Differentiation and the Brain: How Neuroscience Supports the Learning-friendly Classroom

In Differentiation and the Brain: How Neuroscience Supports the Learner-Friendly Classroom, authors David Sousa and Carol Ann Tomlinson examine the basic principles of differentiation in light of what the current research on educational neuroscience has revealed. This research pool offers information and insights that can help educators decide whether certain curricular, instructional, and assessment choices are likely to be more effective than others. The authors also offer suggestions on how to establish and manage differentiated classrooms without imposing additional heavy burdens on teachers¿teach differently and smarter, not harder. In fact, when properly implemented, differentiation emphasizes shared responsibility between teacher and student¿a desirable outcome, because the brain that does the work is the brain that learns! This book is different from all the other books on differentiation in that it combines two imperatives that face nearly all educators today: 1. Research is revealing so much about how the brain learns that educators can no longer ignore the implications of these discoveries for educational practice. 2. Teachers need to find ways to use this brain research to develop strategies that will allow students to succeed in classrooms that contain a diverse mix of abilities, cultures, and languages.