The Social Neuroscience of Education: Optimizing Attachment and Learning in the Classroom (The Norton Series on the Social Neuroscience of Education)

You can benefit from reading this book if you are an educator, a parent, an administrator, a tax-payer, a human being or if you are just about anybody. It masterfully combines the latest in neuroscience, psychotherapy, sociology, education and comes up with a well thought out teaching philosophy with many suggestions for teaching all students but especially the hardest to reach. I'm not an educator but I understand the value of what Cozolino advocates. He ties together small class size, tribal organization, object relations, relationships, brain growth and organization, the importance of fathers in the community, play in learning and many more. I have read all of Cozolino's books and while all are good, this one is the best. He's taken on a serious national problem and shown how it can be solved. The great thing about Cozolino's books is that he ties everything back to the physical mechanisms that originate our behaviors so you never feel like you're left hanging in midair. Cozolino is a master thinker and writer. I recommend this book and all his books.

While I enjoy Cozolino's work, he falls a bit short here. The first few chapters of the book are well written and interesting. However, when the book moves to actual educational practice, it is evident that Cozolino is quite out of his league. His recommendations tend to be either superficial (e.g. be nice to children) or impractical. Much of the educational advice can be found in any general introduction to education textbook. There is also lacking any strong connection between the early chapters on brain development, and the later chapters on education (e.g. what exactly does the brain of a child in a tribal classroom look like in comparison to those not in such a classroom?). While I would not discourage people from reading this book, especially the first part, I would not suggest that you will find anything terribly useful to inform your practice as a teacher.

Cozolino offers a succinct, easy-to-follow summary about how brains work. I truly wish every principal, classroom teacher, and counselor in the country would read this. It would transform many less-than-great current practices and help who know how many students. I am adopting it for my fall classes for school counseling students.The only weakness I found in the book is the case studies. When he revises the book, Cozolino really should pull from more schools and use more realistic scenarios.

I am a professional social worker who specializes in working with children, and this is a great resource for both educators and mental health professionals. Research on the importance of student-teacher relationships in the learning process and the healthy mental development of at-risk children is up and coming and is becomming a topic of interest in the education and mental health community. This book provides great insight and thorough background knowledge of brain development, brain function, and evolutionary science, in addition to information on creating an attachment-based classroom...

This book makes very important and valuable points about the social aspects of teaching and learning, but stretches a few good points too far and into too many pages. The main points are something like this: Humans evolved to learn from each other in social interactions, not by studying books. Studying books is, of course, valuable and effective, but there is also an essential social element of learning that should be included in a teaching and learning environment. A good environment for learning is where students feel comfortable and safe to explore -- for example, no bullying from the students or the teacher -- and that stimulates all the senses.An important implication of Cozolino's argument is that online learning -- where you sit alone at your computer to study -- is not optimal. Seems to me that online learning must be complemented by some kind of face-to-face interaction with someone. I think Cozolino could make a valuable critique of online learning, but it is not in this book.

This book is phenomenally well researched and well written. Education in the US is under relentless criticism. Many excellent experienced educators have been disheartened by the innumerable "reforms" that enter with a lot of hype and quietly exit in disgrace. It is as if anyone who has gone to school believes they have The Answer to educational reform. Lou Cozolino's book offers educators a solid foundation upon which to build real long lasting school improvement.

Every teacher should read this book. Every education major must read this. It is an easy read, full of statistics that back up the premiss that brains can heal and everyone can learn. This book gives hope to teachers and educates those of us who don't think students who have had trauma can get over it and learn. Excellent. Over 100 pages of footnotes backing up the content.

The book delves into research about the brain, learning and attachment. This text, and concepts discussed, complement best teaching practices resources by explaining the alignment to brain function and our natural instincts.

Don't be out off by the title - this is a very readable, humane and illuminating book. Full of accessible explanations of the latest research and how this can be applied in our schools. Neuroscience will change the way we run our education system in time. One disappointment is that he ends by lauding one great head who expelled the most troublesome pupils - understandable, but this seems to miss the point as these are the ones who need to most help Otherwise terrific - should be required reading for all teachers.

As a PhD student in the field of education, my research has taken me in a direction which requires a basic understanding of social neuroscience. This book has given me the start I needed. It is accessible to the non-specialist and has piqued my interest to look at this area further.

Well informed and well written for the targeted audience. There are several books available on how the brain works, however, this one places it at the heart of education and its implications for teaching and learning. A must for those educators who link learning to cognition.

Well written. Scientifically rigorous. Humane. Explains the science behind the art of good teaching. A wonderful book.

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