Definition of Educational Psychology

1. Definition of Educational Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. Psychology seeks to describe, explain, predict, and control behavior and mental processes. Educational Psychology is the field of psychology that emphasizes the understanding of teaching and learning in educational settings. Topic of interest to educational psychologists include: Learning and cognition Motivation Individual variation :Intelligence, learning styles, personality and temperament Cognitive and language development. Socioemotional development Sociocultural diversity: Exceptional learners and so forth.

2. Historical Background The field of educational psychology was founded by several pioneers in the late nineteenth century. William James(1842-1910): • Emphasized the importance of observing teaching and learning in classrooms for improving education.

3. John Dewey(1859-1952): • Viewed the child as an active learner. • Education should focus on the whole child. • Emphasized the child’s adaptation to the environment (The child should learn how to think and adapt to the outside world). • Pushed for competent education for all children.

4. Thorndike (1874-1949): • Initiated an emphasis on assessment and measurement of learning. • Educational psychology must have a scientific base and should focus on assessment and measurement.

5. Diversity and Early Educational Psychology. • Two pioneering African American psychologists Mamie and Kenneth Clark conducted research on children’s self-conceptions and identity. • Latino psychologist George Sanchez conducted research showing that intelligence tests were culturally biased against ethnic minority children. • Leta Hollingworth was the first to use the term gifted to describe children who scored exceptionally high on intelligence tests.

6. Perspectives in Educational Psychology • The study of psychology can be approached from several viewpoints. The behavioral approach: • B.F. Skinner (1938) • Psychology as the science of observable behavior and controlling conditions. • Focused on the behavior that is observed and measured. Emphasis is on overt actions. Behaviorism focuses on learning by conditioning and Skinner introduced the concept of programmed learning (reinforcement).

7. The Cognitive perspective : • Concerned with the way the brain actively processes incoming information by transforming it internally in various ways. • Cognitive psychologists study how we learn, remember, solve problems ,form judgments, make decisions, use language, attribution. • The Cognitive emphasis is on thoughts, memory, and reasoning.

8. 1950s Benjamin Bloom created a Taxonomy of Cognitive Skills that included remembering, comprehending, synthesizing, and evaluating which he believed teachers should help students use and develop. • 1980s Cognitive Psychology called for applying the concepts of cognitive psychology -memory, thinking, and reasoning – to help student learn

9. More recently, educational psychologists have focused on the socioemotional aspects of students’ lives (e.g., classroom environment, impact of culture in education).

10. Reflection What were the characteristics of the most effective teachers in your educational experience?

11. Professional Knowledge and Skills for Effective Teachers 1.Subject Matter Competence Effective teachers have: • Good command of their subject matter. • Knowledge about organizing ideas. • Connections among ideas. • Ways of thinking and arguing • Ability to carry ideas from one discipline to another.

12. 2. Instructional Strategies Two major approaches characterize how teachers teach: Constructivist and direct instruction approach. Constructivist approach: • A learner-centered approach to learning • Children should be encouraged to explore, discover knowledge, reflect, and think critically with careful monitoring and guidance from the teachers.

13. Direct instruction approach: • A structured ,teacher-centered approach. • Characterized by teacher direction and control. • High teacher expectations of students’ progress. • Maximum time spent by students on academic tasks. • Efforts by the teacher to keep negative affect to a minimum.

14. 3. Goal Settings and Instructional Planning: • Effective teachers : Set high goals for their teaching and organize plans for reaching these goals. 4. Developmentally Appropriate Teaching Practices: • Effective teachers have a good understanding of children’s developmental level and know how to create instruction materials appropriate for their developmental levels.

15. 5. Classroom Management Skills: • Effective teachers establish and maintain an environment in which learning can occur through establishing rules and procedures, organizing groups, monitoring and pacing classroom activities, and handling misbehavior.

16. 6. Motivational Skills: • Effective teachers have good strategies for helping students become self-motivated and take responsibility for their learning. 7.Communication Skills: • Effective teachers should have skills in listening , speaking, conflict resolution.

17. 8. Individual Variation: Effective teachers : • Understand individual differences • Use differentiated instruction • Have tolerance for diversity. 9. Effective Teachers Work Effectively with Students from Culturally Diverse Backgrounds

18. 10. Assessment Skills Effective teachers have good assessment skills and use various assessment techniques to evaluate students needs, and monitor their academic progress.

