The New Science of Learning: Brain Fitness for Kids

The New Science of Learning: Brain Fitness for Kids explores recent breakthroughs in neuroscience and educational research that have led to a new understanding of the learning capabilities of the brain. A growing body of educational neuroscience has shown that under the right conditions, the plastic" brain of a child is continuously improvable in very fundamental respects. The general neurological skills and abilities of a child---of their brain---that are required for success in school (how fast they learn; how well they read; how reliably they respond with the right answer; how effectively they address a complex problem) can be very substantially improved in most cases, at any age. We have traditionally focused on improving the education of children by applying strategies that load their brains with more and more content or "what they should know". But with The New Science of Learning we understand that we can improve the brain that the child brings to any learning situation. Using these new approaches, the performance abilities of "normal" or even "high-achieving" children can be rapidly improved. Perhaps most importantly, many "underachieving" children otherwise destined for failure can be empowered to succeed. That includes children with moderate or even severe impairments in language, reading, attention, or in other abilities that will limit their achievements in childhood and in life.