Learning, Teaching, and Educational Psychology

1. Learning, Teaching, and Educational Psychology Chapter 1

2. The Role of Psychology in Education • Learning and Teaching Today • What is Good Teaching? • The Role of Educational Psychology • Preview: Theories for Educational Psychology • Diversity and Convergences

3. What Would You Do? • Read “What Would You Do?” on p. 3 • What would you do to help all your students to progress and prepare for the testing? • How would you use the intern so that both she and your students learn? • How could you involve the families of your non-English speaking students and students with learning disabilities to support their children’s learning?

4. Big Questions • Who are the students in today’s classrooms? • What is the No Child Left Behind Act? • Does teaching matter? • What is good teaching? • What are the greatest concerns of beginning teachers? • Why should I study educational psychology? • What roles to theory and research play in this field? • Describe three families of theories explaining learning and development and three issues that run through these theories.

5. Learning and Teaching • Dramatic Diversity: Students Today • Have many different backgrounds • Come from diverse families • Face difficult challenges • Many have disabilities • Teachers are less diverse • 91% are white

6. No Child Left Behind • Reauthorization of Elementary and Secondary School Act of 1965 • All students in grades 3-8 must take standardized tests once per year • All students must take one standardized test in high school • AYP- Adequate Yearly Progress • Schools must report results separately for groups such as minorities and students with disabilities

7. Do Teachers Make a Difference? • Teacher-Student Relationships • “The association between the quality of early teacher-child relationships and later school performance can be both strong and persistent” • The Cost of Poor Teaching • Less effective teaching can contribute to lower academic gains

8. What is good teaching? • A science, or an art? Are teachers sages on stages or guides on the side? • Teachers must be knowledgeable and inventive • Use a range of strategies • Use research-based strategies for managing classes • Flexibility • Knowledgeable about your students

9. Beginning Teachers • Concerns • Classroom management • Motivating students • Accommodating students with differences • Evaluating student work • Dealing with parents • Getting along with other teachers • Difference between new and experienced teacher: • New teacher- “How am I doing?” • Experienced teacher- “How are the students doing?” • Educational psychology provides new teachers the foundation they need

10. Role of Educational Psychology • Educational Psychology and teaching • Began with early educators and psychologists observing children in classrooms • Educational Psychology today • Research on teaching and learning • Child/adolescent development • Motivation • Others?

11. Educational Psychology • Is it just common sense? • How do we find answers to many of our most pressing challenges in the classroom? • Often, we rely on common sense responses that may not serve students well. • Educational psychology is a field dedicated to the scientific study of teaching and learning.

12. Using Research • Descriptive Studies • Survey results • Interview responses • Video or audio of classroom interactions • Correlation Studies • Ask: what is the relation between two variables?

13. Using Research • Experimental Studies • Random assignment • Cause and effect • Single-Subject Experimental Designs • Examines the impact of an intervention • Microgenetic Studies • Study cognitive processes in the midst of change

14. Using Research • The role of time in research • Short term observations • Longitudinal studies • Teachers as researchers • Action research (problem-solving investigation)

15. Using Scientific Research • NCLB- educational programs and practices receiving federal funds must be based on “scientific research” • Observations or experiments • Valid and reliable data • Clearly described and repeatable • Must be peer reviewed

16. Theories for Teaching • Theory: “an interrelated set of concepts that is used to explain a body of data and to make predictions about the results of future experiments” • Principles and theories are both useful- • Principles will help you with specific problems • Theories will provide new ways of thinking about problems

17. Theory Preview • Jean Piaget • ‘Natural’ cognitive development • Lev Vygotsky • Sociocultural Theory • Sigmund Freud • Dream analysis, sex and aggression • Erik Erikson • Psychosocial theory

18. Contextual Theories • Lev Vygotsky- • Zone of proximal development • Development within the context of human interaction • Urie Bronfenbrenner- • Bioecological model for development • Many diverse contexts for development

19. Diversity and Convergences • Students are increasingly diverse, while teachers remain primarily white and middle class. • Diverse approaches to research can address a variety of problems. • No Child Left Behind seeks to close the gap between high achieving and low achieving students. Is it working? If not, how would you fix it?