A Biological Brain in a Cultural Classroom
Enhancing Cognitive and Social Development Through Collaborative Classroom Management

Second Edition

Robert Sylwester

Other Titles in:
Behaviour Management | School Counselling

March 2003 | 192 pages | Corwin

Praise for the First Edition:

`Should be required reading for students of education, teachers, and administrators. I would encourage educators for form book study groups to read, study, reflect, and apply what is found here' - Jerry Tollefson, Principal, Marquette Elementary School, Madison

Using research findings from the cognitive neurosciences and a view of the classroom as an ecological system of checks and balances, the author takes the reader into the modern K-12 classroom, reaffirming his belief that students should collaborate with their teachers in classroom management decisions whenever possible.

Preface

About the Author

1. The Cultural Foundations of Classroom Management

Democracy and Education

21st-Century Challenges

Collaborative Classroom Management

2. The Biological Foundations of Classroom Management

Three Forms of Biological Inquiry

Key Biological Concepts

Cells and Classrooms

3. The Marvelous Interdependent Bodybrain That Schools Seek to Manage

The Principal Brain Systems

From Jungle to Classroom in Search of a Model

4. Collaboratively Expending Energy: Who's In Charge?

Childbirth, Childhood, and Classrooms

From Potential to Kinetic Energy

Self-Esteem, Impulsivity, and Aggression

Suggested Activities

5. Collaboratively Managing Biological and Cultural Space

Mapping Cognitive, City, and Classroom Space

How Many People Can You Stuff Into a Classroom?

A Classroom Is a Created World Surrounded by a Leaky Wall

Cauliflower in the Classroom

Suggested Activities

6. Collaboratively Managing Biological and Cultural Time

Life Span: Two Developmental Decades

A Year's Curricular Time

A Day in the Life

Suggested Activities

7. Collaboratively Managing Biological and Cultural Movement

Physical Movement

Change as Psychological Movement

Suggested Activities

8. Collaboratively Managing Biological and Cultural Range

Biologically Possible Ranges

Culturally Appropriate Ranges

In the End

References and Supplementary Readings

Index

"Sylwester’s book offers research, theoretical perspectives, and suggested activities, all of which easily foster reflection on practices related to classroom management, this significant dimension of teaching."

Contemporary Psychology APA Review of Books, April 2003