Review
"[…] This is an excellent textbook in its comprehensiveness, depth of coverage, and realistic classroom applications. This is definitely one of the best textbooks currently available in the field."
-Rolando A. Santos, California State University, Los Angeles
“[…] The features included allow for students to achieve an understanding and application of principles […] Also, student resources are excellent. Students will be able to view the instructor as a guide, rather than one who must interpret the information because of the readability level and writing style used by the author.”
-Sharon Cordell, Roane State Community College
“We chose Ormrod because of its readability and emphasis on application in real classrooms, as well as the author’s efforts to actively engage the reader through suggested reflections and activities.”
-Pamela Kidder-Ashley, Ph.D., Appalachian State University
“Many (other) characteristics set Ormrod’s book apart from its competitors and contribute to its excellence: The writing style is lively. […] There are plentiful examples from actual teaching experiences that are good illustrations of their linked constructs. […]Ormrod understands that many students must pass state tests to be certified and is clearly conversant with state exam content. […] I am ecstatic to see diversity, developmental status, and special needs integrated into practically every chapter […] so that it is a part of the everyday life of the teacher. […] This text is definitely written for preservice teachers”
-Susan Carol Losh, Florida State University
Educational Psychology: Developing Learners Book Review
The best-selling Educational Psychology: Developing Learners is known for its exceptionally clear and engaging writing, its in-depth focus on learning, and its extensive concrete applications. Its unique approach helps readers understand concepts by encouraging them to examine their own learning and then showing them how to apply these concepts as teachers. The book concentrates on core concepts and principles and gives readers an in-depth understanding of the central ideas of educational psychology–helping them better understand children and adolescents.
More than any other educational psychology book, this book moves seamlessly between theory and applications, features the most extensive and integrated coverage of diversity, and includes innumerable concrete examples to help readers connect educational psychology to real children and classrooms.
From the Inside Flap
Preface Soon after I wrote the first edition of Educational Psychology, I had the good fortune to return to a middle school classroom teaching geography to two sections of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. On my first day back in a K-12 setting, I was quickly reminded of how exciting and energizing the process of teaching growing children can be. This experience confirmed once again what I have always known—that the principles of educational psychology have clear relevance to the decisions a classroom teacher must make on an ongoing basis. How children and adolescents learn and think, how they change as they grow and develop, why they do the things they do, how they are often very different from one another—our understanding of all these things has innumerable implications for classroom practice and, ultimately, for the lives of the next generation.
I have been teaching educational psychology since 1974, and I have loved every minute of it. Because I want the field of educational psychology to captivate you the way it has captivated me, I have tried to make the book interesting, meaningful, and thought-provoking as well as informative. I have a definite philosophy about how future teachers can best learn and apply educational psychology-a philosophy that has guided me as I have written all three editions of this book. More specifically, I believe that you can construct a more accurate and useful understanding of the principles of educational psychology when you:
Focus on core principles of the discipline Relate the principles to your own learning and behavior Mentally "process" the principles in an effective manner Consider numerous classroom applications of the principles
As I will show you in a moment, I have incorporated numerous features into the book that will encourage you to do all of these things. I hope that you will learn a great deal from what educational psychology has to offer, not only about the students you will be teaching but also about yourself—a human being who continues to learn and develop even now. Features of the Book Focusing on Core Principles
Rather than superficially explore every aspect of educational psychology, I have chosen to offer in-depth treatment of the fundamental concepts and principles that have broad applicability to classroom practice. If I myself couldn't imagine how a concept or principle could be of use to a teacher, I left it out. I have highlighted many of the key principles in the Principles/Assumptions tables that appear throughout the book. Relating Principles to Your Own Learning and Behavior A central goal of this text is to help you discover more about yourself as a thinker and learner. If you can understand how you yourself learn, you will be in a better position to understand how your students learn and, as a result, to help them learn more effectively. Throughout the book, I've provided many exercises to help you discover important points firsthand and thereby construct a more complete, meaningful understanding of psychological principles of learning, development, motivation, and behavior. Appearing as Experiencing Firsthand features, these exercises are in some ways similar to the "hands-on" activities that can help students learn in elementary and secondary classrooms. But because I ask you to use your mind rather than your hands, you might more accurately think of them as "head-on" experiences. "Processing" Principles Effectively
Research tells us that many students, including many at the college level, use relatively ineffective strategies for reading, studying, and learning. But research also tells us that students can acquire effective strategies and that when they begin to use such strategies, they find themselves successfully learning and remembering what they read and hear.
One important principle of learning is that people learn and remember new information more effectively when they relate it to what they already know—a process called meaningful learning. I will ask you to reflect on your own knowledge and experiences at the beginning of each chapter and in Thinking About What You Know features at various other spots throughout the book. In addition, some of the margin notes designated with a special (disc) symbol will ask you to consider personal experiences or to recall ideas discussed in previous chapters.
