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Essentials of Educational Psychology: Big Ideas To Guide Effective Teaching, 5th edition

Published by Pearson (March 1, 2018) © 2018

  • Jeanne Ellis Ormrod University of Northern Colorado (Emerita)
  • Brett D. Jones Virginia Tech

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These features help readers understand how to facilitate learning as teachers.

  • Each chapter is organized around three to six Big Ideas to help students focus on key principles around which the entire book revolves.
  • A shorter length than competing textbooks (about 400 pages) makes the book suitable for 10-week and 15-week terms, while still covering all of the topics typically found in longer competitors.
  • A persistent focus on the application of concepts, principles, and theories to classroom practice—both in the text and in the hot linked interactive exercises—increases the probability that future teachers will make use of educational psychology in their instructional practices.
  • An engaging, conversational writing style encourages students’ mental engagement with the text, while enhancing their learning and understanding.
  • See for Yourself exercises let students see important principles in action in their own thinking and learning.

NEW! New topics were added to bring readers up to date with new developments in the field, for example:

  • The field of educational psychology and its relation to other disciplines (Ch. 1).
  • Grit (Ch. 5).
  • Accommodating students who are homeless (Ch. 7).
  • The Next Generation Science Standards and ISTE standards for technological literacy (Ch. 8).
  • Accommodating English Language Learners (Ch. 8).
  • School climate (Ch. 9).
  • Computer-based standardized testing and adaptive assessment (Ch. 10).
  • The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (Ch. 10).
  • Value-added assessment (Ch. 10).

NEW! Expanded discussions of some topics make the information consistent with new developments in the field, for example:

  • Study strategies (Ch. 1).
  • Working memory (Ch. 2).
  • Specific and general transfer (Ch. 3).
  • Well-defined and ill-defined problems (Ch. 3).
  • Reinforcement and punishment (Ch. 4).
  • Interest (Ch. 5).
  • Development of working memory (Ch. 6).
  • Moral and pro-social development (Ch. 7).
  • Standards (Ch. 8).
  • Technology-based simulations and games (Ch. 8).
  • Backward design (Ch. 10).
  • Rubrics (Ch. 10).
  • Technology in assessment (Ch. 10).
  • Criterion-referenced scores (Ch. 10).
Also available with MyLab Education

Designed to bring learners more directly into the world of K-12 classrooms and to help them see the very real impact that educational psychology concepts have on learning and development, MyLab™ Education provides practice using educational psychology concepts in teaching situations, helps students and instructors see how well students understand the content, and helps students more deeply process educational psychology and better understand how to use it as a teacher (and as a learner). The online resources in the MyLab Education with Enhanced Pearson eText include:

  • Video Examples. About 5 or 6 times per chapter, an embedded video provides an illustration of an educational psychology principle or concept in action. These video examples most often show students and teachers working in classrooms. Sometimes they show students or teachers describing their thinking or experiences. 
  • Video Explanations. Throughout the text, Jeanne Ormrod provides video explanations of essential concepts. Excerpted from her series of longer educational psychology modules, these brief lectures include animated slides and worked examples. 
  • Self-Checks. In each chapter, three to four self-check quizzes help assess how well learners have mastered the content. The self-checks are made up of self-grading multiple-choice items that not only provide feedback on whether questions are answered correctly or incorrectly, but also provide rationales for both correct and incorrect answers. 
  • Application Exercises. These scaffolded analysis exercises challenge learners to use chapter content to reflect on teaching and learning in real classrooms. The questions in these exercises are usually constructed-response. Once learners provide their own answers to the questions, they receive feedback in the form of model answers written by experts. 
  • Licensure Practice. Practice for Your Licensure Exam assessments, modeled after questions found on teacher licensure tests, help readers prepare for their certification exams. 
  • Study Modules. These interactive, application-oriented modules provide opportunities to learn foundational educational psychology concepts in ways other than reading about them. The modules present content through screen-capture videos that include animations, worked examples, and classroom videos. The modules can be accessed in the left navigation bar of the MyLab.
  • Classroom Management Simulations. The simulations engage learners in decision making about classroom management strategies. These interactive cases focus on the classroom management issues teachers most frequently encounter on a daily basis. Each simulation presents a challenge scenario at the beginning and then offers a series of choices to solve each challenge. Along the way learners receive mentor feedback on their choices and have the opportunity to make better choices if necessary. 
  • Video Analysis Tool. Access to our widely anticipated Video Analysis Tool is available in the left-hand navigation bar of MyLab Education. The Video Analysis Tool helps build students' skills in analyzing teaching. Exercises provide authentic classroom videos paired with rubrics that guide and scaffold students in their analysis. Timestamp and commenting tools allow students to easily annotate the videos and connect their observations to educational psychology concepts.
  • MyLab Education includes the Pearson eText version of the book. 

