2.1 Introduction
While education has not always been a formal social institution, individuals have long been concerned with how members of society learn and are taught. This is the basis of educational psychology, and it dates back to the famous Greek philosophers: Plato and Aristotle. As the field of educational psychology began some years ago, practitioners studied these great works, in order to better understand the role of the teacher and the unique relationship that he or she has with the student. This soon evolved into a study of teaching methods, in an attempt to determine which are effective and which are not.
What affects the learning process and the order in which things are typically learnt have also been closely examined throughout time. While educational psychology has probably always been a subject of human discussion, its roots date back to the 1500's. This is when Juan Luis Vives, a Spanish humanist, began to emphasise the value of practice and how teachers need to tap into the interests of their students, in order to adapt instructional techniques that individualise learning differences. It seems that we forget that formalised schooling has been around for centuries. By learning from those in the field in those early days, today's educators can better anticipate how students learn, based on the instructional methodologies that they employ in the classroom. That is the scope and function of this module.
Activity 1: Exploring ancient philosophical thought and its impact on education
Estimated time: 15 minutes
Consider all that you know or have learned about Aristotle and Plato. Why do you think that their teachings are still talked about at such length today?
What do you think that today's teachers can learn from studying the principles taught by these two ancient philosophers?
Do you think that their teachings still have relevance to the field of education today?
Why or why not?
2.2 A Brief History of Educational Psychology
As already mentioned, we have long been interested in discovering how people best learn. It is through this discovery that teachers uncover the best practices to implement in their classroom. This is actually nothing new. In fact, much of the techniques employed by teachers in today's schools are deep-rooted in history, dating back hundreds and even thousands of years. For example It was Juan Luis Vives who first wrote about the many benefits of using self-comparisons in the classroom, as opposed to creating a competitive environment, when evaluating the work completedby students. This was a revolutionary breakthrough for the time and one that is still discussed atlength within the field of educational psychology today.
By the 1600s, visual aids were being widely used in educational circles. It was Johann Amos Comenius, a theologian and teacher from the Czech region of Europe, who first introduced the notion that teachers need to focus more on helping their students to actually understand the material being taught, as opposed to merely memorising it. He went so far as to proclaim that this needs to be the goal of teaching, a concept that educators across the globe have now embraced for centuries. Even great European philosophers throughout history have been credited with impacting the field of educational psychology.
Some of the more notable philosophers include:
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
-Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827)
-Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841)
-Friedrich Wilhelm August Froebel (1782-1852)
Each of these individuals placed a high value on incorporating activities and prior experience withinthe construct of teaching. These are all principles that closely align with modern ideas and work being conducted within the field of educational psychology today. The Evolution of Educational Psychology in the West Remember that psychology is a discipline that examines how people think and develop. This practice has long been interchangeably linked with the practice of teaching in England. In fact, it is not a stretch to make the claim that education and psychology have been joined together, since formalised schooling began in this country.
1890 was the year in which William James, an American philosopher, implemented his series of lectures entitled 'Talks to Teachers on Psychology'. These talks were taken to teachers and were even published in an 1899 edition of Atlantic Monthly. This would be the basis for a Western movement in education that supported discussion-based classrooms that made use of projects, activities and labs. Also emphasised during this time was writing, drawing and the use of concrete materials, as a primary source of instructional methodology.
Further evidence that education and psychology were destined to be two linked disciplines can be seen in the fact that G. Stanley Hall was the first president of the American Psychology Association. Hall was a student of William James and he would go on to ask teachers across the country to help him collect and analyse data aimed at helping to better understand the world of the child. This would morph into the child-study movement that would later help better explain how children and adolescents learn. Hall further continued to encourage teachers to begin to observe the development of their children. Through these studies, much was learned over time that enhanced the quality of instruction taking place in the classroom. It was these early observations that have largely influenced the scope of education and its various practices throughout the Western world.
