Nature of Educational Psychology: Educational Psychology by its very nature is treated as a science.

Like science it employs different objective methods of data collection, experiments and drawing inferences. It deals with the study of an organized and systematic body of knowledge concerning human behavior of all kinds. It seeks to make its subject matter scientific and exact by utilizing special means and appliances. It also aims at understanding, explaining, predicating and controlling facts and phenomena relating to human behavior. (1) It is a social science Educational psychology is a social science. Like any other social science it studies human beings relating to education. Like the economist, political scientist, sociologist or anthropologist, the educational psychologist conducts investigations and experiments, collects data and statistics, and makes interpretations and inferences. He does not work in an ivory tower nor makes any arm- chair speculations. (2) It is an applied science Educational psychology is an applied science. It applies the psychological principles and methods in the field of education. The knowledge about the growth and development of the child, learning conditions and theories belonging to the field of psychology is used for methods of teaching and school organization. (3) It is a positive science Educational psychology is a positive science which deals with things as they are. It is not a normative science which deals with things as should be. It studies the child's growth and development as they are. It never deals with what the child should do or should not do. This task is taken care of by ethics and philosophy which are normative sciences. Scope of Educational Psychology: Educational psychology is psychology in relation to education. It deals with the behavior of the individual in various educational environments. Psychology studies the behavior of the individual in different conditions and situations. Therefore, scope of general psychology is broader than that of educational psychology, which is comparatively limited. Educational psychology deals with the child as a whole-his physical, mental, emotional and social development at various stages. Such development is resulted by heredity and environment, different biological, social and cultural factors. Hence all these aspect and factors come under the purview of educational, psychology. Learning is the key-concept in educational psychology. It is so important and broad-based that educational psychology is also called learning psychology. The learning process, learning and maturation, nature and conditions of learning, factors influencing;, learning, motivation, attention and interest, various kinds of learning and laws of learning come under the scope of educational psychology. The psychological principles underlying various methods of teaching, educational innovations and experiments, educational objectives, mental health and hygiene, special provisions for slow- learners, gifted, handicapped and deprived children are usefully applied to educational development. These are, therefore, part and parcel of educational psychology.

The psychological tools and techniques, methods and approaches are profitably used by the educational psychologists for undertaking research studies and experiments in various fields. New methods and techniques are also developed by them for collection, interpretation and analysis of data. All these constitute the scope of educational psychology.

What is Psychology
Psychology has become a separate and well organized field of knowledge in all fields of social life. Previously to study human behavior and mind there was a separate study subject, which was known as the mental philosophy. So we can say that todays psychology is the offspring of philosophy.

Literal Meaning of Psychology

The word psychology has been derived from the two Latin words: Psyche and logo. Logo. Logo stands for a rational discourse or a study of something. Psyche. The answer to this question evolved through different stages of intellectual, social, and material progress. The word Psyche used to be defined: The study of human soul, the study of human mind, the study of human consciousness, the study of human behavior respectively.

Psychology in Modern Context

In the modern context the word study has been replaced by the word science which focuses on behavior. Now in the modern context psychology is considered the science of behavior( be that of humans or animals).

Definitions of Psychology

The word psychology has been defined by various prominent psychologists. A couple of definitions are as follows According to Walter Bowres Pillsbury, Psychology may be most satisfactory defined as the science of human behavior. According to N.M Munn, Psychology today concerns itself with the scientific investigation of behavior.

What is Behavior
Any manifestation of life is activity, says Wood worth (1948), and behavior is a collection of the following activities: Conative (Motor)activities like walking, swimming, playing, etc. Cognitive (Mental)activities like thinking, reasoning, imaging, etc

Affective (feelings)activities like happy, sad, angry, etc.

Is Psychology a Science
While answering this question it can be proved that psychology is systematic in findings and application. Psychology is a science because:

It believes in cause and effect relationship, It search for truth and fact about behavior and describes the causes governing them , It believes in systematic inquiry and rational approach, It has pure and applied aspects too.

What is Educational Psychology

Educational psychology is an applied branch of psychology in educational setting. In other words, it implies the application of the principles and practices of psychology to the various dimensions of education.

Definition of Educational Psychology

The following definitions of well known psychologists will clarify the relation between education and psychology.

1.

Educational psychology is that branch of psychology which deals with teaching and learning and also covers the entire range and behavior of the personality as related to education. Skinner 2. While general psychology is pure science, educational psychology is its application in the field of education with the aim of socializing an individual and modifying his behavior. Anderson 3. "Educational psychology is the systematic study of the educational growth and development of a child. Stephen 4. Educational psychology is the science of education. E.A. Peel 5. Educational psychology is the study of those facts and principles of psychology which helps to explains and improves the process of education. Walter B. Kolesink

THE NATURE and SCOPE OF PSYCHOLOGY

LESSON AIM

Define psychology and explain basic theoretic approaches

Despite their interest in the subject, students of psychology often find it difficult to answer this basic question in a clear, concise and specific
manner.

Some might say that psychology is a study of "human behaviour"; some might say it is a study of the "mind or brain"; others might say that it is a study of personality and what motivates people to do what they do. All are partly correc t, but each of these answers is focused on
only some aspect of psychology.

It is now generally agreed that psychology is a science.

Psychologists study

*Behaviour

Behaviour includes being kind, angry, breathing, walking, aggressive, getting old, becoming a grandparent and so on. *Experience - If we study behaviour, we need to understand what the experience of that behaviour is like for the individual. Ie. If we study
someone being angry, we need to know what that feels like for the person.

*Human and animal behaviour - often psychologists can not perform experiments on humans for ethical reasons and may use animals to try to gain understanding of human behaviour. For example, by trying to teach monkeys to talk, researchers have gained insight
into how humans may develop their language skills.

As psychology is a science, - it is vital that it can be studied scientifically and objectively. We can study, experiment with and objectively talk about manifest behaviour. However, the experience of that behaviour is a subjective experience, where we rely on the
individual to tell us how it feels.

Therefore, a generally accepted definition of psychology is "the study of human behaviour. Behaviour can provide us with valuable windows into a person's emotional and cognitive states, and if we can understand the psychological influences on behaviour, we can try to better
understand a person's inner experience.

Definition

Subjective - Usually used to refer to something existing inside oneself and not capable of being experienced by others. This contrasts with Objective - dealing with facts in a way that is unaffected by feelings or opinions. Positivism - A philosophical doctrine that scientific knowledge is limited to observed fact and experience.
Manifest - Expressed or observable.

Definition

Behaviour The observable actions of a person/animal.

Definition

Science - Objective study.

BUT IT'S ALL COMMON SENSE ISN'T IT?

Many people argue that psychology is just common sense. Many people will say things like someone behaves like this because of that - we are all "armchair psychologists". But how do we know that what we are saying is correct? This is the starting point that
psychologists use when studying human behaviour. A good example is the murder of Kitty Genovese. She was stabbed to death in the middle of a busy residential area of New York.

Thirty-eight witnesses saw the attack and none of them did anything to intervene, not even to phone the police.

