• By Warren Thorngate, Robyn Dawes, Margaret Foddy

Merit-based tests and contests have become popular methods for allocating rewards – from trophies to contracts, jobs to grants, admissions to licenses. With origins in jurisprudence, methods of rewarding merit seem fairer than those rewarding political or social connections, bribery, aggression, status, or wealth. Because of this, merit-based competitions are well-suited to the societal belief that people should be rewarded for what they know or do, and not for who they know or are; however, judging merit is rarely an easy task – it is prone to a variety of biases and errors. Small biases and errors, especially in large competitions, can make large differences in who or what is rewarded. It is important, then, to learn how to spot flaws in procedures for judging merit and to correct them when possible.

Based on over 20 years of theory and research in human judgment, decision making and social psychology, this unique book brings together for the first time what is known about the processes and problems of judging merit and their consequences. It also provides practical suggestions for increasing the fairness of merit-based competitions, and examines the future and limits of these competitions in society.

ISBN: 9780805858358

Published November 20 2008 by Psychology Press.

• Edited by Tudor Rickards, Mark A. Runco, Susan Moger

Creativity can be as difficult to define as it is to achieve. This is a complex and compelling area of study and this volume is perfectly poised to explore how creativity can be better understood, and used, in a range of contexts. The book not only centres on creativity in wider organizational theory, but also defines the conditions in which creativity can flourish, and assesses how the contemporary business environment has an impact on creative solutions.

The volume grounds the concept of creativity in a sound theoretical framework and explores issues of practical and theoretical consequence covering a range of themes, including:

• innovation and entrepreneurship
• creativity and design
• environmental influences
• knowledge management
• meta-theories of creativity
• personal creativity
• structured interventions

Comprising articles written by an unusually wide array of leading creativity scholars, The Routledge Companion to Creativity is an insightful and cutting edge resource. It is an essential purchase for anyone with an interest in creativity from a business, psychology or design perspective.

ISBN: 9780415773171

Published November 20 2008 by Routledge.

• No Author/Editor data available

The book examines how well we remember what we see. Research in human memory for visual material varies tremendously across the time scales, stimuli, and scenarios of interest. Because of these distinct pursuits, research in the field of 'visual memory' is in practice rather compartmentalized and as such is disseminated across a range of literatures. The Visual World in Memory pulls together this disparate field with a series of chapters, each written by a leading expert, that concisely present the state-of-the-science in all the areas of research. The result is a single source of information that bridges the divides that separate the field as a whole. Each chapter reviews and analyzes current theories and controversies regarding such issues as visual and spatial working memory, memory for visual features, conjunctions, objects, and locations, memory for faces, memory for real-world scenes, memory for visual events, the role of visual memory in motor planning and action, the relationship between visual memory, reference frames, and navigation, and visual imagery.

The rigorous discussion and analysis included in each chapter will appeal to established researchers and vision scientists whilst the breadth of the book will make it an ideal companion for students learning about memory.

ISBN: 9781841696843

Published October 08 2008 by Psychology Press.

• Edited by Mary Courage, Nelson Cowan

Human memory is not only the repository of our past but the essence of who we are. As such, it is of enduring fascination. We marvel at its resilience in some situations and its fragility in others. The origin of this extraordinary cognitive capacity in infancy and childhood is the focus of vigorous research and debate as we seek to understand the record of our earliest beginnings.

The first edition of this volume, The Development of Memory in Childhood, documented the state-of-the-science of memory development a decade ago. This new edition, The Development of Memory in Infancy and Childhood, provides a thorough update and expansion of the previous text and offers reviews of new research on significant themes and ideas that have emerged since then. Topics include basic memory processes in infants and toddlers, the cognitive neuroscience of memory development, the cognitive and social factors that underlie our memory for implicit and explicit events, autobiographical memory and infantile amnesia, working memory, the role of strategies and knowledge in driving memory development, and the impact of stress and emotion on these basic processes. The book also includes applications of basic memory processes to a variety of real world settings from the courtroom to the classroom.

Including contributions from many of the best researchers in the field, this classic yet contemporary volume will appeal to senior undergraduate and graduate students of developmental and cognitive psychology as well as to developmental psychologists who want a compendium of current reviews on key topics in memory development.

