OEP 101: EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AND TEACHING (DEFINITION AND HISTORY)

OEP 101: EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AND TEACHING (DEFINITION AND HISTORY)
What is Educational Psychology?
Educational psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on development of effective teaching techniques and assessing learners aptitudes and progress in learning process. It uses psychological knowledge to understand learning and teaching in education.
It incorporates and applies knowledge gained from other areas of psychology eg theories of human development are used by educational psychologists to know how students develop and learn; and to understand the characteristics of learners at various stages; cognitive psychology when referring to reasoning and problem solving; school psychology in determining students’ abilities and the best ways and conditions necessary for individuals to realize their full potential. Knowledge from disciplines outside psychology contributes to educational psychology eg findings I neurosciences help us to understand how brain works in relation to learning. Also research findings in educational psychology contribute to wide field of psychology and education in general eg in creating educational policies and developing curriculum based on characteristics of the learners.
Psychology plays a great role in the aspects of instructional design and application, curriculum development, special education, classroom management, use of technology in teaching and assessment of learners and their performance.
Go through the school curriculum and make a list of items that are directly related to educational psychology.

OBJECTIVES (FUNCTIONS) OF EDUCTAIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
To describe and understand the nature and principles of learning. What is involved in the learning process? How do learners learn at different stages of development? Which are the factors that enhance/hinder learning?
Educational psychology aims at answering those kinds of questions by research.
It aims at designing strategies for guiding learners in learning. Students possess learning abilities and skills. Educational psychology guides students to use their existing skills more effectively and/or develop new skills
It provides teachers with methods and specific skills of teaching. These methods and skills are based on the outcomes of research findings and facilitate learning. To meet the state educational goals, learners need, school objectives as well as the societal needs.
It provides the teacher with the skills to identify individual learner’s process and traits. An effective teacher creates a learning environment in the classroom that caters for the individual variations so that each learner is motivated to realize his/her full potentials. The environment has great effect on learning process. Teachers can improvise the environment to enhance learning. Educational psychology trains teachers to identify and control these external factors eg teaching materials available, research findings and new teaching skills and technological advances.
To develop in those who teach, a sympathetic attitude towards children.
To aid in providing the teacher with a better perspective for judging both the results of his own teaching and the educational practice of others. Educational Psychology aids in providing a better background for understanding the total job of teaching in all its intricacies.
To assist the teacher in giving the necessary facts and techniques for analysing child’s behaviour to facilitate adjustment and growth of personality.

Who is an effective teacher?
If you meet the requirements of educational psychology, develop the teaching skills and apply them in teaching settings you will be motivated to be an effective teacher who tackles teaching challenges with confidence and great satisfaction.
So an effective teacher is the one who master the following concepts and perceptions:

Subject matter:
This refers to having a conceptual understanding of the subject you teach. You must work hard not only to acquire the knowledge of your subject, but also to be able to organize this knowledge and be in position to include knowledge from related disciplines. Just knowing the fact is not enough. Too little knowledge leads to teacher’s lack of confidence in the classroom. Remember that you don’t have to teach all what you know since you may cause harm in the class. Materials presented in the class should relate to the student’s abilities and the syllabus.

Knowledge of students:
You must know your students. It’s very difficult to deal with individuals whom you don’t know. As you spend time with them learn about them as a group, and as each student as a unique being. They bring different background to the class. Know about their physical, cognitive and psychosocial development. You will come into contact with exceptional students needing special attention and approach in teaching.

Learning process:
Learning process all about knows your students including having knowledge on how they learn ie skills and strategies students use to get new knowledge. Understanding this component is an asset in designing your teaching strategies as they have to be compatible with learning process of the respective students.

Instructional strategies:
Most effective instructional strategies lead students to develop skills of being reflective, thinking critically and in exploring their environment. Instructional strategies therefore should make each student learn efficiently.

Motivational skills:
Learning is a natural phenomenon but in school it can be discouraged or undermined by several elements (both within and/or external to the students). To be an effective teacher you must deploy conditions that will lead to students developing self-motivation ie eager to learn and staying on the task for personal satisfaction rather than pleasing others.
There is no point of having policy of compulsory education or attending school if a student is not interested in learning.

Classroom management:
A classroom environment is composed of many individuals and factors that have a bearing on the teaching/learning process. One of the most important responsibilities of a teacher is to create and maintain an environment an environment in the classroom that is conducive to learn ie keeping students engaged on the intended task. You will need to have strategies of organizing your students for effective learning and have in place a mechanism of preventing problems.

Assessment strategies:
A teacher needs to know if his/her students are successful or not in their learning. This can be realized if the teacher is able to develop or obtain appropriate instruments, make accurate assessments and interpretations of the measurements. Assessment enables one to determine the performance and needs of the students leading to making correct decisions and actions that will improve the performance of each student.

Technological skills:
This is an era of information technology and for one to function effectively she/he needs to be competent in technological skills. These skills will assist you to access knowledge and integrate technology in your teaching strategies. Also you will be in a position to make students use technology in their learning.

HISTORY OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
In the past we look specifically at the history of educational psychology. Educational psychology as an independent field started just before the beginning of 20th C in America. Here we are going to have an overview of important contributors in the development of this field. Some of the prominent contributors are as follows:

William James (1842-1910)
He published a book and gave lectures on the application of psychology in educating children. For research, he emphasized the use of direct observation in the real classroom learning/teaching conditions rather than laboratories. He is among the pioneers of learner centered method of teaching in education.

John Dewey (1859-1952)
He was a major figure on practical application of psychology. He shaped the field of psychology by establishing the first educational psychology laboratory in USA. His major contribution was the view that a child is an active learner rather than the held belief that children are passive learners. Also he emphasized that the role of the teacher should be to train students on how to think and adapt to the conditions outside the classroom. He was influential in making all children get competent education regardless of their gender, socio-economic background or ethnicity.

Edward L. Thorndike (1874-1949)
He emphasized the use of scientific approach in educational psychology. He initiated the use of assessment and measurements in learning. B.F. Skinner built on the ideas of
Thorndike. However, he insisted that the subject matter of psychology should not include mental processes but should only focus on the observable behaviors. This is termed as
behavioral perspective . Skinner’s approach determined the best conditions for learning to take place. The teacher uses a rewarding system that improves student behavior or performance. He developed the concept of programmed learning in which a learner is reinforced in each step that leads to the intended goal.

Benjamin Bloom (1956)
Benjamin Bloom created the taxonomy of cognitive skills that indicated the goal s of educators on learners. The cognitive skills he identified are and in the following order starting from the lowest level to the highest:

remembering, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Is from the Bloom’s taxonomy where educationists come up with curriculum documents like syllabuses, schemes of work, lesson plans and table of specifications in the implementation of curriculum.
In the 1980s the educational psychologists focused on the cognitive aspects of human learning advocated by Dewey and
James but ignored by Skinner and fellow behaviorists. They researched on and applied the concepts of cognitive psychology including memory, thinking, reasoning and perception on the premises that they are significant on how information is received and processed.

Currently educational psychology includes out of school aspects that have influence on learners eg the role of culture in education. Also it is focusing on theories of self-regulating learning and metacognition ie cognition about cognition or knowing about knowing.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF OTHER FIELDS AND THEORIES
It is obvious that one cannot be fit for teaching and learning by only accruing knowledge from educational psychology only and ignoring other field’s knowledge. There are other fields which are very important; a good example is the use of research and ICT in teaching and learning process where by teachers and students enjoy a lot from the existence of findings from different sources as well as the computers with internet.
Elaborate the summary with your own words and then go through the lecture to verify your accurateness.