New topics were added to bring readers up to date with new developments in the field, for example:

  • The field of educational psychology and its relation to other disciplines (Ch. 1).
  • Grit (Ch. 5).
  • Accommodating students who are homeless (Ch. 7).
  • The Next Generation Science Standards and ISTE standards for technological literacy (Ch. 8).
  • Accommodating English Language Learners (Ch. 8).
  • School climate (Ch. 9).
  • Computer-based standardized testing and adaptive assessment (Ch. 10).
  • The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 (Ch. 10).
  • Value-added assessment (Ch. 10).

Expanded discussions of some topics make the information consistent with new developments in the field, for example:

  • Study strategies (Ch. 1).
  • Working memory (Ch. 2).
  • Specific and general transfer (Ch. 3).
  • Well-defined and ill-defined problems (Ch. 3).
  • Reinforcement and punishment (Ch. 4).
  • Interest (Ch. 5).
  • Development of working memory (Ch. 6).
  • Moral and prosocial development (Ch. 7).
  • Standards (Ch. 8).
  • Technology-based simulations and games (Ch. 8).
  • Backward design (Ch. 10).
  • Rubrics (Ch. 10).
  • Technology in assessment (Ch. 10).
  • Criterion-referenced scores (Ch. 10).
  • Several new illustrative graphics are included to enhance students’ abilities to encode certain key concepts and principles visually as well as verbally, and to make sense of and remember the concepts/principles.
Also available with MyLab Education

Designed to bring learners more directly into the world of K-12 classrooms and to help them see the very real impact that educational psychology concepts have on learning and development,  MyLab™ Education provides practice using educational psychology concepts in teaching situations, helps students and instructors see how well students understand the content, and helps students more deeply process educational psychology and better understand how to use it as a teacher (and as a learner). The online resources in the MyLab Education with Enhanced Pearson eText include:

  • Video Examples. About 5 or 6 times per chapter, an embedded video provides an illustration of an educational psychology principle or concept in action. These video examples most often show students and teachers working in classrooms. Sometimes they show students or teachers describing their thinking or experiences. 
  • Video Explanations. Throughout the text, Jeanne Ormrod provides video explanations of essential concepts. Excerpted from her series of longer educational psychology modules, these brief lectures include animated slides and worked examples. 
  • Self-Checks. In each chapter, three to four self-check quizzes help assess how well learners have mastered the content. The self-checks are made up of self-grading multiple-choice items that not only provide feedback on whether questions are answered correctly or incorrectly, but also provide rationales for both correct and incorrect answers. 
  • Application Exercises. These scaffolded analysis exercises challenge learners to use chapter content to reflect on teaching and learning in real classrooms. The questions in these exercises are usually constructed-response. Once learners provide their own answers to the questions, they receive feedback in the form of model answers written by experts. 
  • Licensure Practice. Practice for Your Licensure Exam assessments, modeled after questions found on teacher licensure tests, help readers prepare for their certification exams. 
  • Study Modules. These interactive, application-oriented modules provide opportunities to learn foundational educational psychology concepts in ways other than reading about them. The modules present content through screen-capture videos that include animations, worked examples, and classroom videos. The modules can be accessed in the left navigation bar of the MyLab.
  • Classroom Management Simulations. The simulations engage learners in decision making about classroom management strategies. These interactive cases focus on the classroom management issues teachers most frequently encounter on a daily basis. Each simulation presents a challenge scenario at the beginning and then offers a series of choices to solve each challenge. Along the way learners receive mentor feedback on their choices and have the opportunity to make better choices if necessary. 
  • Video Analysis Tool. Access to our widely anticipated Video Analysis Tool is available in the left-hand navigation bar of MyLab Education. The Video Analysis Tool helps build students' skills in analyzing teaching. Exercises provide authentic classroom videos paired with rubrics that guide and scaffold students in their analysis. Timestamp and commenting tools allow students to easily annotate the videos and connect their observations to educational psychology concepts.
  • MyLab Education includes the Pearson eText version of the book. 

BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. Introduction to Educational Psychology
  2. Learning, Cognition, and Memory
  3. Complex Cognitive Processes
  4. Learning in Context
  5. Motivation and Affect
  6. Cognitive Development
  7. Personal, Social, and Moral Development
  8. Instructional Strategies
  9. Strategies for Creating an Effective Classroom Environment
  10. Assessment Strategies

