This book takes up the agenda of the late (but unknown) L. S. Vygotsky, who had turned to the philosopher Spinoza to develop a holistic approach to psychology, an approach that no longer dichotomized the body and mind, intellect and affect, or the individual and the social. In this approach, there is only one substance, which manifests itself in different ways in the thinking body, including as biology and culture. The manifestation as culture is premised on the existence of the social. In much of current educational psychology, there are unresolved contradictions that have their origin in the opposition between body and mind, individual and collective, and structure and process-including the different nature of intellect and affect or the difference between knowledge and its application. Many of the same contradictions are repeated in constructivist approaches, which do not overcome dichotomies but rather acerbate them by individualizing and intellectualizing our knowledgeable participation in recognizably exhibiting and producing the everyday cultural world. Interestingly enough, L. S. Vygotsky, who is often used as a referent for making arguments about inter- and intrasubjective "mental" "constructions," developed, towards the end of his life, a Spinozist approach according to which there is only one substance. This one substance manifests itself in two radically different ways: body (material, biology) and mind (society, culture). But there are not two substances that are combined into a unit; there is only one substance. Once such an approach is adopted, the classical question of cognitive scientists about how symbols are grounded in the world comes to be recognized as an artefact of the theory. Drawing on empirical materials from different learning settings-including parent-child, school, and workplace settings-this book explores the opportunities and implications that this non-dualist approach has for educational research and practice.

Thirty-eight American academics, researchers, and consultants from the fields of psychology and physics education contribute 12 chapters exploring transfer--how information learned at one point in time influences performance on information encountered at a later point in time. Topics discussed include efficiency and innovation in transfer; fuzzy-tr

Rationality is widely regarded as being at odds with the very concepts of metaphysics and transcendence. Yet it is easy to forget that the thinkers who pioneered rationality and the scientific method did not subscribe to this view. For instance, Aristotle described God as the source of reason in Eudemian Ethics, and Newton and Galileo both believed that our ability to investigate the world scientifically has a divine origin.

This book critically examines multiple discourses of wellbeing in relation to the composite aims of schooling. Drawing from a Scottish study, the book disentangles the discursive complexity, to better understand what can happen in the name of wellbeing, and in particular, how wellbeing is linked to learning in schools. Arguing that educational discourses have been overshadowed by discourses of other groups, the book examines the political and ideological policy aims that can be supported by different discourses of wellbeing. It also uses interview data to show how teachers and policy actors accepted, or re-shaped and remodelled the policy discourses as they made sense of them in their own work. When addressing schools' responses to inequalities, discussions are often framed in terms of wellbeing. Yet wellbeing as a concept is poorly defined and differently understood across academic and professional disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, health promotion, and social care. Nonetheless, its universally positive connotations allow policy changes to be ushered in, unchallenged. Powerful actions can be exerted through the use of soft vocabulary as the discourse of wellbeing legitimates schools' intervention into personal aspects of children's lives. As educators worldwide struggle over the meaning and purpose of schooling, discourses of wellbeing can be mobilised in support of different agendas. This book demonstrates how this holds both dangers and opportunities for equality in education. Amartya Sen's Capability Approach is used to offer a way forward in which different understandings of wellbeing can be drawn together to offer a perspective that enhances young people's freedoms in education and their freedoms gained through education.

'The Influence of Attention, Learning, and Motivation on Visual Search' will bring together distinguished authors who are conducting cutting edge research on the many factors that influence search behavior. These factors will include low-level feature detection; statistical learning; scene perception; neural mechanisms of attention; and applied research in real world settings.

This book celebrates the scholarly achievements of Prof. David A. Watkins, who has pioneered research on the psychology of Asian learners, and helps readers grasp the cognitive, motivational, developmental, and socio-cultural aspects of Asian learners learning experiences. A wide range of empirical and review papers, which examine the characteristics of these experiences as they are shaped by both the particularities of diverse educational systems/cultural milieus and universal principles of human learning and development, are showcased. The individual chapters, which explore learners from fourteen Asian countries, autonomous regions, and/or economies, build on research themes and approaches from Prof. Watkins' research work, and are proof of the broad importance and enduring relevance of his seminal psychological research on learners and the learning process.

