The Power of Explicit Teaching and Direct Instruction (Corwin Ltd)

It's mainly focused on the classic "classroom teaching" but almost all of the suggestions can be adapted to other kinds of teach/learn dynamics.

A must read for any classroom teacher who is passionate about learning, and wants their students to learn as much as possible!

The author debugs the constructivist and inquiry, project-based learning very sensibly. He is a math teacher who has taught extensively and directed programs, and his personal detailed experience is evident. Education colleges don't teach much about memory functions, so his arguments lack the power of cognitive neuroscience findings. For example, the author could use implicit memory research, which explains the properties of laboratory and hands-on performance.Given the usually outdated education instruction, the author only mentions working memory halfway through the book. And he does not mention the crucial concepts of fluency and automaticity acquired through practice, so that items can be linked and pass into one through working memory. He misses the no. 1 implication of working memory, that speed is the prerequisite of all performance. We must either recall in 2-3 seconds, or we can't deal with a situation. Knowledge that is recalled after a test or a real-life situation is of little use.Given the above, the author could specify that inquiry and project-based approaches may work for high performers who are already automatic in the component skills. For the rest, explicit, bottom-up instruction and practice create the needed fluency and automaticity needed for more complex work.For explanations, the author to cognitive load theory. It's a 1990s interpretation of working-memory research that most Australian educationists use. It's better than no working memory reference, but it is not very precise. But explanations aside, the book is accurate and fairly succinct.

This book is very well-written and well-organized, and the author carefully builds his argument from start to finish, with references to compelling research. The author clearly edited his work rigorously, because there is hardly a sentence that doesn't contribute valuable information.The only hiccup in the reading is in the last third of the book, where the author moves from the argument for explicit/direct instruction to ideal teaching methods. When approaching Cognitive Load Theory (not as scary as it sounds), he takes a minor detour into "element interactivity". This is a topic of particular interest to the author and he has written research papers on it, so I understand why he wanted to include it. However, I found it overly technical and the two diagrams included were a bit hard to interpret. Before I loaned this book to somebody, I'd be inclined to scratch out these sections with a black marker (sorry, author).

Very readable and accessible while covering the research with enough detail to get to grips with the key features.A very useful for parents wanting to understand some of the background to the reading and math wars.