
but why not )ut that )ractice into the conte8t of interesting readingIinsofar as )ossibe without overoading
working memory6 A com)etent bridge )ayer needs to count the )oints in a hand as a guide to bidding% but a
bridge instructor shoud not have their students do nothing but count )oints unti they coud do so
automaticay' Automaticity takes lots of ractice' The smart way invoves distributing the )ractice not ony
across ti#e but aso across activities' Think of as many creative ways as you can to )ractice the reay crucia
skis% but remember that students can sti get )ractice in the basics whie they work on more advanced
skis'
Question G: What can we do to get students to think ike scientists% historians and
mathematicians6
ns!er: We cant. Students cannot cognitivey do what trained and e8)erienced scientists% mathematicians and
historians do'
Critical "rinci"le G: Co&nition early in trainin& differs fundamentally (rom co&nition late in trainin&.
Students do not ony know ess than e8)ertsL their memory aso organi#es it differenty' ;8)ert scientists did not
think ike e8)erts<in<training when they started out' They thought ike novices' In truth% no one thinks ike a
scientist or a historian without a great deal of training and e)erience' This concusion doesn2t mean that students
shoud never try to write a )oem or conduct a scientific e8)erimentL but teachers and administrators shoud have a
cear idea of what such assignments wiIand wi notIdo for students'
Traditionay% we find science casses structured as foowsK C-D at home you read a te8tbook that e8)ains some
)rinci)e of bioogy% chemistry% or )hysicsL C,D the ne8t day the teacher e8)ains the )rinci)eL C7D with a )artner
you conduct a aboratory e8ercise meant to iustrate the )rinci)eL and C+D that night you com)ete a )robem set
in order to )ractice a))ying the )rinci)e'
These activities don2t give students any )ractice in what scientists actually do' For e8am)e% scientists don2t know
the outcome of an e8)eriment before they do itIthey do the e8)eriment to find out what wi ha))en% and they
must interret the resuts% which often sur)rises them or )roduces a sef<contradictory resut' Meanwhie% as
traditionay done high schooers know that aboratory e8ercises have )redictabe outcomes% so they ikey focus
much ess on what the ab iustrates than on whether they Gdid it rightH' 3ikewise% historians don2t read and
memori#e te8tbooksIthey work with origina sources Cbirth certificates% diaries% contem)orary news)a)er
accounts% and the ikeD to construct sensibe narrative inter)retations of historica events' If we don2t give students
)ractice in doing the things that historians and scientists actuay do% in what sense do we teach them history and
science6 !ut even if we change the ways we teach% can we reaisticay teach them to think ike historians and
scientists6
4robaby not' &ea scientists have e)ertise' They have worked at science for forty hours Cikey many moreD each
week for years' It turns out that those years of )ractice make a Buaitative% not Buantitative% difference in the way
they think com)ared to how a we<informed amateur thinks' Thinking ike a historian% a scientist% or a
mathematician )roves a very ta order indeed' What do e8)ert thinkers do and how do they do it6
What do scientists) mathematicians and other e$"erts do?
Fbviousy% what e8)erts do de)ends on their fied of e8)ertise' Sti we find im)ortant simiarities among e8)erts%
not ony in schoary fieds such as history% math% iterature% and science% but aso in a))ied fieds such as
medicine% banking% auto re)air% and construction% and in recreationa )ursuits such as chess% bridge% and tennis'
!ombarded with information such as data from their own e8amination% resuts of muti)e tests% the facts% and so
forth% e8)erience makes e8)erts more sensitive to subte cues that others miss' ;8)erts have a ot of background
knowedge about their fied% but it takes #ore than knowledge to beco#e an e)ert' ;8)erts<in<training often
know as much Cor neary as muchD as e8)erts' !ut the e8)ert can access the right information from memory with
great s)eed and accuracyIinformation that the more 5unior e8)ert<in<training has in their memory but 5ust don2t
think of'
;8)ertise e8tends even to the ty)es of mistakes that they make' When e8)erts fai% they do so gracefuy' When
they don2t get the right answer% the wrong answer usuay comes )retty cose' Finay% e8)erts show better transfer
to simiar domains than novices do' For e8am)e% a historian can anay#e documents outside their area of e8)ertise
and sti come u) with a reasonabe anaysis' The anaysis wi take onger and wi not have Buite the detai as it
woud for materia in their own area% but it wi a))ear much more ike an e8)ert2s anaysis that a novice2s'
Com)ared to novices% e8)erts can better singe out im)ortant detais% )roduce sensibe soutions% and transfer their
knowedge to simiar domains' We see these abiities in doctors% writers% mathematicians% chess )ayersIand
teachers'
What does an e$"erts mental toolbo$ contain?
How do e8)erts do what they do6 What )robem<soving abiities or s)eciai#ed knowedge to they have access
to6 And how can we make sure that students have whatever it takes6 We have discussed two ways of getting
around of getting around the imitations of working memory% background knowledge and ractice' ;8)erts use
both too% but their e8tensive e8)erience makes these strategies even more effective'
;8)erts have ots of background knowedge in their area of e8)ertise% but the e8)ert brain has another advantage
over the brains of the rest of us' They don2t 5ust have ots of information in ong<term memoryL they also have
that infor#ation in #e#ory organi'ed differently from the information in a novice2s ong<term memory'
;8)erts don2t think in terms of surface features% as novices doL they think in terms of functions or dee) structure%
in terms of functiona units' We can generai#e by saying that e8)erts think abstracty' They sort )robems on the
basis of the rinciles im)ortant to their soution'
The second way to get around the imited si#e of working memory invoves )racticing )rocedures so many times
that they become automatic' That way the )rocedures don2t take s)ace in working memory' Tie your shoes a few
hundred times and you don2t need to think about itL your fingers 5ust fy through the routine without any direction
from thought )rocesses that woud crowd working memory' :)erts have auto#ati'ed #any of the routine,
fre*uently used rocedures that early in their training re*uired careful thought.
So e8)erts save room in working memory through acBuiring e8tensive% functiona background knowedgeL they
do this by making menta )rocedures automatic' What do they do with that e8tra s)ace in working memory6 Fne
of the things they do invoves taking to themseves' What sort of conversation does an e8)ert have with him or
hersef6 Fften they tak about a )robem in )rogress% and they do so at an abstract eve' The )hysics e8)ert says
things ike GThis is )robaby an energy conservation )robem% and I need to show the transfer of )otentiay stored
energy into kineticay stored energy'H
Interestingy% the e8)ert can draw im)ications from this sef<tak' The )hysics e8)ert 5ust mentioned has aready
drawn a hy)othesis about the nature of the )robem% and as they continue reading% they wi evauate the vaidity
of their hy)othesis' G$ow I fee reay sure% because we wi sBuash the s)ring and that wi store more energy
)otentiay'H Thus e8)erts do not 5ust narrate what they do' They also generate hyotheses, and so test their own
understanding and think through the i#lications of ossible solutions in rogress. Talking to yourself de#ands
working #e#ory, however, so novices will #uch less likely do it. If they do tak to themseves% what they say
)redictaby occurs at a shaower eve than what e8)erts say' When novices tak to themseves% they narrate what
they do% and what they say does not have the beneficia sef<testing )ro)erties that e8)ert tak has'
+o! can !e &et students to think like e$"erts?
;8)erts see )robems and situation in their chosen fied functionay rather than at the surface eve' Sounds great'
How can we teach students to do this6 Anfortunatey% we don2t have an e8acty cheering answer to this Buestion'
It shoud seem obvious that offering novices advice such as Gtak to yoursefH or Gthink functionayH won2t work'
:)erts do those things, but only because their #ental toolbo) enables the# to do so. The only ath to e)ertise
as far as anyone know involves long, focused ractice.
