Educational psychology

Educational psychology is the study of how people learn. It looks at learning from both thinking and behaving points of view. This helps experts understand differences between people, such as their intelligence, how they think and feel, what makes them want to learn, and how they control themselves. Educational psychologists use tests and measurements to make learning better in schools and other places where teaching happens.

This field is closely related to other subjects. It is mainly based on psychology, just like medicine is based on biology. It also uses ideas from neuroscience. Educational psychology helps many areas of education, like planning lessons, using technology in teaching, creating school programs, managing classrooms, and helping students who need extra support. It connects with cognitive science and theories about how people learn.

Educational psychologists study how people remember things and think in new ways. They use many different ideas from other areas of psychology, such as learning through rewards, how people naturally think and feel, and how we process information.

In recent years, educational psychology has grown quickly. School psychology started with testing intelligence to help students who needed special education. Today, educational psychologists work with many professionals to help students learn better in the classroom.

History

Educational psychology is a new field that started in the 20th century. People have thought about teaching and learning for a long time. They have talked about how people think, how to teach, and how we share knowledge. These ideas help us understand how we learn.

Some ideas about educational psychology go back to ancient times with thinkers like Plato and Aristotle. They talked about the purpose of education and how to build good character. They also discussed how music and art affect development, and the role of teachers.

Plato believed that knowledge grows from within us through experience. Aristotle thought knowledge comes from connecting ideas.

William James

In the 1600s, John Locke said we are born with a "blank slate" and learn through experience. Later, Jean-Jacques Rousseau suggested that education should suit a child’s age and help them think for themselves.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, people like William James, Alfred Binet, Edward Thorndike, and John Dewey helped shape educational psychology. They studied how people learn and developed ways to measure intelligence.

From the 1920s onward, more people went to school. Ideas about progressive education — where learning is active and focused on the student — became popular. Researchers like Jerome Bruner and Benjamin Bloom studied how students learn best.

Perspectives

Behavioral

Applied behavior analysis is a science that helps improve learning by using behavior rules. Teachers can encourage students by giving praise, stars, or tokens that can be traded for small prizes. Some people think rewards might reduce a student’s love for learning, but other times rewards can make students more interested in learning. Many helpful methods for different challenges use these behavior rules.

Cognitive

Three experiments reported by Krug, Davis and Glover demonstrated the advantage of delaying a 2nd reading of a text passage by one week (distributed) compared with no delay between readings (massed).

Many educational psychologists study how the mind works while learning. They look at thoughts, memories, feelings, and how people understand and remember information. One idea is that how our mind stores and uses information is very important. For example, spacing out learning over time helps students remember better. Using special ways to help remember information, like rhymes or pictures, can also be useful. Solving problems is a big part of learning, and it often uses what we already know to understand something new.

Cognitive view of intelligence

Everyone learns and thinks differently. Some children may find it harder to focus, learn new things, or speak clearly. Others may learn very quickly. Intelligence can be measured with special tests, and these help teachers give each child the right kind of help. Some children may need extra support, while others might need more challenging work.

Developmental

Developmental psychology looks at how children’s thinking grows and changes over time. It helps teachers understand what children can learn at different ages. For example, younger children learn differently than older children, and teachers can use this knowledge to plan lessons that match each age group. Understanding how children’s thinking develops also helps teachers support each child’s unique learning style.

Constructivist

[Constructivism](/wiki/Constructivism_(learning_theory) is a learning theory that says students learn best when they are active and use what they already know. Social constructivism adds that learning often happens through interactions with others, like teachers and classmates. For example, students learn math by seeing how mathematicians solve problems, not just by memorizing rules. This means that to truly learn something, students need to see it used in real situations.

Jean Piaget's Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget studied how children’s thinking develops through different stages. He believed that from birth, children have natural ways of understanding the world, and these ways change as children grow. He described four main stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational. Each stage shows how children’s thinking becomes more advanced over time.

Conditioning and learning

Educational psychology studies how people learn from childhood to adulthood. It looks at how the mind grows to help teachers understand students.

An abacus provides concrete experiences for learning abstract concepts.

For example, Jean Piaget's theory of development says children learn in stages. Younger children learn best with things they can see and touch. Older children can think about ideas not right in front of them. People also change in how they understand right and wrong as they grow.

Motivation is important for learning. It helps students focus and keep trying. Some students love learning for fun, while others want good grades or rewards. Knowing what drives each student helps teachers support better learning.

Technology

For broader coverage of this topic, see Educational technology.

Instructional design helps create learning materials and activities based on ideas from educational psychology. Designers use a taxonomy of educational objectives by Benjamin Bloom to set clear learning goals. Bloom studied mastery learning, where students move to new topics only after fully understanding earlier ones. He found this works well with one-on-one help.

Technology is important in educational psychology. It helps psychologists with testing and organizing, and it helps students learn better. Students with special needs often find technology like apps and videos engaging and motivating. Learning with technology can make lessons clearer and more interesting, helping all students take part in learning from far away.

The following list includes some technological tools used in education:

Applications

Teaching

Research on classroom management and pedagogy helps teachers guide students and support their growth. The goal is to create a friendly learning space and help students manage themselves. This includes building good relationships, keeping classes focused, and helping students who face challenges.

Introductory educational psychology is often taught to future teachers. It covers how people learn, keeping students motivated, checking understanding, and managing classrooms. There is a Wikibook about educational psychology with more details on these topics.

Counseling

A class size experiment in the United States found that attending small classes for 3 or more years in the early grades increased high school graduation of students from low-income families.

Training

To become an educational psychologist, students finish an undergraduate degree and then go to graduate school to study educational psychology, counseling psychology, or school counseling. Many also earn a doctoral degree to use the title "psychologist". Educational psychologists work in many places. Some work at universities studying how people learn and develop. Others help design educational materials and programs. In schools, they help students with learning and behavior, offer counseling, and support teachers. School psychologists often work directly with students in schools.

Many high schools and colleges teach educational psychology. Some colleges require it for all students. In the UK, students need a degree approved by the British Psychological Society before starting a special three-year program to become a psychologist.

Recently, more university programs in the US have started teaching about how race, gender, disability, trauma, and poverty affect learning. Some universities now offer special certificates for professionals to work with students facing challenges.

Employment outlook

Jobs for psychologists in the United States are expected to grow faster than most jobs. About one in four psychologists work in schools. In the US, the median pay for psychologists in primary and secondary schools was US$58,360 in May 2004.

In recent decades, more women have become professional researchers in educational psychology in North America.

Methods of research

Educational psychology studies how people learn. They use numbers and data, called quantitative research. Sometimes they use words and stories, called qualitative research. They may also mix both ways.

Educational psychologists watch and test people. They see how things are connected and do experiments. They have made tools to help understand learning better, like special tests.

Educational psychology