A volume in the Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association Book Series Series Editor Jinfa Cai, University of Delaware This is the first in the book series on educational research sponsored by Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association (CAERDA, www.caerda.org). Since its inception in 1992, CAERDA has dedicated itself to the improvement of educational research and development of Chinese in North America and around the globe. In 2006, CAERDA launched its landmark project to start a book series on critical issues and contemporary trends in the educational landscape of Chinese and Chinese Americans. The purpose of this book series is to promote excellence and equity for all, with research and educational implications from studies on Chinese and Chinese American education or studies by Chinese and Chinese American scholars and practitioners. The CAERDA book series has three unique features. First, each book has a focused theme with multidisciplinary perspectives structured in an integrated framework. This interdisciplinary approach encourages participation and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries.Second, each book addresses educational issues not only within its focus on Chinese and Chinese Americans but also in relation to a larger context or environment where Chinese and Chinese Americans are only a part of it. As such, the book series provides both insider's and outsider's perspectives on the educational challenges we face today and in the years to come.

This book sets out a proposal for applying psychological and educational psychology concepts to improve work with children and young people. It also suggests how some of the criticism aimed at pedagogical-psychology practice can be answered. In several respects educational psychology practice seems to be in a transition phase and could even be said to be suffering an identity crisis: educational establishments and education policy alike are looking for different skills than those the psychology profession traditionally provides, and people are generally questioning the relevance and applicability of pedagogical-psychological counseling. The book is based on the fundamental premise that good professional practice is contingent upon circumstances that allow practitioners to apply their knowledge, experience and skills in the specific encounter with a specific task. This means that the ability to act pragmatically and creatively is, and will increasingly be, an important skill not only for educational psychologists, but also for psychologists in general. In other words, psychologists must be able to contribute to tasks in new ways and new contexts when required. Intended primarily for students of psychology, school psychologists and other professional groups that provide counseling in schools, the book is also a valuable resource for the various groups that use pedagogical-psychology tools and insights in their work with children and young people.

This book examines the eight-year development of the Reading Orienteering Club after-school program, showing how to develop, test, change, and adapt an after-school program to fit the needs of the children who attend. It includes case studies and data reports for each year and presents the theory, application, and program evaluation steps that workers in the field or students learning about program design must follow. Chapters present first-person accounts as well as statistical evaluations of the effectiveness of the reading program with each group of children. In addition, chapters highlight the changes that were made in program design and why each change was implemented, giving practitioners the insights needed to adapt interventions and strategies to their own programs. The book concludes with recommendations from the authors on how to run a successful after-school reading program. Topics featured in this book include: The effect of intrinsic motivation to mental wellness in the classroom. The importance of oral reading in correcting reading failure. Group-center approaches to teaching reading in the classroom. How to select the best evaluation tool. The challenges of mixing inner city and rural students in a reading program. After-School Programming and Intrinsic Motivation is an essential reference for scientist-practitioners, clinicians, researchers, and graduate students in such disciplines as school psychology, childhood education, social work, psychotherapy and counseling, and learning and instruction.

This book explains why the current education model, which was developed in the 19th century to meet the needs of industrial expansion, is obsolete. It points to the need for a new approach to education designed to prepare young people for global uncertainty, accelerating change and unprecedented complexity.The book offers a new educational philosophy to awaken the creative, big-picture and long-term thinking that will help equip students to face tomorrow's challenges. Inside, readers will find a dialogue between adult developmental psychology research on higher stages of reasoning and today's most evolved education research and practice. This dialogue reveals surprising links between play and wisdom, imagination and ecology, holism and love. The overwhelming issues of global climate crisis, growing economic disparity and the youth mental health epidemic reveal how dramatically the current education model has failed students and educators. This book raises a planet-wide call to deeply question how we actually think and how we must educate. It articulates a postformal education philosophy as a foundation for educational futures.The book will appeal to educators, educational philosophers, pre-service teacher educators, educational and developmental psychologists and educational researchers, including postgraduates with an interest in transformational educational theories designed for the complexity of the 21st century. This is the most compelling book on education I have read for many years. It has major implications for all who are in a position to influence developments in teacher education and educational policy. Gidley is one of the very rare scholars who can write intelligently and accessibly about the past, present and future in education. I was challenged and ultimately convinced by her contention that 'what masquerades as education today must be seen for what it is - an anachronistic relic of the industrial past'. Gidley's challenge is to 'co-evolve' a radically new education. All who seek to play a part must read this book. Brian J. Caldwell, PhD, Educational Transformations, former Dean of Education at the University of Melbourne and Deputy Chair, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)

