Psychology Applied to Teaching

Jack Snowman is professor emeritus in the School of Education at Southern Illinois University. He has a master’s degree in school psychology from Miami University (Ohio) and a Ph.D. from Indiana University in educational psychology. He taught courses in human learning, memory and theories of intelligence. He began his professional career as a school psychologist in Ohio and New Jersey. Since 1982, he has either been a co-author or sole author of "Psychology Applied to Teaching." He was included in the 1989–1990 edition of "Who’s Who in American Education." Over the book’s many editions, he has striven to have it reflect current research findings and to maintain the book’s unique feature -- providing useful suggestions for how research findings could be used to improve classroom instruction. Rick McCown is professor emeritus in the School of Education at Duquesne University, PA. He has won a number of teaching awards, including election to the Pennsylvania Society for Scholar-Teachers, his University’s highest teaching awards, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching and citation from the American Educational Research Association. He is a former Senior Improvement Fellow with the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate and has conducted improvement inquiry with numerous schools and community-based educational organizations ranging from government agencies to foundations to collective action networks collaborating with formerly incarcerated citizens and their families in pursuit of restorative justice. Amy Olson is associate professor and associate dean of Teacher Education at Duquesne University, PA. She earned her Ph.D. at University of Arizona in 2014. Her commitment to equitable educational outcomes for all students is demonstrated in her book, "The American Dream for Students of Color: Myths and Barriers to Educational Success" (2021). As a scholar of practice, she examines equity implications of teachers’ beliefs about content and what it means to learn and to be successful in school. She teaches in undergraduate and graduate teacher education and educational leaderships programs with the goal of building capacity and sustaining the work of justice-oriented educators. Christopher Harris is a clinical assistant professor of educational psychology in the Department of Educational Foundations and Leadership at Duquesne University. He has been named the 2025 Catalyst Fellow through Duquesne’s Office of Community Engagement. He earned his doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Toledo in 2023. Dr. Harris's research focuses on the self and identity development of Black children, the socio-emotional learning of Black boys and the critical re-examination of educational psychology theories, connecting them with contemporary learners’ diverse experiences and needs.

• 1. Applying Psychology to Teaching.Part I: FACILITATING STUDENT DEVELOPMENT.2. Theories and Expectations for Development.3. Identity Development.Part II: CREATING AND SUSTAINING LEARNING COMMUNITIES.4. Understanding Performance Differences Through a Systems Lens.5. Using Assets-Based Pedagogy to Address Performance Differences.Part III: FACILITATING SIGNIFICANT LEARNING.6. Learning from the Environment.7. Learning as an Internal Process.8. Learning as Critical Construction.9. Learning as Growth in Motivation and Self Beliefs.Part IV: CREATING AND SUSTAINING LEARNING-CENTERED PRACTICE.10. Leading Learning and Learners.11. Classroom Assessment as Inquiry.12. Instructional Strategies.13. Learning from Teaching.