Why? The common sense answer might be that they didn't care, that they were callous individuals.

Darley and Latane (1968) carried out research into why the witnesses did nothing. They arranged for students to discuss personal problems over an intercom. Only one actual student was involved the others were confederates (ie. working with the researchers, pretending to be students). During the conversations, a confederate would appear to have an epileptic seizure. If the
real student thought that five other people were also listening to this person have a seizure, it took them three times as long to react as if they thought there were only two people in the discussion. This suggests that in emergency situations, if we think lots of other people are involved, we may be less likely to do anything - we think someone else will. This is called bystander apathy.

So when you consider this, if psychologists had not carried out this research, the overriding view would be that New Yorkers did not care that
a woman was being murdered.

DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

There are many different theories and models within psychology which try to explain our behaviour, emotion and thoughts. Each theory contributes
something different and increases our understanding.

Therefore, basically psychologists start out with a hypothesis or idea, which they then test. This idea is the basis for empirical research.
Definition

Bystander Apathy - The tendency of people in social situations not to help strangers in an emergency. The more bystanders there are, the greater the apathy, as responsibility is perceived as not belonging to one individual.

Apathy - Listlessness, passiveness.

Definition

Model - 1) A way of representing patterns of relationships in human behaviour.

Or

2) In social psychology, a person whose behaviour is closely observed.

Theory - A set of assumptions advanced to explain existing phenomena and predict new events.
Paradigm - Representation or model of reality.

Hypothesis - Explanation for observed data that has still to be tested.

Hypothesis testing - Gathering information and testing alternative explanations of certain phenomena.
Empirical - A finding based on experience or observed evidence, the basis for experimental science.
Neurobiological approach

Some psychologists maintain a close link with the discipline of physiology: they perceive the brain and nervous system as the main key to human behaviour, and tend to study the relationship between psychological events (what happens in the mind) and biological events (what happens in the body). Many neurobiologists believe that thought and feelings result from the actions of
nerves and the nervous system in the body. For instance, they argue that dreams are the result of activated neurological patterns or random firing of nerve cells.

Behavioural approach

Another fairly conservative approach is that of behaviourist psychologists. The founder of this school of thought, J. B. Watson, was the father of the science of psychology (though not of the study of psychology). He argued that if psychology was to be
scientific, it must focus exclusively on human behaviour. Watson did not think psychologists should speculate on the unobservable workings of our minds, as they could not be studied scientifically. Watson's approach still has a strong following due to its practical applications, eg. In reducing phobias and so on.

Much of behavioral research is executed with subjects under experimental conditions, using a stimulus response approach. The psychologist provides a stimulus for an individual, then observes and studies the individual's response to that stimulus. Behaviourists are sometimes referred to as "black box" theorists because they treat the mind like a clean slate that has attitudes and behavioral patterns
inscribed on it due to learning.

The behaviourist approach has been used extensively in studying the process of learning.

Cognitive approach

Cognitive comes from the Latin cognito, meaning to Apprehend or understand. The cognitive approach developed largely as a reaction to the behavioral approach. Cognitive psychologists argue that
individuals do not passively respond to stimuli, but actively process information in their brain before responding to the information. They are interested in what happens in the mind between the stimulus and the response. They look at topics such as perception, memory, thought, language and attention. They try to explain behaviour in terms of these mental processes. Cognitive psychology is used in many different ways, such as suggestions on how to improve our memories, improving performance in situations that require concentration, such as air traffic controllers and so on.

Definition

Cognition- A general term including all mental processes by which people become aware of and understand the world.
Perception The process of becoming aware of objects and events by way of sensory organs.
Definition

Stimulus - Sensory input which leads to a response.

Response - The behavioral result of stimulation in the form of movement or

glandular secretion.

Definition

Performance - Overt (observable) actions or behaviour.

Psychoanalytical approach

One of the most fascinating and influential approaches to human behaviour is psychoanalysis, developed by Sigmund Freud. Where the
above approaches were formulated on the basis of mainly experimental studies,

Freud based his theories upon intensive case studies of a considerable range of patients.

Psychoanalysis focuses on unconscious mental activities. According to Freud, much of the individual's observable behaviour is influenced by wishes, desires or fears which the individual has learned to suppress because they are not socially acceptable. As the child
develops and learns that some feelings and desires are disapproved of, these wishes, desires and fears are buried deep in the mind, leading to the development of the unconscious. According to Freud, these unconscious impulses still find expression though as dreams, fantasies, slips of the tongue, symptoms of mental illness, as well as in artistic expression, and the individual's psychological history plays an immense role in particular behaviour patterns.

All of the approaches previously discussed adhere firmly to the scientific principles of objectivity -the human individual is perceived as a passive object of analysis rather than an active agent of his/her own destiny. On the one hand, behaviourists claim that
human behaviour is largely shaped by environmental stimuli; and on the other hand psychoanalysts claim that behaviour is shaped by unconscious impulses beyond the individual's control.

Phenomenological approach

Because of the demand that psychology be accepted as a scientific discipline, many theorists tended to forget that the subject of their study is the human being, who (unlike the atom or a virus) has self awareness, freedom of choice, a personal value system, and most
of all, a desire to be understood, to gain self knowledge, and to grow spiritually. It is these neglected aspects of human behaviour that the phenomenologist chooses to emphasise. For these reasons, phenomenological psychology is often called humanistic psychology.

The phenomenological approach rejects the view that the individual is a passive result of uncontrollable forces.

The phenomenologist focuses on the individual's active, subjective experience, for this approach emphasises the individual's personal interpretation of the world as a cause of behaviour. The individual is regarded as a free agent with the ability to choose his or her own
values, actions and goals. Because this approach is so person-centred, it has perhaps received less attention than experimental research, yet it has had a profound influence on methods of therapy and counselling.

Eclectic approach

Although the above approaches have been discussed in isolation, it is important to note that modern psychologists rarely align themselves with one approach exclusively. They are more likely to incorporate aspects of several theories into their approach. This is called the
eclectic approach.

Other important terms often used in psychology include Definitions

Catalyst - A person/thing that causes an important change. A facilitating factor. Cumulative - Growing in strength, amount or effect by small steps, subject to
accumulation.

Facilitate - Make easier.

Modify - Intentionally change something.

Potential - Capacity or Power.

KEY ISSUES IN PSYCHOLOGY

The study of psychology is not by any means a unified study, because there is no agreement on fundamental principles that might explain human behaviour. Therefore, the student will become aware of some conflicting attitudes towards the questions: what influences
human behaviour, and how much control does the individual have over their behaviour? These are important questions, and arise frequently in different situations, such as in trying to understand why some people become easily addicted and others don't, or why some abused children will turn into bitter and angry adults, while others don't, or whether some people have a biological predisposition to violence or cruelty, or whether women are naturally maternal or whether maternal behaviour is mostly learned. Some of the key issues behind such questions are discussed below.