Another effective strategy is organization—making connections among the various pieces of information that you're learning; the Compare/Contrast tables that appear throughout the book will help you organize some of the key ideas in each chapter. Still another learning strategy is elaboration—expanding on information as you study it, drawing inferences, thinking of new examples, making predictions, and so on. Many of the (disc) questions in the margin will encourage you to elaborate on concepts and principles as I describe them. The (triangle) notes in the margin can help you with both organization and elaboration: They may show you how you can connect the material you are reading with ideas presented in later chapters, or they may provide additional, "elaborative" information about those ideas. Taking Principles Into the Classroom
Throughout the text, I consistently apply psychological concepts and principles to class room practice. Some of these applications are summarized and illustrated in Into the Classroom features and Students in Inclusive Settings tables; many others are highlighted with an (apple) in the margin. Furthermore, the (disc) questions will sometimes ask you to consider possible applications in your own specific circumstances as a teacher.
In addition, every chapter begins and ends with case studies. The case study at the beginning of each chapter presents an example of one or more students dealing with a particular classroom learning task. As we proceed through the chapter, we will continually relate our discussion back to this case, helping you connect chapter content to a classroom context. The case study at the end of each chapter focuses on teachers and teaching; it will help you apply ideas you have encountered in the chapter and make instructional decisions based on what you have learned. Changes in the Third Edition
Although most of the content in the second edition remains in the third, I have made several changes to reflect current trends in educational psychology and educational practice. Among the most significant changes to this revision are: the addition of three new chapters, including Learning in the Content Areas, Promoting Learning Through Student Interactions, and Students with Special Educational Needs; new and expanded topics; and a reorganization of Part 3. New Chapter on "Learning in the Content Areas"
Chapter 9 applies principles of cognitive psychology to learning reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies. Four general themes—constructive processes, the influence of prior knowledge, metacognition, and developmental differences—and many content-specific teaching strategies appear throughout the chapter. New Chapter on "Promoting Learning Through Student Interactions"
Discussion of instructional strategies has been expanded to two chapters, and Chapter 14 is now devoted exclusively to describing interactive approaches to instruction including: communities of learners, class discussions, reciprocal teaching, cooperative learning, and peer tutoring. New Chapter on "Students with Special Educational Needs"
Chapter 5 describes recent trends in special education and presents numerous strategies for teachers who work in inclusive classrooms. (The "Students in Inclusive Settings" tables that appeared in each chapter of the second edition remain in the third edition as well.) New and Expanded Topics
The third edition includes new sections on contemporary applications of Vygotsky's ideas; theoretical perspectives on language development; heredity, environment, and group differences in intelligence; how procedural knowledge is learned; critical thinking; setting events; behavioral momentum; positive behavioral support; self-regulated learning; lesson plans; direct instruction; and working effectively with parents. Discussions of other topics have, of course, been updated in keeping with recent developments in theory and research. Reorganization of Part 3
Topics related to planning for instruction-identifying instructional goals, conducting task analyses, and developing lesson plans-now appear at the beginning of Chapter 13 ("Choosing Instructional Strategies") and pave the way for the discussion of instructional strategies. Chapter 15 is now devoted entirely to the topic of "Creating and Maintaining a Productive Classroom Environment." Supplementary Materials
Numerous supplements to the textbook are available to enhance your learning and development as a teacher.
Student Study Guide. The Student Study Guide provides many support mechanisms to help you learn and study more effectively. These include focus questions to consider as you read the text, a chapter glossary, application exercises to give you practice in applying concepts and principles of educational psychology to classroom settings, answers to selected margin notes, sample test questions, and several supplementary readings.
Simulations in Educational Psychology and Research (Compact Disk). A compact disk accompanies the third edition of the textbook. This CD contains four activities that resemble actual research studies in educational psychology: "The Pendulum Experiment" (to be used with either Chapter 2 or Chapter 9); "Assessing Moral Reasoning" (to be used with Chapter 3); "Bartlett's Ghosts" (to be used with Chapter 7); and "Intuitive Physics" (to be used with Chapter 7, 8, or 9). As you use the CD, you will find yourself "participating" in the activities in much the same way that students in the original research studies did; the CD will ask you to respond to various situations and then give you feedback about your responses. The CD will also help you connect the activity with educational practice.
Companion Website. You can find the Website for Educational Psychology: Developing Learners at prenhall/ormrod. For each chapter of the book, the Website presents Key Questions that identify the chapter's central issues, a chapter glossary, key terms linked to Internet destinations, and a quick self-test (multiple-choice and essay questions that let you self-assess what you've learned). The Website also provides Syllabus Manager™, which your instructor may use to post and occasionally update the course syllabus, as well as an interactive "Message Board" through which you and your classmates can engage in discussions about chapter content.
Videotapes and MultiMedia Guide. Videos are a highly effective means of visually demonstrating concepts and principles in educational psychology. The eight videotapes that accompany this textbook portray a wide variety of teachers, students, and classrooms in action. Six videos present numerous case studies in many content domains and at a variety of grades levels. Two additional videos are: `A Private Universe" (which examines learner misconceptions in science) and Constance Kamii's "Double-Column Addition: A Teacher Uses Piaget's Theory" (which depicts a constructivist approach to teaching mathematics). Opportunities to react to these videos in class discussions will further enhance your ability to think analytically and identify good teaching practices. Your instructor will have a MultiMedia Guide to help guide and enrich your interpretation and understanding of what you see in the videos.