2.3 The Concept of Transfer within Teaching
Edward Lee Thorndike is largely credited with writing the first text based on the notion of educational psychology. He did so in 1903, and that one book led to the founding of the Journal of Educational Psychology in 1910. It is through his writings that we uncover the idea of transfer within the field of teaching. It was out of the development that Thorndike developed a means for educators to better teach the essential disciplines of reading and maths. He also created a series of scales that enabled teachers to better gauge the progress of their students in various areas, such as handwriting, drawing and English composition.
History also reveals that Thorndike was the first educational psychologist to support a scientific movement within the field of education. This was an effort to shift teaching methodology towards one that focuses more on evidence based on observation or experience and sound measurement. Thorndike's work actually stalled at this point because he had neither the means nor the desire to actually analyse his research within a practical setting, such as the classroom. It was not until the late 1950's that the United States decided to approve funding, to analyse the effects of teaching and learning within the classroom. That has been largely credited with providing the springboard that educational psychologists needed, in order to push forward their progressive ideas.
As a prime example of this reality, consider how students read. The best practices in regards toteaching a child how to read have been debated for decades. However, it is only recently that educational psychologists have made notable progress in determining the best approach for a specific child. Some educators advocate phonics-based learning, while others utilise a more whole-language and literature-based approach. It has been concluded that various children will learn at their own pace and in their own way.
2.4 Assessments of Intelligence
France also contributed greatly to the early days of educational psychology. It was Alfred Binet that began to study the assessment of intelligence. It was his goal to develop aprocedure that could more effectively identify students who might be in need of a more specialised education. This was seen as a way of protecting students who came from poor families and, as such, would beforced to leave school altogether, if they could not learn fast enough.
By creating a different track for these learners, they would get the individualised attention that they needed, in the absence of a solid support network at home. By 1908, Binet had developed a total of fifty-eight different tests. There were several developed for every age group of school-aged children, from three to thirteen years of age. This was an effort to provide the assessment administrator with enough information to determine the mental age of a child. This was a breakthrough in educational psychology because it was hoped that this information would assist the classroom teacher in reaching each child individually, according to his or her own ability.
This led on to the concept of the intelligence quotient, something that is still widely used in educational circles today. In fact, the Stanford-Binet test has been revised four times, with the foundation of the tool remaining the same to this very day.
Fact
Up until the 20th century,
education often focused on the teaching of the classics. The main focus was on
learning ancient Greek and Latin languages. Based on the research conducted by
Thorndike, it was revealed that these subjects did little to exercise the minds
of students and went against the modern principles of learning. As a result,
the number of schools requiring that the classics be studied has dramatically
decreased in the past fifty years.
Source: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
2.5 The Development of Thinking - Jean Piaget
Binet influenced many 20th century psychologists, including former student Jean Piaget. It was Piaget who became fascinated not with the correct answer, but rather the wrong responses that children gave to the tasks assigned by Binet.He would spend more than thirty years of his professional career developing a model that would end up describing the foundation to these wrong answers and what kind of thinking brought a child to that point.
This would serve as the framework for explaining how individuals both gather and then organise new information. It was Jean Piaget who came up with the theory of cognitive development, an idea that is widely used by educators today, in order to better understand the unique nature of every child in their classroom. This theory is largely centred on the notion that each individual in this world attempts to understandthe world by actively creating their knowledge base via direct experiences with objects, ideas and people. This leads to a process of maturation, activity, social interaction and equilibrium that impacts the development of each child.
Piaget's theory advanced the idea that children and adolescents go through four distinct stages during their period of cognitive development:
-Sensorimotor
-Preoperational
-Concrete operational
-Formal operational
This would be ground-breaking work in the area of educational psychology, particularly in the areas of maths and science. It was a historical model of instructional methodology that is still widely used by educators today. By better understanding the specific stages of development that most people go through, educators are better able to identify students in their classroom who might require a bit of extra attention. There are also numerous other implications in regards to the field of educational psychology that this one theory has initiated.