&esearch on e8)ertise fairy consistenty shows one sur)rising finding' The great minds of science did not get
distinguished as e8ce)tionay briiant as measured by IQ tests' For sure% they Buaified as very smart% but not the
standouts that their stature in their fieds might suggest' What did "ro%e sin&ular in%ol%ed their ca"acity (or
sustained !ork. =reat scientists almost al!ays *uali(y as !orkaholics. ;ach of us knows our imitL at some
)oint we need to sto) working and watch a stu)id teevision )rogram% read ,eole maga#ine% or something
simiar' Jreat scientists have incredibe )ersistence% and their threshod for menta e8haustion runs very high'
Thomas Ava ;dison% famous for inventing or greaty im)roving the ight bub% the fuorosco)e Can eary version
of the 8<ray machineD% the )honogra)h% and motion )ictures% also had fa#e for his work habits. +e so#eti#es
worked ;<<$hour work weeks, and he often took cat nas in his laboratory rather than slee at ho#e. S#all
wonder e)ists that he said /genius is ; ercent insiration and == ercent ersiration.0
Another im)ication of the im)ortance of )ractice reates to the idea that we cant achieve e)ertise until we ut in
our hours' A number of researchers have endorsed what has become known as the Gten<year rueHK one can2t
become an e8)ert in any fied in ess than ten years% whether )hysics% chess% gof% mathematics% or teaching' Some
have argued that the rue fits )rodigies such as Mo#art% who began com)osing at age five% because they usuay
had imitative eary out)ut and did not get recogni#ed by their )eers as e8ce)tiona' So% even if we aow for a few
)rodigies every century% the ten<year rue hods u) )retty we'
$othing magica about a decade e8istsL it 5ust seems to take that ong to earn the background knowedge and to
deveo) the automaticity that we2ve taked about here' Indeed% research has shown that those who have ess time
for )ractice take onger than a decade% and in fieds where one has ess to earnIshort<distance s)rinting or
weightifting% for e8am)eIone can achieve greatness with ony a few years of )ractice' In most fieds% however%
ten years serves as a good rue of thumb' And study and )ractice do not end once one achieves e8)ert status' The
work must continue if one wishes to maintain their e8)ert status'
;8)erts do not sim)y think better than novices in their chosen fiedL e8)erts actuay think in ways *ualitatively
different' As novices% our students do not have e8)ertise' How shoud that im)act our teaching6
Students can com"rehend) not create ne! kno!led&e in a (ield. ;8)erienced mathematicians% historians
and scientists differ from novices' They have worked in their fied for years and the knowedge and
e8)eriences they have accumuated enabes them to think in ways not o)en to the rest of us' Thus% trying to
get your students to think ike them does not serve as a reaistic goa' >etting your students to understand
so#e science, #ath and history2a worthy goal indeed2works as a very different goal co#ared with
getting the# to think like scientists, #athe#aticians or historians.
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age 7- of ++'
"rawing a distinction between understanding knowedge and creating significant contributions to a fied
may he)' ;8)erts create significant contributions to a fied' For e8am)e% scientists create and test theories
of natura )henomena% historians create narrative inter)retations of historica events% and mathematicians
create )roofs and descri)tions of com)e8 )atterns' ;8)erts not ony understand their fied% they add to it'
A more modest and reaistic goa for students invoves their constructing a fir# knowledge foundation' A
student may not construct a new scientific theory% but they can deveo) a dee) understanding of e8isting
theory' A student may not write a new narrative of historica fact% but they can foow and understand a
narrative that someone ese has written'
cti%ities a""ro"riate (or e$"erts may at times !ork a""ro"riately (or students) but not because they
!ill do much (or students co&niti%ely. A key difference between the e8)ert and the we<informed amateur
ies in the e8)ert2s abiity to create new knowedge versus the amateur2s abiity to understand conce)ts that
others have created' We% what ha))ens if you ask students to create new knowedge6 Most ikey% they
won2t do it very we because doing that reBuires a ot of background knowedge and e8)erience that they
don2t have'
!ut a teacher might have some very good other reasons for asking students to do these things' For e8am)e%
a teacher might ask their students to inter)ret the resuts of a aboratory e8)eriment not with the e8)ectation
that this teaches them to think ike scientists% but instead to highight a )articuar )henomenon or to draw
their attention to the need for cose observation of an e8)eriment2s outcome'
Assignments that demand creativity may aso motivate students' A music cass may we em)hasi#e )ractice
and )ro)er techniBue% but it may aso encourage students to com)ose their own works sim)y because the
students woud find it fun and interesting' "oes such )ractice )rove necessary or usefu in order for students
to think ike musicians6 4robaby not' !eginning students normay do not have the cognitive eBui)ment in
)ace to com)ose% but that doesn2t mean they won2t have a great time doing so% and that may )rovide reason
enough'
The same hods true for science fairs' =udging a ot of science fairs reveas mosty terribe student )ro5ects'
The students usuay try to answer ousy Buestions not fundamenta to the fied' !ecause of the )oor
e8)eriment design and faiure to sensiby anay#e data% the students don2t a))ear to have earned much about
scientific methods' !ut some students reay en-oy and feel roud of what they have done% and their interest
in science or engineering has gotten a big boost' So athough the scientificay creative as)ect of the )ro5ect
usuay fo)s% science fairs seem good bets for ractice and #otivation'
!ottom ineK )osing to students chaenges that demand creating something new wi normay ie beyond
their reachIbut that doesn2t mean that you shoud never )ose such tasks' =ust kee) in mind what the student
wi or wi not get out of it'
Dont e$"ect no%ices to learn by doin& !hat e$"erts do. When considering how to he) students gain a
ski% it seems natura to encourage them to emuate someone who aready knows how to do what you want
them to do' Thus% if you want students to earn how to read a ma)% find someone who reads ma)s we and
start training the students in the methods the good ma) reader uses' As ogica as this techniBue sounds% it
can backfire because significant differences e)ist between how e)erts and novices think'
For e8am)e% how shoud we teach reading6 ;8)ert readers make fewer eye movements than unskied
readers do' So one coud say that the better way to read invoves recogni#ing entire words% and that we
shoud teach that method from the start because good readers read that way'
Fne shoud view such arguments with sus)icion' ;ven though e8)ert readers can take in a whoe word at a
time% they did not necessarily start off reading that way' ;8)ert tennis )ayers s)end most of their time
during a match thinking about strategy and trying to antici)ate what their o))onents wi do' !ut we
shoudn2t te novices to think about strategyL novices need to think about footwork and about the basics of
their strokes'
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age 7, of ++'
Whenever you see an e8)ert doing something differenty from the way a non<e8)ert does it% the e)ert #ay
well have once done it the ways the novice does it, and doing so #ay serve as a necessary ste on the way to
e)ertise' &a)h Wado ;merson )ut it more artfuyK G;very artist was first an amateur'H
Question H: How shoud a teacher ad5ust their teaching to different ty)es of earners6
ns!er: They shoudn2t' $o one has found consistent evidence su))orting a theory describing such a difference'
Critical "rinci"le H: Children ha%e (ar more similarities than di((erences in ho! they think and learn.
