Psychology in Learning and Instruction

by Alexander, Patricia A.

• ISBN13: 9780139748745
• ISBN10: 0139748741
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-04-08
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This book introduces future educators and researchers to several different psychological perspectives and uses these perspectives to introduce key issues such as knowledge acquisition and transfer, strategic process, and student motivation. As an editor and reviewer of the top journals in the field, the author is able to present the latest research in language that is accessible and understandable. Unlike other books that are organized around theoretical topics valued by psychologists, it is organized around education problems and issues deemed important by educators.

Table of Contents

Building the Context	1	(12)
What Role Can Psychology Play in Everyday Educational Practice?	2	(2)
The Union of Psychology and Pedagogy	2	(1)
The Changing Faces of Psychology and Teaching	3	(1)
What Areas of Psychological Theory and Research Have the Most to Say About Learning and Instruction?	4	(2)
How Does the Sociohistorical Context Affect Learning and Instruction?	6	(7)
Incremental Trends	6	(4)
Stationary Trends	10	(1)
Iterative Trends	11	(1)
Contribution of Educational Psychology	11	(2)
PART I Development and Individual Differences
Exploring Development and Its Biological Bases	13	(23)
What Is Development?	14	(1)
What Are the Defining Themes in Human Development?	15	(5)
Source	15	(4)
Continuity	19	(1)
Stability	19	(1)
What Are the Biological Bases of Development?	20	(16)
Neurological Development	21	(6)
Physical Development	27	(9)
Understanding Cognitive and Social/Emotional Development	36	(27)
How Does the Mind Change with Age and Experience?	37	(11)
Piagetian Theory	37	(8)
Rethinking Piagetian Theory	45	(3)
What Are the Patterns in the Way Students Grow Socially, Emotionally, and Morally?	48	(8)
Two Perspectives on Social Development	48	(3)
Emotional Development	51	(1)
Two Perspectives on Moral Reasoning	52	(4)
What Developmental Principles Should Guide Instruction for Early-Childhood, Middle-School, and High-School Students?	56	(7)
Early-Childhood Education: A Period of Exploration	56	(3)
Middle School: A Period of Expansion	59	(2)
High School: A Period of Experimentation	61	(2)
PART II The Knowledge Base
The Nature of Knowledge and the Process of Knowing	63	(26)
What Is Knowledge?	64	(8)
Conceptualizing Knowledge and the Process of Knowing	65	(1)
Viewing Knowledge from Different Theoretical Frameworks	66	(6)
What Kinds of Knowledge Should Be Part of the Educational Experience?	72	(9)
Prior Knowledge	72	(7)
Interaction of Knowledge and Learning	79	(2)
What Principles of Knowledge Promote Effective Educational Practice?	81	(8)
Knowledge Is Idiosyncratic	81	(1)
Knowledge Begets Knowledge	82	(2)
Knowledge Is Never Context Free	84	(1)
Knowledge Reflects Experiences In and Out of School	85	(1)
Knowledge Is Socially and Culturally Constructed	86	(3)
Learning and Teaching in Academic Domains	89	(31)
What Is an Academic Domain?	90	(2)
Reasons to Study Domains of Knowledge	91	(1)
Initial Caveats	92	(1)
What Do Academic Domains Have in Common?	92	(2)
Modes of Encryption	93	(1)
Typical Tasks	93	(1)
Underlying Processes	93	(1)
Instructional Issues	93	(1)
How Do Differences in Academic Domains Affect Learning and Instruction?	94	(26)
Reading	94	(5)
Writing	99	(1)
History	100	(7)
Mathematics	107	(7)
Science	114	(6)
Changing Knowledge and Beliefs and Promoting Transfer	120	(26)
Why Is It Sometimes Difficult to Alter Students' Naive Conceptions?	121	(6)
The Power of Life Over Schooled Knowledge	122	(1)
The Nature of Conceptual Change	123	(4)
How Can Students' Knowledge and Beliefs Be Changed?	127	(8)
Confronting Potential Sources of Resistance	127	(1)
Shortcomings of Early Conceptual-Change Research	128	(1)
The Merits of Combining Research on Conceptual Change and Persuasion	129	(2)
An Alternative Model of Change	131	(3)
Guidelines for Promoting Profound and Enduring Changes in Knowledge and Beliefs	134	(1)