2.6 The Establishment of Bloom's Taxonomy
If you talk to anyone in the field of education today, they will probably be very familiar with Bloom's taxonomy. This was yet another development in educational psychology that has greatly impacted classroom instruction. It was the result of more than a decade of work undertaken by Benjamin Bloom in the 1950s-1960s. The interesting aspect of his project is that it is the first ever that largely impacted all levels ofeducation, from early childhood to graduate level, in all regions of the world. It was the first step in making the principles covered by educational psychology truly accessible and meaningful to everyone.
Bloom began by dividing objectives into three distinct domains: cognitive, affective and psychomotor. As assessments are developed, these three domains should be taken into account, in order to encourage age appropriate thinking and comprehension. Each of the objectives that were developed were eventually published in a detailed handbook that Bloom himself created. Since that time, literally hundreds of articles have been written about Bloom's taxonomy that are of immense benefit to educators around the world. They are used not only by teachers but also by test developers and curriculum designers.
2.7 The Movement towards Contemporary Thinking in Educational Psychology
It was in the 1960's that educational psychologists throughout the Western world began to work in earnest, in order to develop sound, research-based approaches to teaching. It was these approaches that would end up forming the basis for much of the focus of today'seducators. Many credit Jerome Bruner and his research as being the springboard into a more contemporary approach to educational psychology. Bruner spent much of his professional career examining and attempting to better understand the exact nature of the subject that was being studied. This was a radical shift from earlier approaches, as Bruner viewed active learning as essential in being able to truly understand. This also led him to highlight the value that inductive reasoning brought to the overall learning process.
This mindset led to the belief that students needed to first become active in the identification of key principles on their own, as opposed to merely relying on the teacher's explanations. This would encourage educators to shift their instructional methodology to move from the existing teacher- centred classroom to one that was more focused on the student. For their part, today's teachers are being asked to provide their students with a variety of situations that encourage them to solve problems via a process of questioning, exploration and experimentation. This is now referred to as discovery learning.
2.8 Behavioural Views of Learning
Another influential psychologist in this field is B F Skinner. It was his research on operant conditioning that illustrated certain voluntary behaviours could be changed via the introduction of various consequences and/or rewards. His early work would actuallyfocus on the consequences of an action, in an attempt to see if punishment was a stronger motivating factor on behaviour than possible rewards.
Within a historical context, the result of Skinner's research was ground-breaking. This was true in regards to the psychology profession in which he was involved, but the implications were also profound in regards to the field of education. In fact, educators continue to apply Skinner's principles of reinforcement and punishment within the classroom today, in an attempt to alter behaviour and produce a more desirable outcome. The interesting aspect of Skinner's theory is that it can be applied in both a general and special education setting. For that, educational psychologists have been grateful for most of the past half century.
2.9 Cognitive and Constructivist Theories of Learning
Not all educational psychologists adhere to a behaviourist way of thinking. Remember that theories are just that - they are not fact, and they cannot be proven to be effective in every situation. Therefore, educational psychology has also evolved in terms of how educators view the cognitive development of their students. Teachers who employ a cognitive approach will see their students as active learners, each one of whom will initiate their own experiences and attempt to glean information, in an attempt to solve problems. In doing so, it should be the goal of the classroom teacher to facilitate students in their attempts to reorganise what they have already learnt, to enable them to achieve new insights.
This is the essence of learning, and it is the contemporary approach put into effect by many educational psychologists today. Instructional strategies employed today as a result of cognitive research include summarising, planning, note-taking and organising. The constructivist approach to learning and teaching has also become increasingly important today. This has resulted in an increased focus on more elaborate, complex and challenging learning environments that are meant to stimulate the mind. This is also an approach whereby content is delivered in multiple ways, in order to maximise the learning potential of each student in the classroom. This shift in educational psychology throughout the years has resulted in a much more student- centred approach to education.