Instructor's Manual. Available to your instructor are suggestions for learning activities, additional "head-on" exercises, supplementary lectures, case study analyses, discussion topics, group activities, and additional media resources. These have been carefully selected to provide opportunities to support, enrich, and expand on what you read in the textbook.
Transparencies. The transparencies that your instructor may use in class will include tables and classroom exercises similar to those found in your textbook. These transparencies are designed to help you understand, organize, and remember the concepts and principles you are studying.
PowerPoint Slides and Supplementary Lectures and Activities. Your instructor may use a CD-ROM that includes PowerPoint versions of the transparencies, supplementary lectures, and activities that appear in the Instructor's Manual.
Test Bank. Many instructors use the test questions that accompany this textbook. Some items (lower-level questions) will simply ask you to identify or explain concepts and principles you have learned. But many others (higher-level questions) will ask you to apply those same concepts and principles to specific classroom situations—that is, to actual student behaviors and teaching strategies. The lower-level questions assess your basic knowledge of educational psychology. But ultimately, it is the higher-level questions that will assess your ability to use principles of educational psychology in your own teaching practice. Acknowledgments
Although I am listed as the sole author of this textbook, I have been fortunate to have had a great deal of assistance in writing it. First and foremost, I must thank my editor, Kevin Davis, whose ideas, insights, and clear commitment to the field of educational psychology have provided much of the driving force behind my writing and productivity. Kevin is a task master, make no mistake about it, and he always insists that I stretch my talents to the limit. Yet he also provides the guidance (scaffolding) I need to achieve things that initially seem so impossible. After spending countless hours working with Kevin, I can say that he is not only my editor but also my friend.
I am equally indebted to Linda Montgomery, developmental editor for the third edition, whose extensive experience as both an elementary school teacher and an editor have greatly enriched the quality of this edition. Linda's creativity, commitment to excellence, and ongoing support have always been there for me when I've needed them most. I must thank Linda Peterson as well; as developmental editor for both the first and second editions, she helped define much of the pedagogy of the book. Her continuing insistence on application, application, application! kept my focus on the things that future teachers really need to know.
Others at Merrill/Prentice Hall have also contributed in important ways. Copy editor Sue Snyder has gone through my manuscript with a fine-toothed comb and teased out many little places where the text wasn't quite right. Photography editor Nancy Ritz has located many photographs that have given life to the words on the page. And Julie Peters, as production editor for all three editions, has flawlessly coordinated and overseen the entire process of transforming a manuscript into a book—an incredibly complicated task that, in my mind, should far exceed any normal human being's working memory capacity.
In addition, many colleagues across the country have given the book a balance of perspectives that no single author could possibly do on her own. Drs. Margie Garanzini-Daiber and Peggy Cohen provided some of the ideas for the Students in Inclusive Settings tables. Dr. Ann Turnball offered many helpful suggestions for enhancing my discussions of students with special needs. Many other individuals have strengthened the final product considerably by reviewing one or more versions of the book.
Reviewers for the first and second editions were Margaret D. Anderson, SUNY-Cortland; Timothy A. Bender, Southwest Missouri State University; Stephen L. Benton, Kansas State University; Kathryn J. Biacindo, California State University-Fresno; Barbara Bishop, Eastern New Mexico University; Karen L. Block, University of Pittsburgh; Robert Braswell, Winthrop College; Randy L. Brown, University of Central Oklahoma; Kay S. Bull, Oklahoma State University; Margaret W Cohen, University of Missouri-St. Louis; Roberta Corrigan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Richard D. Craig, Towson State University; Jose Cruz, Jr., The Ohio State University; Peggy Dettmer, Kansas State University; Joan Dixon, Gonzaga University; Leland K. Doebler, University of Montevallo; Joanne B. Engel, Oregon State University; Kathy Farber, Bowling Green State University; William R. Fisk, Clemson University; Roberta J. Garza, Pan American University Brownsville; Cheryl Greenberg, University of North Carolina-Greensboro; Richard Hamilton, University of Houston; Arthur Hernandez, University of Texas-San Antonio; Frederick C. Howe, Buffalo State College; Dinah Jackson, University of Northern Colorado; Janina M. Jolley, Clarion University of Pennsylvania; Caroline Kaczala, Cleveland State University; CarolAnne M. Kardash, University of Missouri-Columbia; Nancy F. Knapp, University of Georgia; Mary Lou Koran, University of Florida; Randy Lennon, University of Northern Colorado; Pamela Manners, Troy State University; Hermine H. Marshall, San Francisco State University; Teresa McDevitt, University of Northern Colorado; Sharon McNeely, Northeastern Illinois University; Michael Meloth, University of Colorado-Boulder; Janet Moursund, University of Oregon; Gary A. Negro, California State University; Judy Pierce, Western Kentucky University; James R. Pullen, Central Missouri State University; Gary F. Render, University of Wyoming; Robert S. Ristow, Western Illinois University; Gregg Schraw, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Dale H. Schunk, Purdue University; Mark Seng, University of Texas; Johnna Shapiro, University of California Davis; Harry L. Steger, Boise State University; Julianne C. Turner, University of Notre Dame; Alice A. Walker, SUNY-Cortland; Mary Wellman, Rhode Island College; and Jane A. Wolfle, Bowling Green State University.
