   #copyright

Educational psychology

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Education

   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. Although the terms "educational psychology" and "school
   psychology" are often used interchangeably, researchers and theorists
   are likely to be identified as educational psychologists, whereas
   practitioners in schools or school-related settings are identified as
   school psychologists. Educational psychology is concerned with the
   processes of educational attainment among the general population and
   sub-populations such as gifted children and those subject to specific
   disabilities.

                                                             Psychology

                                                          Portal - History
                                                                     Areas
                                                                   Applied
                                                                Biological
                                                                  Clinical
                                                                 Cognitive
                                                             Developmental
                                                               Educational
                                                              Evolutionary
                                                              Experimental
                                                            Industrial/Org
                                                               Linguistics
                                                                    Social
                                                                     Lists
                                                              Publications
                                                                    Topics

   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.

Social, moral and cognitive development

   An abacus provides concrete experiences for learning abstract concepts.
   Enlarge
   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 cast 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 researched 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.

   Piaget proposed a developmental theory of moral reasoning in which
   children progress from a naive understanding of morality based on
   behaviour 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 behaviour. For example, other factors such as
   modeling (as described by the social cognitive theory of morality) are
   required to explain bullying.

   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.

Individual differences and disabilities

   An example of an item from a cognitive abilities test.
   Enlarge
   An example of an item from a cognitive abilities test.

   Each person has an individual profile of characteristics, abilities and
   challenges that result from 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.

   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, scalar factor (
   Spearman's general intelligence), multiple factors (as in Sternberg's
   triarchic theory of intelligence and Gardner's theory of multiple
   intelligences), or whether it can be measured at all. In practice,
   standardized instruments such as the Stanford-Binet IQ test and the
   WISC 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.

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. One study found that
   university students who took a child development course and attained
   high grades showed, when tested 10 years later, average retention
   scores of about 30%, whereas those who obtained moderate or lower
   grades showed average retention scores of about 20%. 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. Some psychologists claim that
   research evidence for this type of far transfer is scarce, while others
   claim there is abundant evidence of far transfer in specific domains.
   Several perspectives have been established within which the theories of
   learning used in educational psychology are formed and contested. These
   include Behaviorism, Cognitivism, Social Cognitivism, and
   Constructivism. This section summarizes how educational psychology has
   researched and applied theories within each of these perspectives.

Behavioural perspective

   Applied behaviour analysis, a set of techniques based on the
   behavioural principles of operant conditioning, is effective in a range
   of educational settings. For example, teachers can improve student
   behaviour by systematically rewarding students who follow classroom
   rules with praise, stars, or tokens exchangable for sundry items.
   Despite the demonstrated efficacy of awards in changing behaviour,
   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 behaviour. 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.

Cognitive perspective

   Among current educational psychologists, the cognitive perspective is
   more widely held than the behavioural perspective perhaps because it
   flexibly admits causally related mental constructs such as traits,
   beliefs, memories, motivations and emotions. Cognitive theories posit
   memory structures that are thought to 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 Paivio's dual coding theory.
   Educational psychologists have used dual coding theory and cognitive
   load theory to explain how people learn from multimedia presentations.
   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).
   Enlarge
   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).

   The spaced learning effect, a cognitive phenomenon strongly supported
   by psychological research, has broad applicability within education.
   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). 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.

   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. 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. 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.

Social cognitive perspective

   Social cognitive theory is a highly influential fusion of behavioural,
   cognitive and social elements that was initially developed by
   educational psychologist Albert Bandura. In its earlier,
   neo-behavioural 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 behavioural 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 self-efficacy. 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 behaviour.

   An experiment by Schunk and Hanson, 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
   behaviour. 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, analysing 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; and that teaching learning strategies can
   increase academic achievement.

Constructivist perspective

   Constructivism refers to a category of learning theories in which
   emphasis is placed on the agency and prior knowledge 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 learning
   theory, 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.

   Vygotsky's version of constructivist theory has led to the view that
   behaviour, skills, attitudes and beliefs are inherently situated, that
   is, bound to a specific sociocultural setting. According to this view,
   the learner is enculturated through social interactions within a
   community of practice. The social constructivist view of learning has
   spawned approaches to teaching and learning such as cognitive
   apprenticeship, in which the tacit components of a complex skill are
   made explicit through conversational interactions occurring between
   expert and novice in the setting in which the skill is embedded.

