In Search of Deeper Learning
The Quest to Remake the American High School
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- £21.99
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- £21.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the Grawemeyer Award
“In their brave search for depth in American high schools, scholars Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine suffered many disappointments…Undeterred, they spent 750 hours observing classes, interviewed more than 300 people, and produced the best book on high school dynamics I have ever read.”
—Jay Mathews, Washington Post
“A hopeful, easy-to-read narrative on what the best teachers do and what deep, engaging learning looks like for students. Grab this text if you’re looking for a celebration of what’s possible in American schools.”
—Edutopia
“This is the first and only book to depict not just the constraints on good teaching, but also how good teachers transcend them. A superb book in every way: timely, lively, and entertaining.”
—Jonathan Zimmerman, University of Pennsylvania
What would it take to transform our high schools into places capable of supporting deep learning for students across a wide range of aptitudes and interests? To find out, Jal Mehta and Sarah Fine spent hundreds of hours observing and talking to teachers and students in and out of the classroom at thirty of the country’s most innovative schools. To their dismay, they discovered that deeper learning is more often the exception than the rule. And yet they found pockets of powerful learning at almost every school, often in extracurriculars but also in a few mold-breaking academic courses. So what must schools do to achieve the integrations that support deep learning: rigor with joy, precision with play, mastery with identity and creativity?
In Search of Deeper Learning takes a deep dive into the state of our schools and lays out an inspiring new vision for American education.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this lucid and engaging study of the American secondary school system, education professors Mehta (The Allure of Order) and Fine offer a descriptive and prescriptive vision of "what it would take to create engaging, equitable, and intellectually vibrant learning environments" for all students. The authors first examine successful "thematic" schools, including a progressive school that uses project-based instruction, a "no excuses" high school that employs "regimes of tight discipline and control," and a school that utilizes the International Baccalaureate program, to discover the "school-level characteristics" that drive superior test scores, high college admission, and "deep cognitive engagement." They conclude that mastery, identity, and creativity define the "powerful learning experiences" emerging from classrooms that offer "a deep focus on thinking and reasoning," "balance rigor with joy," and regard students as meaning-makers rather than passive recipients of knowledge. The authors offer lively vignettes, a framework grounded in history and research, and a powerful, precise, and organized critical analysis. Mehta and Fine's account of a holistic model for cultivating "learners ready to meet the challenges of the modern world" will be as accessible to an intelligent parent as to a school board administrator.
