Learning

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition
$24.95
After reading numerous books on educational psychology, in an attempt to inform my practice, I encountered this wonderful research text. "How People Learn" is written in a way that allows readers to synthesize the information into their everyday practice. The editors have included multi-disciplinary examples, in order to appeal to educators across the subject area spectrum, and these examples are straight forward and easy to understand. My experience reading psychology texts is that the examples to describe behavior studies are not well-suited for laypeople and impossible to apply to everyday practice, because they are often related to training animals to memorize simple tasks, rather than examples of strategies for classrooms of learners.
The chapter on learning and transfer was useful for me, because my current studies focus on Kolb's Experiential Learning model. While the text did not include a lot of substance when it came to how to motivate students, more of an idea that motivation is key, it did emphasize that learners need to understand how a topic can relate to their life beyond the classroom. This speaks to me, because in my observations of students, I've seen that students are so product-focused, that they can't find value in doing work well, unless there is a grade attached; More often than focusing on developing their skills, students work on efficient models to get a finished product that can earn the best grade with the least work. The research in this book supports that both process and product are key to a learner's development, as well as meaningful assessment--not just handing out grades and moving on.
This book is a valuable addition to the library of any educator who seeks to improve their practice through research. The only downside I can find is that many of the research sources were more than 20 years old, and most grad schools in education emphasize the need for recent (5 years old or less) research. I'm not sure if the age mattered, because the overall message was still useful, but it could indicate that the message was either biased or verging on obsolescence--though I didn't get that impression.

Learning in Adulthood: A Comprehensive Guide (Jossey-Bass Higher & Adult Education)
$60.00
For a comprehensive overview of adult education theory and pedagogy, buy this book! There is none better! It is an extremely valuable resource to guide you toward other major works in specific areas and gives excellent summaries of their work.

Learning Resources Money Bags A Coin Value Game
$18.99
I will start with the negative and end on a positive note. On the negative side:

In my opinion, this game is too simple to be fun for an adult. Yes it is a children's game, but adults end up playing too. All you do is roll the die and take the amount of money for the space on which you landed. One educational addition is that you have to spin a spinner and you may have to determine the coins to take without using dimes or nickles etc. It would be more fun if you could buy something with your money, and that could even involve making change which would also make the game more educational.

My children do not like it when the spinner lands on the moneybags symbol and they don't get their money for that turn. We sometimes just ignore that rule. Of course they need to be able to lose well, but there are not many turns in the game, so often enough, once you've given up your money for even one turn, you have lost the game. They don't like to feel like they've already lost within the first couple of turns but have to continue playing.

On the positive side, my older children (ages 5 and 7) in general enjoy playing this game and do use and improve money counting skills while playing.

Smart Snacks Counting Cookies
$16.99
My 14 month old granddaughter has a lot of fun counting her cookies and the M&M's on top of each one. She loves taking them in and out of the cookie jar and putting the lid on. The lid could use to fit a little better but it works. She'll be playing with this for a long time. Thanks for another great learning toy, Melissa and Doug!