$ote that this caim does not say a chidren are aike% nor that teachers shoud treat chidren as interchangeabe'
$aturay some kids ike math whereas others do better at ;ngish' Some chidren e8hibit shyness and other an
outgoing nature' Teachers interact with each student differenty% 5ust as they interact with friends differentyL but
teachers shoud know that% as far as scientists can deter#ine, we do not have categorically different tyes of
learners'
Styles and abilities
Students obviousy have differences% and some teachers ho)e that they might use these differences to reach
students' For e8am)e% a teacher might take a student2s strength and use it to remedy a weakness' A second
)ossibiity invoves the idea that a teacher might take advantage of student2s different ways of earning' Ceary%
these e8citing )ossibiities im)y more work for the teacher' Would it be worth it? !efore discussing that% we need
to carify the differences between cognitive abilities and cognitive style'
4ognitive ability refers to ca)acity for or success in certain ty)es of thought' In contrast% cognitive styles work as
biases or tendencies to think in a )articuar way% for e8am)e to think seBuentiay Cof one thing at a timeD or
hoisticay Cof a of the )arts simutaneousyD' 7bilities invove how we dea with content and they refect the
eve of what we know or can do' Styles invove how we )refer to think and earn' We consider having more
abiity better than having ess% but we do not consider one stye better than another' Fne stye might work more
effectivey for a )articuar )robem% but a styes have eBua usefuness overa% by definition' CIf they didn2t% we
woud cassify them as abiities% not styes'D To use a s)orts anaogy% we might say that two footba )ayers have
eBua abiity even if they have different styes on the fied' For e8am)e% one might take many risks whie the
other behaves more conservativey'
Co&niti%e styles
A cognitive styes theory must have the foowing three featuresK C-D it shoud consistenty attribute to a )erson the
same stye% C,D it shoud show that )eo)e with different styes think and earn differenty% and C7D it shoud show
that )eo)e with different styes do not% on average% differ in abiity' 7t this oint we do not have a theory with
these characteristics. That does not mean that cognitive styes don2t e8istIthey certainy might' !ut after
decades of trying% )sychoogists have not found them' &egarding this% et2s consider the hy)othesis of visua%
auditory% and kinesthetic earners'
Iisual) auditory) and kinesthetic learners
The visua<auditory<kinesthesia hy)othesis hods that everyone can take in new information through any of the
three senses% but most of us have a )referred sense' When earning something new% visua ty)es ike to see
diagrams% or even 5ust to see in )rint the words the teacher says' Auditory ty)es )refer descri)tions% usuay
verba% to which they can isten' Oinesthetic earners ike to mani)uate ob5ects )hysicayL they move their bodies
in order to earn'
4eo)e do differ in their visua and auditory memory abiities' !ut cognitive scientists have aso shown that we do
not store a of our memories as sights or sounds' We also store memories in terms of what they #ean to us' For
e8am)e% if a friend tes you a bit of gossi) about a coworker who someone saw come out of an adut booksho)%
you #ight retain the visua and auditory detais of the story Cfor e8am)e% how the )erson teing the story ooked
and soundedD% but you might remember ony the content of the story Cadut booksho)D without remembering any
of the auditory or visua as)ects of the teing' 9eaning has a ife of its own% indeendent of sensory details'
So% it )roves true that some )eo)e have es)eciay good visua or auditory memories' In that sense% we have
visua and auditory earners' !ut the key )rediction of the hy)othesis does not invove that' The key rediction
involves the idea that students will learn better when instruction #atches the cognitive style. In other words%
su))ose Anne )refers an auditory stye whie Sictor )refers a visua stye' Su))ose further that you give Anne and
Sictor two ists of new vocabuary words to earn' To earn the first ist% they isten to a ta)e of the words and
definitions severa timesL to earn the second ist% they view a side show of )ictures de)icting the words' The
theory )redicts that Anne shoud earn more words on the first ist than on the second whereas Sictor shoud earn
more words of the second ist than on the first' 4sychoogists have conducted do#ens of studies aong these ines%
incuding studies using materias more ike those used in cassrooms' 7%erall these studies do not su""ort the
hy"othesis. Matchin& the students "re(erred learnin& mode does not &i%e that student any ed&e in learnin&.
How can that ha))en6 Why doesn2t Anne earn better with an auditory )resentation% given that she )refers the
auditory mode6 .ecause the test does not test auditory infor#ation1 Auditory information consists of the
)articuar sound of the voice on the ta)e% but the test tests the #eaning of the words' Anne2s edge in auditory
memory doesn2t he) her in situations where meaning has im)ortance' Simiary% Sictor might better recogni#e the
visua detais of the )ictures used to de)ict the words on the sides% but again% the test does not test that abiity'
The situation described in this e8)eriment )robaby matches most schoo essons' Most of the time students need
to remember what things #ean% not what they sound% ook% or fee ike' Sure% sometimes that information countsL
someone with a good visua memory wi have an edge in memori#ing the )articuar sha)es of countries on a ma)%
for e8am)e% and someone with a good auditory memory wi better get the accent right in a foreign anguage' !ut
the vast ma5ority of schooing concerns itsef with what things mean% not with what they ook ike% sound ike% or
how they fee'
So does that mean that the visua<auditory<kinesthetic hy)othesis works correcty some sma )ro)ortion of the
time% such as when students earn foreign anguage accents or countries on a ma)6 $ot reay% because the )oint of
the hy)othesis invoves the idea that we can )resent the same materia in different ways to match each student2s
strength' So% visua earners )resumaby shoud view sha)es of countries whie auditory earners shoud isten to
descri)tions'
If the visua<auditory<kinesthetic hy)othesis does not fit% why does it seem so right6 About 10 )ercent of teachers
beieve we have students )redominanty visua% auditory% or kinesthetic earners' 4robaby severa factors
contribute to the hy)othesis2 )ausibiity' First% it has become commony acce)ted wisdomIone of those aeged
GfactsH that everyone figures must hod true because everyone beieves it' CAnd the beiefs of )eo)e around us
have )owerfu effects in sha)ing our own beiefs'D
Another im)ortant factor reates to the idea that something simiar to the hy)othesis does )rove true' 4eo)e do
differ in their visua and auditory #e#ories' For e8am)e% maybe you have watched in wonder as a student has
)ainted a vivid )icture of an e8)erience from a cass fied tri) and thought% GWow% 3acy is obviousy a visua
earner'H 3acy may we have a reay good visua #e#ory% but that doesnt mean she Buaifies as a Gvisua
earnerH in the sense that the hy)othesis im)ies'
A fina reason the visua<auditory<kinesthetic hy)othesis see#s right invoves a )sychoogica )henomenon caed
confir#ation bias' 3nce we believe so#ething, we unconsciously interret a#biguous situations as consistent
with what we already believe. The great noveist Tostoy )ut it this wayK
/I know that #ost #en, including those at ease with roble#s of the greatest co#le)ity, can seldo# accet
the si#lest and #ost obvious truth if it be such as would oblige the# to ad#it the falsity of conclusions
which they have roudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabrics of
their life.0
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age 7+ of ++'
For e8am)e% many )eo)e beieve that a sorts of interesting things ha))en during a fu moonK the murder rate
goes u)% emergency room admissions increase as do cas to )oice and fire de)artment% and more babies come
into the word% among other things' Actuay% researchers have e8haustivey e8amined this hy)othesis and found it
wrong' Why do )eo)e beieve it6 Fne factor invoves the confirmation bias' When a fu moon occurs and nurses
have a busy deivery room% the nurse notices and remembers it' When they have a busy deivery room and no fu
moon% they don2t take note of it'
We2ve gone into a ot of detai about the visua<auditory<kinesthetic hy)othesis because so many )eo)e beieve it%
even though )sychoogists know it does not work' What we have said about this theory goes for a of the other