Motivation

   Motivation is an internal state that activates, guides and sustains
   behaviour. Educational psychology research on motivation is concerned
   with the volition or will that students bring to a task, their level of
   interest and intrinsic motivation, the personally held goals that guide
   their behaviour, and their belief about the causes of their success or
   failure.

   A form of attribution theory developed by Bernard Weiner describes how
   students' beliefs about the causes of academic success or failure
   affect their emotions and motivations. For example, when students
   attribute failure to lack of ability, and ability is perceived as
   uncontrollable, they experience the emotions of shame and embarrassment
   and consequently decrease effort and show poorer performance. In
   contrast, when students attribute failure to lack of effort, and effort
   is perceived as controllable, they experience the emotion of guilt and
   consequently increase effort and show improved performance.

   Motivational theories also explain how learners' goals affect the way
   that they engage with academic tasks. Those who have mastery goals
   strive to increase their ability and knowledge. Those who have
   performance approach goals strive for high grades and seek
   opportunities to demonstrate their abilities. Those who have
   performance avoidance goals are driven by fear of failure and avoid
   situations where their abilities are exposed. Research has found that
   mastery goals are associated with many positive outcomes such as
   persistence in the face of failure, preference for challenging tasks,
   creativity and intrinsic motivation. Performance avoidance goals are
   associated with negative outcomes such as poor concentration while
   studying, disorganized studying, less self-regulation, shallow
   information processing and test anxiety. Performance approach goals are
   associated with positive outcomes, and some negative outcomes such as
   an unwillingness to seek help and shallow information processing.

Research methodology

   The research methods used in educational psychology tend to be drawn
   from psychology and other social sciences. There is also a history of
   significant methodological innovation by educational psychologists, and
   psychologists investigating educational problems. Research methods
   address problems in both research design and data analysis. Research
   design informs the planning of experiments and observational studies to
   ensure that their results have internal, external and ecological
   validity. Data analysis encompasses methods for processing both
   quantitive (numerical) and qualitative (non-numerical) research data.
   Although, historically, the use of quantitative methods was often
   considered an essential mark of scholarship, modern educational
   psychology research uses both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Quantitative methods

   Test scores and other educational variables often approximate a normal
   distribution.
   Enlarge
   Test scores and other educational variables often approximate a normal
   distribution.

   Perhaps first among the important methodological innovations of
   educational psychology was the development and application of factor
   analysis by Charles Spearman. Factor analysis is mentioned here as one
   example of the many multivariate statistical methods used by
   educational psychologists. Factor analysis is used to summarize
   relationships among a large set of variables or test questions, develop
   theories about mental constructs such as self-efficacy or anxiety, and
   assess the reliability and validity of test scores. Over one hundred
   years after its introduction by Spearman, factor analysis has become a
   research staple figuring prominently in educational psychology
   journals.

   Because educational assessment is fundamental to most quantitative
   research in the field, educational psychologists have made significant
   contributions to the field of psychometrics. For example, alpha, the
   widely used measure of test reliability was developed by educational
   psychologist Lee Cronbach. The reliability of assessments are routinely
   reported in quantitative educational research. Although, originally,
   educational measurement methods were built on classical test theory,
   item response theory and Rasch models are now used extensively in
   educational measurement worldwide. These models afford advantages over
   classical test theory, including the capacity to produce standard
   errors of measurement for each score or pattern of scores on
   assessments and the capacity to handle missing responses.

   Meta-analysis, the combination of individual research results to
   produce a quantitative literature review, is another methodological
   innovation with a close association to educational psychology. In a
   meta-analysis, effect sizes that represent, for example, the
   differences between treatment groups in a set of similar experiments,
   are averaged to obtain a single aggregate value representing the best
   estimate of the effect of treatment. Several decades after Pearson's
   work with early versions of meta-analysis, Glass published the first
   application of modern meta-analytic techniques and triggered their
   broad application across the social and biomedical sciences. Today,
   meta-analysis is among the most common types of literature review found
   in educational psychology research.