Coming on board for the third edition were these reviewers: Joyce Alexander, Indiana University; J. C. Barton, Tennessee Technical University; Phyllis Blumenfeld, University of Michigan; M. Arthur Garmon, Western Michigan University; Arthur Hernandez, University of Texas, San Antonio; Mary Lou Koran, University of Florida; Victoria Fleming, Miami University of Ohio; Jennifer Mistretta Hampston, Youngstown State University; Pamela Manners, Troy State University; Bruce E Mortenson, Louisiana State University; Joe Olmi, The University of Southern Mississippi; Helen Osana, University of Missouri, Columbia; Gregory Schraw, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Dale H. Schunk, Purdue University; Bruce Torg Hofstra University; Ann Turnbull, University of Kansas; Glenn E. Snelbecker, Temple University (ancillary material to text); and Karen Zabrucky, Georgia State University.
Last but certainly not least, I must thank my husband and children, who have been ever so patient as I have spent countless hours either buried in my books and journals or else glued to my computer. Without their continuing support and patience, this book would never have seen the light of day.
J. E. O. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
I have been teaching educational psychology since 1974, and I have loved every minute of it. Because I want the field of educational psychology to captivate you the way it has captivated me, I have tried to make the book interesting, meaningful, and thought-provoking as well as informative. I have a definite philosophy about how future teachers can best learn and apply educational psychology-a philosophy that has guided me as I have written all three editions of this book. More specifically, I believe that you can construct a more accurate and useful understanding of the principles of educational psychology when you:
Focus on core principles of the discipline Relate the principles to your own learning and behavior Mentally "process" the principles in an effective manner Consider numerous classroom applications of the principles
As I will show you in a moment, I have incorporated numerous features into the book that will encourage you to do all of these things. I hope that you will learn a great deal from what educational psychology has to offer, not only about the students you will be teaching but also about yourself—a human being who continues to learn and develop even now. Features of the Book Focusing on Core Principles
Rather than superficially explore every aspect of educational psychology, I have chosen to offer in-depth treatment of the fundamental concepts and principles that have broad applicability to classroom practice. If I myself couldn't imagine how a concept or principle could be of use to a teacher, I left it out. I have highlighted many of the key principles in the Principles/Assumptions tables that appear throughout the book. Relating Principles to Your Own Learning and Behavior A central goal of this text is to help you discover more about yourself as a thinker and learner. If you can understand how you yourself learn, you will be in a better position to understand how your students learn and, as a result, to help them learn more effectively. Throughout the book, I've provided many exercises to help you discover important points firsthand and thereby construct a more complete, meaningful understanding of psychological principles of learning, development, motivation, and behavior. Appearing as Experiencing Firsthand features, these exercises are in some ways similar to the "hands-on" activities that can help students learn in elementary and secondary classrooms. But because I ask you to use your mind rather than your hands, you might more accurately think of them as "head-on" experiences. "Processing" Principles Effectively
Research tells us that many students, including many at the college level, use relatively ineffective strategies for reading, studying, and learning. But research also tells us that students can acquire effective strategies and that when they begin to use such strategies, they find themselves successfully learning and remembering what they read and hear.
One important principle of learning is that people learn and remember new information more effectively when they relate it to what they already know—a process called meaningful learning. I will ask you to reflect on your own knowledge and experiences at the beginning of each chapter and in Thinking About What You Know features at various other spots throughout the book. In addition, some of the margin notes designated with a special (disc) symbol will ask you to consider personal experiences or to recall ideas discussed in previous chapters.
Another effective strategy is organization—making connections among the various pieces of information that you're learning; the Compare/Contrast tables that appear throughout the book will help you organize some of the key ideas in each chapter. Still another learning strategy is elaboration—expanding on information as you study it, drawing inferences, thinking of new examples, making predictions, and so on. Many of the (disc) questions in the margin will encourage you to elaborate on concepts and principles as I describe them. The (triangle) notes in the margin can help you with both organization and elaboration: They may show you how you can connect the material you are reading with ideas presented in later chapters, or they may provide additional, "elaborative" information about those ideas. Taking Principles Into the Classroom
Throughout the text, I consistently apply psychological concepts and principles to class room practice. Some of these applications are summarized and illustrated in Into the Classroom features and Students in Inclusive Settings tables; many others are highlighted with an (apple) in the margin. Furthermore, the (disc) questions will sometimes ask you to consider possible applications in your own specific circumstances as a teacher.
