Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

In her insightful book, "Neuroscience for Learning and Development", Stella Collins delves into the fascinating intersection of neuroscience, psychology, and learning. With a focus on practical applications, Collins equips L&D professionals with tools to enhance training, improve learning environments, and create lasting impact.

Why Neuroscience and Learning Are Good Companions

- Collins begins by addressing the book's intended audience: trainers across various professions. She defines neuroscience as a blend of disciplines, including psychology, physiology, and even computer science. Throughout the book, she features "Other Voices"—practitioners who have applied psychological and neuroscientific concepts in their work.

The Science of Your Brain
- This chapter provides a basic overview of brain function related to learning. Collins simplifies brain anatomy, neurotransmitters, and research techniques. The triune brain model—stem, limbic system, and neocortex—serves as a framework for understanding brain structures and their roles.

Motivating Learners from Curiosity to Persistence
- Collins explores motivation, emphasizing curiosity as a powerful driver. She discusses dopamine, the brain's reward system, and how to create engaging learning experiences.

Use Your Senses
- Sensory experiences play a crucial role in learning. Collins highlights multisensory approaches, encouraging trainers to leverage visual, auditory, and kinesthetic modalities.

Making Learning Meaningful and Valuing Intelligence
- The chapter delves into memory, intelligence, and meaningful learning. Collins emphasizes the importance of connecting new information to existing knowledge.

Sleep and Learning
- Collins acknowledges the impact of sleep on learning and memory consolidation. Practical tips for optimizing sleep contribute to effective learning outcomes.

Your Brain and Digital Learning
- In the digital age, understanding how technology affects the brain is essential. Collins discusses virtual learning, social digital learning, and practical design considerations.

Practical Takeaways:

- Implementable Techniques: Collins offers practical tools that can be immediately applied in various contexts—whether in-person training, coaching, or digital learning.

- Research-Backed Approaches: The book combines theory with evidence, allowing L&D professionals to make compelling cases for their practices.

- Updated Content: The second edition includes new chapters on digital learning and the importance of sleep.

"Neuroscience for Learning and Development" is a valuable resource for anyone passionate about enhancing learning experiences. Stella Collins seamlessly bridges the gap between science and practice, empowering educators and trainers to create meaningful impact. 🌟📚

The appliance of (neuro)science

Whether you’re a teacher, a student or just someone who enjoys learning new things understanding how we can make the most of our brains and learn effectively makes total sense. Neuroscience is a current buzzword and Stella takes through what it is, why it matters, how memory works and how we can learn how to learn to maximise retention and understanding and how we can use all of this to help others and ourselves.

She provides examples of how to make information stick from how it’s presented to the importance of sleep in assimilating and understanding. A new chapter in this third edition looks at digital learning and how we can use and improve it to actually help people learn rather than just being a tick box exercise. I gave the book four stars rather than five as I would like to have seen more examples of how the techniques could be blended and applied as I worked through the book.

While aimed at trainers this book will also be of interest and use to teachers, students, parents and learners in general. I’m a great believer in life-long learning and this book provides a lot of food for thought and I will be dipping back into it on a regular basis.

I was given this book from the author via netgalley only for the pleasure of reading and leaving an honest review should I choose to.

A very insightful book. So many stories and examples of how to use neuroscience for more effective learning. The perfect book for those who teach children all the way up to adults.

As someone who works in the area of training and development, this book is extremely relevant and timely. First of all, the authors ground their research in the area of neuroscience to help us understand that learning is not development, not memory and not information or content (which we often in my profession assume it is one or all of these). Instead learning creates structural changes in our brain at the cellular level. Because of this, the book effectively outlines ways to design and deliver training and education to maximize its impact. I really like how the book is structured – each chapter starts with context (story) and an overview followed by a mind-map figure that is a great framing device for what will follow in the chapter. At the end of each chapter is a concise bullet-pointed summary with follow up readings and resources. In learning and development, there have been many models over the years that try to address transfer of learning so I found the GEAR model a refreshing way to look at this – “Guide, Experiment, Apply, Retain” -- guiding using scaffolding and bit-sized chunks, and applying to allow participants to practice what they learned back at work and then retain by spacing out the learning and repetition. One of my favorite chapters is at the end, where the authors suggest a way for us to retain what we just learned as we read the book – I found that to be incredibly useful and it drove the point home about how to help with retention of learning. The other great aspect of this book is it effectively writes about how to use different methods and techniques in classroom training (in person) and virtually. Since more of our training is now delivered via Zoom and Teams. This is a great resource for education and training professionals.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kogan Page LTD. for an ARC and I left this review voluntarily.

Stella Collins "Neuroscience for Learning and Development" is an interesting read. It's easy to digest and has some practical applications. I would recommend this text for anyone who works in L&D or enjoys the subject.

Thank you NetGalley and Kogan Page LTD for my digital arc in exchange for my review.

In 2020 the world spent over $487 billion on training. But only about 15% of what people learn is ever transferred back into the actual jobs and workplaces (p.65). Maybe that is because people forget 80% of what they’ve learned, within 24 hours of learning it (p.156). Whatever the reasons, there are clearly serious practical and productivity issues surrounding learning, and it is those issues which this book tries to get to grips with.

Extending across 17 carefully targeted chapters, the author looks at different ways that encourage focusing, engagement and retention. Unusually for educational books, it isn’t just a record of ‘what works for me.’ The book tries to anchor its ideas in research, and particularly in research that focuses upon measurable brain activity (ie neuroscience).

So, we hear for example, that getting people to guess answers to a question, seems to make them more likely to remember what they go onto learn as the real answer to the question. This means that starting a training session by seeing what people already know about a topic is not just an ice breaker, but it can be an effective learning tool.

We also heard about the laws of unintended consequences. Putting up a sign such as ‘no smoking’ is more likely to make people think about smoking, and so it can have the opposite effect of what is intended. Just flashing the word ‘no’ on a screen, triggers stress and can inhibit engagement in learning, even if there is no context to the word ‘no.’ These kinds of insights tell us that even before we get to the content of training and learning, serious considerations need to be given to the contextual factors of how ideas are put, and conveyed.

The book contained new ideas, but it also reinforced some traditional wisdom. Is learning more effective when delivered in large doses, or through a model of little and often? Looking at the outcome of teaching typing, it was found that groups which had just an hour a day learned faster, and they were more accurate than groups that had several hours a day of training (p.188). This spaced learning, when combined with spaced revision, seems to be the most effective approach. Generations of teachers that have warned against last minute cramming, will feel relieved to be vindicated!

I enjoyed the book and found it helpful in making me think about a range of educational issues. I was also a little disappointed to not find more about digital learning. There are very real debates in schools about whether children should learn from physical text books, or whether they should learn from digital books. There are debates about whether it is better to take typed notes, or handwritten notes. There are even controversies surrounding whether tests deliver different results when taken digitally, to when taken on paper. Some of these issues are touched upon in the book, but I would have welcomed more detail, to inform and enable decision making.

Overall, this is a large book which aims to be relatively comprehensive. It is written in an easily accessible style which readers of any background can enjoy and benefit from. The book contains so many ideas that readers will inevitably find gems of personal interest.

(These are honest comments based on a free ARC version of the book).