This book examines the mathematical difficulties in typical and atypical populations. It discusses the behavioural, educational and neuropsychological characteristics of people with mathematical difficulties, and educational interventions to prevent, diagnose, treat or ameliorate such difficulties. The book brings together studies from different disciplines, including developmental psychology, neuroscience and education, and includes perspectives from practicing teachers.
The book is divided into three major sections. The first includes chapters about the nature and characteristics of mathematical difficulties in the population as a whole, in relation to both psychology and education. The second deals with mathematical difficulties in children with other problems such as specific language impairment and dyslexia. The third discusses methods of interventions aimed at preventing, treating or ameliorating mathematical difficulties, and will include discussions of assessment and diagnosis.

New US government requirements state that federally funded grants and school programs must prove that they are based on scientifically proved improvements in teaching and learning. All new grants must show they are based on scientifically sound research to be funded, and budgets to schools must likewise show that they are based on scientifically sound research. However, the movement in education over the past several years has been toward qualitative rather than quantitative measures. The new legislation comes at a time when researchers are ill trained to measure results or even to frame questions in an empirical way, and when school administrators and teachers are no longer remember or were never trained to prove statistically that their programs are effective.
Experimental Methods for Evaluating Educational Interventions is a tutorial on what it means to frame a question in an empirical manner, how one needs to test that a method works, what statistics one uses to measure effectiveness, and how to document these findings in a way so as to be compliant with new empirically based requirements. The book is simplistic enough to be accessible to those teaching and administrative educational professionals long out of schooling, but comprehensive and sophisticated enough to be of use to researchers who know experimental design and statistics but don't know how to use what they know to write acceptable grant proposals or to get governmental funding for their programs.
* Provides an overview to interpreting empirical data in education
* Reviews data analysis techniques: use and interpretation
* Discusses research on learning, instruction, and curriculum
* Explores importance of showing progress as well as cause and effect
* Identifies obstacles to applying research into practice
*Examines policy development for states, nations, and countries

In recent years there have been an increasing number of incidents where children have either perpetrated or been the victims of violence in the schools. Often times the children who perpetrated the violence had been the victims of school bullying. If bullying once was a matter of extorting lunch money from one's peers, it has since escalated into slander, sexual harassment, and violence. And the victims, unable to find relief, become depressed and/or violent in return.
Despite all the media attention on recent school tragedies, many of which can be traced to bullied children, there has been little in the way of research-based books toward understanding why and how bullying occurs, the effects on all the individuals involved and the most effective intervention techniques. Summarizing research in education, social, developmental, and counseling psychology, Bullying: Implications for the Classroom examines the personality and background of both those who become bullies and those most likely to become their victims, how families, peers, and schools influence bullying behavior, and the most effective interventions in pre-school, primary and middle schools. Intended for researchers, educators, and professionals in related fields, this book provides an international review of research on bullying.
KEY FEATURES:
* Presents practical ideas regarding prevention/intervention of bullying
* Covers theoretical views of bullying
* Provides an international perspective on bullying
* Discusses bullying similarities and differences in elementary and middle school
* Presents practical ideas regarding prevention/intervention of bullying
* Provides an international perspective on bullying
* Outlines information regarding bullying during the elementary and middle school years
* Covers theoretical views of bullying
* Presents new approaches to explaining bullying
* Contributing authors include internationally known researchers in the field

The Handbook of Psychoeducational Assessment is a practical guide for educational and psychological professionals using norm-referenced tests in the ability, achievement, and behavioral assessment of children. Written by key individuals involved in the construction and evolution of the most widely used tests, this book provides critical information on the nature and scope of commonly used tests, their reliability and validity, administration, scoring and interpretation, and on how the tests may differ and complement each other in their utility with specific populations.
Part 1 of the Handbook of Psychoeducational Assessment focuses on ability assessment and the use of full battery intelligence tests as well as brief scales and short forms. Part 2 discusses achievement and the expanded role of psychologists in consultation with educators. Part 3 covers behavior assessment with special attention given to discussion of which tests are most suitable for assessing specific behavioral problems such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression. The final section recognizes the importance of context and person sensitive assessment practices, discussing cross-cultural assessment, neuropsychological assessment, and the usefulness of dynamic assessment for program planning and intervention delivery.
Key Features:
* Covers the most commonly used and newest assessment instruments
* Describes the nature, scope, reliability, and validity of each test
* Discusses the administration, scoring, and interpretation of tests
* Provides empirical findings on patterns of performance with tested populations
* Includes case studies to highlight the utility of specific tests for specific populations
* Illustrates new developments in instrumentation and unique features
* Covers the most commonly used and newest assessment instruments
* Describes the nature, scope, reliability, and validity of each test
* Discusses the administration, scoring, and interpretation of tests
* Provides empirical findings on patterns of performance with tested populations
* Includes case studies to highlight the utility of specific tests for specific populations
* Illustrates new developments in instrumentation and unique features