ISBN: 9781841696423

Published September 09 2008 by Psychology Press.

Methods, Models, and Research Directions

• Edited by John Colombo, Peggy McCardle, Lisa Freund

The behavioral and brain sciences are faced with important new challenges at the beginning of the new millennium. The enormous progress in cognitive neuroscience, and the importance of genetic factors and gene-environment interactions in shaping behavioral functions in early childhood, have both underscored the primacy of early experience and development on brain development and function.

The contributors to this volume discuss different paradigms and approaches in infant language and cognition, pushing the frontiers of research by innovatively combining methods, introducing new measures, and demonstrating the use of technologies and measurement approaches that can inform the study of word learning and categorization, gaze, attention, gesture, and physiological functions. The volume offers a blend of theories and empirical evidence to support, refute, or modify them. Most chapters examine the link between theory and methodology, and their appearance together in a single volume serves to inform and engage multiple disciplines, to engage everyone to think across disciplines and paradigms, to embrace the integration of creativity and science as the field continues to study in greater depth and with innovative measures and approaches, the infant pathways to language

This volume is derived from presentations and discussions from a workshop, sponsored jointly by the Merrill Advanced Studies Center, University of Kansas, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland.

ISBN: 9780805860634

Published October 15 2008 by Psychology Press.

Historical Origins and Modern Communities of Practice

• By Robert R. Hoffman, Laura G. Militello

This volume is the first comprehensive history of task analysis, charting its origins from the earliest applied psychology through to modern forms of task analysis that focus on the study of cognitive work. Through this detailed historical analysis, it is made apparent how task analysis has always been cognitive.

Chapters cover the histories, key ideas, and contributions to methodology of a number of communities of practice, including: Sociotechnics, European Work Analysis, Naturalistic Decision Making, Cognitive Systems Engineering, Ethnography, Human Factors. Further, integrative chapters focus on the purposes of cognitive task analysis.

It is shown how all the various communities of practice are living in the same scientific universe, though are in many ways distinctive in terms of their key concerns and main theories. It is a historiography of task analysis, and the people who invented task analysis. It is also an explanatory primer on what cognitive task analysis is all about and what it can do.

Perspectives on Cognitive Task Analyis will be of value to professionals in allied disciplines who might come to rely on cognitive task analysis in their system development programs. It will be invaluable to students who need to know what task analysis and cognitive task analysis are really all about. For practitioners of cognitive task analysis, this volume is a major presentation of what their scientific universe is all about.

ISBN: 9780805861402

Published September 09 2008 by Psychology Press.

• Edited by Richard G. Schwartz

The Handbook of Child Language Disorders provides an in-depth, comprehensive, and state-of-the-art review of current research concerning the nature, assessment, and remediation of language disorders in children. The book includes chapters focusing on specific groups of children (SLI, autism, genetic syndromes, dyslexia, hearing impairment); the linguistic, perceptual, genetic, neurobiological, and cognitive bases of these disorders; and the context of language disorders (bilingual, across dialects, and across languages). To examine the nature of deficits, their assessment and remediation across populations, chapters address the main components of language (morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics) and related areas (processing, memory, attention, executive function such as reading and writing). Finally, even though there is extensive information regarding research and clinical methods in each chapter, there are individual chapters that focus directly on research methods.

This handbook is a comprehensive reference source for clinicians and researchers and can be used as a textbook for undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students in speech-language pathology, developmental psychology, special education, disabilities studies, neuropsychology and in other fields interested in children's language disorders.

ISBN: 9781841694337

Published September 09 2008 by Psychology Press.

Q: Why do you say this edition is "brain-based"?
A: Because the Q&A frame we are using is inspired by how Chris at Ouroboros recently hosted Encephalon Brain and Mind blog carnival. (Is classic Greek making a comeback?).

Q: As educators, what inspires us to do what we do?
A: Tracy suggests, "Hope for the future".

Q: And what may happen in the future?
A: Eric proposes that the field can learn much about how athletes train their minds and bodies to maximize performance.

Q: What should not happen in the future?
A: Dave hopes we stop the Textbook Insanity, killing trees to create books not everyone uses.

Q: What comes first, subject or learner?
A: Bogusia has "switched sides". She now centers her teaching around her students, to make sure they appreciate the beauty of the subject.

