What is Reddit's opinion of Why Don't Students Like School??

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There’s a lot here, and I think the best I can do for you is offer you the source of my answers instead of trying to poorly translate them myself.

I think nearly everything you’re curious and concerned about is addressed in Dan Willinghams book, one of the best books about learning I’ve ever read: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Dont-Students-Like-School/dp/047059196X

I am reading Why Don’t Students Like School? by Willingham. He talks about how important background knowledge is to critical thinking. Phones in our hands is no substitute for a solid knowledge base which includes facts that need to be memorized. Amazon Link to book

Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom by Daniel Willingham

Hey marcusesses, I'm going to recommend you another book, if you haven't already stumbled across it: Daniel Willingham's Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions about How the Mind Works and What it Means for the Classroom.

My copy of the book is a little hard to read... something about the combination of tiny font and a bit of a convoluted writing style, but the information jam-packed into the book is actually research-based, and yet imminently practical. Also provides a refreshing counterpoint to some of the supposedly 'brain-based' teaching practices that sound great (who doesn't want to "strengthen neural pathways"?!) but which aren't really based on a thorough understanding of the brain (e.g., strengthening neural pathways you don't use for a specific task won't help you complete that task; it's a bit like trying to fix a pothole-riddled road by repaving all the other streets in the neighborhood).

(Don't mean to pick on the article, BTW... much of it was interesting, and I especially liked the section on Emotion Dynamics -- I literally just posted a comment yesterday about how emotions and thought are "radically interconnected.")

Also check out: Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom https://www.amazon.com/dp/047059196X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_LikuBbKHFMTMF

Everything you're saying is old hat and naive. Edtech has been rehashed by everybody and their mother to death. The weak point is getting teachers on board, most of whom aren't the brightest among their college graduates. (On a side note, it doesn't take that much to get a 4-year degree, these days.) After that, it's getting the administrators, school district, parents, and community on board. And because education is intensely local, ie at the school district level, this has to happen everywhere. But this isn't going to happen, because education is about signaling, not achievement. Ironically, we still somehow manage to churn out 10 PhDs for every university professorship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEmuEWjHr5c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1DuBesGYM

http://slatestarcodex.com/2018/09/04/acc-entry-does-the-education-system-adequately-serve-advanced-students/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/047059196X

http://www.cogtech.usc.edu/publications/kirschner_Sweller_Clark.pdf

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0691174652

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Follow_Through_(project)

https://researched.org.uk/challenging-the-education-is-broken-and-silicon-valley-narratives/

Yeah, a ton.

Start with this article: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/08/the-radical-case-for-teaching-kids-stuff/592765/

Then for an actual study: https://www.asec.purdue.edu/LCT/HBCU/documents/Analysis_of_the_Failure_of_Discovery_PBL__Experiential_Inquiry_Learning.pdf

Then watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGKUWVbR-1s

Then read Why Students Don't Like School: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Dont-Students-Like-School/dp/047059196X

Then read How I Wish I'd Taught Maths (even if you aren't a math teacher, it's great) - https://www.amazon.com/How-Wish-Taught-Maths-conversations/dp/1943920583#:~:text=Brought%20to%20an%20American%20audience,has%20entirely%20transformed%20his%20classroom.

Even Hattie's very flawed list shows direct instruction with a much higher effect size than problem based learning or discovery learning.

A few more studies:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/679969?searchText=direct%20instruction&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Ddirect%2Binstruction&ab_segments=0%2FSYC-6646_basic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A59fe79fc93a903e9092a0fb73b410504

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https://www.jstor.org/stable/3202951?searchText=direct%20instruction&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Ddirect%2Binstruction&ab_segments=0%2FSYC-6646_basic_search%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A59fe79fc93a903e9092a0fb73b410504

Here's a quote from abstract for the last one - very telling: "In this study we compared the effects of small group constructivist and explicit mathematics instruction on low achieving students' performance.... Results showed that the math performance of students in the explicit instruction group improved significantly more than students in the constructivist group."

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These are all good books to start with ^^