Summer Reading List

One grand tradition of summers is to have a Summer Reading List. In our program we tend to focus on original research articles for very good reasons. However, there are also some books that focus on cognitive psychology research that are great reads. These books highlight research, pointing out the major findings and implications. Put differently, these books tend to be light reading relative to journal articles.

Here's my own suggest summer reading list if you want to learn more about key cognitive psychology issues that we began discussing this semester:

Cognitive Load Theory edited by Plass, Moreno, & Brünken. This edited book was released in May 2010 and contains a series of chapters by different authors. Should be a great read!

Multimedia Learning (second edition) by Richard Mayer. A no-brainer. Released late in 2009. Make sure to get the second edition as it has significant updates and changes relative to the first edition.

Mental Leaps: Analogy in Creative Thought by Holyoak and Thagard. We didn't explore analogical reasoning in our class, but this is a very powerful area of research that has many implications for educational practice.

The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences edited by Sawyer. I think you can get this book from Gleeson Library. However, this is a worthy book to purchase. Many many great ideas and connections to improving educational practice.

The Cambridge Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning edited by Holyoak and Morrison. I believe you can get this book at Gleeson Library. A great treasure trove of articles.

Efficiency in Learning: Evidence-Based Guidelines to Manage Cognitive Load by Clark, Nguyen, & Sweller. This book is targeted towards instructional designers, rather than researchers, but it contains some very useful examples about how to better manage cognitive load in educational settings.