DETAILED TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. Introduction to Educational Psychology
    • Using Research Findings to Make Instructional Decisions
    • Developing as a Teacher
    • Strategies for Learning and Studying Effectively
  2. Learning, Cognition, and Memory
    • Thinking and Learning in the Brain
    • Learning as Active Construction
    • How Human Memory Operates
    • Why Learners May or May Not Remember What They Have Learned
    • Promoting Effective Cognitive Processes
      • Supporting Optimal Brain Functioning
      • Remembering the Limitations of Attention and Working Memory
      • Encouraging Effective Long-Term Memory Storage Processes
      • Facilitating Retrieval
      • Monitoring Students’ Progress
  3. Complex Cognitive Processes
    • Self-Regulation and Metacognition
      • Effective Self-Regulated Learning
      • The Roles of Metacognition
    • Transfer
    • Problem Solving and Creativity
    • Critical Thinking
    • Promoting Self-Regulation Skills and Metacognitive Development
    • Creating a Classroom Environment that Nurtures Complex Processes.
  4. Learning in Context
    • Immediate Stimuli as Context
    • Social Interaction as Context
    • Culture, Society, Technology and Academic Domains as Contexts
      • Culture as Context
      • Society as Context
      • Technology and Media as Contexts
      • Academic Content Domains as Contexts
    • How Learners Modify Their Environments
    • Providing Supportive Contexts for Learning
      • Encouraging Productive Behaviors
      • Providing Physical, Social, and Technological Support for Effective Cognitive Processes
    • Taking Students' Broader Cultural and Socioeconomic Context into Account
  5. Motivation and Affect
    • The Nature of Motivation
    • Basic Human Needs
    • Cognitive Factors in Motivation
    • Affect and its Effects on Motivation and Learning
    • Promoting Motivation and Productive Affect
      • Strategies That Empower Students
      • Strategies That Demonstrate the Usefulness of Activities
      • Strategies That Foster Success
      • Strategies That Stimulate Interest
      • Strategies That Show and Promote Caring
      • Strategies That Generate Productive Affect for Learning
  6. Cognitive Development
    • General Principles of Development
    • Developmental Processes
    • Trends in Cognitive Development
    • Intelligence
    • Addressing Students' Developmental Needs
      • Accommodating Developmental Differences and Diversity
      • Fostering Cognitive Development in All Students
  7. Personal, Social, and Moral Development
    • Personality and Sense of Self
    • Peer Relationships
      • Social Cognition
    • Moral and Prosocial Development
    • Promoting Personal, Social, and Moral Development
      • Fostering Personal Development
      • Encouraging Effective Social Cognition and Interpersonal Skills
      • Promoting Moral Reasoning and Prosocial Behavior
    • Supporting Students Who Face Exceptional Personal or Social Challenges
  8. Instructional Strategies
    • Planning Instruction
    • Conducting Teacher-Directed Instruction
    • Conducting Learner-Directed Instruction
    • General Instructional Strategies
  9. Strategies for Creating an Effective Classroom Environment
    • Creating an Environment Conducive to Learning
    • Expanding the Sense of Community Beyond the Classroom
    • Reducing Unproductive Behaviors
    • Addressing Aggression and Violence at School
  10. Assessment Strategies
    • Using Assessments for Various Purposes
      • Guiding Instructional Decision Making
      • Diagnosing Learning and Performance Problem
      • Determining What Students Have Ultimately Learned from Instruction
      • Evaluating the Quality of Instruction
      • Promoting Learning
    • Enhancing Learning through Classroom Assessment Practices
    • Important Qualities of Good Assessment
    • Informally and Formally AssessingStudents' Progress and Achievements
      • Conducting Informal Assessments
      • Designing and Giving Formal Assessments
      • Evaluating Students’ Performance on Formal Assessments
    • Summarizing Students' Achievement with Grades and Portfolios
    • Assessing Students' Achievement and Abilities with Standardized Tests

Jeanne Ellis Ormrod received her AB in psychology from Brown University and her MS and PhD in educational psychology from The Pennsylvania State University. She earned licensure in school psychology through postdoctoral work at Temple University and the University of Colorado-Boulder and has worked as a middle school geography teacher and school psychologist. For 22 years, she was a faculty member at the University of Northern Colorado, where she taught undergraduate courses in educational psychology and graduate-level courses in human learning, assessment, and research methods. She has published and presented extensively on cognition and memory, cognitive development, instruction, and related topics but is probably best known for this book and four other textbooks: Human Learning (currently in its 7th edition); Educational Psychology: Developing Learners (currently in its 9th edition, now with Eric and Lynley Anderman as co-authors); Child Development and Education (co-authored with Teresa McDevitt, currently in its 6th edition); and Practical Research (co-authored with Paul Leedy, currently in its 11th edition).

Brett D. Jones is a Professor in the Educational Psychology Program within the School of Education at Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University). He received his BAE in Architectural Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and his MA and PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He has held faculty positions as an educational psychologist at Duke University, the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, and Virginia Tech. He has taught 24 different types of university courses related to motivation, cognition, and teaching strategies. Dr. Jones has also conducted workshops and invited presentations at several universities and has presented over 100 research papers at conferences. His research, which includes examining instructional methods that support students’ motivation and learning, has led to over 70 articles, several book chapters, and a two other books besides this book: Motivating Students by Design: Practical Strategies for Professors, and The Unintended Consequences Of High-Stakes Testing.

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