What Can Be Done to Promote the Transfer of Knowledge?	135	(11)
The Nature of Transfer	136	(4)
Teaching for Transfer	140	(6)
PART III Strategic Processing and Executive Functioning
Strategic Learning and Strategic Teaching	146	(21)
What Does It Mean to Be a Strategic Learner?	147	(11)
Good Strategic Thinking Needs to Be Nurtured	150	(8)
How Do Strategic Abilities Vary Across Domains and Contexts?	158	(3)
Social-Contextual Forces	159	(1)
Domain Influences	160	(1)
What Can Teachers Do to Help Students Become More Strategic?	161	(6)
Profiling Problem Solving in the Classroom	167	(23)
What Makes a Problem a Problem?	168	(4)
The Nature of a Problem	169	(1)
Benefits of Classifying Academic Problems	169	(3)
What Is a Framework for Analyzing Academic Problems?	172	(14)
Classification of Problems	174	(8)
Interaction of Problem Solving and Intelligence	182	(4)
What Are the Guidelines for Effective Problem Solving?	186	(4)
PART IV Motivation and Affect
Motivation and Learning: Optimizing the Experience	190	(21)
What Does It Mean to Be Motivated?	191	(6)
Defining the Construct	192	(1)
Reviewing the History	192	(5)
How Do Students' Goals Relate to Their Learning and Achievement?	197	(11)
Academic Goals	199	(2)
Questions About Goals and Goal Orientations	201	(5)
Social Goals	206	(2)
What Can Teachers Do to Promote Optimal Learning?	208	(3)
The Role of Student Beliefs in Learning and Achievement	211	(28)
How Do Students' Self-Perceptions Influence Their Motivations to Learn?	212	(8)
Self-Perceptions	213	(3)
Development of Self-Schemas	216	(2)
Instructional Influences of Self-Schemas	218	(2)
How Do Students Rationalize and Internalize Their Academic Successes and Failures?	220	(9)
The Dimensions of Causality: Taking Credit or Placing Blame	220	(2)
Common Attributional Biases	222	(2)
Consequences of Attributions	224	(3)
Self-Efficacy	227	(2)
What Can Teachers Do to Foster Positive Attitudes and Beliefs Among Their Students?	229	(10)
PART V Situation or Context
Shared Learning and Shared Instruction	239	(29)
In What Ways Is Learning Shared or Distributed?	240	(13)
The Theory Behind Social Interaction	242	(1)
The Basics of Shared Learning	243	(10)
How Do the Principles of Shared Understanding Extend to Teachers as Well as to Students?	253	(6)
The Basics of Shared Teaching	253	(5)
The Merits of Shared Teaching	258	(1)
How Can Socially Shared Education Translate into Better Learning for All Students?	259	(9)
Technology and the Educational Process	268	(27)
How Has Technology Changed Learning and Instruction?	269	(13)
Historical/Philosophical Background	269	(1)
Components of Effective Computer-Based Instruction	270	(1)
Perplexing Questions and Potential Solutions	271	(11)
How Can Various Technologies Help Individual Students Learn?	282	(8)
Computer-Assisted Instruction	282	(1)
Computer-Mediated Communication	283	(2)
Computer-Integrated Instruction	285	(3)
Computer-Adaptive Instruction	288	(2)
What Principles Underlie Optimal Learning in a Technologically Rich Society?	290	(5)
PART VI Assessment
The Role of Assessment in Learning and Instruction	295	(28)
How Does Assessment Contribute to Improved Learning and Instruction?	296	(11)
Measurement	297	(2)
Evaluation	299	(5)
Tests	304	(3)
What Forms of Academic Assessment Are Better Than Others?	307	(8)
Evaluating the Legitimacy of Assessment Practices	307	(5)
Judging the Consistency of Assessment Practices	312	(3)
What Do Teachers Need to Know About Assessment?	315	(8)
Traditional and Alternative Approaches to Teacher-Made Tests	323	(32)
How Can Teachers Improve the Quality of Their Traditional Assessments?	324	(18)
Understanding Traditional Assessments	325	(6)
Improving the Quality of Selected-Response Items	331	(5)
Improving the Quality of Constructed-Response Items	336	(6)
What Alternatives to Traditional Measures Should Teachers Consider?	342	(9)
Performance-Based Assessments	343	(3)
Student Portfolios	346	(5)
What Are the Fundamental Principles of Effective Classroom Assessment?	351	(4)
References	355	(24)
Name Index	379	(7)
Subject Index	386