Teaching for Cognitive Engagement
Nine High-Impact, Myth-Busting Strategies for K-12 Instruction
(Routledge, May 2026)
Teaching for Cognitive Engagement offers a bold yet accessible vision for K–12 teaching and learning, grounded in reliable principles from cognitive science. Schools today have embraced trends like excessive differentiation, self-paced personalization, and “student-led” learning—but do these approaches truly reflect how students learn and how teachers should teach?
This book presents a reinvigorated approach to evidence-informed instruction that emphasizes memory, knowledge-building, explicit teaching, and other strategies proven to raise achievement and equity across K–12 classrooms. Authentic scenarios, lesson structures, interventions, success criteria, and recurring features show how these strategies can thrive in real educational settings.
Provocative and highly practical, this book helps educators refocus on what students truly need: clarity, knowledge, deliberate practice, and expertly designed instruction. In-service teachers, teacher-leaders, instructional leaders, curriculum developers, and other school staff will find an essential professional development resource drawing on the latest educational, psychological, and brain-based research.
Read what’s new in The Cognitive Corner
“The Three Big Misconceptions About Student Engagement,” Education Week