Book SummaryUncommon Sense Teaching, by Barbara Oakley, Beth Rogowsky, and Terrence J. Sejnowski

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Uncommon Sense Teaching

Teachers and students alike often struggle. What if that’s because our ideas about teaching are all wrong? In Uncommon Sense Teaching (2021), learning experts Barbara Oakley and Beth Rogowsky team up with neuroscientist Terrence Sejnowski to explore how recent breakthroughs have overturned old assumptions about how the brain works and how people learn. The authors offer this wisdom to teachers, promising to help them teach more effectively—but their practical, science-based strategies can help anyone learn how to work with their brain’s natural mechanisms. Whether you’re a teacher or just looking for some better study skills, this guide will explain how to learn effectively and with minimal stress.

Oakley is a professor of engineering at Oakland University and a prominent voice in learning science. She’s best known for her bestselling book A Mind for Numbers, which describes how she went from failing high school math...

Uncommon Sense Teaching Summary How the Brain Creates Memories

Learning about any new subject begins with memorizing fundamental facts or skills, so Oakley, Rogowsky, and Sejnowski start by explaining how memory works. In this section, we’ll first describe how your brain creates memories by forming connections between neurons (brain cells). We’ll then discuss the two different types of memory, paying special attention to working memory. Finally, we’ll explain the natural differences in people’s working memory capacities, and how those differences lead to unique strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learning.

Memories Come From Neural Connections

Oakley, Rogowsky, and Sejnowski say that memories are the result of physical connections within the brain—which is to say, neurons linking to one another. These links enable neurons to activate in sync, allowing you to recall the information you need. Neural connections strengthen the more you use them and weaken if you neglect them, which is why it’s easy to remember a skill you use frequently, but difficult or impossible to recall a piece of trivia you heard only once long ago. This also implies that practice and repetition really do help you remember what you’ve learned,...

Uncommon Sense Teaching Summary The Brain’s Two Learning Systems

We’ve talked about the different types of memory, but what drives your brain to create those memories in the first place? The authors say you also have two systems for learning different types of information. We’ll start by discussing the declarative system, which is for deliberate learning: memorizing facts, understanding complex topics, and so on. We’ll then describe the procedural system, which deals with skills and habits that don’t require conscious thought.

The Declarative System: Conscious Learning and Recall

The first system Oakley, Rogowsky, and Sejnowski discuss is the declarative learning system: the neural pathways for learning and applying factual information. They say this pathway is a collaboration between your working memory and two specific parts of your brain, and understanding how those parts work together will help you both learn and teach more effectively.

When you encounter new information, your working memory captures it and sends it to your hippocampus and neocortex. The neocortex forms neural connections to store your new knowledge, while the hippocampus acts like an index, creating links to your long-term memory that help you...

Uncommon Sense Teaching Summary How to Teach Effectively

So far, we’ve discussed the neurology of learning and the best ways to work with your brain to build new memories. In this final section, we’ll widen our perspective and discuss how to use these principles to build an effective learning environment for students.

Making a Lesson Plan

Oakley, Rogowsky, and Sejnowski say that creating an effective learning environment starts with effective lesson plans. This includes having clear objectives, a lesson structure that supports how people naturally learn, and regular activities to assess students’ progress.

According to the authors, any lesson-planning process should begin with clear learning goals: the specific knowledge and skills your students should have by the end of the lesson. To make them engaging for students, instead of posting them as straightforward objectives, you might phrase them as questions the students should be able to answer or problems they should be able to solve by the end of class.

Once you know specifically what you’re going to teach, plan a lesson that will encourage students to connect what they learn to what they already know. Remember that adding to existing knowledge is much easier...

Shortform Exercise: Applying the Principles of Learning

Now that you’re familiar with the educational principles discussed in Uncommon Sense Teaching, take some time to think about how you could use them to improve your own learning or teaching skills.

What’s your usual approach to learning something new? How do you tend to study new concepts, practice applying those concepts, and decide when you’ve studied them enough?