Qualitative methods

   Qualitative methods are used in educational studies whose purpose is to
   describe events, processes and situations of theoretical significance.
   The qualitative methods used in educational psychology often derive
   from psycholinguistics, anthropology or sociology. For example, the
   anthropological method of ethnography has been used to describe
   teaching and learning in classrooms. In studies of this type, the
   researcher may gather detailed field notes as a participant observer or
   passive observer. Later, the notes and other data may be categorized
   and interpreted by methods such as grounded theory. Triangulation, the
   practice of cross-checking findings with multiple data sources, is
   highly valued in qualitative research.

   Case studies are forms of qualitative research focusing on a single
   person, organization, event, or other entity. In one case study,
   researchers conducted a 150-minute, semi-structured interview with a
   20-year old woman who had a history of suicidal thinking between the
   ages of 14 to 18. They analyzed an audio-recording of the interview to
   understand the roles of cognitive development, identity formation and
   social attachment in ending her suicidal thinking.

   Qualitative analysis is most often applied to verbal data from sources
   such as conversations, interviews, focus groups, and personal journals.
   Qualitative methods are thus, typically, approaches to gathering,
   processing and reporting verbal data. One of the most commonly used
   methods for qualitative research in educational psychology is protocol
   analysis. In this method the research participant is asked to think
   aloud while performing a task, such as solving a math problem. In
   protocol analysis the verbal data is thought to indicate which
   information the subject is attending to, but is explicitly not
   interpreted as an explanation or justification for behaviour. In
   contrast, the method of verbal analysis does admit learners'
   explanations as a way to reveal their mental model or misconceptions
   (e.g., of the laws of motion). The most fundamental operations in both
   protocol and verbal analysis are segmenting (isolating) and
   categorizing sections of verbal data. Conversation analysis and
   discourse analysis, psycholinguistic methods that focus more
   specifically on the structure of conversational interchange (e.g.,
   between a teacher and student), have been used to assess the process of
   conceptual change in science learning. Qualitative methods are also
   used to analyse information in a variety of media, such as students'
   drawings and concept maps, video-recorded interactions, and computer
   log records.

Applications in instructional design and technology

   Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives: categories in the cognitive
   domain
   Enlarge
   Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives: categories in the cognitive
   domain

   Instructional design, the systematic design of materials, activities
   and interactive environments for learning, is broadly informed by
   educational psychology theories and research. For example, in defining
   learning goals or objectives, instructional designers often use a
   taxonomy of educational objectives created by Benjamin Bloom and
   colleagues. Bloom also researched mastery learning, an instructional
   strategy in which learners only advance to a new learning objective
   after they have mastered its prerequisite objectives. Bloom discovered
   that a combination of mastery learning with one-to-one tutoring is
   highly effective, producing learning outcomes far exceeding those
   normally achieved in classroom instruction. Gagné, another
   psychologist, had earlier developed an influential method of task
   analysis in which a terminal learning goal is expanded into a hierarchy
   of learning objectives connected by prerequisite relations.
     * Intelligent tutoring system
     * Educational technology
     * John R. Anderson
     * Cognitive tutor
     * Cooperative learning
     * Collaborative learning
     * problem-based learning
     * Computer supported collaborative learning
     * William Winn

Applications in teaching

   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.
   Enlarge
   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.

   Research on classroom management and pedagogy is conducted to guide
   teaching practice and form a foundation for teacher education programs.
   The goals of classroom management are to create an environment
   conducive to learning and to develop students' self-management skills.
   More specifically, classroom management strives to create positive
   teacher-student and peer relationships, manage student groups to
   sustain on-task behaviour, and use counselling and other psychological
   methods to aid students who present persistent psychosocial problems.
     * Special education
     * Lesson plan

History

   William James
   Enlarge
   William James

   Educational psychology cannot claim priority in the systematic analysis
   of educational processes. Philosophers of education such as Democritus,
   Quintilian, Vives and Comenius, had examined, classified and judged the
   methods of education centuries before the beginnings of psychology in
   the late 1800s. Instead, aspirations of the new discipline rested on
   the application of the scientific methods of observation and
   experimentation to educational problems. Even in the earliest years of
   the discipline, educational psychologists recognized the limitations of
   this new approach. In his famous series of lectures Talks to Teachers
   on Psychology, published in 1899 and now regarded as the first
   educational psychology textbook, the pioneering American psychologist
   William James commented that:

     Psychology is a science, and teaching is an art; and sciences never
     generate arts directly out of themselves. An intermediate inventive
     mind must make that application, by using its originality.