cognitive stye hy)otheses as we' That we have mi8ed evidence concerning them serves as about the best that we
can say about any of them' $ow% what about abiities% and how shoud we think about differences in them among
students6
bilities and multi"le intelli&ences
The different abiities Cor GinteigencesH% if you ikeD do not interchange' We have to earn mathematica conce)ts
and skis mathematicay% and ski in music% for e8am)e% wi not he) us do this' Writing a )oem about the arc
that a gof cub shoud take wi not he) your gof swing' These abiities do not com)etey remain insuated from
one another% but they remain se)arate enough that you can2t take one ski you do we and everage it to boster a
weakness'
Some )eo)e have suggested that we might at east get students interested in sub5ect matter by a))eaing to their
strength' To get the science whi# reading for )easure% don2t hand her a book of ;miy "ickenson2s )oetryL give
her the memoirs of )hysicist &ichard Feynman' That seems a sensibe idea% if not terriby starting' !ut this wi
take you ony so far% much ike trying to a))ea to a student2s individua interests% a )oint taken u) in Cha)ter
Fne'
CSee )ages -,,<-,. in the book for a more detaied discussion of the history and evidence reated to these issues'D
Conclusions
;veryone can a))reciate that students differ from one another' What can Cor shoudD teachers do about that6 Fne
woud ho)e we coud use those differences to im)rove instruction% and researchers have suggested two basic
methods% one based on difference in cognitive stye' From this view% if one matches the method of instruction to
the )referred cognitive stye of the chid% earning )resumaby wi occur more easiy' Anfortunatey% no one has
described a set of styes based on good evidence'
We find the second way that teachers might take advantage of differences among students rooted in differences in
abiities' If a student acks in one cognitive abiity% )resumaby one coud use a cognitive strength to make u) for
or at east boster the cognitive weakness' Anfortunatey% good evidence suggests that this sort of substitution does
not occur' To state the situation ceary% students definitey do differ in their cognitive abiitiesL the error ies in the
substitution idea'
We do not suggest here that teachers shoud not differentiate instruction' We ho)e that they wi' !ut when they
do% they shoud know that scientists cannot offer any he)' It woud )rove wonderfu if scientists had identified
categories of students aong with varieties of instruction best suited to each category% but after a great dea of
effort% they have not found such ty)es% and many researchers think that such ty)es don2t e8ist' Teachers need to
treat students differently on the basis of their e)erience with each student and re#ain alert for what works for
that student. When differentiating a#ong students, craft knowledge tru#s science. That said% consider these
)ositive thoughts for your cassroomK
'hink in terms o( content) not in terms o( students. 3earning stye theories don2t he) much when a))ied
to students% but they may he) when a))ied to content' Consider the visua<auditory<kinesthetic distinction'
?ou might want students to e8)erience materia in one or another modaity de)ending on what you want
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age 7. of ++'
them to get out of the essonL students shoud see a diagram of Fort Ono8% they shoud hear the nationa
anthem of Turkmenistan% and they shoud wear the cheche turban the Saharan tribes use to )rotect
themseves from the sun and wind'
Chan&e &rabs attention. Change during a esson invigorates students and refocuses their attention' If the
teacher has been doing a ot of taking% something visua Ca video or a ma)D offers a wecome change' If the
students2 work has demanded a ot of ogica% deductive thinking% )erha)s they shoud do another task that
cas for thoughtfu% measured res)onses' &ather than individuai#ing the reBuired menta )rocesses for each
student% give a of them )ractice in a of these )rocesses% and view the transitions as an o))ortunity for each
student to start fresh and refocus their menta energies'
We can %alue all children) e%en i( they dont seem 4smart in some !ay5. ?ou have )robaby heard
someone say% G;very student is inteigent in some way%H or ask students to identify GWhat kind of smart are
you6H Teachers )robaby say this in an effort to communicate an egaitarian attitude to studentsK everyone
can do something we' !ut we shoud fee eery of this attitude for a cou)e of reasons' First% it im)ies that
inteigence brings vaueIand that a ack of inteigence means ess or no vaue' !ut every )erson e8ists
uniBuey% and no one kno!s enou&h to Cud&e the &lobal %alue or !orth o( any "erson in the uni%erse)
!hether intelli&ent or not. 7ne !ould ha%e to kno! all thin&s in order to make such a Cud&ment.
Second% it does not necessariy hod true that every chid has some kind of inteigence' The e8act )ercentage
of chidren cassified as GsmartH woud de)end on how many inteigences you define and whether GsmartH
means Gto) -0 )ercentH or Gto) .0 )ercentH% and so on' It doesn2t reay matter muchIyou wi aways have
some kids not es)eciay gifted in any of the inteigences thus cassified' Certainy% teing kids that they
have a ski they don2t )ossess sedom works' CIf you briefy foo a chid% their )eers wi usuay ha))iy
bring reaity crashing down on their head'D
Third% it never he)s to te a chid that they Gare smartH' "oing so makes them ess smart' &eay' CSee
Question : beow'D
Dont !orry@and sa%e your money. If you have fet nagging guit that you have not evauated each of
your students to assess their cognitive stye% or if you think you know their styes and have not ad5usted your
teaching to them% dont worry about it' We have no reason to think that doing these things wi he)' And if
you thought of buying a book or inviting someone in for a )rofessiona deveo)ment session on one of these
to)ics% save your money'
If Gcognitive styesH and Gmuti)e inteigencesH don2t he) to characteri#e how chidren differ% what might
work better6 Why do some chidren seem to bree#e through mathematics whie other strugge6 Why do some
chidren ove history% or geogra)hy6 !ackground knowedge serves as an im)ortant determinant of what we
find interestingL for e8am)e% )robems or )u##es that seem difficut but not im)ossibe )iBue our interest'
!ackground knowedge serves as an im)ortant determinant of our success in schoo' Cognitive )rocesses
such as anay#ing% synthesi#ing% and critiBuing cannot o)erate aone' They need background knowedge to
make them work'
Sti% background knowedge does not account for a differences between students' ;vidence su))orts the
idea that some students sim)y think and behave in ceaver ways' The ne8t section reates to how we can
ma8imi#e the )otentia of a students regarding the degree of their ceverness'
Question J: How can we o)timi#e schoo for students who don2t have the raw
inteigence that other students have6
ns!er: Westerners tend to view inteigence as a fi8ed% unchangeabe attribute' !ut if a student fais a test or
does not understand a conce)t% neither we nor they shoud concude that they cannot earn the materia' They -ust
have not worked hard enough yet. This attribution he)s students because it tes students that they have contro
over their inteigence' $o doubt e8ists that one can change inteigence' @$ote how this reates to Martin
Seigman2s earned he)essness theory'E
Critical "rinci"le J: Children do di((er in intelli&ence and sustained) hard !ork can chan&e intelli&ence.
What do we mean by inteigence6 Athough we might make many finer distinctions% the overa idea that some
)eo)e reason we and catch on to new ideas Buicky ca)tures most of what we mean when we say GinteigenceH'
We shoud note two things about this definition' First% it does not incude abiities in music% athetics% or other
fieds that Jardner incuded in his theory of muti)e inteigences' As described in cha)ter seven% most
researchers consider those abiities 5ust as im)ortant as those considered as)ects of inteigence% but caing them
inteigences rather than taents muddies the waters of communication and does not advance the science' Second%
the definition actuay seems to incude 5ust one inteigence referred to as g Cfor generaD'
$o one knows e8acty what g consists of' 4eo)e suggest that it might reate to s)eed or the ca)acity of working
memory% or even that it refects how Buicky the neurons in our brain fire' Onowing what underies g does not
)rove im)ortant for our )ur)osesL it does have im)ortance to know the reaity of g% which tends to )redict success
in schoo'
What makes "eo"le intelli&ent?
