Handbook of Academic Learning: The Construction of Knowledge (Educational Psychology Series) - Tapa dura

"Phye has edited and contributed to a book that will be essential reading among those who study learning. More than explicating learning theories, as Gorden H. Bower and Ernest R. Hilgard's highly regarded Theories of Learning (1981) did for a generation of learning theory students, the contributors discuss the evolution of constructivist theories and explain their emergence and application."
--CHOICE
"The book Handbook of Academic Learning: Construction of Knowledge is an important contribution to an understanding of school learning and will provide a useful and comprehensive resource to a variety of professionals associated with academic learning. This volume provides an impressive overview of the kinds of practices that are currently emphasized in schools."
--CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY

This handbook provides a resource for educational and cognitive psychologists on the mechanisms and processes of academic learning. Beginning with general themes that cross subject and age level, 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 book 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 knowledege base through the development of cognitive strategies and metacognition. The book discusses the development of basic literacy skills that provide foundation for higher ordering thinking and problem solving. Constructivism recognizes the social dimension of classroom learning and emphasizes motivational elements of self-regulation and volition as essential learner characteristics.