education-theory

I also used this book in my graduate program. This book provides an excellent overview student development theory. It is an excellent introductory text. I had the added benefit of using this text in a course taught by one of the authors.

I needed this text for my graduate work, and it will remain on my shelf for many years. It does a great job of covering all of the major developmental theories and a few others!

This book documents the tragic exit of great talents from the natural sciences that results when overdriven undergraduates lose sight of the fun and sense of wonder that are at the heart of the most successful scientific careers.

Making "Feynman's Lost Lecture: The Motion of Planets Around the Sun" (David and Judith Goodstein, 1996) and "Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar" part of the required reading list for all entering freshmen--and giving them the chance to discuss these books with lively professors who have managed to retain their own Feynmanesque senses of fun and wonder--would be a helpful antidote for this.

The authors interviewed hundreds of college students whose high-school SAT math scores were at least 650 and who started their college careers in natural science, mathematics or engineering.

The interviewees were selected randomly for the authors by the participating colleges and universities, from a much larger pool of students whose academic profiles matched the authors' research design.

In accordance with this research design, approximately half of those interviewed had switched majors out of science-math-engineering (SME) programs by their senior years. The other half of those interviewed were still SME majors as seniors, and planned to graduate with a degree in natural science, mathematics or engineering.

Both groups of students voiced serious criticism of the deliberately competitive, grade on a curve, "overwhelm them and weed them out" approach that is widely used in teaching freshman and sophomore courses in SME-track curricula, particularly calculus, physics and organic chemistry.

The authors found it very difficult to predict which students had switched out of SME-track majors and which had stayed using any of the stay-vs-switch criteria commonly cited by SME faculty members, which include native ability, willingness to work hard, college grades, gender, ethnic background, and high-school preparation for college-level work in the sciences.

Rather, they found that the chief distinguishing characteristic of those who did not switch was the individuals' willingness to put up with the mental and emotional abuse heaped upon them by this "drinking from a fire hose" approach to instruction in their freshman and sophomore years.

These conclusions fit well with my own experiences at a major West Coast research university, as a white male undergraduate with a 750+ SAT verbal score and a 700+ SAT math score (without any special "prepare for the SAT" courses of any kind) who had graduated in the top 5% of my West Coast suburban high school class. I switched out of the SME track at the end of my sophomore year for several of the reasons cited in this book, and graduated two years later with a liberal arts degree in a field that had taught me to think critically, not memorize by blind repetition. Then I returned to the SME track later as a graduate student (no easy feat!) after I had had time to revisit the concepts thrown at me willy nilly in those first two years and see what they were good for. Today, I'm a registered professional engineer with an engineering master's degree, doing quite well in my field.

Based on this book's carefully assembled results and my own experience, I have avoided sending any of my children to my alma mater as freshmen or sophomores.

Instead, I have recommended that they do as my younger brother did. He did his freshman and sophomore work at a good community college, then transferred to a small state college with a very limited graduate program for his upper-division courses. Next he earned his master's degree at my alma mater, then went on to another nationally-ranked graduate program for his PhD. At each institution, he found himself in the group of students that enjoyed the focused attention of the faculty, and his SME learning experience was far, far superior to mine.

Read this book. Think about it carefully. Then plan your educational strategy to avoid being "weeded out" by SME faculty who don't want to admit that you exist until you have put up with two solid years of cheerful neglect and brutal abuse.

I had the good fortune of taking a graduate course with the author some years ago. In the course we read a chapter excerpt from her dissertation research, which this book is largely based on.All of us were struck at the keen insight and sensitivity of Dr. Goldstein's writing. Rather than hide behind educational jargon, her observations are plainly presented, yet often eloquent in their analysis. Although this book focuses on younger children, it would be helpful reading for all educators. To some degree, she helps those of us who have taught to rediscover what we always knew was there but never articulated in this way. Goldstein draws on the ethic of caring proposed by Nel Noddings of Stanford University. Her research was deemed as less than rigorous at the time by some but fortunately Noddings saw the essential merit in it. This book puts the core concern before the reader without resorting to polemics. It lets the actions of the loving teachers speak for themselves. I now plan to use the book with Chinese colleagues striving to develop their own humanistic curriculum.

