Educational Psychology: Developing Learners

by Jeanne Ellis Ormrod

Educational Developing Learners is known for its exceptionally clear and engaging writing, its in-depth focus on learning, and its extensive concrete applications. Its unique approach helps teachers understand concepts by encouraging them to examine their own learning and then showing them how to apply these concepts. The book gives an in-depth understanding of the central ideas of educational psychology, and moves seamlessly between theory and applications, including innumerable concrete examples—video cases, written cases, artifacts, and more—to help the reader connect educational psychology to children and classrooms.

Genres: Education, Psychology, Teaching, Nonfiction, Academic, Textbooks, Reference

600 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2002

About the author

Jeanne Ellis is Professor Emerita in UNC's School of Psychological Sciences & author of 'How We Think and Learn'

Reviews

[Victoria]

Literally my manuel or "bible" for teaching and pedagogy. A must read for every educator!!

[Lauren Sweeney]

I've come to the conclusion I hate psychology and this was also not helpful for class. Even though this is our textbook. Just use quizlet instead.

[Rebecca Radnor]

As this is the only one of these I've read, and I'm a student, its hard to be fair in the appraisal. On the up side, if you're being forced to read this because you're training to be a teacher, it does put a lot of effort into explaining why you should care and how this stuff might vary based on the grade of the student. Disturbingly, the reading level of the book is kind of low, which is more of a sad comment on who is training to become a teacher these days than anything. I mean seriously, one would hope that college level reading skills in a group of people who are going to become teachers would be assumed, but I guess not.

[Yulia]

Despite being packed with instrumental information for upcoming teachers, this book is nearly impossible to get though. It is boring, dry and wy too long. Much of the information here is redundant as many of the vignettes re-state info that was already written in the same chapters.

[Talbot Hook]

A superb reference book, written well and with depth.

[Ashely]

had to read it for my EDUC 2130 class, and I think it should count towards my reading challenge, and learned a lot of good information that I will keep in mind when I start teaching in 2024.

[Dana]

I read this for one of my graduate school classes. It offers a comprehensive review of learning theory, culturally responsive teaching, and classroom strategies in a readable format that includes relatable case studies and samples of student work. This was one of the rare assigned readings I never minded doing.

[Joe Cole]

This is a very good text. It includes lots of extra ideas and information in an easy to use format.

[Cass]

The research included in this book is great. It should be a required reading for every person involved in education.

[Emma Thornton]

Read this from cover to cover so definitely counting it in my yearly numbers

[Dolly]

Overall good textbook on Educational Psychology, and I feel that I learned a lot of useful information. Only one complaint, the author uses the statement "and so on" a bit too often throughout the book.

I especially felt that the last chapter of the book would be of interest to many people outside of the educational setting, such as parents and legislators who determine the reasoning behind "high-stakes" testing with regards to school and teacher accountability.

[Joanie]

Fantastic readability for a textbook. I read this for my online class, and the style was developed enough to keep me interested and there were plenty of engaging activities to illustrate the principles. I learned the whole class on my own with just this book. The author also does a great job addressing diversity in the classroom, something that was left out in my other courses. This was pretty much the only book I got to read this semester, but I can actually say I enjoyed it.

[Markus]

As text books go, this was not a bad textbook. The author attempts to make the material interesting by including anecdotes from her own life and experience, and opening each section with a case study.

[H.C. Myers]

This isn't the best textbook out there. Highlighted vocab words disconnected from definitions or definitions not existing anywhere on the page. Examples that don't correlate with the ideas. Of course, I learned a good amount from it but I've certainly seen stronger and more fluent material.

[CEHD at the U of M]

Theodore J. Christ, contributor.

[Joshua Helpern]

The author gives simple suggestions that you can try with your students.

[IAmTheHolly]

Currently finishing up this book for a class. I'm currently a teacher working on a Masters Degree.

The pros: Easy to read, occasionally a practical tip or two. Several interesting theoretical thoughts.

The cons: I'm currently a teacher. I want things I can do right now in my classroom. This book isn't great with showing me applications for the theories presented.

-Holly