Psychology of Education
Introduction
Most people take it too simple to claim that psychology of education is the psychology of teaching and learning but it is evident that most of psychologists of education spend most of their time studying and developing various theories that will enhance in teaching and learning of both children and young children. According to Glover and Ronning, psychology of education includes various topics which span human development, learning, measurement, motivation and individual differences and it is also termed to be both theory driven discipline and data driven. A major description of educational psychology is applying psychology and methods of psychology to the study of instruction, development, assessment, learning and the other related issues that generally influence the learning and teaching interaction.
In the current world, theories of education psychology are said to be very significant disciplines which are enhancing to the education of the young people. These theories have been used after a serious research which has noted that there is vital need to rethink on the matters of teaching, learning, development and various interactions among the young people. The researchers are urging the psychologists and educators to view the children as thinkers. Viewing a child no less than an adult and thinking of the young child as holding more theories about their mind and the world as well enhances the child’s ability to understand and acquire more knowledge. To enhance this more, the theories of psychological education are brought into correspondence with those of teachers and parents through collaboration, discourse and negotiation and it is thus evident that the theories cannot work if they are introduced through didactic instruction and through imitation. This model of educating the young individuals is more concerned with understanding and interpretation and not on the achievement of skilled performance or factual knowledge.
Psychologists who use theories of education psychology have been influential in providing various techniques that can be used by teachers in determining how successful the young students have been in acquiring new skills and knowledge. In today’s global world, it is very essential to access the knowledge of the young student and also their skills. This has become a central issue in most of the learning institutions and it has also highly influenced the teacher’s knowledge in learning the different stages and abilities of different young learners and thus coming up with effective and unique techniques of handling each one of them in a way that they learn and understand better. From a teacher’s perspective, the two most important reasons of accessing young learners include:
- In order to identify and understand the student who require psychological assistance
Use of theories of educational psychology also helps in informing a high number of specialists who are within the studies of education such as educational technology, curriculum development, instructional design, classroom management, organizational learning and special education. These entire education studies act as an advantage to the young learner’s since the educators are well informed. These theories also contribute and draw from learning sciences and cognitive sciences. To have a clear understanding of the characteristics of childhood learners, psychologists of education develops and goes on to apply theories of human development. Development theories are often represented as stages which people pass through as they go to maturity stage and they are recognized for helping young learners in description of changes in social roles, mental abilities, beliefs concerning knowledge on nature and moral reasoning. A good example is where educational psychologists have carried out a research on the applications of instructions known as Jean Paget’s theory of development. This theory tries to explain how children mature by going through four stages of cognitive capability. The theory hypothesized that young individuals are not able to abstract logical thought until they reach the age of eleven years and thus they require being taught to make use of examples and concrete objects. The researchers have also discovered that certain transitions such as from concrete to thought of abstract logical cannot happen similarly or once in one field. A child may think abstractly in the area of mathematics and have a limited thinking to concrete thought when it comes to human relationships thinking.. Perhaps the most enduring contribution about this theory is Piaget’s insight that individuals construct actively their understanding through the process of self-regulatory.
Another educational psychology theory that has enhanced effective learning in young individuals include the development theory of moral reasoning whereby young pupils are able to gain progress from morality’s naïve understanding of behavior and the outcomes to an understanding which is more advanced normally based on intentions. It is evident that human beings including the young people are organisms which are teleological and goal seeking. This is to mean that they all do various things for various reasons or goals and in the end work towards making meanings in their meaning. However, it is evident that the learning process in a specific domain is complex. Even young individuals develop base of knowledge through environment conditioning, information seeking and thinking about the subject prior to their knowledge and based on their maturation. When knowledge is put into practice purposely via an exercise of conation, volation or will it leads to wisdom through reflection and also leads to behavioral competence. This is pure evidence of the importance of theories of education psychology to young learners.
Educational Psychology Theories and Senses of Seriousness and Fantasy
It is very essential for a child to develop a sense of seriousness and also gain the ability to differentiate various seriousness degrees as it clearly relates to time expenditure, transgressions. For example, a child should learn and understand the difference the seriousness levels in admonitions like “do not forget to look both sides before crossing the road” and “do not fidget” which contain same normative and linguistic structure but at the same time share different seriousness levels. Theories of educational psychology therefore enhance a high quality of differentiation for the kids since they get to learn when different levels of seriousness require to be applied in various situations. These areas are essential for the learners since they also help in insinuating on their discipline and high quality morals. For each young individual to grow into a disciplined upright individual, educators should ensure that proper knowledge of morals and discipline need to be taught to these young learners at an early stage for easy differentiation when they grow up. This also requires the teachers or educators to apply the educational psychology theories when teaching the young learners and to also ensure that they receive high quality education in the same so as to share effective knowledge to the kids. In the current world of today a lot of negative influence is available for the kids to learn and share. It is therefore very important for the educators of these young learners to learn more on the educational psychology theories that the researchers come up with in order to improve on the kids’ behavior and try to teach them on the right paths to follow for them to become important and effective members of the society.
