Daniel Willingham is a cognitive scientist who wrote a book called, “Why Don’t Students Like School” to answer questions about how our brains work and what current brain research has to say about teaching and learning.

This brief reading (6 pages) was adapted from Willingham’s book.  It introduces students to concepts like working memory versus long-term memory. It also explains why learning and thinking can feel so taxing. It also includes an HSE teacher describing her struggles with a math problem called The Handshake Problem. I highly recommend teaching the problem before you have students read this. In the context of how our memory works, Kate’s description and genuine struggles make the case for how problem-solving strategies (especially visual ones) can help us by freeing up working memory.

Here are two pre-reading activities you can try before giving out the reading:

• (If you’ve taught the Handshake Problem) Ask students to write a reflection about what it was like to work on The Handshake Problem. How did you feel while you were working on it?  Were there moments of frustration and break-through?  What were they?
• Ask students to do a quick-write about a time they went to a completely new place and had to find their way around. What was it like?  In contrast, what was it like to come here today?  Did you have to think about every single step you made, or was it more like “autopilot”?  Ask students whether they think “autopilot” is a good thing or a bad thing.