How the Brain Learns Mathematics
- David A. Sousa - International Educational Consultant
To reach all your math students, use your brain—and theirs, too!
The bestselling and award-winning first edition of How the Brain Learns Mathematics quickly revolutionized math teaching and learning. The second edition takes readers to the next level with new brain-friendly strategies backed by the latest research from education and neuroscience and even more ways to seamlessly incorporate what you learn about your students’ developing minds into your math classroom.
In this essential resource, you’ll discover the cognitive mechanisms involved in processing mathematical operations, while exploring the environmental and developmental factors that create learning difficulties. How the Brain Learns Mathematics also presents a unique and simplified four-step teaching model that relates students’ classroom experience to concrete, real-world applications. Features of the new edition include
- More strategies for motivating adolescents
- Integration of the arts into mathematics instruction
- New information on how technology affects attention and memory
- Expanded sections on number sense and ELL instruction
- More than 160 new references and a greatly expanded index for readers’ convenience
No matter what grade you teach, your students are growing and changing. Understanding how their brains work is the key to reaching every one of them—and making math a positive part of their lives for years to come.
“David Sousa’s book is a wonderfully readable presentation of how neuroscience and cognitive psychology can inform the teaching of mathematics in elementary and secondary schools. Sousa engages his readers intellectually with recent research on the brain and mathematics learning, and avoids pat answers where the evidence is suggestive rather than conclusive. The book is a valuable text for teachers who want a deeper insight into thinking processes behind the learning and teaching of math.”—Robert E. Slavin, Director, Center for Research and Reform in Education
Johns Hopkins University
"Teaching mathematics without having read this book is like trying to master tennis without a coach. Sousa's book is a tour de force: It builds a solid bridge from cognitive neuroscience to daily classroom practice. Every teacher of mathematics will benefit from this well-researched, well-organized, thoughtful, and practical approach to making math instruction align with how brains learn."
—Spencer Kagan, Publisher/Professional Developer
Kagan Publishing and Professional Development
"Teaching mathematics without having read How the Brain Learns Mathematics is like trying to master tennis without a coach. Sousa's book is a tour de force: It builds a solid bridge from cognitive neuroscience to daily classroom practice. Every teacher of mathematics will benefit from this well-researched, well-organized, thoughtful, and practical approach to making math instruction align with how brains learn."
“David Sousa’s How the Brain Learns Mathematics, Second Edition is a wonderfully readable presentation of how neuroscience and cognitive psychology can inform the teaching of mathematics in elementary and secondary schools. Sousa engages his readers intellectually with recent research on the brain and mathematics learning, and avoids pat answers where the evidence is suggestive rather than conclusive. The book should be a valuable text for teachers who want a deeper insight into thinking processes behind the learning and teaching of math.”
“David Sousa has done it again! He has produced a highly-relevant, exceptionally practically, research focused book that will build better mathematics brains in classrooms and schools.”
“Sousa nailed it with these powerful insights on mathematics instruction. Teachers simply have to understand how students learn in order to provide top-notch instruction, and the specific teaching suggestions herein are invaluable! I love the three tier structure, emphasizing differences in teaching Pre-K and K, Pre-adolescent brains, and adolescent brains, and the emphasis on number sense at all levels is essential in the classroom today. Math teachers will apply these critical lessons immediately in their classes, and I’d urge every mathematics teacher and every elementary teacher to get this book!”
From a review in NCTM’s Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School:
“Classroom teachers, administrators, and math coaches will appreciate the research-based explanations for why mathematics instruction that focuses on meaning making, connections, and processes is so important.”
“Few other books discuss the scientific way the brain is mathematically wired while maintaining relevance to those interested in K–grade 12 education. Readers can expect to gain a deeper understanding of why students learn certain concepts easily and struggle with others and why the battle for successful student learning in mathematics is ever-changing. This book is not merely a collection of lesson plans and activities; it is also a deeper investigation into the science of mathematical learning and inspires readers to continue their own learning into the fascinating world of education.”