Q: How do you know if something is developmentally appropriate? 
A: Science Goddess is still waiting for more of us to visit her blog and answer (btw, the visit is worth if only to admire her blog spectacular design).

Q: Should Social-Emotional Learning be part of academic curriculum?
A: Daniel introduces us to the research supporting that view.

Q: Why is NYC's city's graduation rate for ELLs so low?
A: Mary Ann shows that 45.5 percent in grades 8-12 were newcomers, who have to learn the language and the culture on top of the academic curriculum. (Note: I added "in grades 8-12" as a correction, to reflect Mary Ann's full quote accurately).
Q:  Now, are newcomers really motivated to learn and succeed?
A: Joanne responds that work is the motivator for low-income and working-class Mexican-American students, who want an education so they can get decent jobs, live in a safe neighborhood and drive a car that starts reliably.

Q: Who is the person behind Eduwonkette?
A: Jennifer Jennings, unmasked.

Q: Is college a waste of time and resources?
A: Dana reminds us that the goal of liberal arts education is to "enable every man to judge for himself what will secure or endanger his freedom". Hence, she disagrees with  the thesis from Charles Murray's last book that asks for the substitution of the current system for a system of certification tests, modeled after the CPA (certified public accountant) test.

Q: Is the book Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism, by David Whitman, any good?
A: Carey likes much of the thought-provoking analysis and the focus on instilling self-discipline, but is turned off by the "paternalism" word.

Q:What does "paternalistic" really mean in this context?
A: Michael suggests "authoritative".

Q: Will Google revolutionize education by letting everyone write and access authoritative content for free?
A: Probably not. At least not with the knols initiative, Ben says.

Q: What does lifelong neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mean?
A: Let me show you these informational resources on the brain, begs Laurie.

Q: Is physical exercise  that important for lifelong learning and brain development?
A; It is. Exercising the body is exercising the mind, says Adrian.

Q: Is the US school funding system the most rational one?
A: Jim replies probably not, which may result, in Illinois, in a boycott and lawsuit.

Q: How old are you in Jupiter years?
A: Cherish doesn't know, and doesn't even what to know. But  she shows us how to calculate it (Government-Issued Warning: "All you need are the following: your age in earth days, the mass of sun and the distance between the planets and sun. And Math!")

Q: Is there really something called "egocentric spacial transformation"?
A: Indeed, Pascale assures us. Also called mental self-rotation. You can put the concept to practice with this brain teaser.

Q: Where do returning military veterans go and get their college education?
A: Darren is happy to report that Sacramento State is one good option.

Q: Why will 50% of today's teachers have left the profession 5 years from now?
A: Travis summarizes a number of reasons and offers recommendations to lower turnover.

Q: What happens in a typical First day of the school year?
A: Mister Teacher shows us.

Q: What does "The Road to heaven is Paved with Good intentions" mean?
A: Andrew provides an example.

Q: How can we improve South Carolina-Australia bilateral relations?
A: Technology can help improve communications among educators and students, says Pay.

Q: Is that Sales Rep your best friend?
A: Tweenteacheer, whose New Interactive Whiteboard will be delivered with a significant delay, warns us not to think so.

Q: How will video be integrated in classroom instruction?
A: First of all, by allowing educators use YouTube Videos, suggests Carol.

Q: Any new cool way to motivate my students?
A: Easy, says Larry. Use a game like Mia Cadaver’s Tombstone Timeout to create, within seconds, your private “virtual room” where only your students compete against each other.

Q: Has Open Court Reading been found to be effective ?
A: Matthew reports that Open Court doesn't have the research needed to qualify inclusion in the WhatWorks Clearinghouse.

Q: Can informal learning activities support school work?
A: Matt invites us to play Football. Sorry, soccer.

Q: Can you suggest other informal activities more closely aligned with academic standards?
A: Steve (the Mentos Geyser Experiment guy), has a few DIY ideas to improve science education.

Q: Does homeschooling make sense?
A: Suzanne reviews  Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense by David Guterson.

Q: Who is Marva Collins?
A: An inspiring school pioneer, Christine tells us.

Q: Can teachers walk on water?
A: Many do everyday. But asking them to walk across bricks as a team-building exercise may be going too far, says Betty.

