About the Book
KEY BENEFITS: Students are provided with an exceptionally clear and coherent understanding of child development, emphasizing the interrelatedness of all domains-physical, cognitive, emotional, and social-throughout the text narrative and in special features. Berk's signature engaging writing style, rich examples, and research-based practical applications inspire active, engaged student learning. Focusing on education and social policy as critical pieces of the dynamic system in which the child develops, Berk pays meticulous attention to the most recent scholarship in the field. Berk helps students connect their learning to their personal and professional areas of interest and their future pursuits as parents, educators, heath care providers, social workers, and researchers.
KEY TOPICS: Theory and Research in Child Development, Foundations of Development, Cognitive and Language Development, Personality and Social Development, Contexts for Development
MARKET: Child Development, Child and Adolescent Development
About the Author:
Laura E. Berk is a distinguished professor of psychology at Illinois State University, where she has taught child and human development to both undergraduate and graduate students for more than three decades. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and her master's and doctoral degrees in child development and educational psychology from the University of Chicago. She has been a visiting scholar at Cornell University, UCLA, Stanford University, and the University of South Australia. Berk has published widely on the effects of school environments on children's development, the development of private speech, and recently, the role of make-believe play in development. Her research has been funded by the U.S. Office of Education and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. It has appeared in many prominent journals, including
Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Development and Psychopathology, and
Early Childhood Research Quarterly. Her empirical studies have attracted the attention of the general public, leading to contributions to
Psychology Today and
Scientific American. She has also been featured on National Public Radio's
Morning Edition and in
Parents Magazine, Wondertime, and
Reader's Digest. Berk has served as research editor of
Young Children and consulting editor of
Early Childhood Research Quarterly. Currently, she is associate editor of the
Journal of Cognitive Education and Psychology. She is a frequent contributor to edited volumes on early childhood development, having recently authored chapters on the importance of parenting, on make-believe play and self-regulation, and on the kindergarten child. She has also written the chapter on development for
The Many Faces of Psychological Research in the Twenty-First Century (Society for the Teaching of Psychology), the article on social development for
The Child: An Encyclopedic Companion, the article on Vygotsky for the
Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science, and the chapter on storytelling as a teaching strategy for
Voices of Experience: Memorable Talks from the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology (Association for Psychological Science). Berk's books include
Private Speech: From Social Interaction to Self-Regulation, Scaffolding Children's Learning: Vygotsky and Early Childhood Education, Landscapes of Development: An Anthology of Readings, and
A Mandate for Playful Learning in Preschool: Presenting the Evidence. In addition to
Child Development, she is author of the best-selling texts
Infants, Children, and Adolescents and
Development Through the Lifespan, published by Pearson. Her book for parents and teachers is
Awakening Children's Minds: How Parents and Teachers Can Make a Difference. Berk is active in work for children's causes. In addition to service in her home community, she is a member of the national board of directors and chair of the Chicago advisory board of Jumpstart, a nonprofit organization that provides intensive literacy intervention to thousands of low-income preschoolers across the United States, using college and university students as interveners. Berk is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, Division, 7: Developmental Psychology.