Free will versus determinism

A fundamental issue in psychology is the issue of how much our behaviour can be attributed to choice, and how much to genetic programming. The natural sciences in general are based upon a deterministic approach to organic behaviour. This approach implies that
behaviour occurs in a regular and orderly manner which is predictable in principle and governed by our genetic makeup and disposition. Because psychology is a relatively young science, it has relied upon imitating the basic principles of other sciences in its approach to human behaviour. Its application of the deterministic approach however, has proved to be most controversial. If people's behaviour is genetically determined, how can they have free will? Furthermore, how can they be held responsible for their actions? Most of the approaches discussed above adhere quite firmly to a deterministic approach. However, humanist psychologists argue that people's subjective experience of choice, free will and self-determination cannot be ignored, and is what makes us essentially human.

The question of free will is not just philosophical, for it raises the question of whether a science of human behaviour is really possible. If human behaviour is not governed by constant, predictable and provable factors, can it be effectively studied through
experimentation and observation?

Nature-nurture

Within psychology, the nature-nurture debate is ongoing. The debate centres on the issue of whether our psychological attributes are part of our biological/genetic makeup, or whether they are formed by a person's interaction with the environment. The two main
concepts here are 'biological determination' and 'environmental influence:

Biological determination is the 'Nature' influence. Psychological attributes such as intelligence, addictiveness and depression may be caused by genetic influences (such as a gene passed on by one parent, or the human genetic makeup) or by biological factors (such as a hormonal imbalance, developmental stages,
nervous system damage etc.). Hereditary refers to behaviours or characteristics which have been transmitted from parents to offspring. The units of hereditary are genes, which determine the course of development in the growing human embryo.

Definition

Gene - A unit composed of DNA forming part of a chromosome, by which inherited characteristics are transmitted from parents to offspring. Socialization - The shaping of the individual's behaviour, through training provided by the social environment.
Definition

Fundamental -

Basic and central.

Environmental influence is the "Nurture' influence. Nurture refers to all environmental influences that affect the child's psychology from its birth,
from the way a child is raised (socialized) to the food the child eats.

Environmental factors can be very difficult to identify, because in order for them to affect the child's psychology, they must be registered by the child's awareness in a way that has an impact. For instance, most infants will grow sickly and apathetic of they are deprived of
human touch or affection, yet some will be far less affected, perhaps because they do not register the neglect as strongly, or maybe they have stronger inner resources. In general, however, we can include in environmental influences the behaviour and attitudes of parents, family and peers, the amount and kind of stimulation provided, what a child learns from parents, society, school etc., social and cultural influences, and the surrounding situation, whether it is predictable and safe or dangerous and unpredictable.

Today, most psychologists agree that there is an interaction between nature and nurture. It might be that a child is born, genetically predisposed to be, say, violent, but only with the right environmental triggers (eg. An abusive parent) will that violence occur in the
child.

For example, we want to understand why Thomas drinks so much. Is it because he has a biological predisposition or tendency to become addicted to alcohol, or is it because he was influenced by his alcoholic father, whom was frequently drunk during Thomas's childhood.
We cannot simply assume that it is one or the other cause, for it could well be a combination of both. We just cannot know for certain, and if we really want to help Thomas overcome his drinking addiction, we will have to investigate much further to understand what contributes to it, and what factors need to be addressed.

Developmental and Interactive Expressions of Behavior

Another contentious issue is whether our behaviour is largely a consequence of our past (childhood) experience, or whether it is influenced primarily by our present circumstances. Freud and others of the psychoanalytical school emphasise childhood experiences as critical
factors in determining our behaviour.

These include influences from the past, such as how we were parented or past psychological traumas. They also include the experiences that a child normally passes through during its development, such as learning that a mother's absence is not permanent
each time she leaves the room, or the hormonal changes experienced by a teenager. All of these are called developmental influences on behaviour, and the main question is: What experiences in the person's past or at the present stage of development are causing this behaviour?

Other theorists emphasise the influence of a person's current experience on their behaviour. These theorists focus on interactive explanations of behaviour which consider present trends in the individual's life, present fears and goals, present
environmental conditions, and current relationships. The person finds ways to respond to his or her environment, and the behaviour is a strategy adopted to help the person cope. The main question here is: What strategies are working for this person and which need to be changed?

Both developmental and interactive explanations of behaviour are valid and necessary. Depending upon the individual's predicament, one approach may be more appropriate than another. For example, if we are counselling a newly divorced woman, we may explain her behaviour in terms of present influences such as
social isolation and a blow to her self esteem. On the other hand, imagine if a friend suffers from a nervous breakdown "out of the blue", so to speak. During the last five years that we have known her, her life has been running smoothly, without apparent crises or significant change. It may be appropriate then to investigate her past history, to determine any causes of anxiety or tension. Both situations can lend themselves to either kind of explanation, so again, the psychologist cannot just assume, but must investigate further.

Psychoanalysis favours developmental explanations because of its emphasis on childhood history.

Behaviourism favours developmental explanations because of its emphasis on past learning experiences. On the other hand, cognitive and phenomenological psychologists favour interactive explanations, because their theories focus on the individual's present perception and interpretation of events. Clearly, we might often need to look for explanations in the past or biology and in the person's current responses to the existing situation, for the past and the present are inextricably connected. Often our present interpretations of recent experiences are closely related to past experiences.
Example: Compliance

Compliance is a behaviour that can usually be explained interactively, though some of the underlying reasons that a person complies in certain
situations might be developmental. Compliance includes the following behaviours:

agreeing with others because you have been persuaded or decided it's the most productive path

pretending to agree

going along with others' ideas or actions

giving in or surrendering

obeying

conforming to others' expectations or values.

Some reasons for compliance are:

fear, threat or danger

respect for, or acceptance of authority or expertise

 to gain something (a job, a date, recognition, approval, a reward)

to avoid losing something (love, approval, friends, acceptance, a promotion)

out of apathy (not caring either way, not thinking that your choices matter, feeling helpless to change things, being depressed) out of laziness (avoiding responsibility, not bothering to make decisions, not bothering to learn the facts..)
for health reasons (too ill to think about it, drained, not having the energy to resist)]

out of doubt, confusion or ignorance (just don't know if our alternative is better, don't trust our own judgment, thinking maybe they
know better or more that we do).

In each of these situations, it is possible that the person's behaviour is influenced by past experiences, the person's current stage of development, or the person's perceptions of and responses to the current circumstances. For instance, I might comply in order to please others because I value my relationship with them
(interactive explanation), yet my belief that I must please others in order to maintain relations hips might stem from childhood experiences in which my parents only showed affection and approval when I complied with them, and withdrew affection when I did not.

Applying psychology - Questionnaires, Interviews and Surveys

Psychological research and therapies are often concerned with finding out how people think and feel about certain issues or matters, and why. The
only way researchers can investigate attitudes, thoughts, feelings,

values and expectations is to ask people. One method of gathering this information is through surveys, interviews and questionnaires.
Questionnaires come in two main forms -

*Face to face (interviews)

*Written answers (questionnaire surveys)

Coolican (1994) categorised six main types of interviews

*Non-Directive Inte rviews These are the least structured. The person interviewed (the interviewee) is free

to discuss almost anything they want. The interviewer's role is to guide the discussion and encourage the

interviewee to disclose more information. This is often used in the treatment of mental disorders, but has little

relevance to research.