The Handbook of Academic Learning provides a comprehensive resource for educational and cognitive psychologists, as well as educators themselves, on the mechanisms and processes of academic learning. Beginning with general themes that cross subject and age levels, the book discusses what motivates students to learn and how knowledge can be made personal for better learning and remembering. Individual chapters identify proven effective teaching methods for the specific domains of math, reading, writing, science, and critical problem solving; how students learn within those domains; and how learning can be accurately assessed for given domains and age levels.
The Handbook takes a constructivist perspective to academic learning, emphasizing the construction of personal knowledge of an academic nature. Constructivism within the context of learning theory is viewed as involving an active learner that constructs an academic knowledge base through the development of cognitive strategies and metacognition. The book discusses the development of basic literacy skills that provide the foundation for higher order thinking and problem solving. Constructivism recognizes the social dimension of classroom learning and emphasizes the motivational elements of self-regulation and volition as essential learner characteristics.
Written by authors who have experience with both theory development and the development of classroom instructional techniques, the Handbook empowers educators to develop, implement, and field-test instructional practices at their school site. The book provides a review of the literature, theory, research, and skill techniques for effective teaching and learning.
Key Features
* Discusses teaching methods for specific subject areas: reading, writing, math, science, and critical thinking
* Contains field-tested examples for the education professional at the school site
* Reviews theory, research, techniques, and assessment at the school site
* Identifies effective teaching with specific techniques
* Covers elementary school through high school
* Identifies how students learn to learn
* Provides a resource for staff development

This edited book examines some of the current inquiry related to the study of emotions in educational contexts. There has been a notable increased interest in educational research on emotions.
Emotion in Education represents some of the most exciting and current research on emotions and education, and has the potential to impact research in this area. This combination of variety, timeliness, potential for transformation of the field, and uniqueness make this a "must-have" resource for academics in the fields of education, educational psychology, emotion psychology, cultural psychology, sociology, and teacher education.
The chapters have been written for scholars in the area, but authors also wrote with graduate students in mind. Therefore, the book is also be a great volume for graduate seminars.
*Provides in-depth examination of emotions in educational contexts
*Includes international roster of contributors who represent a variety of disciplines
*Represents a number of different research approaches

Psychologists have been trying to understand the factors that underpin children's success and failure in different educational domains for many years. One psychological function that has been found to play an important role in educational achievement is 'working memory', the processes involved in the temporary maintenance and manipulation of information. This book provides the reader with an up-to-date review of the research that has identified how working memory relates to academic attainment in: reading, reading comprehension, arithmetic and writing, as well as looking at how children with difficulties relating to hearing impairment and attention deficits differ in terms of their working memory. Other chapters focus on how working memory is called upon in classroom settings, how working memory can be assessed, and approaches to remediation. The opening chapter of the book provides an account of working memory from the architect of the model that has dominated psychological theory for over two decades. This book is a valuable resource for psychologists, educationalists, and anyone seeking to understand more about the cognitive basis of educational achievement in children.
* It brings together in one volume information that would normally be found in different sources
* It brings together two disciplines that are highly relevant to one another (psychology and education) but not often linked directly
* Provides psychologists with a perspective on educational practice
* Provides educationalists with a well-established psychological framework for viewing educational phenomena
* It provides information about up-to-date research techniques
* It provides suggestions on how psychological theory can be translated into practice in educational settings