At this )oint% the im)ortance of hard work and )ractice to cognitive task e8)ertise shoud have become cear'
4erha)s )eo)e we consider inteigent have had ots of )ractice C)robaby from a very young ageD doing the kinds
of tasks that define inteigence' 4erha)s for whatever reasons they have received e8)osure to ots of com)e8
ideas and e8)anations of those ideas% have had many o))ortunities to reason in a su))ortive environment% and so
on'
The other main view invoves the idea that inteigence comes geneticay from one2s )arents' According to this
view% some )eo)e come into the word smart and athough they might further deveo) this abiity through
)ractice% they wi remain )retty smart even if they do itte or nothing to deveo) their inteigence'
At this )oint we have two )ossibe answers to the Buestion Where does intelligence co#e fro#? and both answers
fa at e8treme ends of the )ossibiitiesK a nature CgeneticsD or a nurture Ce8)erienceD' Whenever )eo)e raise the
Buestion% Does nature or nurture account for intelligence? the answer usuay bois down to both% amost aways
with the difficuty of s)ecifying more s)ecificay how genes and e8)eriences interact' !ut a significant shift in
researchers2 )oints of view has occurred in the ast twenty years' It has moved from thinking Gboth% but )robaby
mosty geneticH to Gboth% but )robaby mosty environmentaH'
Why might the effects of genetics actuay )rove fairy modest6 !ecause of )ast misattribution to genetics' It may
often work ike thisK The genetic effects often look arge because the effect of genetics involves #aking a erson
likely to seek out articular environ#ents' For e8am)e% su))ose identica twins get se)arated at birth and ado)ted
into different famiies' Their genes make them unusuay ta at a young age% and they continue to grow' !ecause
each twin has unusually great height% each tends to do we in informa basketba games around the
neighborhood' For that reason% each asks their )arents to )ut u) a net at home' The skis of each naturay
im)rove with ractice% and each gets recruited for their 5unior high basketba team' More )ractice eads to sti
better knowedge and ski% and by the end of high schoo each twin )ays Buite weInot a future )rofessiona%
)erha)s% but sti better than 1: )ercent of the )o)uation% et2s say'
$otice what has ha))ened' As identica twins raised a)art% if a researcher tracked them down and administered a
basketba ski test% they woud find both Buite good% and because they did not get raised together the researcher
woud )robaby concude% wrongy% that this demonstrates a genetic effect' !ut their genes made them tall% not
good at basketba' Having great height then nudged them toward environments that incuded a ot of basketba
)ractice from an eary age' ,racticeIan environmenta effectImade them good at basketba% not their genes'
>enetic effects can #ake you seek out or select different environ#ents with different ractice contingencies.
$ow think of how this might a))y to inteigence' Maybe genetics has had some sma effect on your
inteigence' Maybe it has made you sighty Buicker to understand things% or made your memory a itte bit better%
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age 7/ of ++'
or made you more )ersistent on cognitive tasks% or sim)y made you more curious' ?our )arents or other
im)ortant )eo)e in your environment noticed this and encouraged your interest' They may not have even had any
awareness of their encouraging you' They might have taked to you more% or about more interesting sub5ects% or
read to you more% or used a broader vocabuary' Fver time as you got oder% you saw yoursef more and more as
one of the Gsmart kidsH' ?ou made friends with other smart kinds% and entered into friendy but Buite rea
com)etition for the highest grades' Then too% maybe genetics subty )ushed you away from other endeavors' ?ou
may have done things a itte more sowy or cumsiy )hysicay than others' That encouraged you to avoid
situations that might deveo) your athetic skis Csuch as )icku) basketba gamesD and instead stay inside and
read Cwhich woud strongy )ractice vocabuary% inteectua focusing% and reasoning skisD'
The key idea here invoves the fact that genetics and the environ#ent interact' S#all differences in genetic
inheritance can steer )eo)e to seek different e8)eriences in their environments% and these differences in
environ#ental e)eriences% es)eciay over the ong term% have large cognitive conseBuences' For this reason% we
shoud not assume that twins raised in different househods have e8)erienced significanty different environments'
The fact that they have the same genes may we have encouraged them to seek out environments simiar in
im)ortant ways'
How does a of this matter6 !ecause how we treat students, and what they think of the#selves, deends on how
we and they understand about the nature of intelligence' If inteigence consisted mainy of a matter of one2s
genetic inheritance% then not much )oint woud e8ist in trying to make kids smarter' In that case% we woud try to
get students to do the best they coud given the geneticay determined inteigence they have' We2d aso think
seriousy about trying to steer the not<so<smart kids toward inteectuay undemanding tracks in schoos% figuring
they have a destiny for ow<eve 5obs anyway' !ut inteigence does not work that way' Intelligence has
#alleability. It can i#rove.
JreatN So how do we im)rove inteigence and skis6 The first ste) invoves convincing our students that they can
im)rove their inteigence'
+o! belie(s about intelli&ence matter
Consider two hy)othetica students' Feicia seems very concerned about whether she a))ears inteigent' When
given a choice of tasks% she )icks the easiest one to make sure that she succeeds' When confronted with a
chaenging task% she Buits after the first setback% usuay )rotesting oudy that she fees tired% or offering some
other e8cuse' Moy% in contrast% doesn2t seem bothered by faiure' Jiven a choice% she )icks tasks new to her and
seems to en5oy earning from them% even if she finds them frustrating' When she finds a task difficut% Moy
doesn2t withdraw% she )ersists% trying a new strategy'
What accounts for the differences between the Moys and Feicias in cassrooms6 Ff course% many factors come
into )ay% but one im)ortant one invoves what they believe about intelligence' Students ike Feicia may consider
inteigence fi)ed% determined at birthL and because it cannot change% she fees very concerned that she get the
Gright abeH% so she )icks easy tasks' Fr she may beieve that the system has )igeon<hoed her as GdumbH% so she
sees no )oint in trying any more' Feicia2s beiefs about inteigence reay )aint her into a corner' She may think
that smart )eo)e don2t have to work hard to succeedIthey succeed through their su)erior inteigence' Therefore
she sees working hard as a sign of Gbeing dumbH' Thus% even though she may consider it im)ortant to a))ear
smart% she won2t aow hersef to work hard to make sure she succeeds because she thinks hard work makes her
ook dumbN
Moy% conversey% views inteigence as changeabe' She thinks she gets smarter by earning new things' Thus%
she does not find faiure neary so threatening% because she doesn2t beieve it says anything )ermanent about her
abiities' When Moy fais% she figures she didn2t work hard enough% hasn2t deveo)ed the needed skis% or hasn2t
earned about this )articuar to)ic yet' Thus% Moy thinks she has contro of her success or faiure because she can
aways work harder if she fais' Moy sees nothing embarrassing in admitting ignorance or in getting a wrong
answer' Therefore she has no motivation to )ick easy tasksL instead wi more ikey )ick chaenging tasks%
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age 7: of ++'
because she might earn from them' Moy aso does not consider working hard a sign of stu)idityIon the
contrary% she considers hard work a sign of one trying to get smarter'
It ooks ike Moy wi much more ikey succeed in schoo% com)ared with Feicia% and good evidence suggests
the truth of that' Students who believe that they can i#rove their intelligence with hard work get higher grades
than students who believe that intelligence re#ains an unchangeable trait.