In addition, every chapter begins and ends with case studies. The case study at the beginning of each chapter presents an example of one or more students dealing with a particular classroom learning task. As we proceed through the chapter, we will continually relate our discussion back to this case, helping you connect chapter content to a classroom context. The case study at the end of each chapter focuses on teachers and teaching; it will help you apply ideas you have encountered in the chapter and make instructional decisions based on what you have learned. Changes in the Third Edition
Although most of the content in the second edition remains in the third, I have made several changes to reflect current trends in educational psychology and educational practice. Among the most significant changes to this revision are: the addition of three new chapters, including Learning in the Content Areas, Promoting Learning Through Student Interactions, and Students with Special Educational Needs; new and expanded topics; and a reorganization of Part 3. New Chapter on "Learning in the Content Areas"
Chapter 9 applies principles of cognitive psychology to learning reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies. Four general themes—constructive processes, the influence of prior knowledge, metacognition, and developmental differences—and many content-specific teaching strategies appear throughout the chapter. New Chapter on "Promoting Learning Through Student Interactions"
Discussion of instructional strategies has been expanded to two chapters, and Chapter 14 is now devoted exclusively to describing interactive approaches to instruction including: communities of learners, class discussions, reciprocal teaching, cooperative learning, and peer tutoring. New Chapter on "Students with Special Educational Needs"
Chapter 5 describes recent trends in special education and presents numerous strategies for teachers who work in inclusive classrooms. (The "Students in Inclusive Settings" tables that appeared in each chapter of the second edition remain in the third edition as well.) New and Expanded Topics
The third edition includes new sections on contemporary applications of Vygotsky's ideas; theoretical perspectives on language development; heredity, environment, and group differences in intelligence; how procedural knowledge is learned; critical thinking; setting events; behavioral momentum; positive behavioral support; self-regulated learning; lesson plans; direct instruction; and working effectively with parents. Discussions of other topics have, of course, been updated in keeping with recent developments in theory and research. Reorganization of Part 3
Topics related to planning for instruction-identifying instructional goals, conducting task analyses, and developing lesson plans-now appear at the beginning of Chapter 13 ("Choosing Instructional Strategies") and pave the way for the discussion of instructional strategies. Chapter 15 is now devoted entirely to the topic of "Creating and Maintaining a Productive Classroom Environment." Supplementary Materials
Numerous supplements to the textbook are available to enhance your learning and development as a teacher.
Student Study Guide. The Student Study Guide provides many support mechanisms to help you learn and study more effectively. These include focus questions to consider as you read the text, a chapter glossary, application exercises to give you practice in applying concepts and principles of educational psychology to classroom settings, answers to selected margin notes, sample test questions, and several supplementary readings.
Simulations in Educational Psychology and Research (Compact Disk). A compact disk accompanies the third edition of the textbook. This CD contains four activities that resemble actual research studies in educational psychology: "The Pendulum Experiment" (to be used with either Chapter 2 or Chapter 9); "Assessing Moral Reasoning" (to be used with Chapter 3); "Bartlett's Ghosts" (to be used with Chapter 7); and "Intuitive Physics" (to be used with Chapter 7, 8, or 9). As you use the CD, you will find yourself "participating" in the activities in much the same way that students in the original research studies did; the CD will ask you to respond to various situations and then give you feedback about your responses. The CD will also help you connect the activity with educational practice.
Companion Website. You can find the Website for Educational Psychology: Developing Learners at prenhall/ormrod. For each chapter of the book, the Website presents Key Questions that identify the chapter's central issues, a chapter glossary, key terms linked to Internet destinations, and a quick self-test (multiple-choice and essay questions that let you self-assess what you've learned). The Website also provides Syllabus Manager™, which your instructor may use to post and occasionally update the course syllabus, as well as an interactive "Message Board" through which you and your classmates can engage in discussions about chapter content.
Videotapes and MultiMedia Guide. Videos are a highly effective means of visually demonstrating concepts and principles in educational psychology. The eight videotapes that accompany this textbook portray a wide variety of teachers, students, and classrooms in action. Six videos present numerous case studies in many content domains and at a variety of grades levels. Two additional videos are: `A Private Universe" (which examines learner misconceptions in science) and Constance Kamii's "Double-Column Addition: A Teacher Uses Piaget's Theory" (which depicts a constructivist approach to teaching mathematics). Opportunities to react to these videos in class discussions will further enhance your ability to think analytically and identify good teaching practices. Your instructor will have a MultiMedia Guide to help guide and enrich your interpretation and understanding of what you see in the videos.
Instructor's Manual. Available to your instructor are suggestions for learning activities, additional "head-on" exercises, supplementary lectures, case study analyses, discussion topics, group activities, and additional media resources. These have been carefully selected to provide opportunities to support, enrich, and expand on what you read in the textbook.
Transparencies. The transparencies that your instructor may use in class will include tables and classroom exercises similar to those found in your textbook. These transparencies are designed to help you understand, organize, and remember the concepts and principles you are studying.
PowerPoint Slides and Supplementary Lectures and Activities. Your instructor may use a CD-ROM that includes PowerPoint versions of the transparencies, supplementary lectures, and activities that appear in the Instructor's Manual.
