Learning Intelligence

"This publication can re-enthuse the teaching profession and in the process make the classroom a much better place for all involved. Many education authorities have recognised this and are using Cognitive Acceleration projects not only to enhance but also to provide highly effective professional development for their teaching staff. One word of caution to teachers contemplating reading this book: CA can seriously affect your career!"- Alan Edmiston, Advisory Teacher for Sunderland LEA and Independent Consultant

"Shayer and Adey have edited a collection of chapters which are both challenging and eminently readable. Teachers who are committed to developing a greater understanding of learning and to test their own theories and approaches against the ideas presented here will find much of value."- Educational Review

"facinating and readable... It is refreshing to read a book that so effectively integrates learning theories and classroom practice. ...Anyone who has ever reflected on the relationship between teaching and learning will find much of interest in this book." School Science Review

At present few children - perhaps not more than 20% - realise their true potential. Even in the first year at primary school great differences can be seen. Yet by suitable intervention either in the first two years of primary school or in the first two years of secondary school - we believe these to be critical growth periods - much can be achieved to change this gloomy picture.

Learning Intelligence describes how children's general ability to process information - their 'intelligence' - can be significantly improved by appropriate cognitive acceleration methods. The authors show how teachers have mastered the art of cognitive acceleration in a variety of contexts, from Year 1 to Year 9 and in science, mathematics, and arts subjects. Each chapter draws on research or development experience to describe effects of cognitive acceleration programmes, their nature, and some of the qualitative differences between stimulating and unstimulating classrooms. The book also looks at the psychological theory that underlies cognitive acceleration.

Michael Shayer is Professor of Applied Psychology at King's College London. He met the '12 year gap' (between the best and the worst of entrants to secondary school) full in the face in Peckham in the mid-60s, and has tried his best ever since, first to understand it and then to change it.

Philip Adey is Professor of Cognition, Science, and Education at King's College London. He started his professional life as a chemistry teacher but soon became interested in the issue of 'difficulty': why did some students find some concepts more difficult than others, and what can be done about it. The present book is his most recent contribution towards an answer to this problem.