cognitive psychology of school learning

In an era of intense interest in educational reform, spurred by increasing global competition for jobs and advancement, it is more critical than ever to understand the nature of learning. And although much attention is paid to differences between learners, short shrift is often given to cognitive functions that characterize successful learning for all students. Yet these are the very functions that determine the difference between successful and rewarding learning versus merely “doing” without truly learning.  Firmly grounded in the principles of neuropsychology, Beyond Individual Differences analyzes both successful and unproductive learning in terms of the brain’s organizing processes – that is, its unconscious sifting, selecting, and meaning-making that enable students to incorporate and build on what they’ve learned in the past. At the same time, it explores the learning situations that cause organization to break down and offers several preventive strategies. Key areas of coverage include:  The complex role of mental organization in learning and education.Specific organizing processes and the links to success or failure in learning.Information/cognitive overload.The student’s experience of learning and its impact on development. Accommodating a range of individual differences in the classroom.Practices for supporting students’ unconscious organizing processes.Beyond Individual Differences is essential reading for a wide range of professionals and policy makers as well as researchers and graduate students in school and clinical child psychology, special and general education, social work and school counseling, speech therapy, and neuropsychology.

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In Assessment and Intervention for Executive Function Difficulties, McCloskey, Perkins, and Diviner provide a unique blend of theory, research, and practice that offers clinicians an overarching framework for the concept of executive functions (EFs) in educational settings. The conceptual model of executive functions is detailed, including their role in behavior, learning, and production across all settings. The heart of the book focus on the practical issues involved in the use of assessment tools, tests, report writing, and the implementation and follow-up of targeted interventions using the EF model.  Six case studies are introduced in Chapter 1 and followed throughout the book, building understanding of the executive function difficulties of each child, assessment for identifying the difficulties, and interventions for dealing with the difficulties.  An additional case study is discussed in detail in one of the concluding chapters, and a companion CD will provide the practitioner with a wealth of assessment forms, parent and teacher handouts, behavior tracking charts, and report/documentation forms.

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This book presents the latest developments in the major theories of student motivation as well as up-to-date research on the contextual and cultural variables that influence learning motivation in educational settings. An international roster of experts provides ample illustration of the complexities that are revealed when the study of cultural and contextual interactions is combined with motivational and cognitive variables.

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Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments describes the most contemporary psychological and pedagogical theories that are foundations for the conception and design of open-ended learning environments and new applications of educational technologies.

In the past decade, the cognitive revolution of the 60s and 70s has been replaced or restructured by constructivism and its associated theories, including situated, sociocultural, ecological, everyday, and distributed conceptions of cognition. These theories represent a paradigm shift for educators and instructional designers, to a view of learning as necessarily more social, conversational, and constructive than traditional transmissive views of learning. Never in the history of education have so many different theories said the same things about the nature of learning and the means for supporting it. At the same time, although there is a remarkable amount of consonance among these theories, each also provides a distinct perspective on how learning and sense making occur.

This book provides students, faculty, and instructional designers with a clear, concise introduction to these theories and their implications for the design of new learning environments for schools, universities, and corporations. It is well-suited as a required or supplementary text for courses in instructional design and theory, educational psychology, learning, theory, curriculum theory and design, and related areas.

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This study addresses the process of developmental change as it occurs in the course of classroom lessons. The book aims to answer such questions as what forms of teacher-student interaction are most effective for producing developmental transformations in children’s understanding. It also addresses why knowledge derived from psychological experiments on children’s learning and development so often seems irrelevant to classroom teachers and how it is possible to reconcile Piaget’s emphasis on the central role of independent intervention and constructive activity with learning theorists’ emphasis on environmental feedback as the motive force of change. Assuming that intellectual development occurs in the “construction zone,” a shared space encompassing the joint constructive efforts of teachers and students, the authors provide innovative answers to these and related questions. The questions are illustrated with detailed analyses of specially constructed lessons in the instructional areas of natural science, social studies, and mathematics.

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People who learn to solve problems ‘on the job’ often have to do it differently from people who learn in theory. Practical knowledge and theoretical knowledge is different in some ways but similar in other ways – or else one would end up with wrong solutions to the problems. Mathematics is also like this. People who learn to calculate, for example, because they are involved in commerce frequently have a more practical way of doing mathematics than the way we are taught at school. This book is about the differences between what we call practical knowledge of mathematics – that is street mathematics – and mathematics learned in school, which is not learned in practice. The authors look at the differences between these two ways of solving mathematical problems and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. They also discuss ways of trying to put theory and practice together in mathematics teaching.

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Howard Gardner’s groundbreaking theory applied for classroom use

This important book offers a practical guide to understanding how Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) can be used in the classroom. Gardner identified eight different types of intelligence: linguistic, logical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Celebrating Every Learner describes the characteristics of each type of intelligence and follows up with ready-to-use lesson plans and activities that teachers can use to incorporate MI in their pre-K through 6 classrooms.

• Offers a treasury of easily implemented activities for engaging all students’ multiple intelligences, from the New City School, a leading elementary school at the forefront of MI education
• Provides ready-to-use lesson plans that teachers can use to incorporate MI in any elementary classroom
• Includes valuable essays on how and why to integrate MI in the classroom
• Hoerr is the author of a bi-monthly column for Educational Leadership as well as the editor of the “Intelligence Connections” e-newsletter

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