Theories of Educational Psychology with Individual Differences and Disabilities
Each individual be it young or old have their own characteristics profile, challenges resulting to predisposition, abilities, development and learning. These are evident as individual differences in cognitive style, motivation, intelligence, creativity and capacity of information processing, communication and also their relation to other individuals. The most common disabilities that are normally evident in young school children include speech disorder, learning disability, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia. There are also the less common disorders which are seen in these young learners which include cerebral palsy, mental retardation, epilepsy, hearing impairment and blindness. All these are disabilities generally found in kids and the educational theories of education have played a big role in helping the teachers or educators identify them easily thus enabling them to deliver quality and effective services to different kids with different disabilities.
Dilemmas in Teaching and Learning Theories of Educational Psychology
It is evident that most teachers of education psychology to young people have faced different dilemmas at different times and these have also minimized their effective application of the theories to the young individuals. Several interconnected problems and questions that have indeed provoked the thinking of educators to young children have come up and this normally affects their thinking on application of education psychology into revised education programs of teachers. Some of the dilemmas faced by the educators can be managed by appeal to empirical research on learning and teaching. Other teachers have yielded to norms, local traditions, preferences and practical constraints. However, in order to ensure that educators do not face these dilemmas in future while educating the young learners, educational psychologist are advised to get involved in thoughtful dialogue regarding the knowledge which should be offered in the field towards the future educators and how effective the knowledge must be applied.
In order to deliver effective learning and teaching to the young children by use of educational psychology theories, questions have been delivered to both the teachers and the psychologists mostly insisting on transfer of psychological knowledge, the high need of putting in consideration the beliefs and knowledge of various active teachers, the issue of stabilizing between specific and general knowledge on school learning and the big challenge of knowledge application about educators learning the teaching of educational psychology.
How to Apply Theories of Education Psychology to Young Children
Extensive evidence has been given by educational psychologists who are studying children’s cognition and study over the past few years. Effective evidence has been provided showing comprehension, problem solving and learning are based on knowledge and that even the young people try to understand and think all the time regarding the new in essence to what they have in mind already. More psychologists are viewing theories of education psychology as a process of active knowledge construction by the young learner. Such a constructivist view of stands of learning in sharp disparity to reactive absorption models of psychology of learning that have highly influenced practice of education for centuries. Most of the research carried out on theories of educational psychology is normally focused or based on young persons and in most cases it has concentrated on specific areas of mathematics, science such as in arithmetic.
Researchers have carried out cognitive analyses of the teacher’s knowledge though they have not yet carried out same cognitive analyses of the prior learning and knowledge of teacher’s educational psychology. These researches are generally carried out to understand how students who are studying teacher education come to actively construct knowledge in the domain of psychology of education. Educational psychology has given significant background knowledge that inservice and preservice teachers can use as the base for professional practice. Teachers are able to combine information on growth of humans and also their development, knowledge of specific content, theories of learning information and pedagogy which in return give them classroom foundation and school procedures and methods.. What the teachers are able to study in education psychology will be easily applicable in various contents and age specific activities of teaching.
There is no single explanation of why young learners behave the way they do. This is termed as a combination of various factors including the particular situation or context. However, the theories relating to educational psychology has helped the educators to study these alternative influences and thus enabling them to make better decisions as they continue guiding the young learners to develop character, vision and competence and also to provide others with service. At the undergraduate level, educational psychology level is on the practice of effective classroom generally as it is defined by the research. Learning theories are also covered in this level and this has enhanced high quality shape of young learner’s behaviors as they join the adult world. The focus on theory of education psychology is to give an overview of the main theories of development and learning and how they can be applied in real life and classroom settings. A model of human behavior is able to be presented and a dialogue of the digital age movement precedes a thorough analysis of the current research and theory.
In conclusion, educators and parents should be highly concerned with assisting the young children/learners in developing personal capacities, give service to others and gain individual virtues. In order to develop these capacities it is essential to assist them in identifying possible performance domains and them providing the young learners with opportunities to develop their capacities successfully. This all comes with a clear understanding of theories of educational psychology which enhance the young individual’s ability to learn and give the teachers ability to effective teaching. Theories of education psychology are very essential in teaching of the young learners.
References
Berk, L. E. (2001). Awakening Children's Minds : How Parents and Teachers Can Make a Difference. New York: Oxford University Press. .
Cole, T., & Knowles, B. (2011). How to Help Children and Young People with Complex Behavioural Difficulties. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Mcgraw-hill. (2013). Educational Psychology:A Tool for Effective Teaching. New York: mcgraw-hill.
O'Donnell, A. M., Reeve, J., & Smith, J. K. (2011). Educational Psychology: Reflection for Action. U.S: John Wiley & Sons.
Yeomans, J., & Arnold, C. (2006). Teaching, Learning and Psychology. London: Routledge.