Test Bank. Many instructors use the test questions that accompany this textbook. Some items (lower-level questions) will simply ask you to identify or explain concepts and principles you have learned. But many others (higher-level questions) will ask you to apply those same concepts and principles to specific classroom situations—that is, to actual student behaviors and teaching strategies. The lower-level questions assess your basic knowledge of educational psychology. But ultimately, it is the higher-level questions that will assess your ability to use principles of educational psychology in your own teaching practice. Acknowledgments
Although I am listed as the sole author of this textbook, I have been fortunate to have had a great deal of assistance in writing it. First and foremost, I must thank my editor, Kevin Davis, whose ideas, insights, and clear commitment to the field of educational psychology have provided much of the driving force behind my writing and productivity. Kevin is a task master, make no mistake about it, and he always insists that I stretch my talents to the limit. Yet he also provides the guidance (scaffolding) I need to achieve things that initially seem so impossible. After spending countless hours working with Kevin, I can say that he is not only my editor but also my friend.
I am equally indebted to Linda Montgomery, developmental editor for the third edition, whose extensive experience as both an elementary school teacher and an editor have greatly enriched the quality of this edition. Linda's creativity, commitment to excellence, and ongoing support have always been there for me when I've needed them most. I must thank Linda Peterson as well; as developmental editor for both the first and second editions, she helped define much of the pedagogy of the book. Her continuing insistence on application, application, application! kept my focus on the things that future teachers really need to know.
Others at Merrill/Prentice Hall have also contributed in important ways. Copy editor Sue Snyder has gone through my manuscript with a fine-toothed comb and teased out many little places where the text wasn't quite right. Photography editor Nancy Ritz has located many photographs that have given life to the words on the page. And Julie Peters, as production editor for all three editions, has flawlessly coordinated and overseen the entire process of transforming a manuscript into a book—an incredibly complicated task that, in my mind, should far exceed any normal human being's working memory capacity.
In addition, many colleagues across the country have given the book a balance of perspectives that no single author could possibly do on her own. Drs. Margie Garanzini-Daiber and Peggy Cohen provided some of the ideas for the Students in Inclusive Settings tables. Dr. Ann Turnball offered many helpful suggestions for enhancing my discussions of students with special needs. Many other individuals have strengthened the final product considerably by reviewing one or more versions of the book.
Reviewers for the first and second editions were Margaret D. Anderson, SUNY-Cortland; Timothy A. Bender, Southwest Missouri State University; Stephen L. Benton, Kansas State University; Kathryn J. Biacindo, California State University-Fresno; Barbara Bishop, Eastern New Mexico University; Karen L. Block, University of Pittsburgh; Robert Braswell, Winthrop College; Randy L. Brown, University of Central Oklahoma; Kay S. Bull, Oklahoma State University; Margaret W Cohen, University of Missouri-St. Louis; Roberta Corrigan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Richard D. Craig, Towson State University; Jose Cruz, Jr., The Ohio State University; Peggy Dettmer, Kansas State University; Joan Dixon, Gonzaga University; Leland K. Doebler, University of Montevallo; Joanne B. Engel, Oregon State University; Kathy Farber, Bowling Green State University; William R. Fisk, Clemson University; Roberta J. Garza, Pan American University Brownsville; Cheryl Greenberg, University of North Carolina-Greensboro; Richard Hamilton, University of Houston; Arthur Hernandez, University of Texas-San Antonio; Frederick C. Howe, Buffalo State College; Dinah Jackson, University of Northern Colorado; Janina M. Jolley, Clarion University of Pennsylvania; Caroline Kaczala, Cleveland State University; CarolAnne M. Kardash, University of Missouri-Columbia; Nancy F. Knapp, University of Georgia; Mary Lou Koran, University of Florida; Randy Lennon, University of Northern Colorado; Pamela Manners, Troy State University; Hermine H. Marshall, San Francisco State University; Teresa McDevitt, University of Northern Colorado; Sharon McNeely, Northeastern Illinois University; Michael Meloth, University of Colorado-Boulder; Janet Moursund, University of Oregon; Gary A. Negro, California State University; Judy Pierce, Western Kentucky University; James R. Pullen, Central Missouri State University; Gary F. Render, University of Wyoming; Robert S. Ristow, Western Illinois University; Gregg Schraw, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Dale H. Schunk, Purdue University; Mark Seng, University of Texas; Johnna Shapiro, University of California Davis; Harry L. Steger, Boise State University; Julianne C. Turner, University of Notre Dame; Alice A. Walker, SUNY-Cortland; Mary Wellman, Rhode Island College; and Jane A. Wolfle, Bowling Green State University.
Coming on board for the third edition were these reviewers: Joyce Alexander, Indiana University; J. C. Barton, Tennessee Technical University; Phyllis Blumenfeld, University of Michigan; M. Arthur Garmon, Western Michigan University; Arthur Hernandez, University of Texas, San Antonio; Mary Lou Koran, University of Florida; Victoria Fleming, Miami University of Ohio; Jennifer Mistretta Hampston, Youngstown State University; Pamela Manners, Troy State University; Bruce E Mortenson, Louisiana State University; Joe Olmi, The University of Southern Mississippi; Helen Osana, University of Missouri, Columbia; Gregory Schraw, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Dale H. Schunk, Purdue University; Bruce Torg Hofstra University; Ann Turnbull, University of Kansas; Glenn E. Snelbecker, Temple University (ancillary material to text); and Karen Zabrucky, Georgia State University.