Activity 2: Assessing multiple intelligences
Estimated time: 15 minutes
Take a look at Dr. Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. What are they?
Where do you feel you lie on the spectrum?
Pick three different intelligences, and explain how you could meet all three with a specific learning activity in your classroom. How will you measure the success of the lesson, and how will you ensure that no child is left behind because they learn in a way that is not represented by these three intelligences?
Fact
While it is true that girls around the world are less likely to begin school, boys are more likely to repeat years or to drop out of school altogether.
Source: DoSomething.org
2.10 The Function of Motivation in Education
Throughout the history and evolution of educational psychology, much has been written about the role that motivation plays in the student learning process. It is now viewed by most that motivation is the fuel that gives strength to the classroom environment. Out of this has been born several different and distinct theories of motivation, as they relate to education. Behavioural psychologists focus a great deal on incentives and rewards. A reward is given, when appropriate behaviour is modelled within the classroom setting. Even our modern day grading system can be seen as a form of reward, as there are anticipated consequences of getting a good mark on an assignment or in school overall. While it may be true for many that extrinsic rewards are a motivating factor in the learning process, educators today are pushing for the promotion of intrinsic motivation. The Evolution of Intelligence
The notion of intelligence has been discussed for quite some time now. In fact, Plato discussed thisvery topic at length, more than 2,000 years ago. Most of the early theories of intelligence involved the following: the capacity to learn, the total amount of knowledge that an individual has acquired, an individual's ability to successfully adapt to a unique situation and the overall environment in which they reside.
It was in the 20th century that intelligence began to be discussed more openly throughout the field of education. Strangely enough, there are about as many different views regarding intelligence as there are psychologists. To illustrate this point, a symposium on intelligence in 1986 had twenty-four different psychologists each presenting a divergent view of intelligence. Many believe that higher level thinking processes are critical components of intelligence. These include abstract reasoning, problem solving and decision making. However, most professionals continue to disagree regarding the exact nature of intelligence.
Multiple Intelligences
The most widely accepted viewpoint in this field today is given by Dr. Howard Gardner. A professor at Harvard University, USA, Gardner has developed his own theory of multiple intelligences. This is considered to be the most widely regarded theory amongst educators today, as it emphasises the importance of understanding that each child in a classroom is a unique learner. Educators should consider the multiple intelligences, as they design their own instructional methodology.
As it is believed that each child learns in a slightly different way to everyone else in the class, it is the teacher who can incorporate as many different intelligences into their instruction who is probably going to be the most successful in the end. There are also vast differences between levels of ability in today's schools. It can be challenging for a teacher to reach every child in the classroom, particularly when one is achieving particularly high marks, while another is struggling to even read. It is obvious that the field of teaching needs to change, in order to meet the challenges head on.
Historically, social promotion was viewed as a way in which to keep children together with their peers. The hope was that this would push them to excel at some point in their academic career. However, that has largely been viewed as a failure, given the relatively narrow scope of the formal education system. It is now largely up to the teacher, to identify students who need differentiated instruction and then to work on ways in which to meet those needs accordingly.
Module Summary
Educational psychology continues to evolve as a discipline. For the most part, how individuals learn is still a mystery. It is important to continue with our efforts to gauge instructional practices, in an attempt to better provide young people with the knowledge and information that they need, in order to be successful in the modern world. This means that the face of education is changing. The way in which people learnt a century ago is definitely different from how they learn today. As such, the field of educational psychology must be viewed in a fluid and ever-changing manner. The history of educational psychology reveals where we have come from, where we are today and where we are heading in the future. It is important to never lose sight of the function of education, which is to teach young people the values and concepts that they need, in order to be better citizens. However, how that transpires is a function of the entire learning process. If history has revealed anything, it is that humans are unique creatures, with no two exactly alike. The educator who can understand this and adapt accordingly is likely to be the one that is best suited for transforming the learning process and, along with it, the child.
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