This volume provides a selection of the articles by key researchers in educational attainment, a core area of developmental psychology. Articles from leading researchers are both introduced and contextualized together with suggestions for further reading.

Part I Learning. 1. Attaining Excellence Through Deliberate Practice: Insights from the Study of Expert Performance. (K. A. Ericsson). 2. Rhyme, Language and Children's Readering. (P. Bryant, M. Maclean and L. Bradley). 3. The Rebirth of Children's Learning. (R. Siegler). 4. Candy Selling and Math Learning. (G. B. Saxe). 5. Understanding Academic Performance at University. (N. J. Entwistle). Part II Teaching. 6. On Becoming a Tutor: Toward an Ontogenetic Model. (D. Wood, H. Wood, S. Ainsworth and C. O'Malley). 7. Teacher Expectation: Implications for School Improvement. (C. Rogers). 8. An Exploration of Long-Term Far-Transfer Effects Following an Extended Intervention Program in the High School Science Curriculum. (P. Adey and M. Shayer). 9. Reconstructing Context: the Conventionalization of Classroom Knowledge. (D. Edwards and N. Mercer). 10. The Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture. (L. A. Shepard). Index.

This is the first collection of key articles on the psychology behind educational attainment. It brings together in one volume for students a set of accessible but influential papers, representing the best classic and cutting edge work in the field. Under the themes of basic processes in learning, interactions between teachers and learners, and metacognitive approaches to learning, the thirteen readings cover a wide range of topics. To help students gain an overview of the subject, each article is introduced and contextualized by the editors, as is the volume as a whole. Each paper is also accompanied by suggestions for further reading so that students can investigate topics in more depth if they wish. This book of readings can be used alone or alongside a text on teaching and learning. In either context, it offers an ideal starting point for the exploration of key issues in educational attainment.

"a collection of interesting, albeit idiosyncratic, readings ... the book touches most of the important bases" Guy Claxton, University of Bristol Graduate School of Education, Cambridge Journal of Education, Vol. 33, No. 2, 2003