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Exploring Lifespan Development
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Exploring Lifespan Development

Fourth Edition


July 2022 | 696 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Exploring Lifespan Development, Fourth Edition, the essentials version of Development Through the Lifespan, Seventh Edition, by best-selling author Laura E. Berk, includes the same topics, the same number of chapters, and the same outstanding features, with a focus on the most important information and a greater emphasis on practical, real-life applications. The text’s up-to-date research, strong multicultural and cross-cultural focus, along with Berk’s engaging writing style, help students carry their learning beyond the classroom and into their personal and professional lives.

This title is accompanied by a complete teaching and learning package. Contact your Sage representative to request a demo.
  • Learning Platform / Courseware
    Sage Vantage
     
    is an intuitive learning platform that integrates quality Sage textbook content with assignable multimedia activities and auto-graded assessments to drive student engagement and ensure accountability. Unparalleled in its ease of use and built for dynamic teaching and learning, Vantage offers customizable LMS integration and best-in-class support. It's a learning platform you, and your students, will actually love.
    • Assignable Video with Assessment
      Assignable video (available in Sage Vantage) is tied to learning objectives and curated exclusively for this text to bring concepts to life.
  • LMS Cartridge: Import this title’s instructor resources into your school’s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don't use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site. Learn more.

 
PART I – THEORY AND RESEARCH IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
 
1. History, Theory, and Research Strategies
 
PART II – FOUNDATIONS OF DEVELOPMENT GENETIC FOUNDATIONS
 
2. Genetic Reproductive Choices and Environmental Foundations
 
3. Prenatal Development, Birth, and the Newborn Baby
 
PART III – INFANCY AND TODDLERHOOD: THE FIRST TWO YEARS
 
4. Physical Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood
 
5. Cognitive Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood
 
6. Emotional and Social Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood
 
PART IV – EARLY CHILDHOOD: TWO TO SIX YEARS
 
7. Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood
 
8. Emotional and Social Development in Early Childhood
 
PART V – MIDDLE CHILDHOOD: SIX TO ELEVEN YEARS
 
9. Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood
 
10. Emotional and Social Development in Middle Childhood
 
PART VI – ADOLESCENCE: THE TRANSITION TO ADULTHOOD
 
11. Physical and Cognitive Development in Adolescence
 
12. Emotional and Social Development in Adolescence
 
PART VII – EARLY ADULTHOOD
 
13. Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Adulthood
 
14. Emotional and Social Development in Early Adulthood
 
PART VIII – MIDDLE ADULTHOOD
 
15. Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Adulthood
 
16. Emotional and Social Development in Middle Adulthood
 
PART IX – LATE ADULTHOOD
 
17. Physical and Cognitive Development in Late Adulthood
 
18. Emotional and Social Development in Late Adulthood
 
PART X – THE END OF LIFE
 
19. Death, Dying, and Bereavement

Supplements

Instructor Resource Site
http://edge.sagepub.com/berkexploring4e

Instructor's resources included with this text:
  • Instructor's Resource Manual (IRM): The IRM can be used by first-time or experienced instructors to enrich classroom experiences. Each chapter includes a brief chapter summary; a chapter outline; lecture enhancements that present cutting-edge topics along with suggestions for using the content in class; and learning activities that provide “live” examples of research findings, discussion topics, and written assignments. Also included are model answers to the text’s Ask Yourself questions and listings of available videos on relevant topics.
  • Test Bank: The Test Bank contains over 2,000 multiple-choice and essay questions, each of which is page-referenced to chapter content and also classified by type and difficulty level.
  • PowerPoint™ Presentation: The PowerPoint presentation provides outlines and illustrations of key topics for each chapter of the text.
For additional information, custom options, or to request a personalized walkthrough of these resources, please contact your sales representative.

This is an excellent resource that I will add to the recommended reading section of the course syllabus. However, I find it provides more detail than my students can typically use and digest, so I can't consider it as a primary text.

Dr Susan Jackson
Psychology, Touro College
September 11, 2023
Key features
Thoroughly Engaging Writing Style
  • Berk makes the study of human development both involving and pleasurable for students. Exploring Lifespan Development is written in an engaging, personal style — one that is highly accessible — and contains real-life human-interest stories. The author encourages students to relate what they read to their own lives. Stories and vignettes of real individuals, a Berk signature feature, open each chapter and continue throughout the text to illustrate developmental principles and teach through engaging narrative. The text “teaches while it tells a story.
Unparalleled Breadth and Depth of Research
  • Meticulously researched material, including over 2,300 new reference citations, as well as the latest research and findings, reflects major changes and discoveries in the field, and is conveyed to the student in a clear, story-like fashion that humanizes the complex developmental process.
Exceptional Integration of Culture and Diversity
  • Multicultural and cross-cultural material is presented not only in the text's research and in many positive and diverse examples, but also through rich photos and figures, which enhance student interest and understanding. Cultural Influences boxes deepen the attention to culture threaded throughout the text and accentuate both multicultural and cross-cultural variations in development.
Appealing and Meaningful Applications
  • Integrated throughout the text, these applications show students how their learning relates to real-world situations. Applications are relevant to students pursuing a variety of fields, including psychology, education, nursing and other health professions, sociology, anthropology, family studies, and social services.
    • Applying What We Know tables provide practical real-life applications based on theory and research findings. Berk speaks directly to students, as parents or future parents and to those pursuing different careers and areas of study, such as health care, teaching, social work, or counseling.
    • The Look and Listen feature promotes active learning, asking students to observe what real individuals say and do, speak with or observe parents, teachers, or other professionals, and inquire into community programs and practices that influence children, adolescents, and adults.
Other Outstanding Pedagogical Features
  • These features support students’ mastery of the subject matter, inspire critical thinking, and help students engage with information on child development, applying it to the real word.
    • Milestones tables summarize major physical, cognitive, language, emotional, and social attainments of each age period. In addition to offering an overview of change, each entry is page-referenced to provide the student with a convenient tool for review.
    • Ask Yourself critical thinking questions have been thoroughly revised and expanded into a unique pedagogical feature. Three types of questions prompt students to think about human development in diverse ways:
      • Connect questions help students build an image of the whole person by integrating what they have learned across age periods and domains of development.
      • Apply questions encourage application of knowledge to controversial issues and problems faced by children, adolescents, adults, and professionals who work with them.
      • Reflect questions personalize the study of human development by asking students to reflect on their own development, life experiences, and values.
Four Types of Thematic Boxes
  • Biology and Environment boxes highlight the growing attention to the complex, bidirectional relationship between biology and environment.
  • Cultural Influences boxes deepen the attention to culture threaded throughout the text and accentuate both multicultural and cross-cultural variations in development.
  • Social Issues boxes discuss the impact of social conditions on children, adolescents, and adults, and emphasize the need for sensitive social and public policies to ensure their well-being. They are divided into two types:
    • Social Issues: Health boxes address values and practices relevant to physical and mental health.
    • Social Issues: Education boxes focus on home, school, and community influences on learning.