Educational Psychology
Chapter 1: Educati onal Psychology: a tool for eff ecti ve learning
Historical background
William James: Start lessons at a point just beyond the child’s level of knowledge and understanding
to stretch the child’s mind.
John Dewey: 3 important ideas: child as an active learner (children learn best by doing), children
should learn how to be reflective problem solvers, children deserve to have a competent education.
E. L. Thorndike: focused on assessment and measurement, hone children’s reasoning skills.
Skinner: conditions for learning, concept of programmed learning: reinforcing the student until he
reached a learning goal.
Benjamin Bloom: taxonomy of cognitive skills (including remembering, comprehending, synthesizing
& evaluating).
Teaching: art and science
Teaching is linked to both science and art. In terms of art, skillful, experienced practice contributes to
effective teaching. In terms of science, information from psychological research can provide valuable
ideas.
Professional knowledge and skills
Effective teachers have subject-matter competence, use effective instructional strategies, engage in
good thinking skills and guide students in developing these thinking skills, pay more than lip service
to individual variations, work with diverse ethnic and cultural groups, and have skills in the following
areas: goal setting and planning, developmentally appropriate teaching practices, classroom
management, motivation, communication, assessment, and technology.
Commitment, motivation and caring
Being an effective teacher requires commitment, motivation and caring (you can further reason this
yourself, it does not need much of an explanation). This include having a good attitude and caring
about students. It is easy for teachers to get into a rut and develop a negative attitude, but students
pick up on this and it can harm their learning.
Why research is important
Personal experiences and information from authorities or experts can help you become an effective
teacher.
The information you obtain from research also is extremely important. It will help you through
various strategies and determine which are most and least effective. By providing you with valid
information about the best ways to teach children, research also can make you a better teacher.
Research helps to eliminate errors in judgement that are based only on personal experiences.
Research methods
,Numerous methods can be used to obtain information about various aspects of educational
psychology. Research data-gathering methods can be classified as descriptive, correlational and
experimental.
Descriptive methods include observation, interviews and questionnaires, standardized tests,
physiological measures, case studies, ethnographic studies, focus groups, and personal journals and
diaries.
Correlational research: strength of the relationship
Experimental research: the causes of behavior
Program evaluation research, action research, and the teacher-as-researcher
Action research: research used to solve a specific classroom or school problem, improve teaching and
other educational strategies, or make a decision at a specific location
Program evaluation research: research designed to make decisions about the effectiveness of a
particular program
Teacher-as-researcher: classroom teachers conducting their own studies to improve their teaching
practice
Chapter 2: Cogniti ve and Language Development
Exploring what development is
Development: the pattern of biological, cognitive and socioemotional changes that begins at
conception and continues through the life span.
Processes and periods
- Biological processes: changes in the child’s body and brain development
- Cognitive processes: changes in the child’s thinking, intelligence and language
- Socioemotional processes: changes in the child’s relationships with other people, emotion &
personality
Developmental issues
- Nature-nurture: biological inheritance vs environmental experience
Epigenetic view: Development is seen as an ongoing, bidirectional interchange
between heredity and the environment.
- Continuity-discontinuity: cumulative change vs distinct stages
- Early-later experience: what is the key to the child’s development?
The brain
Neuroconstructivist view: emphasizes that brain development is influenced by both biological
processes and environmental experiences
Piaget’s theory
- Cognitive processes
Schemas: to construct an understanding of the world
Assimilation: incorporate new information into existing schemas
Accommodation: adjust a schema to fit new information and experiences
, Organization: organizing experiences
Equilibration: when children experience cognitive conflict, they resolve it and reach a
balance
Piagetian Stages
Constructivism: students learn best when they are actively constructing information and knowledge.
Criticisms on Piaget’s theory
- Estimates of children’s competence
- Cognitive development is not as stage-like as Piaget envisioned
- Training children to reason at a higher level
- Culture and education
Vygotsky’s theory
Zone of Proximal Development: the range of tasks that are too difficult for children to master alone
but can be mastered with guidance and assistance from adults or more-skilled children.
Scaffolding: changing the level of support for learning. Adjusts the amount of guidance to fit the
student’s current performance.