Any teacher woud rather have a room fu of Moys than a room fu of Feicias' Where do students get their
ideas about inteigence and abiity6 Chidren2s understandings of inteigence have different as)ects' Many
factors contribute% but we have studied one factor in )articuarK how we )raise chidren'
In a cassic study on the effect of )raise% the e8)erimenters asked fifth graders to work on some )robems in which
they needed to find )atterns among visua figures' The chidren woud sove most of the first set of easy )robems'
The e8)erimenters )raised their success% teing them% GWow% you did very we on these )robems' ?ou got C8
number of )robemsD right' ?ou got a reay high score'H They tod some% G?ou must be smart at these )robems'H
In other words% they )raised these students for their ability' They tod others% G?ou must have worked hard at
these )robems%H thus these students received )raise for their effort' A different e8)erimenter then interviewed
each student to earn what the students thought about inteigence' The resuts showed that those who had received
)raise for their abiity CGyou2re smartHD were more ikey to describe a fi8ed view of inteigence than those
)raised for their effort CGyou worked hardHD% who more often described a changeabe view of inteigence' Many
studies have shown simiar effects% incuding studies of chidren as young as four years od'
$aturay a singe e8)erience with an e8)erimenter whom a chid doesn2t know wi not sha)e their beiefs about
inteigence forever% but a minor difference in )raiseImaking it about abiity or effortIdid affect these chidren2s
beiefs at east for the duration of the e8)eriment' Fne can reasonaby guess that what they hear from )arents%
teachers% and )eers% and by how they see these )eo)e act% sha)e students2 beiefs for the ong term'
What seems es)eciay interesting about this work invoves its concern with )raise' +o! can it hurt to tell a
student that they 4are smart5? 6y "raisin& a childs intelli&ence) !e let them kno! that they sol%ed the
"roblems correctly because they 4are smart5) not because they !orked hard. 'hen) the student can easily
conclude that &ettin& "roblems !ron& ser%es as a si&n o( their 4bein& dumb5. 'hey tend to lose the
connection bet!een "ersistent) hard !ork and success.
Sow students have the same )otentia as bright students% but they )robaby differ in what they know% in their
motivation% in their )ersistence in the face of academic setbacks% and in their sef<image as students' These
students )otentiay can catch u)% but one must acknowedge their )osition Cfar behindD% and that catching u) wi
take enormous effort' How can we he)6 'o hel" slo! learners catch u") !e must (irst assure that they believe
that they can im"ro%eE ne$t !e must "ersuade them that doin& that !ork will pay off in !ays !orth!hile to
them.
#raise effort) not ability. ;ncourage your students to think of their inteigence as under their contro% and
es)eciay that they can deveo) their inteigence through hard work' Therefore% you shoud )raise rocess
rather than abiity' In addition to )raising effort Cif a))ro)riateD% you might )raise a student for ersistence in
the face of chaenges% or for taking resonsibility for their work' Avoid insincere )raise% however' "ishonest
)raise )roduces destructive resuts' If you te a student% GWow% you reay worked hard on this )ro5ectNH
when the student knows good and we that they didn2t% you ose credibiity as we as encouraging the
student unreaisticay to e8)ect )ositive conseBuences for itte work'
'ell them that hard !ork "ays o((. 4raising )rocess rather than abiity sends the uns)oken message that the
student has contro of their inteigence' ?ou can make this message e8)icit as we' Te your students how
hard famous scientists% inventors% authors% and other GgeniusesH must work in order to Gbe smartHL but even
more im)ortant% make that esson a))y to the work your students do' If some students in your schoo brag
about not studying% e8)ode that mythL te them that most students !ho do !ell in school !ork at all
le%els !ork *uite hard' In the word of work% most )eo)e who do we work hard'
?ou may not find it easy to )ersuade some students of this' A student on the footba team and devotes a
great dea of time to )ractice and itte time to academics may attribute his )oor grades to GI2m 5ust a dumb
5ock'H Ask if the team Cband% choir% etc'D has )ayers with a ot of natura abiity% but who 5ust don2t work very
hard' C?es'D Ask if the other )ayers res)ect )ayers ike this' CFf course not' They think these )eo)e idiots
because they have taent they are not deveo)ing'D "on2t they res)ect these )ayers because they are the best6
CThey are not the best' They are good% but ots of other )eo)e are better'D Academics works the same way'
Most )eo)e have to work reay hard at it' A few can get by without working very hard% but not many' And
few )eo)e ike or res)ect them very much' @+erein lies "erha"s the bi&&est "roblem !e (ace: a massi%e
culture that dee"ly belie%es) 4? should not ha%e to do any academic !ork) and ( will not.5 Actuay% this
ends u) he)ing those wiing to work by greaty reducing the com)etition for coeges and 5obsNE
'reat (ailure as a natural "art o( learnin&. If you want to increase your knowedge% skis and inteigence%
you have to chaenge yoursef' That means taking on tasks a bit beyond your reachIand that means you
may very we fai sometimes% at east the first time around' Fear of faiure can become a significant obstace
to tacking this sort of chaenging work' We need to earn to consider this kind of faiure as natura and not a
big dea' When we do something stu)id% we need to remember that GThe ony )eo)e who don2t make
mistakes are the ones who never do anything'H To get things done% you have to earn to acce)t mistakes and
faiure' Michae =ordan )ut it this wayK GI2ve missed more than nine thousand shots in my career' I2ve ost
amost three hundred games' Twenty<si8 times I2ve been trusted to take the game<winning shot and missed'
I2ve faied over and over and over again in my ife' 7nd that is why I succeed.H C+e kees working at it
desite the failures1D @See 3earned He)essness y 4eterson% Maier and Seigman reK this'E
Create a cassroom atmos)here in which you and students consider faiure% whie not desirabe% neither
embarrassing nor whoy negative' Faiure means you wi soon earn something' ?ou wi find out
something you did not understand of didn2t know how to do' Most im)ortant teachers need to #odel this
attitude with their words and behaviors for their students' When you faiIand who doesn2t6Iet them see
you take a )ositive% earning attitude'
Ialue study skills. Make a ist of a of the things that you ask students to do at home' Consider which of
these things have other tasks embedded in them and ask yourself whether the slower students really know
how to do the#' For oder students% if you announce a Bui# you assume that they wi study for it' "o your
oder students reay know how to study6 "o they know how to assess the im)ortance of different things
they2ve read% heard and seen6 "o your sower students know some sim)e tricks to he) with )anning and
organi#ing their time6 "o they know how ong they shoud study for a test6 CThey )robaby need to study
much onger than they think' At the coege eve% ow<)erforming students often )rotest their ow grades by
saying% G!ut I studied for three or four hours for this testNH Meanwhie% the high<scoring students study about
twenty hours% five or si8 times onger' @These students don2t 5ust deveo) famiiarity with the materia' They
actuay ractice it in order to deveo) automatic thinking )rocesses that free working memory to do other%
higher eve tasks'E
These concerns )rove es)eciay im)ortant for students 5ust starting to receive serious homework
assignmentsI)robaby around the seventh grade' A )eriod of ad5ustment occurs for most students when
homework invoves more than Gbring in three rocks from you yard or the )arkH% turning into Gread Cha)ter
Four and answer the even numbered Buestions at the back'H A students must earn new skis as homework
becomes more demandingIemotiona skis of sef<disci)ine% time management% and resourcefuness Cfor
e8am)e% knowing what to do when they fee stum)edD' Students aready behind wi have that much more
troube doing work on their own at home% and they may earn these skis more sowy' Do not take (or
&ranted that your students ha%e these skills) e%en i( you belie%e that they should ha%e ac*uired them in
"re%ious &rades.
