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Understanding How the Brain Learns Should Inform Our Teaching Practices

Article  in  Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education · December 2012

DOI: 10.1128/jmbe.v13i2.473

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Alix Darden
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
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 REVIEWS
With one of my own research interests being Calcofluor
White (CFW) and fluorescent brighteners in general, my
first action when looking at a mycology text is to check the
index for these topics. The index here gives only two page
entries for CFW, one for fluorescent brighteners, and one
for Blankophor. However, staining with CFW is mentioned
on at least ten other pages (sometimes with different trade
names) and Blankophor on one. As the book recommends
using CFW for a variety of fungi, I would like to have seen
some reference made to the staining variability between
different products.
A brief, nonexhaustive check of the index for other
subjects showed that there is no entry for the caffeic acid
test (disks or medium) for Cryptococcus, although the test
is described in Chapters 2 and 12. Canavanine-glycine-bro-
mothymol blue agar entry refers only to Chapter 2. There
are no index entries for the urease test (used with the yeasts
and dermatophytes), birdseed agar, dermatophyte test
medium, inhibitory mold agar, or Sabouraud dextrose with
brain heart infusion agar (SABHI). Although it is referred to
in the book more than twice, there are only two entries for
beta-(1g3)-D-glucan, and these are only under the name of
a commercially available for a test for it.
There are only eight pages of color illustrations and all
are also in the text as black and white figures. Some of the
color illustrations are well-chosen: the surface and reverse
of dermatophyte colonies, the range of pigmentation in
mature colonies of Aspergillus species, the brown growth
of Cryptococcus neoformans (or gattii) on birdseed agar. I
would question the need for a half-page color photograph
of Majocchi’s granuloma, while five illustrations of lesions
of chromoblastomycosis are shown postage-stamp size.
Two color maps showing the endemic areas of coccidioido-
mycosis in the US and penicilliosis (Penicillium marneffei) in
Southeast Asia are given almost two-thirds of a page each,
but add little to the black and white versions. Similarly, a
two-color (red and blue) illustration of growth/no growth
in a microtiter fluconazole MIC plate takes up a more-than-
necessary share of space.
Despite these criticisms, this is a very well-planned and
well-written comprehensive textbook that deserves a place
in clinical mycology laboratories and in pathology libraries,
especially for pathology residents. It would be a very good
textbook for medical students in a medical mycology course,
and one to keep around as a reference in their future career
as practicing physicians. Also, even if it is not assigned for
students in a medical technology mycology course, it would
be a valuable reference text to be made available to them.
Brian J. Harrington
University of Toledo, Toledo, OH
E-mail: brian.harrington@utoledo.edu
Understanding How the Brain Learns Should
Inform Our Teaching Practices
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v13i2.473
202 Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Comparative review of: The Brain-Targeted Teaching Model
for 21st-Century Schools; Mariale Hardiman; (2012). Corwin,
Thousand Oaks, CA. 223 pages; and How the Brain Learns,
4th ed.; David A. Sousa; (2011). Corwin, Thousand Oaks,
CA. 321 pages.
Understanding how the brain learns should inform our
teaching practices, but finding the literature on this topic is
challenging as it comes from the behavioral sciences, educa-
tion, and cognitive psychology, as well as the neurosciences.
Two recognized experts in the field, David A. Sousa and
Mariale Hardiman, have recently published updated ver-
sions of earlier books, How the Brain Learns, 4th ed., and
The Brain-Targeted Teaching Model for 21st-Century Schools,
respectively, providing valuable resources for educators.
Both books are aimed at K–12 teachers, but can easily be
applied to teaching in higher education.
Both books are research-based and contain com-
prehensive, up-to-date references from a wide variety of
sources including original research from respected journals
in the cognitive and neurosciences. For those interested in
keeping up with the literature, the reference list alone will
provide you with key journals and authors to follow. A quick
comparison of the references in both books showed that
while key references were cited in both, the majority were
different, reflecting the different approaches to the topic as
well as the amount of literature on this topic.
But what does it look like in the classroom? The jump
from theory to practice is not always easy. Just because you
understand how the brain works, does not mean you can
change your teaching practice to reflect that. Both books
do an excellent job of helping you create that bridge, by
providing sections on application at the end of each chapter
including examples from expert teachers. Additionally, there
is a brain-targeted teaching website, http://braintarget-
edteaching.org, which provides an overview of the model,
including links to relevant journal articles and teaching units
for K–12 classrooms.
The information is similar in both books, but is orga-
nized differently and approached from different perspectives.
If you were to choose one book, you might want to do it
on the basis of how the book is organized. The chapters
in How the Brain Learns are based on different functions
of the brain and include, among others, basic brain facts,
how the brain processes information, memory, retention,
and learning, the power of transfer, brain organization and
learning, and thinking skills and learning. The chapters in
The Brain-Targeted Teaching Model for 21st-Century Schools
are organized by the six brain targets of the model and
include, among others, information from the neuro- and
