Book Review: Why Don't Students Like School? A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions about How the Mind Works and What it Means for the Classroom
Daniel T. Willingham. Jossey-Bass: San Franscisco, 2009.
Reviewed by Shelli M. Poe, TRC Graduate Student Associate, Department of Religious Studies. 2011.

In Why Don't Students Like School?, Willingham describes nine principles of cognitive science that may be put to use in the classroom for better teaching and learning, including ways to engage students in the learning process. Though the book is written primarily for K-12 teachers, its principles and implications for the classroom are relevant and useful for instructors in higher education.

The author structures the book around key questions, uses colloquial language throughout, and explains what he describes as common-sense theses, such as "It is virtually impossible to become proficient at a mental task without extended practice" (81), what students think about is what they are most likely to remember (41), and "We understand new things in the context of things we already know, and most of what we know is concrete" (67). A great number of the principles Willingham explains, however, only seem common-sensical to the reader because of his great skill at employing his own principles to help the reader learn them. These include the less obvious claims that though humans are naturally curious they are not designed for thinking, that factual knowledge must precede skilled thinking, and even that "[c]ognition early in training is fundamentally different from cognition late in training" (97). Within the span of 165 pages, which are sprinkled with photos of contemporary figures and objects, graphs and text boxes, Willingham explains nine tried and true theories of cognitive science in accessible and entertaining ways.

At the end of each chapter, the author explores the classroom implications of the principles under consideration. For example, the practical correlate to the principle that humans are not designed for thinking is that teachers may have better success at helping their students engage in learning if they frame key questions for their students at the right level of difficulty. Willingham notes, for instance, that he himself would not "want to work on the New York Times crossword puzzle for several hours each day" (10). Yet the solution is not to make the work easier, or, in this example, to avoid the crossword puzzle altogether, but to make the thinking involved in the work easier. A teacher may do so by understanding the thinking process and then providing students with aids to assist them in that thinking, according to their current cognitive situation. Consider another example: Since factual knowledge precedes skilled thinking, teachers may want to explain to their students what the authors they are reading for class assume their readers already know. By providing such background information, a teacher may make otherwise difficult reading more accessible. Willingham devotes considerable space throughout the book to the implications of cognitive science findings for the classroom. In doing so, he not only explains how the learning mind works, but also suggests how to use such knowledge to improve teaching practices such that learners will be more engaged in the classroom.

With a touch of Socratic flair, Willingham's book concludes with the injunctions to "know thyself" and "know thy students." In order to become a better teacher, one must examine one's own teaching practices and take steps to improve them. Moreover, to keep one's students engaged, the teacher must know her students well enough to anticipate their reactions to questions and information being presented to them. By reading Willingham's book, teachers may come to better know their students' minds, and "knowledge of the mind can make better education" (165).