*Informal Interviews These are similar to non-directive interviews in that they encourage the interviewee to

discuss issues in depth, but they are usually certain topics that the interviewer wishes to explore.

*Guided Interviews These possess more structure than formal interviews. The interviewer has certain

issues to be addressed. Structured but open ended interviews, allow the interviewer to ask the same

questions of each person and prevents the interviewee from going off the subject. They are open ended in

that they allow the interviewee to give any answer they wish. As opposed to yes/no type answers.

*Clinical Interviews are usually structured and open ended and used by psychologists to explore mental

disorders.

*Fully Structured Interviews These are a standard set of questions asked in the same order with all

interviewees. They can only choose their answers from a restricted list eg. yes, no, don't know. This ty pe of

interview can be conducted face to face or by telephone or post.

*Questionnaire Surveys Written questions involve the interviewee recording their own answer. This is

advantageous in that large amounts of data can be recorded quite cheaply, but the method is only suitable

for literate people who are willing to answer the questionnaire, so the sample can often be biased.

Definition

Relevance - Pertinence, importance.

Advantages of Interviews

*Unstructured interviews are responsive to the individual's personality, motives and interests.

*They can reveal more than structured interviews.

*Information tends to be more qualitative than quantitative.

*Structured interviews, where the interviewees have all been asked the same question, allows easy

comparison of different responses.

*Reliability - That is, if two interviewers ask an interviewee the same questions in the same order, they are

likely to get the same responses.

*There is a reasonable probability that the research can be replicated and repeat the same findings using

structured interviews.

*Structured interviews are fairly easy to analyse because data tends to be quantitative. Eg. 40% of people

said they did like chocolate.

Limitations of Interviews

*With unstructured interviews, what the interviewee says is to some extent determined by the interaction

between them and the interviewer. For example, the personality and characteristics of the interviewer may

affect the way the interviewee responds to questions. This is called interviewer bias. Because of this

possible bias, the information obtained from the interviewer may be unreliable as it is biased by the

interviewer. A simplistic example of this might be - say the interviewer is very anti-smoking. When asking a

question such as "Do you think smoking such be allowed in restaurants?", they may unconsciously make a

slight grimace or move away from the interviewee or suggest non-verbally that they do not approve - this

may encourage the interviewee to say, "No I don't think it should be allowed in restaurants".

*With unstructured interviews, the information obtained can vary in an unsystematic way. So the data tends

to be hard to analyse.

*With structured interviews, what the interviewee can say may be constrained and perhaps artificial because

of the structure. For example, "Do you smoke?" Yes/No. What if you are a smoker who has been trying very

hard to stop for the last year, but yesterday had one cigarette - are you a smoker or not??? A yes/no answer

allows no leeway for this type of answer.

*There is little of the flexibility of unstructured interviews.

*An issue that is common to all interviews is the social desirability bias. This is where people try to present

a favourable impression of themselves to the interviewer, causing them to answer incorrectly. An example

might be an elderly woman who keeps falling over, denying that she drinks as she does not want people to

think that she falls because she has drunk too much. By denying she drinks, she is making the research

unreliable as she has not answered truthfully.

There are ways to try and overcome this social desirability bias. This is by using the lie scale. Some

questions are asked that are intended to allow the interviewer to assess how much the interviewee is telling

the truth when giving socially desirable answers. Eg. Do you always tell the truth? An honest answer for

most people is probably "No". If the interviewee answers "yes" to this question and similar questions, the

interviewer may start to question the validity of the rest of what the interviewee has said.

*Interviews only allow us to get information about what the interviewee is consciously aware of. For example,

they may not be aware that they are scared of spiders because of a bad experience with one when they were

two years old - they may not remember it, so that cannot truthfully say why they are scared of spiders.

Definition

Qualitative - concerned with the richness and quality of data.

Quantitative - concerned with quantity, numbers.

Reliability - The extent to which a measurement or research study finds consistent

results across situations and over time.

Valid - True or useful.

*Some interviewers lack the skills and personal qualities necessary to ensure that people open up to them

and are willing to answer questions truthfully.

Ambiguity and Bias

Avoid

*Ambiguous or biased questions A simple example - In the light of the superiority of people with brown hair,

do you think everyone should have brown hair?

*Long winded questions - On the understanding that people with brown hair are fundamentally superior to

people with brown hair, do you consider, given your understanding of the situation, that everyone should

consider the extent to which their hair colour should be changed to the aforementioned colour!??!

*Questions that can be easily misunderstood.

*Questions that will make people defensive.

Closed and Open Questions

*Closed questions require certain answers eg. yes/no/don't know. Whilst open questions allow any

response. You need to decide what type of answer you want. If you want detailed information on how

someone's phobias, for example, it is no good asking things such as "Are you scared of spiders?" yes/no.

What if they are petrified of snakes, but not spiders? What if they just say "Yes"? Does that mean they are a

little bit scared of spider or at the other end of the scale, go pale, can't even touch a picture of a spider etc.

etc. It is a question of degree.

A way to conquer this kind of issue is to use Attitude Scales -

For example -

Do you consider homework? Very unimportant unimportant neutral important very important

The interviewee can then circle their response. The researchers could then say that 50% of respondents

thought that homework was very important and only 2% thought it was very unimportant (as an example).

Or you can consider using scales using statements such as

Homework is very important. Strongly disagree Disagree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Strongly agree

Alternatively, you may wish to use closed questions eg.

Is homework important to you? Yes/No.

* After using a questionnaire, remember to debrief the interviewees (ie. tell them what you were researching

and allow them to ask you any questions).

* You may like to do a draft questionnaire first, and then use it as a pilot study on one interviewee. This will

enable you to see if any questions are ambiguous, hard to understand or unsuitable.

What is the Importance of Educational Psychology for Teachers?

A teacher acts as a philosopher and a guide to the students. He must know the growth and development of the child and his requirements at different levels. Educational psychology helps the teacher to study the ability, interests, intelligence, needs and adopt different techniques of teaching for effective communication. The utility of educational psychology for the teachers has been emphasized in both theory and practices of teaching and learning. The importance of educational psychology for a teacher can be divided into two aspects i.e.: (i) To study teaching and learning situations. (ii) Application of teaching and learning principles.

