The Art Of Learning

An eight-time national chess champion and world champion martial artist shares the lessons he has learned from two very different competitive arenas, identifying key principles about learning and performance that readers can apply to their life goals. Reprint. 35,000 first printing.

In his riveting new book, The Art of Learning, Waitzkin tells his remarkable story of personal achievement and shares the principles of learning and performance that have propelled him to the top—twice. Josh Waitzkin knows what it means to be at the top of his game. A public figure since winning his first National Chess Championship at the age of nine, Waitzkin was catapulted into a media whirlwind as a teenager when his father’s book Searching for Bobby Fischer was made into a major motion picture. After dominating the scholastic chess world for ten years, Waitzkin expanded his horizons, taking on the martial art Tai Chi Chuan and ultimately earning the title of World Champion. How was he able to reach the pinnacle of two disciplines that on the surface seem so different? “I’ve come to realize that what I am best at is not Tai Chi, and it is not chess,” he says. “What I am best at is the art of learning.” With a narrative that combines heart-stopping martial arts wars and tense chess face-offs with life lessons that speak to all of us, The Art of Learning takes readers through Waitzkin’s unique journey to excellence. He explains in clear detail how a well-thought-out, principled approach to learning is what separates success from failure. Waitzkin believes that achievement, even at the championship level, is a function of a lifestyle that fuels a creative, resilient growth process. Rather than focusing on climactic wins, Waitzkin reveals the inner workings of his everyday method, from systematically triggering intuitive breakthroughs, to honing techniques into states of remarkable potency, to mastering the art of performance psychology. Through his own example, Waitzkin explains how to embrace defeat and make mistakes work for you. Does your opponent make you angry? Waitzkin describes how to channel emotions into creative fuel. As he explains it, obstacles are not obstacles but challenges to overcome, to spur the growth process by turning weaknesses into strengths. He illustrates the exact routines that he has used in all of his competitions, whether mental or physical, so that you too can achieve your peak performance zone in any competitive or professional circumstance. In stories ranging from his early years taking on chess hustlers as a seven year old in New York City’s Washington Square Park, to dealing with the pressures of having a film made about his life, to International Chess Championships in India, Hungary, and Brazil, to gripping battles against powerhouse fighters in Taiwan in the Push Hands World Championships, The Art of Learning encapsulates an extraordinary competitor’s life lessons in a page-turning narrative.

Eight-time national chess champion and internationally renowned martial artist Waitzkin lays out his battle-tested principles of learning and performance to help readers achieve success in any endeavor.

Neuroscience tells us that the products of the mind--thought, emotions, artistic creation--are the result of the interactions of the biological brain with our senses and the physical world: in short, that thinking and learning are the products of a biological process.This realization, that learning actually alters the brain by changing the number and strength of synapses, offers a powerful foundation for rethinking teaching practice and one's philosophy of teaching.James Zull invites teachers in higher education or any other setting to accompany him in his exploration of what scientists can tell us about the brain and to discover how this knowledge can influence the practice of teaching. He describes the brain in clear non-technical language and an engaging conversational tone, highlighting its functions and parts and how they interact, and always relating them to the real world of the classroom and his own evolution as a teacher. "The Art of Changing the Brain" is grounded in the practicalities and challenges of creating effective opportunities for deep and lasting learning, and of dealing with students as unique learners.

Slow Looking provides a robust argument for the importance of slow looking in learning environments both general and specialized, formal and informal, and its connection to major concepts in teaching, learning, and knowledge. A museum-originated practice increasingly seen as holding wide educational benefits, slow looking contends that patient, immersive attention to content can produce active cognitive opportunities for meaning-making and critical thinking that may not be possible though high-speed means of information delivery. Addressing the multi-disciplinary applications of this purposeful behavioral practice, this book draws examples from the visual arts, literature, science, and everyday life, using original, real-world scenarios to illustrate the complexities and rewards of slow looking.

Students and beginning counselors get step-by-step guidance for developing the skills and techniques they need to effectively help their clients. This sixth edition of the best-selling Learning the Art of Helping: Building Blocks and Techniques emphasizes the techniques and skills necessary to be effective in the art of helping, from basic building blocks to advanced therapeutic techniques. The text is practical, innovative, and focused on the relationship between helper and client. The author incorporates the latest research on effective treatments, while offering an integrative perspective. The author's conversational tone is appealing to students, yet the book is carefully referenced for instructors. The goal is to make beginning helpers become "reflective practitioners." "Stop and Reflect" sections, exercises, homework, class discussion topics, and Journal Starters support this approach. The sixth edition includes new sections highlighting issues of culture in research, challenges related to gender differences, and helping skills specific to children.

To learn more about learning – what it is and how it works – it is necessary to look inside education. Inside Education takes the reader on a journey of four ‘live’ education projects: the first all-Irish speaking, mixed-gendered, multi-faith primary school in the Republic of Ireland ideally suited to exploring learning identity; an alternative post-primary school for those who leave (or are left behind by) the formal education system also based in the Republic of Ireland and ideally suited to exploring personal learning; an early college school that enables students to simultaneously sit their high-school diploma and college exams based in Queens, New York and ideally suited to exploring learning success; and an adult education training centre that works with ‘landless’ movement members based in Brazil and ideally suited to exploring learning power. Using a critical ethnography approach, each research narrative naturally unfolds/enfolds to tell a more complete learning story. All those interested in education are primed readers. By (re-)viewing their own learning outlook, they may begin to advance deeper critical ideas and debates in education. They may come to (re-)represent education, reminding public consciousness of its human stories, as well as its curious, intricate and powerful qualities. And they may (re-)discover ‘other’ roads to raise a scholar. Teachers, educational researchers, parents and guardians will be particularly interested readers. ‘Inside Education is a thought-provoking, challenging and revealing journey inside the world of education and learning. Its exploration of school and classroom practices in a range of different settings provides important insights into how we learn ‒ a central aspect of our education system which remains overlooked and understudied. In doing so, it lays down a challenge to policy-makers and educators everywhere to think differently about the way we learn and, ultimately, help students fulfil their real potential.’ -Carl O’Brien, Chief Reporter for The Irish Times ‘Inside Education is a stunning example of passionate scholarship that nonetheless refuses a redemptionist stance. The ethnography captures people and contexts and draws the reader into the four sites of learning in fluent and lyrical prose. This is facilitated by the extensive use of research notes deploying historical, comparative, literary, artistic and scholarly sources." -Denis O’Sullivan, Emeritus Professor of Education, University College Cork, Ireland

We live in an era defined by a wealth of open and readily available information, and the accelerated evolution of social, mobile and creative technologies. The provision of knowledge, once a primary role of educators, is now devolved to an immense web of free and readily accessible sources. Consequently, educators need to redefine their role not just “from sage on the stage to guide on the side” but, as more and more voices insist, as “designers for learning”. The call for such a repositioning of educators is heard from leaders in the field of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) and resonates well with the growing culture of design-based research in Education. However, it is still struggling to find a foothold in educational practice. We contend that the root causes of this discrepancy are the lack of articulation of design practices and methods, along with a shortage of tools and representations to support such practices, a lack of a culture of teacher-as-designer among practitioners, and insufficient theoretical development. The Art and Science of Learning Design (ASLD) explores the frameworks, methods, and tools available for teachers, technologists and researchers interested in designing for learning Learning Design theories arising from findings of research are explored, drawing upon research and practitioner experiences. It then surveys current trends in the practices, methods, and methodologies of Learning Design. Highlighting the translation of theory into practice, this book showcases some of the latest tools that support the learning design process itself.