The author describes an action research project given to masters-level preservice teachers in her educational psychology classes to help them connect the theories they are learning with educational problems they have observed or experienced. Students' responses on a six-item survey indicated that they valued the better understanding of how…

This article describes the construction and development of a course assignment that uses student interviews as an instructional tool to bridge the gap between theory and practice in a graduate educational psychology course. The first part of the article describes the student interview assignment used to examine theories of motivation. The second…

This paper presents a qualitative analysis of the assessment chapters from four popular educational psychology texts. Teacher knowledge about assessment tools and how they support learning is critical to improving student outcomes. The goals of the analysis are to (a) differentiate author "voices" by looking at style and content choices, (b)…

In this article, the author discusses the similarities and differences among educational psychology textbooks. Similarities among textbooks are: (1) general topics covered; (2) organizational scheme; and (3) visual appeal. Differences among textbooks are: (1) specific content; (2) writing style; (3) pedagogy; (4) design; and (5) ancillary package.…

The nature of Educational Psychology is such that the fulfillment of its primary purpose--the improvement of education--depends largely upon the effective communication and use of its findings to and by a wide variety of people outside the discipline itself; thus, it depends on the teaching of educational psychology, not only to pre-service and…