(I) To study teaching and learning situations

Educational psychology contributes a lot for increasing the teaching efficiency of the teacher in different areas mentioned below:(a) Individual difference A teacher has to deal carefully with a group of students in class room situation. As there, are wide variations in different abilities among the students. Therefore it is very essential to understand the individual difference of students regarding their ability, interests, attitudes & need at different levels of growth and development. (b) To know the classroom teaching-learning process A well developed theory of class room teaching and learning is helpful for transacting the content to the students effectively, which includes class-room climate and the teaching competence which are required for effective communication and presentation of content. A teacher must know the appropriate principles of teaching-learning, different approaches to teaching for better result of teaching-learning process. (c) Awareness of effective methods of teaching The method of teaching is based on the developmental characteristic of the students. For example History is taught effectively to small children with the help of story telling method because small children like stories. So the classroom teaching depends on the teachers knowledge about the interest of students and methods of teaching for the students of different age-groups. (d) Curriculum development

The course of study of particular degree or diploma is prepared by teachers. Knowledge of psychology is helpful in developing curricular of different levels of students in different subjects. The developmental characteristics and needs of the students are also taken into account in the formulation of curriculum. (e) To study mental health of students In the process of teaching & learning activities in the classroom, mental health of the teacher and the taught plays significant role. As the mental condition influence directly the achievement of students. The mental health of teacher and students must be normal or healthy. There are different causes of mental illness of the teacher and the taught. It should be known to the teachers to regulate teaching - learning process. (f) Guidance to the students A teacher has to play different roles in school as guide, philosopher, and leader. Guidance is a type of assistance to the students to solve their problems by themselves. The knowledge of psychology enables the teacher to provide necessary educational and vocational guidance to the students of different age groups. (g) Measuring learning outcomes Teacher has to perform two important activities in classroom such as teaching and testing. The testing activities help in measuring learning outcomes of the students to judge their improvement and effectiveness of teaching-learning process.

(II) Application of teaching and learning principles.

(a) Objectives of Education Education is a purposive attempt to bring about desirable changes in the students behavior. The objectives of education are realized in terms of behavioral changes among the students. Teachers have to create the learning conditions to provide knowledge and experiences to the students for the changes of behavior. They have to relate teaching to learning by appropriate method of teaching. (b) Use of Audio-Visual aids in teaching The teacher can take the help of scientific devices. The Topic of presentation in the classroom can be made interesting by involving more students participation. Television is a more popular device as compared to radio, because television it provides both audio and visual experiences. Many difficult concepts can be made easy and interesting by the use of audio-visual teaching aids. The knowledge of psychology is necessary to plan and teaching aids appropriately. (c) Co-curricular activities Education is to have all-round development of the child. The curricular exercise develops only cognitive aspects of j the child. Therefore other activities like games, sports scouting, girls guiding, debates, cultural programmes are essential along with curricular activities for whole some development of the child. (d) Preparation of time table

The Class-room teaching of various subjects is organized by perfectly arranged time table. Knowledge preparation of time-table needs thoroughly psychology. As the difficulty subjects like mathematics and science are placed in the first I periods and other subjects like history, geography are usually | taught in the last periods. (e) Democratic administration The school and class room administration should also be impartial and democratic. It should provide freedom of expression to the students to explore their innate power. The students problems are to be solved sympathetically through mutual discussion and understanding. The study of educational psychology is thus very useful for teachers for planning, organizing and evaluating the teaching learning activities in the class.

What is Psychology
The word psychology is the combination of two Greek words psyche (Soul, mind, self and logy (study, investigate). In simple words psychology investigate, the mental process, and its manifestations in social relations of men and animals. In this background psychology has great importance in order to get more and more insight about human mind and the logic behind his / her behavior in social relations.

What is Education
It is a process where skill & information, are transferred to next generation, in order to develop a person mentally, emotionally and technically to be a happy and valuable character in the social order.

What is Educational Psychology

If both the above paragraphs are combined it will be cleared to us that education which is an important social and human activity has close link with psychology. Psychology gives insight and information, about the student mentality while education executes & acts in the specific direction to get the goals that the educational psychologists have set. In other words Educational psychology studies mental and behavior related issues scientifically, of those who are directly or indirectly concerned with education.

Definition of Educational Psychology

The following are definitions of education psychology by well known psychologists:

1.

Educational psychology is that branch of psychology which deals with teaching and learning and also covers the entire range and behavior of the personality as related to education. Skinner 2. While general psychology is pure science, educational psychology is its application in the field of education with the aim of socializing an individual and modifying his behavior. Anderson 3. "It is the systematic study of the educational growth and development of a child. Stephen 4. It is the science of education. E.A. Peel 5. It is the study of those facts and principles of psychology which helps to explains and improves the process of education. Walter B. Kolesink

Nature and Scope of Educational Psychology

S.S Chanhan has given detail and comprehensive statements about the nature and scope of educational psychology, which are as follows: 1. It applies psychological findings in education. 2. Educational Psychology studies systematically an individual development in educational set up. 3. It enables a teacher to perform his/her role in very effective manner in order to make the learning & teaching process productive one. 4. Educational Psychology is the scientific study of an individual life stages development from birth to death and so on.

What is Psychology
The word psychology is the combination of two Greek words psyche (Soul, mind, self and logy (study, investigate). In simple words psychology investigate, the mental process, and its manifestations in social relations of men and animals. In this background psychology has great importance in order to get more and more insight about human mind and the logic behind his / her behavior in social relations.

What is Education
It is a process where skill & information, are transferred to next generation, in order to develop a person mentally, emotionally and technically to be a happy and valuable character in the social order.

What is Educational Psychology

If both the above paragraphs are combined it will be cleared to us that education which is an important social and human activity has close link with psychology. Psychology gives insight and information, about the student mentality while education executes & acts in the specific direction to get the goals that the educational psychologists have set. In other words Educational psychology studies mental and behavior related issues scientifically, of those who are directly or indirectly concerned with education.

Definition of Educational Psychology

The following are definitions of education psychology by well known psychologists:

1.

Educational psychology is that branch of psychology which deals with teaching and learning and also covers the entire range and behavior of the personality as related to education. Skinner 2. While general psychology is pure science, educational psychology is its application in the field of education with the aim of socializing an individual and modifying his behavior. Anderson 3. "It is the systematic study of the educational growth and development of a child. Stephen 4. It is the science of education. E.A. Peel 5. It is the study of those facts and principles of psychology which helps to explains and improves the process of education. Walter B. Kolesink

Nature and Scope of Educational Psychology

S.S Chanhan has given detail and comprehensive statements about the nature and scope of educational psychology, which are as follows: 1. It applies psychological findings in education. 2. Educational Psychology studies systematically an individual development in educational set up. 3. It enables a teacher to perform his/her role in very effective manner in order to make the learning & teaching process productive one. 4. Educational Psychology is the scientific study of an individual life stages development from birth to death and so on.

