Barbara K. Given and Bobbi DePorter.
Learning Forum Publications, 2015, 322 pp.

Education has been turned upside down and sideways in the past decade. Brain research has given us new information that has educators rethinking all that we do—from how to set up a classroom to how to construct a lesson. Quite frankly, there is so much to know and apply that many of us can get overwhelmed.

Barbara K. Given and Bobbi DePorter provide a guidebook for how to effectively integrate brain research into a classroom. Excellence in Teaching and Learning begins with an introduction of the brain’s six natural learning systems: social, emotional, implicit, cognitive, physical, and reflective. Then, each system is care-fully examined and paired up with methodology and strategies from the Quantum Learning System to help teachers and schools better serve students.

The brain’s natural learning systems are organized into the two larger categories of culture and cognition. The cultural systems—social, emotional, and implicit—provide the context for how we set up interactions within a school. Cognition, the authors state, relates to conscious mental activities and include the cognitive, physical, and reflective systems.

In particular, “Part 5: Physical Learning and Deliver Component” stood out to me. I was surprised to learn that the authors place the physical system in the cognitive category instead of culture. Previously, I believed that students getting up and moving or participating in recess was part of the school’s culture. The authors effectively argue that physical learning is part of cognition. Research clearly shows a link between the amount of movement students participate in and how much they are able to think and learn. Fortunately for educators, Given and DePorter go on to present tips and techniques for how to bring physical movement into an academic classroom.

Excellence in Teaching and Learning is a learning tool that I will return to time and again. Despite the dense research material, you will not get lost in research jargon. Given and DePorter describe the research so it can be used as an easy reference to support educational practices. This is a great book for a teacher book study or professional learning community.

Reviewed by Ted Murcray, executive principal of Creswell Middle Prep School of the Arts in Nashville, Tennessee.

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