19. 11. Technology Skills: • Effective teachers use and integrate educational technology appropriately into classroom learning. 12. Commitment and Motivation • Being an effective teacher requires commitment and motivation.

21. The scientific research approach is objective, systematic, and testable Step 1: Conceptualize the problem Step 2 :Collect information Step 3 : Draw conclusions Step 4 : Revise research conclusions, and theory

22. Research Methods Descriptive Research • Observations is a systematic method of data collection. • Uses of observation: • When you are interested in behavior and not the perception. • When individuals can’t or are not willing to respond to questions. • When you want to study behavior in depth. • Types of observation: • Laboratory • Naturalistic observation • Participant observation

23. Recording observations: Narratives: The researcher records a description of the interaction in his or her own words and make interpretations. • Scales: The researcher develops a scale in order to rate the various interactions or phenomenon. Assign a score to certain behavior, e.g. from 1 to 10 or present / not present, yes / no etc. • Problems of using observation • Hawthorne Effect: When individuals or groups become aware that they are being observed ,they may change their behavior. • Bias of single observer: interpretation and alertness

24. Interviews • Interviews: Structured and Unstructured -Structured Interviews -The researcher uses interview schedule: a written list of questions (open-ended, or closed-ended either face to face or by telephone. -The interview is the method while the schedule is the tool or instrument. -Unstructured Interviews - Complete freedom in structure and content

25. Advantages of interview • Appropriate for complex situations • Appropriate for collecting in-depth information • Information can be supplemented, questions can be explained. No missing data • Can be applied to wider audience (populations)

26. Disadvantages of interview • Time consuming and expensive • Quality of data depends on the quality of interaction and the interviewer, rapport, liking, interest, knowledge of the topic • Quality of data may vary when more than one interviewer are used • Bias is a possibility

27. Questionnaires • What is a questionnaire? • It is a list of written questions and the answers are written by the respondents • Questionnaire and interview schedule may be the same, the only difference is that the former is read by the respondent while the latter is read by the interviewer. • Questions of the questionnaire may be open-ended or closed-ended or structured according to certain format depending on the research question.

28. Standardized tests • Standardized tests have uniform procedures for administration and scoring • They assess students aptitudes or skills in different domains. They assess intelligence, students’ performance etc. • They provide outcome measures for researchers, or for decision making.

29. Case studies • A case study is an in-depth look at the individual. • Provides in-depth information portrayal of peoples lives but need to exercise caution when interpreting them. • Researchers cant make generalization from case studies.

30. Ethnographic Studies • An ethnographic study consists of an in-depth description and interpretation of behavior in ethnic or cultural groups that includes direct involvement with the participants.

31. Correlational Research • The aim of the correlational approach is to determine the degree to which two or more variables are related. • Correlations determine the degree of association between data from experiments, case studies, or surveys. • Correlations allow the prediction of one variable from the other.

32. Correlational Research • measures the strength of a relation between two variables • does NOT establish causal relation • Meaning of the Correlation Coefficient • Zero means no relationship. • Positive (up to +1) means relationship is in the same direction. • Negative (down to -1) means the relationship goes in opposite directions.

33. The Experimental Method • A method in which researchers systematically alter one or more variables to determine whether such changes influence some aspect of behavior. Experimental Research • random assignment • experimental vs. control groups • independent vs. dependent variables

34. Independent variable: The manipulated, influential experimental factor Dependent variable: The factor that is measured in an experiment Control group: A comparison group, no manipulation Experimental group: The group whose experience is manipulated Random assignment: Participants are assigned by chance

35. Learning Activity • In groups explain how you want to explore the effects of a new six-week reading program on children’s academic reading competence.

36. Time Span of Research Cross –sectional • Studying groups of people at one time • Researcher doesn’t have to wait until subjects grow older • Provides no information about the stability of data over time

37. Longitudinal • Studying the same individuals over time • Evaluates how children change over time • Time consuming and costly

38. Program Evaluation, Action Research, and Teacher-As-Researcher Program Evaluation: Designed to make decisions about a particular program Action Research: Used to solve a particular classroom or school problem Teacher-As-Researcher:Teachers conduct their own studies to improve their teaching

39. Research Challenges Ethics • Researchers protect participants from mental and physical harm. • Participants give informed consent. Gender • In the past, conclusions on females have been drawn from research done on males. Ethnicity and Culture • Ethnic gloss, the use of an ethnic label to describe an ethnic group, leads to overgeneralizations and stereotyping when examining certain groups.