MEANING, NATURE AND SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Posted on March 9, 2012 by John Parankimalil

What is Psychology? - The word, Psychology is derived from two Greek words, Psyche and Logos. Psyche means soul and Logos means science. Thus psychology was first defined as the science of soul. - According to earlier psychologists, the function of psychology was to study the nature, origin and destiny of the human soul. But soul is something metaphysical. It cannot be seen, observed and touched and we cannot make scientific experiments on soul. - In the 18 century, psychology was understood as the Science of Mind. William James (1892) defined psychology as the science of mental processes. But the word mind is also quite ambiguous as there was confusion regarding the nature and functions of mind. - Modern psychologists defined psychology as the Science of Consciousness. James Sully (1884) defined psychology as the Science of the Inner World. Wilhelm Wundt (1892) defined psychology as the science which studies the internal experiences. But there are three levels of consciousness conscious, subconscious and the unconscious and so this definition also was not accepted by some. - (Thus psychology first lost its soul, then its mind and then its consciousness). At present only its behaviour exists. William McDugall (1905) defined psychology as the Science of Behaviour, W.B. Pillsbury (1911) and J.B. Watson (1912) also defined psychology as the science of behavior. - Behaviour generally means overt activities which can observed and measured scientifically. But ones behaviour is always influenced by his experiences. So when we study ones behaviour we must also study his experiences. - Psychology should, therefore, be defined as a science of behaviour and experiences on human beings (B.F. Skinner) - According to Crow and Crow, Psychology is the study of human behaviour and human relationship.
th

What is Educational Psychology?

- Educational psychology is that branch of psychology in which the findings of psychology are applied in the field of education. It is the scientific study of human behaviour in educational setting. - According to Charles. E. Skinner, Educational psychology deals with the behaviour of human beings in educational situations. - Thus educational psychology is a behavioural science with two main references human behaviour and education. In the words of E.A. Peel, Educational Psychology is the science of Education. - Education by all means is an attempt to mould and shape the behaviour of the pupil. It aims to produce desirable changes in him for the all-round development of his personality. - The essential knowledge and skill to do this job satisfactorily is supplied by Educational Psychology. In the words of E.A. Peel, Educational psychology helps the teacher to understand the development of his pupils, the range and limits of their capacities, the processes by which they learn and their social relationships. - (In this way, the work of the Educational Psychologists resembles with that of an Engineer, who is a technical expert. The Engineer supplies all the knowledge and skill essential for the accomplishment of the job satisfactorily for example, construction of a bridge.). In the same way Educational Psychologists, who is a technical expert in the field of Education, supplies all the information, principles and techniques essential for: Understanding the behaviour of the pupil in response to educational environment and desired modification of his behaviour to bring an all-round development of his personality. - In this way, it is quite reasonable to call Educational Psychology as a science and technology of Education. - Thus, Educational Psychology concerned primarily with understanding the processes of teaching and learning that take place within formal environments and developing ways of improving those methods. It covers important topics like learning theories; teaching methods; motivation; cognitive, emotional, and moral development; and parent-child relationships etc. - In short, it is the scientific discipline that addresses the questions: Why do some students learn more than others? and What can be done to improve that learning? NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY - Its nature is scientific as it has been accepted that it is a Science of Education. We can summarize the nature of Educational Psychology in the following ways:

1. Educational Psychology is a science. (Science is a branch of study concerned with observation of facts and establishment of verifiable general laws. Science employs certain objective methods for the collection of data. It has its objectives of understanding, explaining, predicting and control of facts.) Like any other science, educational psychology has also developed objective methods of collection of data. It also aims at understanding, predicting and controlling human behaviour. 2. Educational Psychology is a natural science. An educational psychologist conducts his investigations, gathers his data and reaches his conclusions in exactly the same manner as physicist or the biologist. 3. Educational psychology is a social science. Like the sociologist, anthropologist, economist or political scientist, the educational psychologist studies human beings and their sociability. 4. Educational psychology is a positive science. Normative science like Logic or Ethics deals with facts as they ought to be. A positive science deals with facts as they are or as they operate. Educational psychology studies the childs behaviour as it is, not, as it ought to be. So it is a positive science. 5. Educational psychology is an applied science. It is the application of psychological principles in the field of education. By applying the principles and techniques of psychology, it tries to study the behaviour and experiences of the pupils. As a branch of psychology it is parallel to any other applied psychology. For example, educational psychology draws heavily facts from such areas as developmental psychology, clinical psychology, abnormal psychology and social psychology. 6. Educational psychology is a developing or growing science. It is concerned with new and ever new researches. As research findings accumulate, educational psychologists get better insight into the childs nature and behaviour. W.A. Kelly (1941) listed the nature of Educational Psychology as follows: i. To give a knowledge of the nature of the child ii. To give understanding of the nature, aims and purposes of education iii. To give understanding of the scientific methods and procedures which have been used in arriving at the facts and principles of educational psychology iv. To present the principles and techniques of learning and teaching v. To give training in methods of measuring abilities and achievement in school subjects vi. To give a knowledge of the growth and development of children vii. To assist in the better adjustment of children and to help them to prevent

maladjustment viii. To study the educational significance and control of emotions and ix. To give an understanding of the principles and techniques of correct training. - Thus, educational psychology is an applied, positive, social, specific and practical science. While general science deals with behaviour of the individuals in various spheres, educational psychology studies the behaviour of the individual in educational sphere only. SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY The scope of educational psychology is ever-growing due to constantly researches in this field. The following factors will indicate the scope of educational psychology: 1. The Learner. The subject-matter of educational psychology is knitted around the learner. Therefore, the need of knowing the learner and the techniques of knowing him well. The topics include the innate abilities and capacities of the individuals, individual differences and their measurements, the overt, covert, conscious as well as unconscious behaviour of the learner, the characteristics of his growth and development and each stage beginning from childhood to adulthood. 2. The Learning Experiences. Educational Psychology helps in deciding what learning experiences are desirable, at what stage of the growth and development of the learner, so that these experiences can be acquired with a greater ease and satisfaction. 3. Learning process: After knowing the learner and deciding what learning experiences are to be provided, Educational Psychology moves on to the laws, principles and theories of learning. Other items in the learning process are remembering and forgetting, perceiving, concept formation, thinking and reasoning, problem solving, transfer of learning, ways and means of effective learning etc. 4. Learning Situation or Environment. Here we deal with the environmental factors and learning situations which come midway between the learner and the teacher. Topics like classroom climate and group dynamics, techniques and aids that facilitate learning and evaluation, techniques and practices, guidance and counselling etc. For the smooth functioning of the teaching-learning process. 5. The Teacher: The teacher is a potent force is any scheme of teaching and learning process. It discusses the role of the teacher. It emphasizes the need of knowing thyself for a teacher to play his role properly in the process of education. His conflicts, motivation. Anxiety, adjustment, level of aspiration etc. It

throws light on the essential personality traits, interests, aptitudes, the characteristics of effective teaching etc so as to inspire him for becoming a successful teacher. Though the entire scope of Educational Psychology is included in the above mentioned five key-factors, it may be further expanded by adding the following: 6. It studies Human Behaviour in educational situations. Psychology is the study of behaviour, and education deals with the modification of behaviour; hence, educational psychology pervades the whole field of education. 7. It studies the Growth and Development of the child. How a child passes through the various stages of growth and what are the characteristics of each stage are included in the study of educational psychology. 8. To what extent Heredity and Environment contribute towards the growth of the individual, and how this knowledge can be made use of for bringing about the optimum development of the child; form a salient feature of the scope of educational psychology. 9. Educational psychology deals with the Nature and Development of the Personality of an individual. In fact, education has been defined as the all-round development of the personality of an individual; personality development also implies a well-adjusted personality. 10. It studies Individual Difference: Every individual differs from every other individual. It is one of the fundamental facts of human nature which have been brought to light by educational psychology. This one fact has revolutionalised the concept and process of education. 11. It studies the nature Intelligence and its Measurement. This is of utmost importance for a teacher. 12. It Provides Guidance and Counselling: Education is nothing but providing guidance to the growing child. We can conclude by saying that Educational Psychology is narrower in scope than general psychology. While general psychology deals with the behaviour of the individual in a general way, educational psychology in concerned with the behaviour of the learner in an educational setting.

