Covering development from early childhood through high school in an easy-to-follow format, this book provides you with authentic, research-based strategies and guidelines for your future classrooms. The authors apply child development concepts to topics of high interest and relevance to teachers, including social-emotional development, classroom discipline, humor, constructivism, and many others. Group and individual diversity and multicultural issues are integrated throughout. Case studies and real-world vignettes further bridge the distance between research and the classroom, helping to prepare you to create an environment that promotes optimal development in children. With its practical classroom-based focus, this text will help you view all students more positively, give you the tools to deal effectively with them, and make teaching more enjoyable. Also available: the MindTap online learning experience, with videos, applied activities, an e-portfolio, and more.

Christi Bergin earned a Ph.D. in child development and early childhood education at Stanford University and is a developmental psychologist. Her research focuses on the socio-emotional development of typical children as well as the physical, cognitive and socio-emotional development of infants and children in families struggling with poverty, drug use and child abuse. She has observed hundreds of parent-child interactions, including in-home visits to so-called "crack houses." Dr. Bergin has conducted research in both schools and medical centers. She has published in journals such as the Journal of Literacy Research, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Child Maltreatment, Journal of Adolescence and Infant Mental Health Journal, among others. Through her research, experience as a preschool teacher and work as a community volunteer, she has extensive experience with children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. She is the co-founder of the Network for Educator Effectiveness, which has 302 member school districts. Through this network she has trained hundreds of principals to accurately measure teaching practices and provide useful feedback to help teachers grow professionally. Dr. Christi Bergin directs the nation's premiere research lab on prosocial education, that is, improving the social interaction and positive behavior of school-age children. She is president-elect of the social-emotional learning group of the American Educational Research Association.