Educational Psychology Developing Learners

Preface Soon after I wrote the first edition ofEducational 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 thePrinciples/Assumptionstables 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 youyourselflearn, 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 asExperiencing Firsthandfeatures, 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 studentscan acquireeffective strategies and that when they begin to use such strategies, they find themselves successfully learning and remembering what they read and hear. One important princiOrmrod, Jeanne E. is the author of 'Educational Psychology Developing Learners' with ISBN 9780130322982 and ISBN 0130322989.