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Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. Educational psychology is concerned with how students learn and develop, often focusing on subgroups such as gifted children and those subject to specific disabilities. Researchers and theorists are likely to be identified in the US and Canada as educational psychologists, whereas practitioners in schools or school-related settings are identified as school psychologists. This distinction is however not made in the UK, where the generic term for practitioners is "educational psychologist." Educational psychology can in part be understood through its relationship with other disciplines. It is informed primarily by psychology, bearing a relationship to that discipline analogous to the relationship between medicine and biology. Educational psychology in turn informs a wide range of specialities within educational studies, including instructional design, educational technology, curriculum development, organizational learning, special education and classroom management. Educational psychology both draws from and contributes to cognitive science and the learning sciences. In universities, departments of educational psychology are usually housed within faculties of education, possibly accounting for the lack of representation of educational psychology content in introductory psychology textbooks.[1]

Contents
[hide]

1 Social, moral and cognitive development o 1.1 Senses of seriousness and of fantasy 2 Individual differences and disabilities 3 Learning and cognition o 3.1 Behavioral perspective o 3.2 Cognitive perspective o 3.3 Developmental perspective o 3.4 Social cognitive perspective o 3.5 Constructivist perspective 4 Motivation 5 Research methodology o 5.1 Quantitative methods o 5.2 Qualitative methods 6 Applications in instructional design and technology

7 Applications in teaching 8 History o 8.1 Before 1890 o 8.2 1890-1920 o 8.3 1920-Present 9 Careers in educational psychology o 9.1 Education and training o 9.2 Professional Organizations o 9.3 Employment outlook 10 Research journals 11 See also 12 Videos 13 Further Reading 14 References 15 External links

[edit] Social, moral and cognitive development

An abacus provides concrete experiences for learning abstract concepts. To understand the characteristics of learners in childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age, educational psychology develops and applies theories of human development. Often represented as stages through which people pass as they mature, developmental theories describe changes in mental abilities (cognition), social roles, moral reasoning, and beliefs about the nature of knowledge. For example, educational psychologists have conducted research on the instructional applicability of Jean Piaget's theory of development, according to which children mature through four stages of cognitive capability. Piaget hypothesized that children are not capable of abstract logical thought until they are older than about 11 years, and therefore younger children need to be taught using concrete objects and examples. Researchers have found that transitions, such as from concrete to abstract logical thought, do not

occur at the same time in all domains. A child may be able to think abstractly about mathematics, but remain limited to concrete thought when reasoning about human relationships. Perhaps Piaget's most enduring contribution is his insight that people actively construct their understanding through a self-regulatory process.[2] Piaget proposed a developmental theory of moral reasoning in which children progress from a nave understanding of morality based on behavior and outcomes to a more advanced understanding based on intentions. Piaget's views of moral development were elaborated by Kohlberg into a stage theory of moral development. There is evidence that the moral reasoning described in stage theories is not sufficient to account for moral behavior. For example, other factors such as modeling (as described by the social cognitive theory of morality) are required to explain bullying. Rudolf Steiner's model of child development interrelates physical, emotional, cognitive, and moral development[3] in developmental stages similar to those later described by Piaget.[4] Developmental theories are sometimes presented not as shifts between qualitatively different stages, but as gradual increments on separate dimensions. Development of epistemological beliefs (beliefs about knowledge) have been described in terms of gradual changes in people's belief in: certainty and permanence of knowledge, fixedness of ability, and credibility of authorities such as teachers and experts. People develop more sophisticated beliefs about knowledge as they gain in education and maturity.[5]

[edit] Senses of seriousness and of fantasy

A child must learn to develop a sense of seriousness, an ability to distinguish degrees of seriousness as it relates to transgressions and expenditure of time; for example, a child must learn to distinguish between levels of seriousness in admonitions such as between "don't fidget" and "don't forget to look both ways when crossing the street," which have the same linguistic and normative structure, but different levels of seriousness.[6][7]

[edit] Individual differences and disabilities

An example of an item from a cognitive abilities test Each person has an individual profile of characteristics, abilities and challenges that result from predisposition, learning and development. These manifest as individual differences in intelligence, creativity, cognitive style, motivation and the capacity to process information, communicate, and relate to others. The most prevalent disabilities

found among school age children are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disability, dyslexia, and speech disorder. Less common disabilities include mental retardation, hearing impairment, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and blindness.[2] Although theories of intelligence have been discussed by philosophers since Plato, intelligence testing is an invention of educational psychology, and is coincident with the development of that discipline. Continuing debates about the nature of intelligence revolve on whether intelligence can be characterized by a single factor known as general intelligence,[8] multiple factors (e.g., Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences[9]), or whether it can be measured at all. In practice, standardized instruments such as the Stanford-Binet IQ test and the WISC[10] are widely used in economically developed countries to identify children in need of individualized educational treatment. Children classified as gifted are often provided with accelerated or enriched programs. Children with identified deficits may be provided with enhanced education in specific skills such as phonological awareness. In addition to basic abilities, the individual's personality traits are also important, with people higher in conscientiousness and hope attaining superior academic achievements, even after controlling for intelligence and past performance.[11]

[edit] Learning and cognition

Two fundamental assumptions that underlie formal education systems are that students (a) retain knowledge and skills they acquire in school, and (b) can apply them in situations outside the classroom. But are these assumptions accurate? Research has found that, even when students report not using the knowledge acquired in school, a considerable portion is retained for many years and long-term retention is strongly dependent on the initial level of mastery.[12] One study found that university students who took a child development course and attained high grades showed, when tested ten years later, average retention scores of about 30%, whereas those who obtained moderate or lower grades showed average retention scores of about 20%.[13] There is much less consensus on the crucial question of how much knowledge acquired in school transfers to tasks encountered outside formal educational settings, and how such transfer occurs.[14] Some psychologists claim that research evidence for this type of far transfer is scarce,[15][16] while others claim there is abundant evidence of far transfer in specific domains.[17] Several perspectives have been established within which the theories of learning used in educational psychology are formed and contested. These include behaviorism, cognitivism, social cognitive theory, and constructivism. This section summarizes how educational psychology has researched and applied theories within each of these perspectives.

