The integration of concepts from diverse fields of study often reveals the most obvious yet fascinating consistencies. The challenge comes in understanding two distinct bodies of literature well enough to recognize crucial parallels. Dr. James Zull is clearly up to the challenge as he ties biological neuroscience with models of teaching and learning to propose strategies for most effectively "changing the brain" to reflect true learning.

In the text The Art of Changing the Brain, Dr. Zull identifies key functions of various central nervous system structures, highlighting the types of experiences to which each structure responds, as well as the types of behaviors that reflect a change in function of that structure. Interweaved in the discussion of brain biology is a review of well-established and/or innovative models of teaching and learning. Throughout the text, Dr. Zull reflects on how the strategies suggested by given teaching/learning models would act to change brain function.

A recurrent theme of the text is the parallel between the "learning cycle," which involves concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract hypothesis, and active testing, and the connectivity of the brain structures responsible for these cognitive processes: sensory cortex, temporal integrative cortex, frontal integrative cortex, and motor cortex, respectively. Dr. Zull draws from diverse literatures, from neural networks to lesion studies, to support his conclusions about the relationships between learning and brain function.

While some of the parallels Dr. Zull attempts to draw between neuroscientific principles and teaching and learning are limited by the necessary simplistic analyses of the literature cited (for example, the discussion only scratches the surface of right versus left hemisphere processing), the conclusions Dr. Zull draws with respect to effective teaching and learning are sound. Readers with a background in neuroscience may be particularly intrigued by the application of common neurobiological principles to the practice of teaching and learning.

In spite of the complexities of brain biology and teaching/learning theories, Dr. Zull presents a clear and accessible discussion. The text is enhanced by numerous case examples of teaching and learning situations both from Dr. Zull's experience and those of other teachers he has counseled. The Art of Changing the Brain is engaging and logically organized, providing readers with practical suggestions for applying the concepts in the classroom and other learning situations. The final chapters, in particular, reflect more deeply on the nature of teaching and learning activities that have the greatest potential to result in functional changes in neural connections. Readers will feel encouraged and eager to integrate the concepts into their own philosophy of teaching and learning.

Heather M Clark,
Appalachian State University