Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

Powerful teaching is a delightful read, sharing practical techniques that are grounded in evidence. From communication with student and parents about the science of learning to tools that ‘tackle challenges’ rather than ‘adding to them’, Pooja and Patrice walk us through how to harness what they call the power tools; Retrieval Practice, Spacing, Interleaving and Feedback-Driven Metacognition. Sharing practical techniques to try in the classroom and offering the reader regular ‘power up’ summaries, distilling complex ideas into simple and easy to follow actions and reflection for the classroom, this book is useful for teachers of all experiences. We highly recommend having a look at this book if you want to improve your teaching practice. Dave Tushingham and Rhiannon Rainbow- Authors of The Edu-Book Club

Each chapter has provided so much value for me personally and has unleashed a myriad of concepts and ideas to implement going forward in my classroom. As a research informed teacher, I appreciate how after each chapter the authors provide notes for further reading. An enjoyable read of personal accounts combined with research make Powerful Teaching a book of substance for teachers!!

A fantastic book with excellent ideas which I have put into practice in my own classroom. I keep raving about it to my work friends, buy it you won’t regret it!

The evidence and research alongside anecdote and practical suggestions makes this book a brilliant guide to retrieval practice and other “Power Tools” to enhance learning for our students. As a Lead Practitioner in a brilliant secondary school I highly recommend this book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Easy read

Excellent resource and reference book based on research with many practical in the classroom ideas. Marries nicely research and in classroom application. Very comprehensive. Highly recommended.

If you are a teacher, you need to read this book. Well written, backed up with evidence and easy to read. It’s like the authors are talking directly to you.

This book talks to teachers. The authors use their real classroom experiences (and classroom research) to show how to apply cognitive science when teaching, pointing out the nuisances that make the difference in ensuring strategies like retrieval practice really work. Chapters like, 'Keeping it Real: Use Power Tools to Tackle Challenges, Not Add to Them' make this a book for the busy teacher who still wants to embed the research.

A must read for teachers who love teaching. Provides tons of ideas easy to try and put into action. Helpful and clarifying.

The authors, one a classroom teacher and the other a cognitive scientist and college professor, present an easy-to-read yet thorough examination of four very powerful tools to help students learn: retrieval practice, interleaving, spacing, and feedback-driven metacognition. They provide summaries of research studies for each tool in a way that is understandable to the average reader, describe numerous ways in which the techniques can be used in a classroom setting, and provide reflections and anecdotes of how they have helped their students become engaged as they take ownership of their learning. They "practice as they preach" by putting in review questions throughout the book that employ all four tools. The reader will discover first-hand how effective these techniques are in developing long-lasting and durable memories. This book is not the first to delve into what cognitive psychology has to offer to education, but this is one of the best books I have read to really offer concrete pedagogical techniques that require little to no advanced planning or additional grading. The authors make a compelling and convincing case that the nominal additional time and energy devoted to using these techniques during instruction results in more material being learned *and* remembered over a longer timeframe. Many teacher training programs lack coverage of these useful techniques. The veteran teacher, who may be jaded by years of unfulfilling inservices and professional development programs, is often skeptical of "new" ways of teaching (though, ironically, the efficacy of these techniques have been known for decades). Such skeptics who are willing to read this book, however, should find something intriguing enough that they may want to try in a future lesson. I recommend this book unequivocally to anyone in teaching profession, from student teacher to seasoned educator, from vice-principal to superintendent, and from teaching assistant to emeritus professor. The approaches and strategies provide the potential for improved test scores and grades and a better attitude towards learning among students in schools that are seriously willing to make a paradigm shift in their instruction.

As an experienced teacher and psychologist-in-training, I strongly recommend that all teachers read this book. After outlining the 3 phases of learning: encoding – storage – retrieval, the authors highlight how many of us (teachers) focus on getting information into kids’ heads (aka encoding). Encoding is important and there many ways to help students encode information well. Yet, this book focuses on the potent power retrieval. At its core, it is about the well-established finding that getting information out of kids’ heads is an effective way to help students learn (distinct from assessing learning or checking for understanding). Something that not of us do. The book goes on to outline many practical ways you can build retrieval practice into your habitual teaching practice. Practical and evidence-based 😊

Book condition when received is not great. There are blotches on the cover.

Ottimo libro, basato su esperimenti scientifici, su studi di neuroscienze, mostra come applicare le conoscenze teoriche nella pratica della classe, a qualunque livello scolastico o universitario.