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age +0 of ++'
'he long)term &oal in%ol%es catchin& u". ?ou need to think reaisticay about what it wi take for students
to catch u)' The more we know% the easier we find it to earn new thingsL the ess we know% the harder' Thus%
if your sower students know ess than your brighter students% they sim)y can2t work at the same )ace as the
more knowedgeabe studentsL doing ony that% they wi continue to fa behindN To catch u)% the sower
students must work harder than the brighter' @!ut many of them do not have the emotiona skis for working
harder on academic tasks' Asking them to do anything academicay that they don2t es)eciay fee ike doing
at the moment asks way too #uch' In many cases% asking them to use common socia courtesy skis% such as
taking one<at<a<time% asks too much' In that case% you need to teach the needed socia and emotiona skis'E
?ou might think of this situation as anaogous to dieting' 4eo)e usuay find it overwhemingy difficut to
maintain their wi)ower for the e8tended )eriod necessary to reach a target weight' The )robem with diets
invoves their reBuiring )eo)e to make difficut choices again and again% and each time we make the best
choice we don2t get rewarded with the instant weight oss that we beieve we deserveN So% when a dieter
makes a wrong choice or two% they have a tendency to consider their sef a faiure% and then to give u) the
diet atogether' A great dea of research shows that the most successfu diets do not fa under the )o)uary
understood definition of diet' &ather% they invove ifestye changes that the )erson strongy beieves they can
ive with every day for the years% for the rest of their ifeIfor e8am)e% switching from reguar mik to skim
mik% or from dairy mid to soy mik% or waking the dog instead of 5ust etting it out in the morning% or
reguary drinking back coffee instead of attes'
When thinking about he)ing sower students catch u)% it wi )robaby work best to set interim achievabe%
concrete goas' These goas might incude such strategies as devoting a fi8ed time every day to homework%
reading a weeky news maga#ine% or watching one educationa "S" on science each week' $eedess to say%
enisting )arents in such efforts% if )ossibe% wi he) enormousy'
Sho! students that you ha%e con(idence in them. If you ask )eo)e GWho was the most im)ortant teacher
in your ife6H most )eo)e have a ready answer' Interestingy% the reason that one teacher made a strong
im)ression amost aways reates to emotions' 4eo)e never give reasons ike GShe taught me a ot of math'H
Instead% )eo)e say things ike GShe he)ed me beieve in mysefH or GHe taught me to ove knowedge'H In
addition% )eo)e consistenty say that their most im)ortant teacher set high standards and beieved that the
student coud meet those standards'
Communicating that confidence to your students invoves )raiseK )robaby the east e8)ensive% most
common% most )ractica and arguaby the most )owerfu reinforcer' Fee wary of )raising second<rate work
in your sower students' Su))ose you have a student who usuay fais to com)ete their work' Then% they
manage to submit a )ro5ect on time% athough not done very we' ?ou may fee tem)ted to )raise the student
Iafter a% submitting something on time im)roves over the )ast )erformance' !ut consider the message that
)raising a mediocre )ro5ect sends' ?ou say Ggood 5obH% but it reay means GJood 5ob for so#eone like you'H
The student )robaby does not have so much naivety to reay consider the )ro5ect a that great' .y globally
raising substandard work, you send the #essage that you have lower e)ectations for this student. It wi
work much better to say% GI a))reciate that you finished the )ro5ect on time' Jood work thereN And I thought
that you had an interesting o)ening )aragra)h' I aso think that you coud have done a better 5ob of
organi#ing it' 3et2s tak about how you coud do that'H
Question K: What about the teacher2s thinking6
ns!er: The teacher2s thinking works in the same ways that the students2 do'
Critical "rinci"le K: -ike any com"le$ co&niti%e skill) !e must consciously practice it to im"ro%e it.
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age +- of ++'
Teaching invoves cognitive skis and to think effectivey we need sufficient room in working memory% which has
imited s)ace' We aso need the right factua and )rocedura knowedge in ong<term memory' 3et2s consider how
this reates to teaching'
'eachin& as a co&niti%e skill
Teaching )aces great demands on working memory' It seems 5ust as evident that factua knowedge )roves
im)ortant to teaching' Simiary% edagogical content knowledge )roves im)ortant' For a teacher% 5ust
knowing agebra reay we does not )rove sufficient' ?ou have to have knowedge )articuar to
teaching agebra' If )edagogica content knowedge did not have im)ortance% then anyone who
understood agebra coud teach it we% and we know that it does not work that way'
FO% if teaching works as a cognitive ski 5ust ike any other% how can you a))y what you2ve earned here to your
teaching6 How can you increase C-D s)ace in working memory% C,D your reevant factua knowedge% and C7D your
reevant )rocedura knowedge6 &eca from Cha)ter Five It roves virtually i#ossible to beco#e roficient at a
#ental task without e)tended, focused ractice. ?our best bet for im)roving your teaching invoves )racticing
teaching'
'he im"ortance o( "ractice
4ractice and e8)erience do not amount to the same thing' Jetting e8)erience means you have sim)y engaged in
the activity' 4ractice refers to trying to im)rove your )erformance' For e8am)e% even though a )erson may have
driven to 70 years% they may not be a very good or safe driver' They may have done a ot of drivingIbut not a ot
of ractice% working to get better at driving' This commony ha))ens' 4eo)e get Ggood enoughH at a ski and
then sto) trying to im)rove' 4erha)s you know someone who s)eaks ;ngish as a second anguage% and even
though they have ived here for 70 years they sti s)eak ;ngish so bady that others have great difficuty
understanding them' They s)eak it we enough to get by% but no better'
The same )rinci)e hods true for teachers' A great dea of data show that teachers im)rove during their first five
years in the fied% as measured by student earning' After five years% however% the curve goes fat% and a teacher
with twenty years e8)erience teaches% on average% no better or worse than a teacher with ten' It a))ears that most
teachers work on their teaching unti it moves above some threshod and they fee satisfied with their )roficiency'
Fne can easiy critici#e such teachers and think indignanty% GThey shoud always strive to im)roveNH Certainy
we woud a ike to think that we aways seek to better ourseves% but we aso need to think reaisticay' 4ractice
takes much time and energy' It takes a great dea of work% and very ikey work that infringes on time that one
might s)end with famiy or in other )ursuits' !ut if you have read this far% you )robaby have yoursef )re)ared to
do some hard work'
First% we need to define ractice' 4ractice invoves more than 5ust engaging in the activityL you have to work at
improving' First% )ractice invoves getting feedback from knowedgeabe )eo)e' Without feedback% you don2t
know what changes wi make you a better gofer% dancer or teacher'
?es% teachers get feedback from their students' ?ou can te if they do we or )oory% but that sort of feedback
does not give sufficient s)ecificity' For e8am)e% you student2s bored e8)ressions te you about istening issues%
but they don2t te you what you might do differenty' Aso% you )robaby miss more going on in your cassroom
than you think you do' As you busiy teach% you don2t have the u8ury of sim)y watching and reflecting on what
you see ha))ening' Aso% you cannot im)artiay observe your own behavior' Though some of us see ourseves in
a harsher ight than a))ro)riate% most of us inter)ret our word in a way that makes us ook favorabe to ourseves'
CSocia )sychoogists ca this the self$serving bias' When things go we% it ha))ens because of our skis and hard
work' When things go )oory% bad uck caused it% or someone ese made a mistake'D For these reasons% it usuay
he)s greaty to see your cass through someone ese2s eyes'
In addition to reBuiring feedback% )ractice usuay means investing time in activities not directy invoved with the
target task% but done for the sake of im)roving that task' For e8am)e% as)iring chess )ayers don2t 5ust )ay ots of
chess games' They aso s)end considerabe time studying and memori#ing chess o)enings and anay#ing the
