Developmental psychology.pdf

Prologue
xxvii
Like the response papers, the Student Guidebook offers opportunities for active
participation in the instructional process. Each chapter, which serves as a supplement
to the textbook, includes three parts: a programmed overview, a project, and a
self-quiz. The programmed overview emphasizes the major terms presented in each
chapter. The project offers you an opportunity to analyze data and draw conclusions.
And the self-quiz contains test items by which you can evaluate your understanding
of the text material.
The programmed instruction, in particular, helps prevent you from passively
going through the motions of reading. It contains sentences which must be completed
before proceeding to later sections, just as Socrates required his students to answer
questions before proceeding to new topics. Also, the correct answers appear immediately
after all the projects and self-quizzes, enabling you to assess your performance
and make whatever changes may be necessary to respond correctly on the next occasion.
TRADITIONAL TEXTBOOKS
Finally, there is something blue, which is not unique and not new. Rather it is a product
of widespread research and broadly used in all sorts of classroom situations. We call
it the blueprint, for it is a plan by which most textbooks and other instructional materials
are prepared. The ingredients, well known to you, require only brief enumeration
here.
Each student needs an overview of the material to be learned. For this reason
each chapter in this text begins with an outline of the topics to be considered. Within
the first several paragraphs, usually after the integrating narrative has been introduced,
there is also a preview of the chapter contents. This preview is a brief prose
description of the chapter outline.
Next, the most important terms in each chapter, referred to as key concepts,
appear in boldface in the text. Among these, the most critical terms are listed at the
end of each chapter. Insofar as introductory psychology requires the mastery of a new
vocabulary, learning the meanings of these terms, which are given in the text and in
the glossary, will aid greatly in the mastery of the chapter.
At the close of each chapter there is a summary, in which the contents are
reviewed according to the outline at the beginning of the chapter. If there are four
major parts in the chapter outline, the review is divided into four parts. Then for each
topic within that part there is a numbered summary paragraph. Some students prefer
to read these paragraphs before reading the chapter, thus obtaining an even more detailed
introduction than that provided by the outline and preview.
These three learning devices—the chapter outline, key concepts, and chapter
summary—can be used in various ways. Just as the integrating narratives will prove
differentially useful, depending upon your interests-and the chapter contents, so will
the value of these devices depend upon your manner of using them.
A comment about cross references is in order here. Many parts of this book
are related to other parts, so much so that we have identified the chief instances at the
end of each chapter, where they may be used or ignored, according to the reader's
interests. For example, at the end of this prologue there are cross references to this
research on memory and motivation.
You may even find something of value in the instructional devices in this preface.
Ummm . ,. . Let's see. . . .