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The Learning Game

Teaching Kids to Think for Themselves, Embrace Challenge, and Love Learning

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The Learning Game

By: Ana Lorena Fábrega
Narrated by: Ana Lorena Fábrega
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About this listen

How did we conclude that the best way to prepare kids for the future is to cluster them into classrooms by age and grade, forcing them to learn the same things, at the same time and pace, seven hours a day, five days a week, for twelve years?

We trust the school system to prepare our kids for the future. We get excited when they get good grades, or disappointed if they don't. But we rarely stop to question whether school is teaching our children the right things in the right way.

Kids could get good at playing the game of school, but are they really learning?

Teacher-turned-edupreneur Ana Lorena Fábrega, known by her students as Ms. Fab, invites us to rethink education.

In The Learning Game, she reveals how traditional schooling has gone wrong, and proposes a series of actionable strategies to help kids learn.

What if we guide kids to think for themselves?
Should we encourage kids to take risks and tackle projects of their own?
How do we help kids learn to love learning?

Answering these questions and many more, The Learning Game will arm you with practical tools to design a new approach to learning – one that leaves behind the game of school and prepares your kids for the game of life.

Critic Reviews

Is it possible that we all hope for the same things for our children? We want them to be kind, capable, collaborative, and curious. What do schools want for the kids they serve? Do they focus on adherence to a system of rules, standards, and protocols incompatible with reality, or do they spend time on what really matters? The Learning Game reminds us what is lost when we focus on winning the game of school. We know that our children shouldn't spend a thousand hours each year sitting in rows and laboring through worksheets to "earn" a grade. Ana Lorena provides an incisive critique of our current approach to education and outlines a compelling vision of what learning ought to be: collaborative, relevant, challenging, and fun. (Joshua Dahn, Co-Founder, Synthesis and Ad Astra)
Ana Lorena has delivered an essential read—a piercing critique of our education system and a practical plan for reform. This book is a call to action for parents, educators, and policy makers to overturn the status quo, reimagine learning, and do right by our kids. (Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, Drive, When, and A Whole New Mind)
Ana Lorena offers an insightful and compelling case for how our education system is failing students by teaching them what to think rather than how to think. The Learning Game offers practical solutions for how to fix what’s broken, showing the way to foster creativity and a sense of agency in the next generation. (Annie Duke, Bestselling Author, Thinking in Bets and Quit)
The Learning Game is a compelling reminder that we still have a lot to learn, unlearn and relearn if we want to bring children’s education in line with the needs of the 21st century. Every parent and educator needs this book. (Jane McGonigal, PhD, New York Times Bestselling Author, Imaginable and Reality is Broken)
Profoundly simple, simply profound. Ana Lorena has the great teacher's knack for clear communication. This is an easy-to-read, fun book of wisdom and tried-and-true ideas for teachers, parents, and anyone involved with kids and concerned with their education. It's about how to help kids leave the "school game" and move on with the real game of learning, the great game that children are designed by nature to play. (Peter Gray, Research Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and Author, Free to Learn)
Every parent with school-aged kids should read this book! The Learning Game is packed with insights, surprises, and wisdom for raising smarter, happier, and better-adjusted children. (Nir Eyal, Author, Hooked and Indistractable)
Ana Lorena is a teacher. She saw the system from within. She knows what's broken. And she has a vision to fix it. (Balaji S. Srinivasan (@balajis), Former CTO of Coinbase, and Bestselling Author, The Network State)
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