Working Memories


Book Description

Technological developments during the Second World War led to an approach that linked ideas from computer science to neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy and psychology, known today as the Cognitive Revolution. Leaving behind traditional behaviourist approaches popular at the time, psychology began to utilise artificial intelligence and computer science to develop testable theories and design groundbreaking new experiments. The Cognitive Revolution dramatically changed the way that psychological research and studies were conducted and proposed a new way of thinking about the mind. In Working Memories, Alan Baddeley, one of the world's leading authorities on Human Memory, draws on his own personal experience of this time, recounting the radical development of a pioneering science in parallel with his own transatlantic, vibrant and distinguished career. Detailing the excitement and sometimes frustration experienced in taking psychology into the world beyond the laboratory, Working Memories presents unique insights into the mind and psychological achievements of one of the most influential psychologists of our time.




Jerome Bruner


Book Description

Jerome Bruner is the vanguard of “the cognitive revolution” in psychology and the predominant spokesman for the role of culture and education in the making of the modern mind. In this text Olson encourages the reader to think about children as Bruner did, not as bundles of traits and dispositions to be diagnosed and remediated, but as thoughtful, keenly interested, agentive persons who are willing and indeed able to play an important role in their own learning and development. Through the unique approach of combining commentary and conversation with Bruner, the author provides an insight into what it is like to engage with one of the intellectual masters of our time and highlights the relevance and importance of his contribution to educational thinking today.




The Mind's New Science


Book Description

The first full-scale history of cognitive science, this work addresses a central issue: What is the nature of knowledge?




Schools for Thought


Book Description

Schools for Thought provides a straightforward, general introduction to cognitive research and illustrates its importance for educational change. If we want to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for all children, we must start applying what we know about mental functioning--how children think, learn, and remember in our schools. We must apply cognitive science in the classroom. Schools for Thought provides a straightforward, general introduction to cognitive research and illustrates its importance for educational change. Using classroom examples, Bruer shows how applying cognitive research can dramatically improve students' transitions from lower-level rote skills to advanced proficiency in reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Cognitive research, he points out, is also beginning to suggest how we might better motivate students, design more effective tools for assessing them, and improve the training of teachers. He concludes with a chapter on how effective school reform demands that we expand our understanding of teaching and learning and that we think about education in new ways. Debates and discussions about the reform of American education suffer from a lack of appreciation of the complexity of learning and from a lack of understanding about the knowledge base that is available for the improvement of educational practice. Politicians, business leaders, and even many school superintendents, principals, and teachers think that educational problems can be solved by changing school management structures or by creating a market in educational services. Bruer argues that improvement depends instead on changing student-teacher interactions. It is these changes, guided by cognitive research, that will create more effective classroom environments. A Bradford Book




A Conceptual History of Psychology


Book Description

What is modern psychology and how did it get here? How and why did psychology come to be the world's most popular science? A Conceptual History of Psychology charts the development of psychology from its foundations in ancient philosophy to the dynamic scientific field it is today. Emphasizing psychology's diverse global heritage, the book explains how, across centuries, human beings came to use reason, empiricism, and science to explore each other's thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. The book skilfully interweaves conceptual and historical issues to illustrate the contemporary relevance of history to the discipline. It shows how changing historical and cultural contexts have shaped the way in which modern psychology conceptualizes individuals, brains, personality, gender, cognition, consciousness, health, childhood, and relationships. This comprehensive textbook: - Helps students understand psychology through its origins, evolution and cultural contexts - Moves beyond a 'great persons and events' narrative to emphasize the development of the theoretical and practical concepts that comprise psychology - Highlights the work of minority and non-Western figures whose influential work is often overlooked in traditional accounts, providing a fuller picture of the field's development - Includes a range of engaging and innovative learning features to help students build and deepen a critical understanding of the subject - Draws on examples from contemporary politics, society and culture that bring key debates and historical milestones to life - Meets the requirements for the Conceptual and Historical Issues component of BPS-accredited Psychology degrees. This textbook will provide students with invaluable insight into the past, present and future of this exciting and vitally important field. Read more from Brian Hughes on his blog at thesciencebit.net




Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments


Book Description

Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments describes the most contemporary psychological and pedagogical theories that are foundations for the conception and design of open-ended learning environments and new applications of educational technologies. In the past decade, the cognitive revolution of the 60s and 70s has been replaced or restructured by constructivism and its associated theories, including situated, sociocultural, ecological, everyday, and distributed conceptions of cognition. These theories represent a paradigm shift for educators and instructional designers, to a view of learning as necessarily more social, conversational, and constructive than traditional transmissive views of learning. Never in the history of education have so many different theories said the same things about the nature of learning and the means for supporting it. At the same time, although there is a remarkable amount of consonance among these theories, each also provides a distinct perspective on how learning and sense making occur. This book provides students, faculty, and instructional designers with a clear, concise introduction to these theories and their implications for the design of new learning environments for schools, universities, and corporations. It is well-suited as a required or supplementary text for courses in instructional design and theory, educational psychology, learning, theory, curriculum theory and design, and related areas.




EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY


Book Description

(Course Code: 100-199) Gauhati University




Educational Psychology


Book Description

Educational Psychology: A Century of Contributions--the first comprehensive book-length treatment of this topic--looks at the historic contributions of 16 leading psychologists, as well as others, who influenced the field of educational psychology from its philosophical moorings in the late 19th century to its current scientific status at the dawn of the 21st. It presents information regarding these individuals' ideas and scientific discoveries, along with a sense of the historical context in which they lived. The book is divided into three sections that correspond to three eras in the history of the discipline: *the founding period (1880s to 1920); *the rise to prominence period (1920 to1960); and *the modern period (1960 to the present). Each section begins with an overview chapter describing the period in terms of key social, political, and historical events affecting educational theory, research, and practice. In addition, the overview chapters discuss major theoretical, methodological, and instructional contributions of the period and how they changed the course of educational psychology. The biographical chapters describe the scholar's major contribution in terms of theory, research, and practice and his or her legacy and impact. These descriptions portray these individuals as real human beings responding to historical events and social influences of their time in personal and collective ways that changed the nature and direction of the field. Educational Psychology: A Century of Contributions is a cohesive collection appropriate for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in educational psychology.




The Cognitive Classroom


Book Description

The Cognitive Classroom describes how cutting-edge and classic research findings from the fields of brain science and cognitive psychology may be applied to classroom teaching. Using the perspective and expertise of an educational researcher originally trained as a neuroscientist, research findings and theories are translated into practical strategies. The jargon so often found in research journals and technical reports is discarded here, as studies are presented in an engaging manner that any educated individual can easily follow. Specifically, the book describes how research on perception, attention, learning, memory, language, reasoning, and problem solving may be used to achieve the type of “deep” learning sought after by teachers. What's more, this book discusses recent findings showing how the brains and cognitive processes of today’s students have been impacted by technology and proposes actions that educators can take to optimize teaching in a digital world.