Most educators are familiar with Lev Vygotsky's concept of the "zone of proximal development," yet the bulk of Vygotsky's pioneering theory of cognitive development largely remains unknown. This volume provides a systematic, authoritative overview of Vygotsky's work and its implications for educational research and practice. Major topics include…

The "Educational Media and Technology Yearbook" is dedicated to theoretical, empirical, and practical approaches to educational media development. All chapters are invited and selected based on a variety of strategies to determine current trends and issues in the field. The 2011 edition highlights innovative Trends and Issues in Learning…

Areas of behavioral and social science research that have achieved significant breakthroughs in knowledge or application or that show future promise of achieving such breakthroughs are discussed in 12 papers. For example, the paper on formal demography shows how mathematical or statistical techniques can be used to explain and predict change in…

Derived from the first phase of a research study entitled "The Cognitive and Social Development of Pre-School Children in Singapore" (the IE-BvLF study), the essays in this collection focus on the language, numeracy, cognitive, and social development of approximately 3,000 Singapore children between 1983 and 1986. Following a prologue…

This book explores the conceptual and historical bases for examining creativity, cognitive functioning and creativity, cultural influences on creativity, research methodologies for examining creativity, assessment of creativity, and effectiveness of major creativity training models. Chapters include: (1) "Issues in Studying Creativity in Youth"…

In the past 25 years, there has been an explosion in research on the development of perception. The research has produced discoveries at multiple levels: ecological analyses, models of representation and process, and improved understanding of biological mechanisms. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of infant perception, bringing…

This document is an update of Focus on Research: A Guide to Developing Students' Research Skills (Alberta Education, 1990). Focus on Research was developed in response to suggestions from Alberta teachers during the implementation of Focus on Learning: an Integrated Program Model for Alberta School Libraries (Alberta Education, 1985). …

In all of his published work, Jean Piaget never abandoned his original theoretical framework for the understanding of human development. This framework insists that intelligence is essentially a biological phenomenon; its development is best understood as the development of a sophisticated and highly successful adaptation device. This device…

Noting that scientific observation of children's dreaming offers unparalleled opportunities to study experience of conscious mental states, this book presents findings from two studies on children's dreaming. Following an argument outlining the problems in equating dreaming with perception, the book explains the use of sleep laboratories and…

Noting the fascination of both researchers and the general public with possible gender differences in human cognition and whether these differences originate in biology, childhood influences, or cultural stereotypes, this book summarizes research studies on gender differences in cognition. The book examines social and cultural implications of this…

This book, which is designed to prepare individuals to become workplace consultants, examines the theory and practice of enhancing learning in training and adult education. The following are among the topics discussed: putting cognition theory into practice in instruction; cognitive science perspective on adult learning (adults as learners, three…

This textbook is designed to introduce undergraduates to the scientific study of aging in adults. Among the topics covered in the book's 15 chapters are: approaches to the study of adult development and aging (research methodology and related issues, a life-span perspective, ethical issues); theories in the study of adult development (models of…

Research on reading has tried, and failed, to account for wide disparities in reading skill even among children taught by the same method. Why do some children learn to read easily and quickly while others, in the same classroom and taught by the same teacher, don't learn to read at all? In "Language Development and Learning to Read", Diane…