cognitive sciences that educators should know: separating
neuromyth from neuroscience; brain structure and function;
establishing the emotional climate for learning; designing the
learning experience; teaching for mastery of content, skill,
and concepts; and teaching for the extension and applica-
tion of knowledge—creativity and innovation in education.
Volume 13, Number 2
 REVIEWS
Since the target of the books is K–12 teaching, some
sections, such as the one on “learning to read”, struck
me as particularly irrelevant until I started thinking about
it. In addition to teaching students how to read scientific
literature, which is a learned skill, we also teach students
to read graphs, gels, X-rays, and a variety of other data
outputs. We also complain that they don’t do this type of
reading well. After reading the section on learning to read,
I understood why they have difficulty and how I could help
students learn to “read” data.
I found both books informative and useful. The different
presentations of the information help me contextualize and
apply it to my teaching. I will continue to use both books.
They provide information that helps me understand why
some things I do work, which will help me transfer effective
teaching to other settings, and also provide “Aha” moments
which will, I hope, translate to more effective learning in
my classes.
Alix Darden
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Oklahoma City, OK
E-mail: alix-darden@ouhsc.edu
A Holistic View of Emerging Infectious Diseases
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v13i2.482
Review of: Emerging Infectious Diseases: A Guide to Diseases,
Causative Agents, and Surveillance; Lisa A. Beltz; (2011). Jossey-
Bass, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. San Francisco, CA. 700 pages.
This book gives a comprehensive description of many
diseases currently emerging and re-emerging in different
regions of the world. The author has presented well-
rounded information on select diseases currently found in
the Americas (e.g., Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis), Africa (e.g.,
Lassa hemorrhagic fever, monkeypox), and in all parts of the
world (e.g., cryptosporidiosis, tuberculosis).
The author has divided the book into well-organized
parts with introductory chapters presenting a general re-
view of basic background information in microbiology and
immunology. This may help set the stage for useful classroom
discussions on how host defenses work and the implications
of their breakdown.
The introductory chapter includes a short discussion
on emerging and re-emerging diseases, factors and underly-
ing causes for their emergence, and a very useful timeline
of emerging diseases. The heart of the book is devoted to
diseases separated by the type of causative agents: bacteria,
viruses, parasitic protozoa, and prions. The similarly orga-
nized chapters make it easy for the reader to find the desired
information quickly. Although there is a great amount of
detailed information, each chapter is “an onion,” with layers
of information about the disease. Depending on the goal of
the reader, he or she may opt to peel one layer at a time,
delving deeper if needed. My favorite part was the “Major
Volume 13, Number 2 Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
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Concepts” at the beginning of each chapter, which gives the
reader a bird’s eye view of the disease. In contrast to many
other books in this category, this section is presented at
the beginning of the chapter, allowing the reader to get a
quick “big picture” update on the disease within minutes.
Pertinent information on causative agents, virulence
factors, treatments, and recent developments seem current
and present a robust package of information. Treatments
include not only the usual mainstream options, but also a
few herbal/plant derived treatments (for example, the use
of apple peel polyphenols to inhibit Helicobacter pylori urease
activity). The final two chapters address diseases of concern
in the immune-suppressed population and in bioterrorism.
The author has done an excellent job in addressing these
very important issues that may determine the next genera-
tion of emerging and re-emerging diseases in the population.
The book is accompanied by a very basic companion
website that includes monochromatic images, figures, and
answers to the review questions from the book. In addition,
it includes some interesting case studies that instructors may
find useful. Its lack of adequate resources for students and
instructors, however, may make this a tough sell for adop-
tion as a text.
Overall, I found this book to be a wonderful resource
with an immense amount of valuable information. I am posi-
tive that microbiology instructors, health professionals and
the advanced microbiology/biology student will benefit from
its use as an additional reference.
Himgauri K. Kulkarni
MiraCosta College, Oceanside, CA
E-mail: hkulkarni@miracosta.edu
Invisible Guide: How Our Understanding of Life
Has Been Shaped by E. coli
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v13i2.486
Review of: Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life; Carl
Zimmer; (2008). Pantheon Books, New York. 243 pages.
The scope of Carl Zimmer’s book is as vast as its
subject matter—the nature of life itself. Using Escherichia
coli as a humble tour guide, Zimmer takes the reader on a
journey that spans the history of modern biology. This book
serves as a primer on how we have come to learn what we
know about how life works from studying a single-celled
bacterium. With equal measures of precision and poetry,
subjects from evolution to synthetic biology are covered
with enough detail to satisfy biologist and layperson alike.
Effortlessly weaving stories of scientists and their times
with the pressing biological questions of the day, Zimmer
presents experimental evidence without ever losing sight of
the big questions—who are we and how did we get here?
In the process, the reader not only learns about what we
know about life, but also how we found out. This book is
geared towards a general audience, and does not require any
203