[edit] Behavioral perspective

Applied behavior analysis, a set of techniques based on the behavioral principles of operant conditioning, is effective in a range of educational settings.[18] For example, teachers can alter student behavior by systematically rewarding students who follow classroom rules with praise, stars, or tokens exchangeable for sundry items.[19][20] Despite the demonstrated efficacy of awards in changing behavior, their use in education has

been criticized by proponents of self-determination theory, who claim that praise and other rewards undermine intrinsic motivation. There is evidence that tangible rewards decrease intrinsic motivation in specific situations, such as when the student already has a high level of intrinsic motivation to perform the goal behavior.[21] But the results showing detrimental effects are counterbalanced by evidence that, in other situations, such as when rewards are given for attaining a gradually increasing standard of performance, rewards enhance intrinsic motivation.[22][23] Many effective therapies have been based on the principles of applied behavior analysis, including pivotal response therapy which is used to treat autism spectrum disorders.

[edit] Cognitive perspective

Among current educational psychologists, the cognitive perspective is more widely held than the behavioral perspective, perhaps because it admits causally related mental constructs such as traits, beliefs, memories, motivations and emotions. Cognitive theories claim that memory structures determine how information is perceived, processed, stored, retrieved and forgotten. Among the memory structures theorized by cognitive psychologists are separate but linked visual and verbal systems described by Allan Paivio's dual coding theory. Educational psychologists have used dual coding theory and cognitive load theory to explain how people learn from multimedia presentations.[24]

Three experiments reported by Krug, Davis and Glover[25] demonstrated the advantage of delaying a 2nd reading of a text passage by one week (distributed) compared with no delay between readings (massed). The spaced learning effect, a cognitive phenomenon strongly supported by psychological research, has broad applicability within education.[26] For example, students have been found to perform better on a test of knowledge about a text passage when a second reading of the passage is delayed rather than immediate (see figure).[25] Educational psychology research has confirmed the applicability to education of other findings from cognitive psychology, such as the benefits of using mnemonics for immediate and delayed retention of information.[27] Problem solving, regarded by many cognitive psychologists as fundamental to learning, is an important research topic in educational psychology. A student is thought to interpret a problem by assigning it to a schema retrieved from long-term memory. A problem students run into while reading is called "activation." This is when the students representations of the text are present during working memory. This causes the student

to read through the material without absorbing the information and being able to retain it. When working memory is absent from the readers representations of the working memory they experience something called "deactivation." When deactivation occurs, the student has an understanding of the material and is able to retain information. If deactivation occurs during the first reading, the reader does not need to undergo deactivation in the second reading. The reader will only need to reread to get a "gist" of the text to spark their memory. When the problem is assigned to the wrong schema, the student's attention is subsequently directed away from features of the problem that are inconsistent with the assigned schema.[28] The critical step of finding a mapping between the problem and a pre-existing schema is often cited as supporting the centrality of analogical thinking to problem solving.

[edit] Developmental perspective

Main article: Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development Developmental psychology, and especially the psychology of cognitive development, opens a special perspective for educational psychology. This is so because education and the psychology of cognitive development converge on a number of crucial assumptions. First, the psychology of cognitive development defines human cognitive competence at successive phases of development. Education aims to help students acquire knowledge and develop skills which are compatible with their understanding and problem-solving capabilities at different ages. Thus, knowing the students' level on a developmental sequence provides information on the kind and level of knowledge they can assimilate, which, in turn, can be used as a frame for organizing the subject matter to be taught at different school grades. This is the reason why Piaget's theory of cognitive development was so influential for education, especially mathematics and science education.[29] In the same direction, the neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development suggest that in addition to the concerns above, sequencing of concepts and skills in teaching must take account of the processing and working memory capacities that characterize successive age levels.[30][31] Second, the psychology of cognitive development involves understanding how cognitive change takes place and recognizing the factors and processes which enable cognitive competence to develop. Education also capitalizes on cognitive change, because the construction of knowledge presupposes effective teaching methods that would move the student from a lower to a higher level of understanding. Mechanisms such as reflection on actual or mental actions vis--vis alternative solutions to problems, tagging new concepts or solutions to symbols that help one recall and mentally manipulate them are just a few examples of how mechanisms of cognitive development may be used to facilitate learning.[31][32] Finally, the psychology of cognitive development is concerned with individual differences in the organization of cognitive processes and abilities, in their rate of change, and in their mechanisms of change. The principles underlying intra- and interindividual differences could be educationally useful, because knowing how students differ in regard to the various dimensions of cognitive development, such as processing and representational capacity, self-understanding and self-regulation, and the various

domains of understanding, such as mathematical, scientific, or verbal abilities, would enable the teacher to cater for the needs of the different students so that no one is left behind.[33][34]

[edit] Social cognitive perspective

Main article: Social cognitive theory Social cognitive theory is a highly influential fusion of behavioral, cognitive and social elements that was initially developed by educational psychologist Albert Bandura. In its earlier, neo-behavioral incarnation called social learning theory, Bandura emphasized the process of observational learning in which a learner's behavior changes as a result of observing others' behavior and its consequences. The theory identified several factors that determine whether observing a model will affect behavioral or cognitive change. These factors include the learner's developmental status, the perceived prestige and competence of the model, the consequences received by the model, the relevance of the model's behaviors and consequences to the learner's goals, and the learner's selfefficacy. The concept of self-efficacy, which played an important role in later developments of the theory, refers to the learner's belief in his or her ability to perform the modeled behavior. An experiment by Schunk and Hanson,[35] that studied grade 2 students who had previously experienced difficulty in learning subtraction, illustrates the type of research stimulated by social learning theory. One group of students observed a subtraction demonstration by a teacher and then participated in an instructional program on subtraction. A second group observed other grade 2 students performing the same subtraction procedures and then participated in the same instructional program. The students who observed peer models scored higher on a subtraction post-test and also reported greater confidence in their subtraction ability. The results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that perceived similarity of the model to the learner increases self-efficacy, leading to more effective learning of modeled behaviors. It is supposed that peer modeling is particularly effective for students who have low self-efficacy. Over the last decade, much research activity in educational psychology has focused on developing theories of self-regulated learning (SRL) and metacognition. These theories work from the central premise that effective learners are active agents who construct knowledge by setting goals, analyzing tasks, planning strategies and monitoring their understanding. Research has indicated that learners who are better at goal-setting and self-monitoring tend to have greater intrinsic task interest and self-efficacy;[36] and that teaching learning strategies can increase academic achievement.[37]

[edit] Constructivist perspective

Main article: Constructivism Constructivism is a category of learning theory in which emphasis is placed on the agency and prior "knowing" and experience of the learner, and often on the social and cultural determinants of the learning process. Educational psychologists distinguish individual (or psychological) constructivism, identified with Piaget's theory of cognitive

development, from social constructivism. A dominant influence on the latter type is Lev Vygotsky's work on sociocultural learning, describing how interactions with adults, more capable peers, and cognitive tools are internalized to form mental constructs. Elaborating on Vygotsky's theory, Jerome Bruner and other educational psychologists developed the important concept of instructional scaffolding, in which the social or information environment offers supports for learning that are gradually withdrawn as they become internalized.[38]