Social constructivist approach: emphasizes the social contexts of learning and that knowledge is
mutually built and constructed
Chapter 1: Educati onal Psychology: a tool for eff ecti ve learning
Historical background
William James: Start lessons at a point just beyond the child’s level of knowledge and understanding
to stretch the child’s mind.
John Dewey: 3 important ideas: child as an active learner (children learn best by doing), children
should learn how to be reflective problem solvers, children deserve to have a competent education.
E. L. Thorndike: focused on assessment and measurement, hone children’s reasoning skills.
Skinner: conditions for learning, concept of programmed learning: reinforcing the student until he
reached a learning goal.
Benjamin Bloom: taxonomy of cognitive skills (including remembering, comprehending, synthesizing
& evaluating).
Teaching: art and science
Teaching is linked to both science and art. In terms of art, skillful, experienced practice contributes to
effective teaching. In terms of science, information from psychological research can provide valuable
ideas.
Professional knowledge and skills
Effective teachers have subject-matter competence, use effective instructional strategies, engage in
good thinking skills and guide students in developing these thinking skills, pay more than lip service
to individual variations, work with diverse ethnic and cultural groups, and have skills in the following
areas: goal setting and planning, developmentally appropriate teaching practices, classroom
management, motivation, communication, assessment, and technology.
Commitment, motivation and caring
Being an effective teacher requires commitment, motivation and caring (you can further reason this
yourself, it does not need much of an explanation). This include having a good attitude and caring
about students. It is easy for teachers to get into a rut and develop a negative attitude, but students
pick up on this and it can harm their learning.
Why research is important
Personal experiences and information from authorities or experts can help you become an effective
teacher.
The information you obtain from research also is extremely important. It will help you through
various strategies and determine which are most and least effective. By providing you with valid
information about the best ways to teach children, research also can make you a better teacher.
Research helps to eliminate errors in judgement that are based only on personal experiences.
Research methods
,Numerous methods can be used to obtain information about various aspects of educational
psychology. Research data-gathering methods can be classified as descriptive, correlational and
experimental.
Descriptive methods include observation, interviews and questionnaires, standardized tests,
physiological measures, case studies, ethnographic studies, focus groups, and personal journals and
diaries.
Correlational research: strength of the relationship
Experimental research: the causes of behavior
Program evaluation research, action research, and the teacher-as-researcher
Action research: research used to solve a specific classroom or school problem, improve teaching and
other educational strategies, or make a decision at a specific location
Program evaluation research: research designed to make decisions about the effectiveness of a
particular program
Teacher-as-researcher: classroom teachers conducting their own studies to improve their teaching
practice
Chapter 2: Cogniti ve and Language Development
Exploring what development is
Development: the pattern of biological, cognitive and socioemotional changes that begins at
conception and continues through the life span.
Processes and periods
- Biological processes: changes in the child’s body and brain development
- Cognitive processes: changes in the child’s thinking, intelligence and language
- Socioemotional processes: changes in the child’s relationships with other people, emotion &
personality
Developmental issues
- Nature-nurture: biological inheritance vs environmental experience
Epigenetic view: Development is seen as an ongoing, bidirectional interchange
between heredity and the environment.
- Continuity-discontinuity: cumulative change vs distinct stages
- Early-later experience: what is the key to the child’s development?
The brain
Neuroconstructivist view: emphasizes that brain development is influenced by both biological
processes and environmental experiences
Piaget’s theory
- Cognitive processes
Schemas: to construct an understanding of the world
Assimilation: incorporate new information into existing schemas
Accommodation: adjust a schema to fit new information and experiences
, Organization: organizing experiences
Equilibration: when children experience cognitive conflict, they resolve it and reach a
balance
Piagetian Stages
Constructivism: students learn best when they are actively constructing information and knowledge.
Criticisms on Piaget’s theory
- Estimates of children’s competence
- Cognitive development is not as stage-like as Piaget envisioned
- Training children to reason at a higher level
- Culture and education
Vygotsky’s theory
Zone of Proximal Development: the range of tasks that are too difficult for children to master alone
but can be mastered with guidance and assistance from adults or more-skilled children.
Scaffolding: changing the level of support for learning. Adjusts the amount of guidance to fit the
student’s current performance.
Social constructivist approach: emphasizes the social contexts of learning and that knowledge is
mutually built and constructed