The aim of this book series is to provide a much needed outlet for the wealth of cross-cultural research that has not impacted upon mainstream education. This particular volume is divided into four parts: the motivation context; the learning context; the family context; and the curriculum context.

This important text synthesizes the state of knowledge related to thinking and technology and provides strategies for helping young people cultivate thinking skills required to navigate the new digital landscape. The rise of technology has resulted in new ways of searching and communicating information among youth, often creating information "overload". We do not know how the new technologies will affect the ways young people learn and think. There are plenty of warnings about the dangers of information technology, but there is also enormous potential for technology to aid human thinking, which this book explores from an open-minded perspective. Coverage Includes: - An up to date review of the literature on thinking skills in general, and in relation to technology.- Practical guidelines for thinking with technology.- A scholarly review of the characteristics of the digital generation.- A discussion of the various steps involved in the thinking process.- A historical context of the Information Age and the transition from oral history, to printing press, to the Internet. Thinking Skills for the Digital Generation: The Development of Thinking and Learning in the Age of Information is an invaluable reference for educators and research professionals particularly interested in educational technology, and improving thinking and problem-solving skills.

We probably went to school for what felt like a very long time. We probably took care with our homework. Along the way we surely learnt intriguing things about equations, the erosion of glaciers, the history of the Middle Ages, and the tenses of foreign languages. But why, despite all the lessons we sat through, were we never taught the really important things that dominate and trouble our lives: who to start a relationship with, how to trust people, how to understand one's psyche, how to move on from sorrow or betrayal, and how to cope with anxiety and shame? The School of Life is an organisation dedicated to teaching a range of emotional lessons that we need in order to lead fulfilled and happy lives - and that schools routinely forget to teach us. This book is a collection of our most essential lessons, delivered with directness and humanity, covering topics from love to career, childhood trauma to loneliness. To read the book is to be invited to lead kinder, richer and more authentic lives - and to complete an education we began but still badly need to finish. This is homework to help us make the most of the rest of our lives.

With the world and its structures becoming ever more complex, and the nature of future employment becoming ever more unpredictable, the notion of 'cognitive flexibility' has a high profile in educational and psychological debate. The contributions in this volume analyze the nature of cognitive flexibility, as well as the impact of different types of beliefs on cognitive flexibility.

Making adequate decisions requires considering input from a variety of continuously evolving sources rather than adhering to predetermined procedures. Adopting a position in a debate necessitates the critical evaluation of different alternatives, while solving a problem entails selecting appropriate problem-solving strategies. Meanwhile, studying requires students to integrate a range of interventions, and treating a patient involves making a differential diagnosis. The common factor, cognitive flexibility, lies at the core of effective functioning in complex, domain-specific environments.

Cognitive flexibility can be described as the disposition to consider diverse information elements while deciding on how to solve a problem or to execute a learning-related task in a variety of domains. The concept of 'disposition' implies that individuals will not always demonstrate cognitive flexibility even if they are in principle able to act in a cognitively flexible way. The notion does not require that alternatives are always deliberately considered, which is why this volume's tandem discussion of beliefs is key element of the discussion. Beliefs play a central role in cognitive flexibility and relate to what individuals consider to be important, valid and/or true. Of specific interest is the relationship between epistemological beliefs and cognitive flexibility, especially as a particular subset of epistemological beliefs seems to be a prerequisite to a cognitively flexible disposition."

