Adaptive grid methods are among the most important classes of numerical methods for partial differential equations that arise from scientific and engineering computing. The study of this type of methods has been very active in recent years for algorithm design, theoretical analysis and applications to practical computations. This volume contains a number of self-contained articles for adaptive finite element and finite difference methods, which is aimed to provide some introduction materials for graduate students and junior researchers and a collection of references for researchers and practitioners.These articles mostly grew out of the lectures notes that were given in Summer Workshops on Adaptive Method, Theory and Application organized by Tao Tang, Jinchao Xu and Pingwen Zhang in Peking University, China, during June 20:August 20, 2005. This summer school was aimed to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date presentation of modern theories and practical applications for adaptive computations. The main lecturers of the Summer School include Weizhang Huang of University of Kansas, Natalia Kopteva of University of Limerick, Zhiping Li of Peking University, John Mackenzie of Strathclyde University, Jinchao Xu of Penn State University, Paul Zegeling of Utrecht University, and Zhimin Zhang of Wayne State University. Other lecturers include Tao Tang, Xiaoping Wang of HKUST, Huazhong Tang and Pingwen Zhang (both from Peking University). More detailed information of this summer school can be found in http://ccse.pku.edu.cn/activities/2005/adaptiveseminar.htm(which is most in Chinese).