Homework is the cause of more friction between schools and home than any other aspect of education and becomes the prime battlefield when schools, families, and communities view one another as adversaries. This comprehensive fourth edition tackles all the tough questions: What’s the right amount of homework? What role should parents play in the homework process? What is the connection between homework and achievement? This essential reference offers all stakeholders—administrators, teachers, and parents—the opportunity to end the battle and turn homework into a cooperative endeavor to promote student learning.

This book is about homework and the role it plays in the lives of students, teachers and families. The author discusses the history of homework, the positive and negative aspects of homework in the course of a student′s education, and the various kinds of homework best used to motivate and positively influence the student. The reader learns what amount of homework is best for each age group. The book provides readers with the terms, definitions, and research evidence needed to hold conversations about homework in a constructive manner. Furthermore, readers will gain the necessary insight into homework to set effective homework policies, rules and guidelines. This is a user-friendly, yet research-based book that looks at all sides of the debate over homework while giving the reader specific tools to help them achieve what is best for their schools, classrooms and children.

This comprehensive, one-of-a-kind book provides readers with the latest information on an important, although often overlooked, aspect of teaching. Author Harris Cooper spent hundreds of hours interviewing principals, teachers, parents, and students about homework. He then supplemented his findings with a careful study of all available research and literature. Administrators will find The Battle Over Homework an invaluable resource for developing workable solutions to the homework dilemmas plaguing their schools.

Over forty million people attend minor league baseball games each season. Who are they? Why do they come? Let’s find out! Noted social scientist Harris Cooper took a job as a Seating Bowl Host for the most famous minor league baseball team, the Durham Bulls. As a host, he helped fans find seats and other stadium amenities, made sure everyone was safe, took pictures, and chased kids from the aisles. He got to talk with a wide-ranging assortment of people, from regular attendees to those at their very first baseball game, from retired judges to middle school students. Minor league baseball games draw a broader array of Americans than any sport. The fleeting moments spent talking baseball with the fan sitting next to you or with a ballpark employee disguise the remarkable variety of people who call themselves “baseball fans.” Dr. Cooper brings these people to life. In addition, the book presents a brief history of minor league baseball, the Bulls, and the city of Durham, so typical of small American cities. It profiles the ballplayers, focusing not on their on-field statistics but on who they are and where they come from. The book also profiles twelve baseball movies, all of which focus on baseball not played in the major leagues. Throughout the book, Dr. Cooper draws on his knowledge of social science to extract from his experiences a description of the inhabitants and goings-on at a ballpark. It illuminates not just baseball writ large, but also provides a compelling portrait of Americans as a people and their shared love of our national pastime.

Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis serves as an introductory methods text on how to conduct a research synthesis of literature in the social, behavioral, or the medical sciences. Harris Cooper applies the basic tenets of sound data-gathering to the task of producing a comprehensive assessment of past research. In this book, the process of research synthesis is conceptualized as five stages: (1) problem formulation; (2) data collection or the literature search; (3) data evaluation; (4) analysis and interpretation; and (5) presentation of results. Cooper leads the reader through the comprehensive synthesis via a five- stage, step-by-step process. In the fifth edition, chapter 4 on conducting a literature search has been extensively revised to include recent developments brought about by the in creasing use of the internet for scientific communication. Other new developments in the techniques for meta-analysis are covered in chapter 6, including new statistics for describing meta-analytic results and combining complex data structure. These new statistics are introduced but briefly because more in-depth treatment they would require more advanced knowledge that is not appropriate for this book. This new edition reflects careful revisions throughout along with a thorough updating of the references. Readers who are engaged in writing a research report, dissertation, or book will find Cooper's tips a welcome aid for doing more effective and more efficient literature review.

Every book, paper, or dissertation in the social sciences involves some element of literature review. This is the first book to systematize the practice of reviewing existing literature, and will thus be invaluable to everyone who writes in the social sciences. Those students who have some background in basic research methods and statistics will find that this book shows them how to produce a review that can be replicated, will achieve concensus, and focus debate in a constructive fashion.

This text is appropriate for anyone who has taken an introductory research methods course and it includes updated coverage of report writing, validity issues, study retrieval and evaluation of research studies.

The book is written with three goals in mind. First, I hope my conclusions help school administrators and teachers develop homework policies that benefit students. Second, I hope the review helps future homework researchers identify areas that are most in need of investigation. Finally, I hope the procedures I used to integrate the research prove instructive to others who are interested in making sense of social science literatures. I have tried to apply state-of-the-art techniques for gathering and integrating the homework research"--Préf. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved)

For anyone who does research, this book offers an invaluable tool for learning the techniques of researching, reviewing and analyzing research literature. Applying basic tenets of sound data gathering to a comprehensive synthesis of past research on a topic, Cooper leads the reader step-by-step through the five stage process integrating research reviewing -- from conceptualization of the research problem to the concise summary of the research review. New to the second edition is coverage of computer literature searches, the theoretical underpinnings of meta-analysis, the application of these procedures, and new material on coding sheets.

Experience American history like never before with this unique, informative, and fun guide for history buffs, whiskey enthusiasts, folks who like to cook at home, and fans of popular music. American History Through a Whiskey Glass presents a unique perspective on American history. It describes how bourbon and rye whiskey played a role in the most important events in American history, including the voyage of the Mayflower, George Washington’s failed and successful political campaigns, the Civil War, pioneers moving west, Prohibition (of course), plus many more into the twenty-first century. It does so with descriptions of historical events but also with amusing anecdotes and humorous quotes from the historical figures themselves. The book carefully aligns five elements: a narrative about whiskey’s role in eight periods of American history descriptions and tasting notes for American whiskeys that represent distilled spirits in each historical period tutorials on how whiskey is produced and its numerous varieties period-specific food recipes drawn mostly from historical cookbooks playlists of the popular music during each period The book gives readers an integrated and entertaining perspective on popular culture in America at different times, revealing how Americans have politicked, drank their native spirits, ate, and sang. But it does more; readers will not only learn about America’s history, they can experience it through numerous illustrations, whiskey tasting, food, and music. It provides an opportunity for readers to be involved in a truly immersive approach to life-long learning . . . and it’s fun.