Educational Psychology

This program examines what stands between our children becoming literate adults or school dropouts. It explores the experiences of students on the edge of success or failure in school, shares the feelings of students who fail and those who triumph, visits classrooms around the country where teachers encourage literacy across content areas and promote cognitive development for all their students, and-above all-provides hope that the literacy crisis facing our schools can be solved. (58 minutes)

Beginning teachers often don't anticipate the challenges that high-needs students present. This video provides supportive strategies that boost the success of special needs learners. Exploring verbal and nonverbal communication through immediacy behaviors, the program shows how teachers can reduce the psychological distance between themselves and challenged students, with tangible benefits in student performance. The power of humor, praise, inclusiveness, listening to student feedback, and other strategies are discussed, as well as self-awareness points like speech tempo, tone of voice, and body language. A viewable/printable instructor's guide is available online. (13 minutes)

In a philosophy-for-children session, a teacher uses a story, picture, news item, or piece of music to stimulate critical thinking and imagination. Children are encouraged to express themselves, to challenge what is being said, and to ask questions that intrigue them. This program explores the concept and supporting methodology of P4C at Gallions Primary School in East London, where such sessions have had a strikingly positive impact on children's intellectual, emotional, and social development. It's changed the way I teach, it's changed the way the children are, it's changed the way the school is run. I think we owe it to the children to run philosophical enquiry," says Lisa Naylor, an advanced skills teacher at Gallions. (23 minutes)"

Student success in the classroom begins with a top-down commitment to a clearly stated mission emphasizing the importance of academic achievement. This program demonstrates how a school-wide mission statement-monitored to ensure that it is carried out and reinforced through public recognition of students and teachers who exemplify it-can promote an environment conducive to learning. (19 minutes)

This program explores the subject of anger from the student point of view while presenting some strategies for managing it. Dramatizations of school-oriented confrontations, candid interviews with children and teenagers, and insightful commentary by psychologists, a youth counselor, and a social worker serve as windows into a disruptive and potentially destructive emotion. Issues such as the effects of media role models on the development of antisocial coping mechanisms are addressed, and a group therapy session is documented. (23 minutes)

What does it take to be popular? Quite often it has nothing to do with being nice. In this ABC News special, correspondent John Stossel visits middle and high schools to discover why kids dish out abuse, why they take it, and what parents and school administrators can do to make it better. He also visits schools with successful anti-bullying programs. Discussions with students, as well as with psychologist Michael Thompson, author of Best Friends, Worst Enemies, reveal a number of factors that cause popularity or unpopularity among children, adolescents, and even adults. (41 minutes)

When a child is promised some kind of prize-such as candy, a toy, or money-for completing a task successfully, his or her drive to succeed often surges. But what effect does such carrot-dangling have on long-term motivation and progress? This program explores the relationship between rewards and human development, contrasting performance goals with learning goals. Simple observational experiments with babies, toddlers, and elementary- and middle-school students demonstrate that immediate gratification often leads to lower motivation and skill development-while focusing on the learning process and its more subtle rewards creates better academic results. (46 minutes)

Underachievement: a persistent discrepancy between a student's perceived ability and academic performance. This program examines the root causes of this problem, its early warning signs, and the curricular impact of mistakenly assessing it as a learning disability or as ADHD. Constructive communication strategies teachers and parents can use to investigate indications of underachievement are suggested. A Meridian Production. (18 minutes)