This book presents thoughts on and experiences with the introduction of Theme-centered Interaction (TCI) into academia. TCI is a systematic didactic, 'living learning' approach originally developed by social psychologist and pedagogue Ruth C. Cohn. The book explains and introduces the method, attitude and theory of TCI to a broader, higher education audience and relates it to such questions as: How does a teacher in academia achieve a lively and engaging atmosphere in their seminars? How do young academics as leaders-to-be learn how to act socially sustainably in groups? Using practical examples, the book shows how TCI can work in higher education to achieve participation and integration, reflectivity and humane connectedness of academic teachers and students, and professional development of senior and junior academics.

Supplying a foundation for understanding the development of the brain and the learning process, this text examines the physical and environmental factors that influence how we acquire and retain information throughout our lives. The book also lays out practical strategies that educators can take directly into the classroom. Comprising more than 100 entries, From the Brain to the Classroom: The Encyclopedia of Learning gathers experts in the fields of education, neuroscience, and psychology to examine how specific areas of the brain work in thought processes, and identifies how educators can apply what neuroscience has discovered to refine their teaching and instructional techniques. The wide range of subjects-organized within the main categories of student characteristics, classroom instructional topics, and learning challenges-include at-risk behaviors; cognitive neuroscience; autism; the lifespan of the brain, from prenatal brain development to the aging brain; technology-based learning tools; and addiction. Any reader who is interested in learning about how the brain works and how it relates to everyday life will find this work fascinating, while educators will find this book particularly helpful in validating or improving their teaching methods to increase academic achievement. Covers a wide range of topics written by educationists, psychologists, and neuroscientists who are all experts in their field Provides meaningful instructional strategies that can be applied in the real world to improve educators' results Examines the brain through the human lifespan-prenatal, early childhood, childhood, adolescence, adult, and old age-in order to supply a comprehensive look at how neuroscience can be applied to improve learning at all stages of maturity Addresses cognitive neuroscience findings as they relate to special education students-invaluable information for educators who work with this important group of learners

This comprehensive volume provides teachers, researchers and education professionals with cutting edge knowledge developed in the last decades by the educational, behavioural and neurosciences, integrating cognitive, developmental and socioeconomic approaches to deal with the problems children face in learning mathematics. The neurocognitive mechanisms and the cognitive processes underlying acquisition of arithmetic abilities and their significance for education have been the subject of intense research in the last few decades, but the most part of this research has been conducted in non-applied settings and there's still a deep discrepancy between the level of scientific knowledge and its implementation into actual educational settings. Now it's time to bring the results from the laboratory to the classroom. Apart from bringing the theoretical discussions to educational settings, the volume presents a wide range of methods for early detection of children with risks in mathematics learning and strategies to develop effective interventions based on innovative cognitive test instruments. It also provides insights to translate research knowledge into public policies in order to address socioeconomic issues. And it does so from an international perspective, dedicating a whole section to the cultural diversity of mathematics learning difficulties in different parts of the world. All of this makes the International Handbook of Mathematical Learning Difficulties an essential tool for those involved in the daily struggle to prepare the future generations to succeed in the global knowledge society.

Transforming Classroom Culture is an anthology of original work authored by diverse faculty who work in a variety of New England college and university settings - private and public, racially homogeneous and diverse. The authors focus on institutional contexts that promote innovation in teaching practice, faculty identity as a resource for effective pedagogy, and dilemmas and outcomes of student-faculty engagement in the classroom.

Teaching and Measuring Cognitive Readiness presents theoretical and empirical findings regarding cognitive readiness and assessments of their impact on adult learning. The term readiness is used in assessing student preparation for K-12 schools, while in the military and in industry, "readiness" denotes preparation to be effective in performing a mission or a job. Cognitive Readiness is viewed through a Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes (KSA) lens. Teaching and Measuring Cognitive Readiness deals with (a) the primacy of cognitive readiness as attributes or individual difference variables; (b) the need for cognitive readiness instructional and assessment strategies; (c) the need to integrate assessment into cognitive readiness training; (d) the need for theory-driven evaluation studies to increase knowledge and efficacy in teaching cognitive readiness; and (e) the need for a solid psychometric approach to the use of cognitive readiness assessments.