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Professor Berk has done a wonderful job of presenting a comprehensive, scientifically rigorous picture of child development in a student-friendly style. Her writing feels warm and personal, but never watered down. Berk is the standard I use when I review new child development texts. She has done a wonderful job of balancing coverage across periods of development as well as across topics. I consider the Berk text to be gold standard of child development textbooks. I have yet to see a text that I would consider its parallel in clarity, currency and depth of coverage, and additional resources. I have also been impressed by Dr. Berk's openness to suggestions in making the text even better. During a semester, there is not enough time to cover every important aspect of human development in class. By using Laura Berk's textbook, I feel completely confident that my students are being exposed to every essential aspect of human development, including the most current and interesting research. By providing such a comprehensive and in-depth look at human development in her text, I am better able to use the time in class to foster discussion rather than just provide information. No other textbook provides me that luxury. The majority of my students will become teachers. Laura Berk's text, Child Development, provides the perfect blend of theory, research, application, and example that these students need. It is imperative that my students see how the developmental theories and research relate to educational settings and family dynamics. It is also imperative that my students understand how culture shapes learning. Berk accomplishes both. Child Development by Laura Berk is a treasure trove of the latest research findings on virtually all topics in human development. Written in a clear and engaging manner, it remains my first choice for textbooks geared toward educating undergraduate psychology majors. Students love the tables, figures, glossaries and reviews, and so do I! It is always a pleasure to read Laura Berk's textbooks. Over the years, they have earned a well-deserved reputation for accuracy, currency, and readability for the undergraduate audience. Berk does a great job of referring to prior (or future) chapters and encouraging students to develop an integrated understanding of development rather than considering each domain of development in isolation. I think it is well-written, appropriately challenging for students, and thorough. I have been teaching the child development course for the last 22 years and have used every previous version of the Berk book. Its primary strengths are its scope, its depth, and the sophistication with which theory, controversies, and research findings are considered and reviewed within each topic area. Laura Berk has done a terrific job with this most recent version of Child Development. It is expansive but not indiscriminate, striking a balance between the need for students to see the big picture and the need to glean some of the nitty-gritty details. I think this is an excellent text. It respects the fact that child development is more than developmental psychology. It makes contact with issues of policy and personal concern. It is clear and well-grounded in research. [Chapter 12] is perhaps the most comprehensive, coherent,
up-to-date, readable coverage of moral development available anywhere. I've use four editions of this text and I think that it is far superior to any other text on the market for its thorough coverage of the most recent research and integration of theory and research. This text is great. It is easy to read and easy to understand. The Study Guide disk (IC CD-ROM) that came with the book is really helpful and brings material from the text and lecture into a more comprehensive understanding. Great job! :)
This book was great! The information is laid out in a way that
makes it easy to study from. Plus this book is so compete I want to keep it for future reference. Our textbook was very easy to understand, the writing was clear and engaging, this was one of the few textbooks I actually enjoyed reading!
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