This well written and straightforward book breaks ground in the realm of elementary education. Showing different perspectives in her varied education career, Goldstein touches upon many of the issues young teachers face in confronting their feelings toward their students. Goldstein expertly tackles each issue one by one and encourages the reader to take their own approach to education and embraces the differences in teaching styles while maintaining her expectations.,

What a marvelous book. Utopian in spirit yet practical in application this book takes the notion of multiculturalism to human levels not seen in many discourses. The nalaysis is fresh and interesting and should be a part of every teacher training program. Weil is a former kindergarten, first and second grade bilingual teacher and he is formidable in both his analysis and his historical awareness. I walked away as a teacher of fifth grade, finally understanding multiculturalism as more than a 'fad' but as a serious quest to be human. Highly recommended.

This book is an insightful addition to a subject that has received more than its share of exposure. However, what Weil does in this essay is compare and contrast much of what parades as multicultural education, and in the spirit of the Frankfurt School, Paulo Freire and Henry Giroux, he couches our understanding of multiculturalism within political realizations and emancipatory objectives. His point is simple and worth considering: The tourist approach to multiculturalism along with individualistic approaches to understanding diversity fail to seat this understanding within socio-historical contexts and fail to provide reasoning opportunities for students to reason their way within and through, multicultural points of view . Thus, these approaches fail to provide hope for combatting what Weil calls "the logic of oppression" that faces all human beings. The book is theoretical and practical. Weil is an ex-kindergarden and first grade teacher so he speaks with teachers, not to them. A must read for all teachers, prospective teachers, parents and humanistic intellectuals interested in exapanding the debate regarding diversity and multiculturalism.

It's helpful to have at least a passing acquaintance with Jean Piaget's theories before reading this book, but it's not necessary. Kamii shows in so many many ways that the thought life of young children is different from our own. Not only should this be required reading for all Kindergarten through second grade teachers, but also for those politicians and political pundits whose back to basics (and did we ever really leave the basics?) approach to curriculum simply makes life miserable for these poor kids. (because what they think are the basics aren't really the true basics of thought)

One interesting aspect of the book is that it was in part co-written with a primary school teacher who tries out some of Kamii's ideas in her own classroom. She is initially skeptical that Kamii knows what she's talking about, but later realizes the truth of it when confronted with the evidence of her own senses.

After you read this book, you'll never see a kid do a problem like 5 + 1 or 16 + 7 with the same eyes again.

I am a Kindergarten teacher and would recommend this book to teachers and parents looking for a good resource to teach children number concepts. Kamii not only discusses number concepts and problem solving, she also gives lots of easy to make games to make learning these things fun. Wonderful book!

My daughter and I were more than pleased with this math CD. I'm pleased with the music style -catchy tune AND understandable, no rap. I also like the fact that each addition is repeated. Although my daughter knows how to add she still uses her fingers sometimes, I have found that this has helped her to memorize facts more easily. The singing book that comes along is a big plus! I would also recommend the Multiplication unplugged because it teaches how to count by 2s,3s,etc.

In All In Our Places: Feminist Challenges In Elementary School Classrooms, Carla Rensenbrink draws upon her eighteen years experience as a classroom teacher as well as her experience in teaching classes in education and feminist philosophy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the University of New Hampshire to portray elementary classrooms instruction from a feminist perspective. Through the use of illustrative case studies, Rensenbrink addresses the challenges of gender and identity issues as reflected through the stories of three teachers, all feminists, to analyze and present a diversity of perspectives including African American, White, and Lesbian. Here is an erudite and thoughtful addressing of complex education problems, contemporary educational issues, and ground breaking concepts for teaching practice. All In Our Places is recommended reading for student teacher curriculums, as well as practicing classroom instructors preschool through fifth grade.

Much in the same way that the apostles probably wouldn't have bothered to read the Bible, having heard the good word straight from the horse's (Jesus's) mouth I have yet to read this book. That said, I am at this moment taking Professor Seery's Classical Political Theory class at Pomona College, and find it scintillating. The class, not the man...i mean...ughhh...must not succumb to metrosexuality...

I think I'm going to check this book out of the library, now that I've got all worked up about it. But I recommend that you--yeah, YOU--buy it off Amazon!

If you feel disenfranchised as a citizen and voter in America, this book may provide the answers you're looking for. Indeed, the consolidation of power in Washington, economic uncertainty, social erosion, and the 2000 presidential election debacle prove the need for election reform, more democracy and voter participation in self-government. It's time for us to re-examine ourselves. And it's time for real democracy.

This, hands down, is one of the very best books I've read regarding education. Ms Kailin has definitely done a wonderful job.