   According to Berliner educational psychology theorists' attitude to the
   world of educational practice has shifted from initial interest to
   disdain, and eventually to respect.
     * Charles Hubbard Judd

   In 1912, Thorndike, who developed the theory of instrumental
   conditioning, presaged later work on programmed instruction, mastery
   learning and computer-based learning:

     If, by a miracle of mechanical ingenuity, a book could be so
     arranged that only to him who had done what was directed on page one
     would page two become visible, and so on, much that now requires
     personal instruction could be managed by print.

Influential educational psychologists and theorists

   The following persons were selected and featured in a recent
   biographical history of educational psychology as having made
   significant contributions to the field:
     * Albert Bandura 1925-
     * Alfred Binet 1857- 1911
     * Benjamin Bloom 1913- 1999
     * Ann Brown 1943- 1999
     * Jerome Bruner 1915-
     * Lee Cronbach 1916- 2001
     * John Dewey 1859- 1952
     * Nathaniel Gage 1917-
     * Robert Gagné 1916- 2002
     * William James 1842- 1910
     * Maria Montessori 1870- 1952
     * Jean Piaget 1896- 1980
     * Herbert Simon 1916– 2001
     * Burrhus Frederic Skinner 1904- 1990
     * Charles Spearman 1863- 1945
     * Lewis Terman 1877- 1956
     * Edward L. Thorndike 1874- 1949
     * Lev Semenovich Vygotsky 1896- 1934

Careers in educational psychology

Education and training

   A person may be considered an educational psychologist if he or she has
   completed a graduate degree in educational psychology or a closely
   related field. Universities establish educational psychology graduate
   programs in either psychology departments or, more commonly, faculties
   of education. Psychologists who work in a k-12 school setting are
   usually trained at either the masters or doctoral ( PhD or EdD) level.
   In addition to conducting assessments, school psychologists provide
   services such as academic and behavioural intervention, counseling,
   teacher consultation, and crisis intervention.

Employment outlook

   Employment for psychologists in the United States is expected to grow
   faster than most occupations through the year 2014, with anticipated
   growth of 18-26%. One in four psychologist are employed in educational
   settings. In the United States, the median salary for psychologists in
   primary and secondary schools is $58,360 as of May 2004.

   In recent decades the participation of women as professional
   researchers in North American educational psychology has risen
   dramatically. The percentage of female authors of peer-reviewed journal
   articles doubled from 1976 (24%) to 1995 (51%), and has since remained
   constant. Female membership on educational psychology journal editorial
   boards increased from 17% in 1976 to 47% in 2004. Over the same period,
   the proportion of chief editor positions held by women increased from
   22% to 70%.

Research journals

                                                           Journal Impact*
                                          Educational Psychologist    3.72
                                  Journal of the Learning Sciences    2.28
                               Learning and Individual Differences    2.17
                                    Review of Educational Research    1.96
                                 Journal of Educational Psychology    1.69
                                          Learning and Instruction    1.62
                 Journal of Educational and Behavioural Statistics    1.35
                                     Educational Psychology Review    1.23
                             American Educational Research Journal    1.10
                         British Journal of Educational Psychology    0.92
                                         Cognition and Instruction    0.80
                               Contemporary Educational Psychology    0.75
                                 Journal of Experimental Education    0.73
                                             Instructional Science    0.66
                                Journal of Educational Measurement    0.47
                                Educational Technology Res and Dev    0.20
                       European Journal of Psychology of Education    0.18
                        Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology    0.08
                         * Citations per article from 2004 ISI JCR

   Although not exhaustive, the table to the right lists peer-reviewed
   journals in educational psychology and related fields. The impact
   factor is the average number of citations per article in each journal.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_psychology"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