Q: How can I contribute to future Carnival of Education editions?
A: Easy! Submit your posts using this form this handy submission form.

Have a great day!

NEUROGENESIS

MIT news – Picower researcher finds neuron growth in adult brain

Society for Neuroscience brain brief – Adult Neurogenesis

BRAIN PLASTICITY

Neuroscience for Kids – Brain Plasticity: What Is It?

Society for Neuroscience brain brief – Brain Plasticity, Language Processing and Reading

Brain Science Podcast – Ginger Campbell interview with Norman Doidge, MD, discussing Neuroplasticity, and his book The Brain That Changes Itself

CBD Radio – Interview with Norman Doidge

Carol Dweck discussing "growth" versus "fixed" mindsets

Wired Science – Mixed Feelings – how the human brain can change

THE ADULT BRAIN

Brain Science Podcase – Ginger Campbell discussion of Elkonon Goldberg's book The Wisdom Paradox

Oregon Health & Science University – Brain Awareness – The Adult Brain

PBS – The Secret Life of the Brain – The Adult Brain

McGill University has an interesting timeline that traces the discovery of neuronal growth in adult brains. This is part of The Brain from Top to Bottom, "An interative Web site on the human brain and behavior"

EXERCISE

Brain Science Podcast – Ginger Campbell interview with John Ratey, discussing Exercise and the Brain and his book Spark

Johy Ratey speaking at Authors@Google

CREATIVITY • INNOVATION • CHANGE

Creatively Speaking – Sir Ken Robinson on The Power of the Imaginative Mind

Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk – Do schools kill creativity?

Arnold Wasserman interview on SMARTBoard Lessons/PD to Go Episode 131 – Design & Innovation (interview begins about 1/2 into the podcast)

Laurie Bartels writes the Neurons Firing blog to create for herself the "the graduate course I’d love to take if it existed as a program". She is the K-8 Computer Coordinator and Technology Training Coordinator at Rye Country Day School in Rye, New York. She is also the organizer of Digital Wave annual summer professional development, and a frequent attendee of Learning & The Brain conferences.

Issue: Retiring Employees, Lost Knowledge (Business Week)
A pilot program at American Express gives soon-to-be retirees less work and more time to pass along their expertise to younger generations

- "Before long, the group made an important discovery: Not only would a huge number of employees become eligible for retirement in the next five to 10 years, the company had done little to retain the wealth of institutional knowledge they would be taking with them. From the intricacies of key client relationships to mainframe computer languages no longer being taught in school, many experienced workers possessed critical know-how that, if lost, would be costly—if not impossible—for the company to replace."

- "These parameters helped shape the American Express phased-retirement program, an initiative launched in pilot mode during the first quarter of 2008. Rather than retiring and leaving the company at once, participants gradually give up their day-to-day responsibilities, while replacing some of their free time with activities like mentoring and teaching master classes to their successors. In addition, they get more time out of the office doing whatever they want—be it planning for life in retirement or doing charity work. The phased retiree continues to receive a portion of his previous salary, benefits as usual, and the company in turn gets to hold on to some of its most valuable employees a year or more past traditional retirement age."

Comment: beautiful initiative. For an increasing number of workers, there is no real hard reason why retirement must happen at some arbitrary date, be it 60 or 65. American Express is looking for a win/ win arrangement, including coverage of very important health benefits.

For context on how older workers can remain productive in areas where they have accumulated significant experience, let's revisit some of the notes of my recent conversation with researcher Art Kramer:

Alvaro Fernandez: In any case, your study reinforces an important point: older brains can, and do, learn new skills.

Art Kramer: Yes. The rate of learning by older adults may be slower, and they may benefit from more explicit instruction and technology training, but, as a society, it is a massive waste of talent not to ensure older adults remain active and productive.

Another recent study we conducted, this one still under review, is titled Experience-Based Mitigation of Age-Related Performance Declines: Evidence from Air Traffic Control. It deals with the question: “Can Age Itself Be an Obstacle for someone to perform as an Air Controller? And the Answer is: age itself, within the age range that we studied, is not an obstacle. Our results suggest that, given substantial accumulated experience, older adults can be quite capable of performing at high levels of proficiency on fast-paced demanding real-world tasks.

PS: reader Catherine just helped us see and fix a typo in this post...thank you, Catherine!