Customer Reviews

The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning

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I'm in the process of getting my teaching certificate, and the associated coursework has been filling my brain with way too many theories. Some of them agree with each other and some don't. Zull's book was the first to allow me to start understanding the connections between (some of) them. Instead of just adding more and more things to remember, Zull allowed me to start conceptualizing the various approaches. Dr. Zull, thankyou very much.

December 15, 2003

Dr. James Zull has put together the biology of the brain along with connecting the brain and education.

The Art of Changing the Brain is the best approach to learning about the function of the brain as it applies to education that I have ever seen.

Dr. Zull style of writing is "easy going" and most enjoyable. One can learn about the functions of the brain without having to have a doctorate in neurology or other arcane sciences.

He does teachers and learners a great service by taking the profession's vocabulary and putting it into scientific terms rather than the other way around. In chapter six of his book he deals with the importance of prior learning and it's formation of actual neuronal networks in the brain that validates the physical presence of learning. When actual life experiences can be reflected in the plasticity of the cerebral neurons then students really sit up and take notice.
When we can validate the physical presence of learning, a new paradigm is created.

Excellent book. Highly recommend!
Dr. Rob Harriman

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. At first, I was skeptical that a biologist could deal sensitively with the psychological & social issues involved in helping students learn. But my skepticism quickly turned to enthusiasm when I discovered how clearly Zull linked his biological explanations of how brains work with the psychology of learning. He also described how instructors could put his insights to use in designing their courses & classroom activities. This is a great book and one I plan to use in my teaching seminar for graduate students. Well written and with lots of helpful examples.