So I’ve been reading this enthralling book called “Why don’t students like school?”.

It is written by a cognitive psychologist. It is absolutely brilliant and I think it is going to have a profound impact on my teaching. He goes through nine chapters, showing you stuff about cognitive science that will change the way you operate in the class. I’m only half way through the second chapter but I can’t read it fast enough.

The first point he makes is that, while people are naturally curious, we don’t really like thinking and we will avoid it if possible. We often just try and use memory to remember the answer rather than having to think up a new answer. He also points out that we do like solving problems.

Therefore, our classrooms should have problems in them for students to solve. He mentions that many lesson plans are like a list of answers. This leaves the students sitting there passively. So the challenge is, how do we make our lessons involve more problem solving? This excites me because it plays into what I already love, making and playing games in the classroom.

File under: FUN