Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning

Unleash powerful teaching and the science of learning in your classroom

Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning empowers educators to harness rigorous research on how students learn and unleash it in their classrooms. In this book, cognitive scientist Pooja K. Agarwal, Ph.D., and veteran K–12 teacher Patrice M. Bain, Ed.S., decipher cognitive science research and illustrate ways to successfully apply the science of learning in classrooms settings. This practical resource is filled with evidence-based strategies that are easily implemented in less than a minute―without additional prepping, grading, or funding!

Research demonstrates that these powerful strategies raise student achievement by a letter grade or more; boost learning for diverse students, grade levels, and subject areas; and enhance students’ higher order learning and transfer of knowledge beyond the classroom. Drawing on a fifteen-year scientist-teacher collaboration, more than 100 years of research on learning, and rich experiences from educators in K–12 and higher education, the authors present highly accessible step-by-step guidance on how to transform teaching with four essential strategies: Retrieval practice, spacing, interleaving, and feedback-driven metacognition. 

With Powerful Teaching, you will:

• Develop a deep understanding of powerful teaching strategies based on the science of learning
• Gain insight from real-world examples of how evidence-based strategies are being implemented in a variety of academic settings
• Think critically about your current teaching practices from a research-based perspective
• Develop tools to share the science of learning with students and parents, ensuring success inside and outside the classroom

Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning is an indispensable resource for educators who want to take their instruction to the next level. Equipped with scientific knowledge and evidence-based tools, turn your teaching into powerful teaching and unleash student learning in your classroom.

POOJA K. AGARWAL, Ph.D. is a cognitive scientist and Associate Professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she teaches psychological science to exceptional undergraduate musicians. Her award-winning research on how students learn has been published in prominent academic journals; featured in The New York Times and NPR; and funded by the National Science Foundation. Drawing on her 20 years of experience as a researcher, public school teacher, and college professor, Dr. Agarwal shares practical evidence-based resources for thousands of educators around the world at RetrievalPractice.org.

PATRICE M. BAIN, Ed.S. is a K-12+university educator with 25+ years of classroom experience. Bain’s classroom was the first in the U.S. to conduct research with cognitive scientists, examining how students learn. Patrice co-authored Organizing Instruction to Improve Student Learning and authored A Parent’s Guide to Powerful Teaching and Powerful Classrooms: Evidence-informed Strategies and Resources. She has been featured in NOVA and Scientific American, as well as popular press, public radio, and international webinars, podcasts, and conferences.