Student Successes with Thinking Map® (School based research, results and models for achievement using visual tools (2nd Edition)

Book excerpt: Renown educator and expert in the practical applications of cognitive-neuroscience offers this opening her concise Forward to this book about the wide ranging uses of Thinking Maps®: "Neuroscientists tell us that the brain organizes information in networks and maps... the Thinking Maps program takes full advantage of the natural proclivity of the brain to think visually." Student Successes with Thinking Maps presents a language of eight visual tools and framing tools based on fundamental cognitive processes of the human brain and mind that boost all learners' metacognitive and critical thinking skills. The first chapter by Thinking Maps creator David Hyerle, Ed.D. is a comprehensive introduction to the theory, history, research and results from the systematic implementation of Thinking Maps over time. This book is rich in detail and inspiration from teachers, principals, and administrators from around the world and across diverse schools and systems. The wide-ranging stories and supporting data across the 19 chapters weave together to create a unified theme of Thinking Maps as a transformational language for learning. From the authors of these chapters, you will learn about school-wide changes in teachers’ effectiveness and student performance in an inner-city elementary school in Long Beach, California, where 85% of the students entering classrooms speak Spanish as their first language; students with special needs in a middle school in North Carolina making performance leaps of over three years’ growth in mathematics; girls from a single-sex, independent, K–12 school in New Zealand rising over four years to the top of that nation’s educational ladder; and entering junior college students in Mississippi significantly shifting reading comprehension scores, while those in the nursing program dramatically outperform their peers of previous years. You will also hear about the Pass Christian School District, landfall for Hurricane Katrina, rising over the years to become the top-performing school system in Louisiana. The authors of the chapters before you bring forth insights grounded in practical examples and experiences from their work to transform teaching and learning.