Last but certainly not least, I must thank my husband and children, who have been ever so patient as I have spent countless hours either buried in my books and journals or else glued to my computer. Without their continuing support and patience, this book would never have seen the light of day.
J. E. O. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Back Cover
Prepare with the Power of Classroom Practice. Register for MyEducationLab today at www.myeducationlab.com.
MyEducationLab is an online solution that provides highly relevant assignments and resources designed to connect your textbook to real teaching situations. It is fully integrated with your textbook; wherever you see the MyEducationLab logo in the margins or elsewhere in the text, follow the simple instructions to access videos, strategies, cases, and artifacts associated with assignments, activities, and learning units on MyEducationLab.
MyEducationLab provides you with opportunities to study and thoroughly understand your course content and also to practice the skills needed to become a successful classroom teacher:
MyEducationLab is an online solution that provides highly relevant assignments and resources designed to connect your textbook to real teaching situations. It is fully integrated with your textbook; wherever you see the MyEducationLab logo in the margins or elsewhere in the text, follow the simple instructions to access videos, strategies, cases, and artifacts associated with assignments, activities, and learning units on MyEducationLab.
MyEducationLab provides you with opportunities to study and thoroughly understand your course content and also to practice the skills needed to become a successful classroom teacher:
Prepare with the Power of Classroom Practice.
• Take Practice Tests for each chapter of your text.
– Completion of each practice test generates a study plan that is unique to you.
– The study plan links to text excerpts, activities with feedback, and videos and other media that can help you master concepts covered in your text.
• Complete Assignments and Activities to apply text content to real classroom situations.
• Authentic classroom video shows real teachers and students interacting, and helps prepare you for the classroom.
• Explore the Building Teaching Skills and Dispositions exercises to practice and strengthen the skills that are essential to teaching.
• Case studies offer real-life perspectives on common issues and challenges faced in the classroom.
• Authentic student and teacher classroom artifacts provide you with the actual types of materials encountered every day by teachers.
To order this book WITH MyEducationLab, use either ISBN:
ISBN-13: 9780131381100
ISBN-10: 0131381105
About the Author
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod received her A.B. in psychology from Brown University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in educational psychology from The Pennsylvania State University. She earned licensure in school psychology through postdoctoral work at Temple University and the University of Colorado at Boulder and has worked as a middle school geography teacher and school psychologist. She was Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Northern Colorado until 1998, when she moved east to return to her native New England. She is currently affiliated with the University of New Hampshire, where she occasionally teaches courses in educational psychology and research methods. She has published numerous research articles on cognition and memory, cognitive development, and giftedness, but she is probably best known for this textbook and four others: Human Learning (currently in its fifth edition); Essentials of Educational Psychology (currently in its second edition); Child Development and Education(co-authored with Teresa McDevitt, currently in its fourth edition); and Practical Research(co-authored with Paul Leedy, currently in its ninth edition). With her three children now grown and out on their own, she lives in New Hampshire with her husband Richard.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Preface
Soon after I wrote the first edition of Educational Psychology, I had the good fortune to return to a middle school classroom teaching geography to two sections of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. On my first day back in a K-12 setting, I was quickly reminded of how exciting and energizing the process of teaching growing children can be. This experience confirmed once again what I have always known—that the principles of educational psychology have clear relevance to the decisions a classroom teacher must make on an ongoing basis. How children and adolescents learn and think, how they change as they grow and develop, why they do the things they do, how they are often very different from one another—our understanding of all these things has innumerable implications for classroom practice and, ultimately, for the lives of the next generation.
I have been teaching educational psychology since 1974, and I have loved every minute of it. Because I want the field of educational psychology to captivate you the way it has captivated me, I have tried to make the book interesting, meaningful, and thought-provoking as well as informative. I have a definite philosophy about how future teachers can best learn and apply educational psychology-a philosophy that has guided me as I have written all three editions of this book. More specifically, I believe that you can construct a more accurate and useful understanding of the principles of educational psychology when you:
- Focus on core principles of the discipline
- Relate the principles to your own learning and behavior
- Mentally "process" the principles in an effective manner
- Consider numerous classroom applications of the principles
As I will show you in a moment, I have incorporated numerous features into the book that will encourage you to do all of these things. I hope that you will learn a great deal from what educational psychology has to offer, not only about the students you will be teaching but also about yourself—a human being who continues to learn and develop even now.
Features of the Book
Focusing on Core Principles
Rather than superficially explore every aspect of educational psychology, I have chosen to offer in-depth treatment of the fundamental concepts and principles that have broad applicability to classroom practice. If I myself couldn't imagine how a concept or principle could be of use to a teacher, I left it out. I have highlighted many of the key principles in the Principles/Assumptions tables that appear throughout the book.
