Case Studies in Educational Psychology

This case study book serves as a valuable tool for professors and instructors of educational psychology. It contains 18 cases that represent current areas of interest in Educational Psychology embedded within current challenges that teachers face in today’s elementary grade classrooms. The cases are organized into six major parts: Human Development, Individual Differences and Diversity, Learning Theories, Motivation, Classroom Management, Instructional Approaches, and Assessment and Evaluation. Each case describes a detailed teaching scenario written from either the student or the teachers’ perspective. To engage students in critical thinking, perspective-taking, analysis, problem solving and decision-making, the cases have been intentionally written without a conclusion. Because the cases are open-ended, it allows the professor or instructor more flexibility and autonomy in how they use the cases. Each case is followed by thought-provoking questions, highlighting the significant issues in the case, from which to analyze the case and apply various theoretical viewpoints. While the cases do not replace actual classroom experience, they present a way to immerse students in the classroom’s culture by providing them with real-life teaching examples.

This collection of diverse, realistic case studies offers engaging learning opportunities for current and prospective educators, along with reflection questions that assess learning and application.  These cases help students develop not only critical thinking skills about a number of important challenges that educators face and across multiple domains, but also the ability to see those challenges from multiple theoretical and personal perspectives.  This collection is a must-have resource for faculty and students in education.

Patricia P. Willems is an associate professor of educational psychology at Florida Atlantic University, where she currently teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in educational psychology. She earned her PhD in educational psychology from the University of Florida and her publications are in the areas of case study instruction, learning environments, motivation, school-community partnerships, and parent involvement. Alyssa R. Gonzalez-DeHass received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Florida in 1998, she has been publishing in the area of student motivation since receiving her doctorate. Her research interests lie in the areas of students’ achievement goals, parent involvement, school-community partnerships, and the case study method to teaching educational psychology.