Working Memory and Learning : A Practical Guide for Teachers

Dr Tracy Alloway has been awarded the prestigious Joseph Lister Award from the British Science Association.'²The authors have written a guide for practitioners that is both highly practical, and yet based upon sound theoretical principles'¦.This book achieves a successful, yet often elusive, link between theory, research and practice, and deserves to have a high readership. I will have no hesitation in recommending it to a range of readers'² - Jane Mott, Support for Learning'²This book fulfils its aim to explain working memory and the limits it places on children'²s classroom learning. For teachers it gives a very clear guide and fills a gap in understanding that can only lead to more child-centred approaches to teaching and learning'² - Lynn Ambler, Support for Learning'²A clear and accessible account of current theory and research, which is then applied to children'²s learning in the classroom....The range of strategies...are well grounded in theory derived from research and sit within a coherent conceptual model'² - The Psychologist '²An easy to read yet informative book that explains the concepts clearly and offers practitioners ways to support those with poor working memory in the classroom'² - SNIP`The topic of working memory nowadays tends to dominate discussions with teachers and parents, and both groups can helpfully be directed to this easy-to-read but serious text '¦ (it) is likely to prove a turning-point in the management and facilitation of hard-to-teach children. In a situation muddied by ever-multiplying syndromes and disorders, this book delivers a clarifying and reassuring isolation of the major cognitive characteristic that cuts across all the boundaries and leaves the class teacher and SENCO empowered. I think very highly of the book and shall be recommending it steadily'² - Martin Turner, Child Center for Evaluation and Teaching, KuwaitSusan Gathercole is winner of the British Psychological Society'²s President'²s Award for 2007A good working memory is crucial to becoming a successful learner, yet there is very little material available in an easy-to-use format that explains the concept and offers practitioners ways to support children with poor working memory in the classroom. This book provides a coherent overview of the role played by working memory in learning during the school years, and uses theory to inform good practice.Topics covered include:- the link between working memory skills and key areas of learning (such as literacy & numeracy)- the relationship between working memory and children with developmental disorders - assessment of children for working memory deficits - strategies for supporting working memory in under-performing childrenThis accessible guide will help SENCOs, teachers, teaching assistants, speech and language therapists and educational psychologists to understand and address working memory in their setting.