education – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM

By Scott J. Pearson | July 4, 2024July 4, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Recent research has made it clear that mentorship plays an incredibly strong role in launching careers in STEMM. However, much of education remains organized around traditional missional axes of teaching, research, and service. Mentorship plays a determining factor in all three aspects. It accelerates and perpetuates careers. The National Academies, filled with the most outstanding scholars in America, supplied this consensus statement about the research around this topic. Based on evidence, they summarize findings and…

Research-Education

The Craft of Research, 4th Edition

By Scott J. Pearson | April 21, 2024April 27, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

The act of research – whether in the natural sciences, social sciences, or humanities – undergirds so much of modern society. The skills help us think and then test those thoughts in light of outside information (data). Without a rigorous set of methods, this act can become mere people pleasing, but with a firm framework, it continues to transform the way the world lives. This book, an educational standard for almost three decades with five…

Family Psychology Research-Education

The Self-Driven Child: The Science & Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives

By Scott J. Pearson | July 8, 2023August 13, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Like many, I had parents who tried to engineer their lives for “success,” but paid no attention to my passions, interests, and approach to life. Firsthand, I’ve seen that parenting style’s folly and futility and want to take a different angle with my daughter and with other children I have influence over. Enter The Self-Driven Child. This book helped concretize abstract beliefs into a coherent philosophy. It distills basic child psychology into a workable format…

Biography-Memoir

Educated: A Memoir

By Scott J. Pearson | January 12, 2023January 12, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

This book stems from a profoundly foundational family squabble. Westover’s parents practice a strictly conservative form of Mormonism in Idaho. They follow the virtue of self-reliance to the point that they did not put their children into school or get them birth certificates. However, some of their children, like the author, ended up making their ways into college and eventually graduate school. This memoir tells one daughter’s life from rural Idaho into BYU and eventually…

Research-Education

How to Teach Adults: Plan Your Class. Teach Your Students. Change the World.

By Scott J. Pearson | April 10, 2021April 10, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

To understand this book properly, the reader must grasp that Spalding has taught English as a Second Language (ESL) classes to adults for several years. He is engaged in self-education and in innovation of education for other groups. In the final chapter of this book, he lays out an ambitious vision for what public education has to offer America in our time. He addresses learning for adults primarily in a classroom environment (such as with…

Research-Education

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, & Evaluating Quantitative & Qualitative Research

By Scott J. Pearson | March 25, 2021March 25, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

I work in an academic field at the crossroads of biomedical research and research into higher education practices. (I pursue research about research.) I have familiarized myself with biomedical research practices, but I also wanted to familiarize myself with educational research practices. Biomedical research is heavy on quantitative analysis, but educational research seems to involve qualitative methods much more. I needed deeper introduction to the latter. Creswell’s 650-page opus seemed to fit the bill, and…

Psychology Research-Education

Social, Emotional, and Psychosocial Development of Gifted and Talented Individuals

By Scott J. Pearson | August 20, 2020August 20, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

I come at this book as a parent and a mentor of talented youth. I am interested in honing my skills to be more effective in serving these students. This book is written especially towards those working in gifted education, whether at a K-12 level or higher. Rinn gathers all of the research and presents it in a careful manner. She also exposes where research consensus is currently lacking and requires more study. All in…