Education Book Reviews
Willis, Judy (2006). Research-Based Strategies to Ignite
Student Learning: Insights from a Neurologist and Classroom
Teacher. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development.
Reading a book on pedagogy written by a neurologist sounds
like as much fun as reading a standardized test manual, but
Judy Willis's Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student
Learning truly surprised me. Willis has written an
excellent book for helping teachers understand how to teach
in ways that engage students' brains and lead to deeper
learning. The short text is easy to understand, yet filled
with valuable information for teachers.
Teachers must constantly make decisions about which
teaching method to use at any given point. Complicating the
decision-making, however, is the plethora of methods from
which teachers may choose, and the fact that proponents of
so many different methods claim to have scientific research
to support their ideas. Nevertheless, the task of choosing
might be a little easier after reading Willis's book. While
many texts focus on advising teachers how to implement a
specific teaching strategy, Willis focuses on helping
teachers understand how the human brain works and how
teachers can use that knowledge to choose strategies that
tap into the brain's normal processes.
In just over 100 pages, Willis deals with a wide range of
educational issues. For example, she describes how the
brain stores information and develops networking
connections between related data. This, she writes, can
help teachers understand why students sometimes have
difficulty learning vocabulary. Unless a student is shown
the relationships between existing knowledge and the new
vocabulary, the student's brain stores the new information
in isolation. Storing information in isolation then makes
it more difficult for the brain to retrieve the information
later. Conversely, if the student understands the
connections between previous knowledge and new knowledge,
the brain literally networks the information, which makes
it easier for the brain to retrieve the information in the
future. Willis describes how teachers can use graphic
organizers, visualization, and role-play to help students
make those cognitive connections.
An entire chapter is dedicated to understand how stress
affects the brain and how schools and families can work
together to reduce stress on students and help students
handle the stress they do feel. Another chapter is
dedicated to discussing many good assessment techniques. In
this context, rather than merely describing how to write
rubrics, Willis describes how rubrics help students’ brains
develop.
Of course, in describing so many neurological functions, it
is necessary for Willis to use intimidating terms, such as
dendrites, occipital lobes, and prefrontal cortex. Willis
does a remarkable job, however, explaining such terms. And
in case the reader forgets what a term means mid-book, the
book includes a handy glossary.
I found Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student
Learning to be a surprisingly understandable, yet
treasure-packed resource. And its readability and short
length mean one can easily read it over a weekend. Best of
all, the book could meet the needs of a wide audience.
Willis has explained her ideas well enough that preservice
teachers could easily understand the material; in fact, I
can see this book becoming popular in teacher education
programs. At the same time, the book offers such a unique
perspective and valuable information that even veteran
teachers are likely to benefit from investing their time in
reading it.
Reviewed by Bruce M Sabin, EdD, who is the
6th grade science teacher at Fort Meade Middle-Senior High
School, in Fort Meade, FL.