Relating Principles to Your Own Learning and Behavior
A central goal of this text is to help you discover more about yourself as a thinker and learner. If you can understand how you yourself learn, you will be in a better position to understand how your students learn and, as a result, to help them learn more effectively. Throughout the book, I've provided many exercises to help you discover important points firsthand and thereby construct a more complete, meaningful understanding of psychological principles of learning, development, motivation, and behavior. Appearing as Experiencing Firsthand features, these exercises are in some ways similar to the "hands-on" activities that can help students learn in elementary and secondary classrooms. But because I ask you to use your mind rather than your hands, you might more accurately think of them as "head-on" experiences.
"Processing" Principles Effectively
Research tells us that many students, including many at the college level, use relatively ineffective strategies for reading, studying, and learning. But research also tells us that students can acquire effective strategies and that when they begin to use such strategies, they find themselves successfully learning and remembering what they read and hear.
One important principle of learning is that people learn and remember new information more effectively when they relate it to what they already know—a process called meaningful learning. I will ask you to reflect on your own knowledge and experiences at the beginning of each chapter and in Thinking About What You Know features at various other spots throughout the book. In addition, some of the margin notes designated with a special (disc) symbol will ask you to consider personal experiences or to recall ideas discussed in previous chapters.
Another effective strategy is organization—making connections among the various pieces of information that you're learning; the Compare/Contrast tables that appear throughout the book will help you organize some of the key ideas in each chapter. Still another learning strategy is elaboration—expanding on information as you study it, drawing inferences, thinking of new examples, making predictions, and so on. Many of the (disc) questions in the margin will encourage you to elaborate on concepts and principles as I describe them. The (triangle) notes in the margin can help you with both organization and elaboration: They may show you how you can connect the material you are reading with ideas presented in later chapters, or they may provide additional, "elaborative" information about those ideas.
Taking Principles Into the Classroom
Throughout the text, I consistently apply psychological concepts and principles to class room practice. Some of these applications are summarized and illustrated in Into the Classroom features and Students in Inclusive Settings tables; many others are highlighted with an (apple) in the margin. Furthermore, the (disc) questions will sometimes ask you to consider possible applications in your own specific circumstances as a teacher.
In addition, every chapter begins and ends with case studies. The case study at the beginning of each chapter presents an example of one or more students dealing with a particular classroom learning task. As we proceed through the chapter, we will continually relate our discussion back to this case, helping you connect chapter content to a classroom context. The case study at the end of each chapter focuses on teachers and teaching; it will help you apply ideas you have encountered in the chapter and make instructional decisions based on what you have learned.
Changes in the Third Edition
Although most of the content in the second edition remains in the third, I have made several changes to reflect current trends in educational psychology and educational practice. Among the most significant changes to this revision are: the addition of three new chapters, including Learning in the Content Areas, Promoting Learning Through Student Interactions, and Students with Special Educational Needs; new and expanded topics; and a reorganization of Part 3.
New Chapter on "Learning in the Content Areas"
Chapter 9 applies principles of cognitive psychology to learning reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies. Four general themes—constructive processes, the influence of prior knowledge, metacognition, and developmental differences—and many content-specific teaching strategies appear throughout the chapter.
New Chapter on "Promoting Learning Through Student Interactions"
Discussion of instructional strategies has been expanded to two chapters, and Chapter 14 is now devoted exclusively to describing interactive approaches to instruction including: communities of learners, class discussions, reciprocal teaching, cooperative learning, and peer tutoring.
New Chapter on "Students with Special Educational Needs"
Chapter 5 describes recent trends in special education and presents numerous strategies for teachers who work in inclusive classrooms. (The "Students in Inclusive Settings" tables that appeared in each chapter of the second edition remain in the third edition as well.)
New and Expanded Topics
The third edition includes new sections on contemporary applications of Vygotsky's ideas; theoretical perspectives on language development; heredity, environment, and group differences in intelligence; how procedural knowledge is learned; critical thinking; setting events; behavioral momentum; positive behavioral support; self-regulated learning; lesson plans; direct instruction; and working effectively with parents. Discussions of other topics have, of course, been updated in keeping with recent developments in theory and research.
Reorganization of Part 3
Topics related to planning for instruction-identifying instructional goals, conducting task analyses, and developing lesson plans-now appear at the beginning of Chapter 13 ("Choosing Instructional Strategies") and pave the way for the discussion of instructional strategies. Chapter 15 is now devoted entirely to the topic of "Creating and Maintaining a Productive Classroom Environment."
Supplementary Materials
Numerous supplements to the textbook are available to enhance your learning and development as a teacher.
Student Study Guide. The Student Study Guide provides many support mechanisms to help you learn and study more effectively. These include focus questions to consider as you read the text, a chapter glossary, application exercises to give you practice in applying concepts and principles of educational psychology to classroom settings, answers to selected margin notes, sample test questions, and several supplementary readings.
Simulations in Educational Psychology and Research (Compact Disk). A compact disk accompanies the third edition of the textbook. This CD contains four activities that resemble actual research studies in educational psychology: "The Pendulum Experiment" (to be used with either Chapter 2 or Chapter 9); "Assessing Moral Reasoning" (to be used with Chapter 3); "Bartlett's Ghosts" (to be used with Chapter 7); and "Intuitive Physics" (... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
