What does the mind involve? How does intelligence spring from it, differentiating between individuals in understanding and dealing with the world? How does the mind learn and grow over time and how can learning and growth be enhanced by education?
Growing Minds is an interdisciplinary work that seeks to answer these questions through the integration of the main theories relating to the brain and learning - namely the cognitive, developmental and individual difference perspectives. The authors propose an overarching and integrated theory of the developing mind, generating proposals on how this new theory can be applied to educational practice to improve student achievement.
Auteur
Andreas Demetriou is Professor of Psychology and President of the University of Nicosia Research Foundation, Cyprus. He was the Minister of Education and Culture of Cyprus, and President of the National Research Council of Cyprus.
George Spanoudis is Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Cyprus.
Texte du rabat
Interest in the human mind is a centuries-old fascination, dating back to Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes. While the theories proposed about the human mind have since advanced and evolved, the fascination remains. Growing Minds is a unique and interdisciplinary work that guides the reader through an examination of the human mind's nature, performance, lifespan, and variations.
The book sets out to answer a variety of questions:
The text is organised into three parts: the first provides a summary and evaluation of research conducted on the human mind by experimental cognitive psychology, differential psychology, and developmental psychology. The second presents an overarching theory of the growing mind, showing how mind and intelligence are at the crossroads of nature and nurture; and the third assesses the relationship between education and intelligence.
This book is the result of decades of extensive research and culminates in the proposal of a new overarching and integrated theory of the developing mind. For the first time, research is gathered and combined to form a comprehensive concept and fulfil the need for a fresh, integrative paradigm which both asks and answers questions about the human mind from a multi-faceted perspective.
Contenu
PART I Three traditions of research on the human mind
1 The experimental cognitive tradition
2 The differential tradition
3 Piaget's theory
4 Neo-Piagetian theories
5 The development of reasoning
6 Awareness and knowledge about the mind
7 Core domains
PART II An overarching theory of the growing mind
8 The organization of the human mind
9 Cycles and phases of development
10 Recycling and mediation of cognizance
11 Differentiation and binding of mental processes through developmental cycles
12 Personality and emotions in the minds
13 Genetic, psychological, and cultural aspects of the mind
14 Mapping mind-brain development
PART III A developmental theory of instruction
15 School and intellectual development
16 Enhancing intelligence in the laboratory
17 Towards a theory of instruction
18 Educating critical thought
19 Conclusions: towards an overarching theory of the growing mind