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age +, of ++'
matches that other e8)erts have )ayed' Athetes of a sorts do weight and cardiovascuar training to im)rove
their endurance in their s)ort'
To summari#e% i( you !ant to &et better as a teacher) you cannot (eel satis(ied sim"ly to &ain e$"erience as
the years "ass. >ou must also practice) and "ractice means: ;1< consciously !orkin& at im"ro%ement) ;2<
seekin& (eedback on your teachin&) and ;:< undertakin& acti%ities (or the sake o( im"ro%ement) e%en i( they
dont directly contribute to your Cob. Ff course% you coud do these things in ots of ways' The ne8t section
describes one method'
method (or &ettin& and &ettin& (eedback
C-D Identify a teacher Cor twoD with whom you woud ike to work
C,D Sideo ta)e yoursef and watch the ta)es aone
C7D With your )artner% watch the ta)es of other teachers
C+D With your )artner% watch and comment on each other2s ta)es
C.D !ring it back to the cassroom and foow u)
CSee )ages -.,<-.9 in the book for detais'D
Consciously !orkin& at im"ro%in&: sel(.mana&ement
We can easiy resove to do something' Foowing through )roves much more difficut' 4anning and scheduing
needed activities on your caendar wi )robaby he) greaty in getting you out of your auto)iot mode'
&emember that you don2t need to do everything at once' ?ou cannot reaisticay e8)ect to go from your )resent
eve to GgreatH in a year or two' Set )riorities' Think in terms of the ong term and decide on what you most
im)ortanty need to work on% then set and focus on concrete, #anageable stes to #ove you toward your goal
over ti#e'
Smaller ste"s
The video ta)e )rogram aid out takes much time' ?ou can start smaer' Here you find some ways you can work
on your teaching that take ess time'
1ee" a teachin& diary or Cournal. Make notes that incude what you intended to do and how it actuay
went' "id the esson basicay work6 If not% what thoughts do you have about it6 What changes do you need
to make6 !y kee)ing these notes with the esson% you can Buicky and easiy review them before you do the
esson again' However you manage your notes% take a itte time to read )ast entries' 3ook for )atterns in the
kinds of essons that went we and which didn2t' 3ook for situations that frustrated you% for moments of
teaching that reay kee) you going% and so on'
A ot of )eo)e start a diary or 5ourna and then find it difficut to stick with it' A few ti)s might he)' First%
find a time of day when you can write% making it a time you wi ikey maintain' CFor e8am)e% a morning
)erson might find writing 5ust before bed woud not work we at a'D Making notes during and(or
immediatey after the essonIand then kee)ing the notes with the essonImay work we' Jetting into the
habit of writing so#ething each day Cor each essonD% even if ony GToday was an average dayH wi surey
he)' Do think in terms of deveo)ing a regular habit% but avoid thinking in a<or<none terms about the
amount of time or ength' The consistency of )uing out the dairy or 5ourna and writing something wi he)
make it a habit' An e8ceent rue of thumb suggests that if you wi do something consistently with no
e)cetions for three weeks% you wi have deveo)ed an automatic habit that you wi no onger need to think
about' 9arking it on your calendar% es)eciay for the first three weeks% wi )robaby he) greaty' Fn the
other hand% remember that you do this soey for you' "on2t worry about the Buaity of the writing% don2t fee
guity if you don2t write much% and don2t beat yoursef u) if you miss days% or even weeks' If you do miss
some time% don2t try to catch u)' ?ou wi never remember a that ha))ened and the thought of a that work
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age +7 of ++'
wi tend to sto) you from starting again' Finay% critici#e and )raise yoursef honestyL do fee free to dwe
on moments that you fee )roud aboutN
Start a discussion &rou" !ith (ello! teachers. Jet a grou) of teachers together for meetings% say% once
every two weeks' Make one )ur)ose to give and receive socia su))ort' ?ou can grumbe about )robems%
share successes% and so forth' Then one of your goas invoves feeing connected and su))orted' Another
)ur)ose% certainy not com)etey inde)endent of the first% can reate to using the meetings as a forum to
bring u) )robems you have and get ideas for soutions from the grou)' It wi )robaby he) greaty to
decide ceary from the start as a grou) whether you want your grou) to serve ony the first function% ony
the second% or both' If different )eo)e have different ideas about the )ur)ose% hurt feeings wi more ikey
occur' If es)eciay goa oriented% everyone might read a 5ourna artice or book for discussion'
7bser%e. What makes students in your age grou) tick6 What motivates them6 How do they tak to one
another6 What )assions do they have6 ?ou )robaby know your students )retty we in the cassroom% but do
you think your students Gare themsevesH when in your cassroom6 Woud you find it usefu to see them
acting in ways not contrived for the cassroom or when surrounded by a different grou) of chidren6
Find a ocation where you can observe chidren in the age grou) you teach' To observe )reschooers% go to a
)arkL to watch teenagers% go to the food court at the ma' ?ou wi )robaby have to go to a different
neighborhood or even a different town% because this e8ercise won2t work if they recogni#e you' =ust watch
the kids' "on2t go with a s)ecific )an or agenda' =ust watch' Initiay% you wi )robaby get bored' ?ou2
think% G&ight' I2ve seen this before'H !ut if you kee) watching% reay watching% you wi start to notice
things you hadn2t noticed before' ?ou2 notice more subte cues about socia interactions% as)ects of
)ersonaity% and how students think' Aow yoursef the time and s)ace sim)y to observe % and you wi see
remarkabeIand usefuIthings'
CSummary tabe on ast )age'D
Summary% Why Students "on2t 3ike Schoo by "anie Wiingham 4age ++ of ++'
Summary 'able
C?ou may find that it works best to read this tabe verticay from to) to bottom under each heading'D
Co&niti%e "rinci"les
/e*uired kno!led&e about
students Most im"ortant classroom im"lications
- 4eo)e naturay have
curiosity% but they do not
naturay think we'
What ies -ust beyond what
my students know and can
do6
Take the time necessary to deveo) the
*uestions that ead to the materia<to<earn as
we as the answers' This deveo)s and
maintains interest% curiosity% and motivation'
, Factua knowedge
)recedes ski'
What do my students know
about this to)ic6
Fne cannot )ossiby think we on a to)ic in
the absence of factua knowedge about the
to)ic'
7 Memory e8ists as the
residue of thought'
What wi my students really
think about during this
esson6
What serves as the best barometer of every
esson )an6 The answer to this BuestionK
GWhat wi my students actually think about
with this esson )an'H
+ We understand new things
in the conte8t of things we
aready know'
What do my students aready
know that wi serve as a
toehod in understanding this
new materia6
Aways make dee) knowedge your s)oken
and uns)oken goa% but recogni#e that
shaow knowedge wi come first'
. 4roficiency reBuires
conscious, focused ractice'
C$ot 5ust re)etition'D
How can I get students to
)ractice this without getting
bored6
Think carefuy and seectivey about which
s)ecific materia students reay need at their
fingerti)s' Have them )ractice that often and
over a long eriod of ti#e'
9 Cognition differs
fundamentay eary in
training com)ared with ate'
How do my students differ
from e8)erts6
Strive for dee) understanding in your
students% not their creating new knowedge'
/ Chidren have more
simiarities than differences
in earning'
We do not need knowedge of
students2 earning styes'
3et lesson content drive decisions about how
to teach% not student differences'
: Inteigence can change
through sustained% hard
work'
What do my students beieve
about inteigence6 "o they
know that effort changes
inteigence and that effort
)redicts success much better
than inteigence does6
Aways tak about successes and faiures in
terms of effort% not abiity'
1 3ike any com)e8 cognitive
ski% one must consciously
ractice teaching in order
to im)rove it'
What as)ects of my teaching
work we for my students%
and what )arts need
im)rovement6
Im)rovement reBuires more than 5ust
e8)erienceL it also reBuires conscious effort
and feedback'

Why Students Don't Like School: A Cognitive Scientist's Insights

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Why Students Don't Like School: A Cognitive Scientist's Insights

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