A Teacher's Guide to the Psychology of Learning

by Howe, Michael J. A.

• ISBN13: 9780631212270
• ISBN10: 0631212272
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-07-09
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The first edition of this book was one of the first to present the ideas of the psychology of learning in an integrated text. This fully revised edition includes the psychological research into children's learning and intelligence which has taken place over the past decade.

Author Biography

Michael Howe is Professor of Psychology at Exeter University. He is the author of many books (both trade and academic) and is a well-known expert on child geniuses.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction: the beginnings of human learning	1	(10)
Learning in the earliest years	3	(2)
Language and human learning	5	(6)
Preparing for learning at school	11	(12)
Learning at home and learning at school	11	(4)
Reading	15	(4)
Learning in modern life	19	(4)
Mental activities and human learning	23	(20)
The effects of mental processing	23	(4)
Processing language-based information	27	(2)
Further investigations of mental processing	29	(4)
Personal relevance	30	(2)
Intention to learn	32	(1)
Mental processing and children's learning	33	(4)
Aiding learning by structuring information	37	(2)
Using a narrative strategy	37	(2)
Practical learning procedures based on mental images	39	(3)
Conclusion	42	(1)
Rehearsing and practising	43	(12)
Rehearsing	43	(1)
Investigating the effects of rehearsal	44	(2)
Making use of rehearsal skills	46	(1)
The consequences of rehearsing	47	(1)
Self-testing activities	48	(2)
Practising and its consequences	50	(2)
Conclusion	52	(3)
How existing knowledge aids learning	55	(32)
An experiment on sentence recall	56	(3)
Learning and knowing in children and adults	59	(4)
Adult-Child comparisons when differences in knowledge and strategies are absent	60	(2)
Using titles to help access relevant knowledge	62	(1)
Negative influences of a learner's existing knowledge	63	(4)
Distortions caused by previous knowledge	65	(2)
Advance organizers for classroom learning	67	(2)
Strategies for learning unfamiliar topics	69	(7)
Can training be effective?	74	(2)
The mental representation of knowledge	76	(11)
Hierarchical representation of items and their properties	78	(4)
Scripts and schemas	82	(5)
Intelligence and human abilities	87	(24)
Intelligence testing in practice	87	(2)
How useful are intelligence test scores as practical predictors?	89	(4)
Is intelligence largely unchangeable?	93	(3)
Intelligence as a fundamental quality of the mind	96	(1)
Intelligence and human learning	97	(3)
Influences that contribute to high capabilities	100	(4)
The assumed roles of innate gifts and talents	104	(2)
Critical periods	106	(5)
How motivation affects learning	111	(12)
Motivation and success at school	111	(2)
Achievement motivation	113	(2)
Being in control	115	(5)
The effects of altered locus of control	118	(1)
Locus of control and student mastery	119	(1)
Pawns and origins	119	(1)
Self-efficacy	120	(1)
Success and failure in the classroom	121	(1)
Some conclusions	122	(1)
Reading, comprehension and learning	123	(18)
Helping students to understand	124	(2)
Coding and comprehending	126	(1)
The skills of comprehension	127	(5)
Monitoring	128	(2)
Generating and evaluating hypotheses	130	(2)
Teaching comprehension strategies	132	(2)
Stage One	132	(1)
Stage Two	133	(1)
Stage Three	134	(1)
Evaluating comprehension training	134	(5)
The training studies	136	(3)
Some conclusions	139	(2)
Extending writing skills	141	(14)
From conversation to written communication	141	(1)
Note-taking	142	(2)
Effects of repeated recall attempts	144	(2)
Note-taking style and student learning	146	(2)
Using pre-prepared notes	148	(1)
Learning to make notes	149	(1)
Making summaries	150	(1)
Learning other skills that aid writing: remedial activities	151	(4)
References	155	(10)
Index	165