Uncommon Sense Teaching

Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn

By: Barbara Oakley PhD, Beth Rogowsky EdD, Terrence J. Sejnowski

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

A groundbreaking guide to improve teaching based on the latest research in neuroscience, from the best-selling author of A Mind for Numbers.

Neuroscientists and cognitive scientists have made enormous strides in understanding the brain and how we learn, but little of that insight has filtered down to the way teachers teach. Uncommon Sense Teaching applies this research to the classroom for teachers, parents, and anyone interested in improving education. Topics include:

• Keeping students motivated and engaged, especially with online learning
• Helping students remember information long-term, so it isn't immediately forgotten after a test
• How to teach inclusively in a diverse classroom where students have a wide range of abilities

Drawing on research findings as well as the authors' combined decades of experience in the classroom, Uncommon Sense Teaching equips listeners with the tools to enhance their teaching, whether they're seasoned professionals or parents trying to offer extra support for their children's education.

This audiobook includes a downloadable PDF of charts and illustrations from the book.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Barbara Oakley (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"For too long, teaching has been treated as an inscrutable craft, with each practitioner fashioning idiosyncratic practices from intuition and experience. But like all professions, pedagogy can be improved through technology, research, and science. This trio of experts show how to elevate this dark art to an effective and enjoyable practice." (Steven Pinker, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and New York Times best-selling author of How the Mind Works and Enlightenment Now)

“A big step in translating cognitive science and neuroscience into street-level understanding of how learning works. Every teacher, student, and parent will find practical ideas of immediate value.” (Peter C. Brown, coauthor of Make It Stick)

“This book is an absolute must for anyone who cares about education. The brain is geared for learning and adaptation, and this is the definitive set of tools for helping students get the most out of learning. Learning is supposed to be fun - knowing how to do it in the way your brain is designed to learn is the most fun of all. What a delightful, brilliant book.” (Mayim Bialik, PhD, four-time Emmy nominee for The Big Bang Theory and New York Times best-selling author of Girling Up and Boying Up)

Wonderful book on teaching!

'm a HUGE fan of Barbara Oakley! I love this book. It gets into the nuts and bolts of how the brain works while it is learning. It's almost like programming reference manual for teaching. Not all the details are here, of course, but it is quite a learning adventure for someone who is not in the business of pedagogy. A must-read for teachers! It was a great read for me, I learned quite a bit.

A book every teacher or parent should read.

What I loved most was that EXPERTS in Neuroscience & Education say what I've been trying to for over 18 years of being a teacher. Praise is so often misused because institutions, employers & teachers don't understand it well enough.

Praise & empathy can & are often overused & misused when they could be applied far more effectively if people learned how to do so properly. It would maximize the success & results everyone, but greed & ignorance are robbing students & of that which they claim to want.

Here's an outline of that singualar point, of which this book goes far beyond, so you SHOULD read it.

1 ) If the level at which praise is given to students isn't continuously increased to match the ability of the students, most WON'T improve. If their minimum effort earns praise, they have no incentive to try harder to elevate their education & skill.

2 ) Unless the praise is RANDOM ( unpredictable ) & VARIABLE ( sometimes high & sometime lower ) students EXPECT & feel ENTITLED to receive it. They are trained ( by flawed reienforcement techniques ) to quit soon after trying if they aren't frequently or immediately praised for it.

What they learn in the classrooms will be USELESS in real life where lavish & UNEARNED praise is...RANDOM & VARIABLE, or completely absent most of the time.

3 ) UNEARNED Self Esteem ( from constant praise ) does NOT predict or produce success, but EARNED SUCCESS produces & predicts self esteem. Check out Roy Baumeister et al's metanalysis of the research from the " self esteem " movement for proof.

4 ) Excessive " empathy " reinforces them to use tears to manipulate adults for attention & causes them to never learn emotional regulation or self control. YES kids are smart enough, & DO manipulate their parents & teachers we let them.

5 ) Emotional safety for kids is VERY important , but that's entirely different from " over empathty " producing " cry babies " or emotionally fragile children who never learn self control, think " Ferberization ". Even infants can, & should learn appropriate levels of self regulation when nothing is wrong.

Kids who don't learn social / self regualtion & impulse control are condemned to a LIFETIME of social ostracism UNLESS they learn those critical social skills.


In short, praise & empathy work best IFF they're NOT over used & / or misused.

Praised should be :

1 ) EARNED - students strive when they are praised for their EFFORT at the top edge of their ability.

2 ) Unpredictable ( praise sometimes & not others ) - Dopamine is released ONLY / MOSTLY when something is UNEXPECTED.
It maximizes perseverence AND memory for what's being learned.

3 ) Variable ( sometimes over the top high 5's, dancing, applauding, other times as low key nod, smile or comment like " good job. "

Empathy should be APPROPRIATELY applied:

1 ) Give empathy when there's a legitimate reason, NOT every time a child cries or gets upset.
2 ) It's ok to let a child cry if they're not hurt or in TRUE emotional distress so they learn to stop " Crying Wolf " unless it's REAL.
They will gain the lifelong gift of emotional & social self regulation & impulse control they needed for getting along with others & building the relationships that make life worth living.

Read this book to learn about this & many more Uncommon Sense insights about teaching your students or your own kids.

tim #bgreen🌏

Teacher's Guide to Providing Instruction

Great teaching resources to meet the on going challenges as well as developing the basis for good instruction.

A career’s worth of tips, tricks, and science

Barbara is a rock star in this arena. Although there’s a lot of overlap with her other books in science and techniques, the teacher angle is helpful in gaining a deeper understanding and practice of more efficient and effective learning.

Excellent resource - get the PDF

This is a great book and you will want to ensure you download the accompanying PDF if listening to the audiobook.
I ended up using both the print and audiobook as the material was excellent and I wanted to have the printed edition.

Great book for target audience of teachers

I liked the way the book started the first 3 or 4 chapters, but then it got into too many classroom techniques and methodologies.

This is not groudbreaking

I am a teacher of 29 years and I was excited to get into the science of learning and the science of how the brain learns, but I quickly found out that the advice given any first year teacher already knows. To announce that doing a math problem instead of just looking how to do it is a better way of learning is insulting to any teacher.
I am fine with some things presented that is common sense but I felt that the meat of the book was all common sense to any teacher.