EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY.PDF DOWNLOAD

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Table of Contents

Lesson 1 Introduction

Lesson 2 Methods of Educational Psychology 10

Lesson 3 Systems or Schools of Psychology & their Bearing on Education

Lesson 4 Cognitive Development

Lesson 5 The Work of Erikson

Lesson 6 Individual Differences & Habit Formation

Lesson 7 Psychology of Motivation

Lesson 8 Nature & Theories of Learning

Lesson 9 Memory, Remembering & Forgetting 81

Lesson 10 Aptitude

Lesson 11 Classroom Management

Lesson 12 Teaching for Academic Learning

Lesson 13 Educating Exceptional Children

Lesson 14 Classroom Assessment Lesson 15 Psychology of Adjustment

From the Book

Do teachers make a difference in student’s learning? What characterizes good teaching? Only when you are aware of the challenges and possibilities of teaching and learning then you can appreciate the contributions of educational psychology.

How can principles identified by educational psychologists benefit the teachers, therapists, parents, and others who are interested in teaching and learning? What exactly is the content of educational psychology, and where does this information come from? Educational psychology will probably answer all these questions.

The Role of Educational Psychology:

For as long as educational psychology has existed, about 90 years, there have been debates about what it really is? Some people believe educational psychology is simply knowledge gained from psychology and applied to the activities of the classroom. Others believe it involves applying the methods of psychology to study classroom and school life.

The view generally accepted today is that educational psychology is a distinct discipline with its own theories, research methods, problems and techniques, “educational psychology is distinct from other branches of psychology because it has the understanding and improvement of education as its primary goal”.

Both in the past and today, educational psychologists study learning and teaching and at the same time, strive to improve educational practice. But are the findings of educational psychologists really that helpful for teachers? After all most teaching is just common sense, isn’t it? Lets take a few minutes to examine these questions.

Is teaching just a Common Sense?

In many cases, the principles set forth by educational psychologists, after spending much thought, time and money sound pathetically obvious. People are tempted to say, and usually do say, “Everyone knows that!” consider these examples:

Taking turns: What method should a teacher use in selecting students to participate in a primary grade reading class?

Common sense answer: Teachers should call on students randomly so that everyone should have to follow the lesson carefully. If a teacher were to use the same order every time, the students would know when there turn was coming up.

Answer based on research: Years ago, research by Odgan, Brophy, and Evertson (1977) found that the answer to this question is not so simple. In first-grade reading classes, for example, going around the circle in order and giving each child a chance to read led to better overall achievement than calling on students randomly.

The critical factor in going around circle may be that each child gets a chance to participate. Without some system for calling on everyone, may students can be overlooked or skipped. Research suggests there are better alternatives for teaching reading than going around the circle, but teachers should make sure that everyone has the chance for practice and feedback whatever approach is used.

Helping students: When should teachers provide help for lower achieving students as they do class-work?

Common sense answer: Teachers should offer help often. After all, these lower achieving students may not know when they need help or may be too embarrassed to ask for help.

Answer based on research: Sandra Graham (1996) found that when teachers provide help before students ask, the students and others watching are more likely to conclude that the helped student does not have the ability to succeed. The student is more likely to attribute failures to lack of ability instead of lack of effort.

Skipping grades: Should a school encourage exceptionally bright students to skip grades or to enter college early?

Common sense answer: No! Very intelligent students who are a year or two younger than their classmates are likely to be social misfits. They are neither physically nor emotionally ready for dealing with older students and would be miserable in the social situations that are so important in school, especially in the later grades.

Answer based on research: Maybe. According to Samuel Kirk and his colleagues (1993), “from early admissions to school to early admissions to college, research studies invariably report that children who have been accelerated have adjusted as well as or better than have children of similar ability who have not been accelerated”.

 Whether acceleration is the best solution for a student depends on many specific individual characteristics, including the intelligence and maturity of the students, and on the other available options. For some students, moving quickly through the material and working in advanced courses with older students is a very good idea.

So we have seen from the preceding examples that generally the things which seem correct and sensible are exactly the opposite from the common answers.

What is Educational Psychology?

Educational psychology is one of the many branches of psychology dealing mainly with the problems, processes and products of the education. It is an attempt to apply the knowledge of psychology in the field of education. It may be defined as that branch of psychology which studies the behavior of the learner his educational needs and his environment. Various psychologists and scholars have defined educational psychology.

Let us analyze a few important definitions.

According to Skinner (1958):

Educational psychology is that branch of psychology which deals with teaching and learning.

Crow and Crow (1973) defined educational psychology as: Educational psychology describes and explains the learning experiences of an individual from birth through old age.

Another psychologist named Peel (1956) says:

Educational psychology is the science of education.

Education in its applied form is centered around the process of teaching and learning.

Educational Psychology as a Science of Education:

With the help of minimum input in terms of energy and time science helps us to drive maximum output in terms of the quality and quantity. The same educational psychology surely does. It helps in realizing the objectives of education in a better way. Educational psychology helps in planning the process of teaching and learning by adopting the scientific principle of minimum input for maximum output. As a result with the help of educational psychology a teacher can teach effectively but making minimum use of his energy in terms of time and labour; similarly the students can learn effectively by spending less of their time and effort.

Educational psychology produces the result of education. It equips the teacher by supplying the essential scientific skills, technological expertise and advice in molding and shaping the behavior of his students for the desirable development of their personality, in the same way as the persons connected with the actual construction of a bridge are helped by an engineer or mechanic equipped with the essential civil, mechanical or electrical technology.

 Educational psychology thus plays the same role as other sciences and technology in helping the teachers and other persons connected with the building of future of the youngsters in their charge. Thus it is justified that educational psychology is the science and technology of education.