Ann Brown

Ann Leslie Brown (1943-1999) was an educational psychologist who developed methods for teaching children to be better learners. Her realization that children's learning difficulties often stem from an inability to use metacognitive strategies such as summarizing led to profound advances in educational psychology theory and teaching practices. She was instrumental in the development of the method of reciprocal teaching, in which teachers and students take turns leading structured discussions of text.

Brown received a PhD in psychology from the University of London for research on “Anxiety and Complex Learning Performance in Children.” She moved to the United States where she met her husband and collaborator Joseph Campione. Brown received several prestigious awards for her research and served as president of American Educational Research Association.

In the words of one fifth-grade student quoted by Palincsar (2003):

Ann Brown—she’s really very sophisticated. She knows a lot about a lot of things.It’s no wonder people picked her to be president of AERA. She’s good at organizingand she keeps track of all our work no matter how much we do. She spends a lot oftime with kids. Yeah, that’s what I like. When she comes to school she spends timewith the kids instead of the adults. She listens to make sure that we have learned. Totell you the truth, she really is a big help. She makes you feel so proud of yourself.You know, your self-confidence gets better.

External links

* [http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/99legacy/6-10-1999.html Pioneering UC Berkeley educator, Ann L. Brown, dies from sudden illness at age 56]

Influential Works

Palincsar, A.S., & Brown, A.L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities. "Cognition and Instruction", 1(2), 117-175. (159 Citations, PsycINFO)

Brown, A.L. (1992). Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. "The Journal of the Learning Sciences", 2(2), 141-178. (147 Citations, PsycINFO)

Brown, A.L., & Campione, J.C. (1994). Guided discovery in a community of learners. In K. McGilly (Ed.), "Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice." Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books.

Brown, A.L., & Campione, J.C. (1996). Psychological theory and the design of innovative learning environments: On procedures, principles, and systems. In L. Schauble & R. Glaser (Eds.), "Innovations in learning: New environments for education" (pp. 289-325). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

ources

Palincsar, A. S. (2003). Ann L. Brown: Advancing a theoretical model of learning and instruction. In B. J. Zimmerman and D. H. Schunk (Eds.), "Educational psychology: A century of contributions", pp. 459-475. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.