Chapter 1: Education Psychology for Teachers

What is Foundation Of Education?

Foundations of education courses aim to develop in teachers and other school professionals such as administrators, counselors, and psychologists the ability to interpret knowledge within its historical, philosophical, cultural, and social contexts. The aim of interpretation is to produce clear normative and critical perspectives on education both within, and outside of, schools.

Chapter 1: Education Psychology for TeachersDescribe the improving status of teaching as a profession.- US senate proclaimed 1985 as the year of teacher- Increasing salaries to teacherSummarize the reports of several nation task forces that have recently studied education in the United States.- In 1980, US began to reassess the educational system at a national level to determine how well it was preparing students to contribute to society.The United States has a large and widely diverse school population. This diversity, which contributes to our strength as a nation, presents multifaceted problems to educators seeking complex solutions, such as Japan, cultural value are shared by the majority and conflicts rarely arise about how and what students should be taught in schools. Explore this important issue as you read on and identify the effects of language, culture, and curriculum on student learning.Criticisms of Teaching- Russian successes in the space race in the 1950s led the United States to reevaluate science education.- US nation has blamed its school for failing to prepared students to meet the demands of modern life.5. Education and the Economy- Identify factors that have contributed to criticism of educations that affect student achievement.Todays Students are tomorrows work force6. The Relationship Between School Conditions and Student learning- The failure to examine the possible effects may lead people to conclude that students fail either because:They cant learn or teachers cant teach- The conditions under which learning take place, however, may hinder student learning.- US teachers focus primarily on improving students cognitive skills, where as Japanese teachers focus on a broader array of student outcomes.Core standards of effective teachers Identified bythe National Board for Professional TeachingStandards. Effective Teacher:1. Are committed to students and their learning2. Know the subjects they teach and how to teach them3. Take responsibility for managing and monitoring student learning4. Think systematically about their practice and learn from experience5. Are members of learning communitiesThe Current Educational Reform Movement- Teachers are being asked to collaborate with their critics in making decisions about how to improve the schools.- Professional teachers are needed- Some knowledge comes from their experience and much comes from scientific research as well.- Combine scientific knowledge with clinical knowledgeTeachers as Professionals- Professionals are distinguished from others workers- Professional generally need support and time to plan, reflect on, and examine the problems that are unique to the field.Becoming a ProfessionalNotice, when you begin teaching, how old habits, derived from your experience as a student, emerge in your own teaching. One day you may hear the words of your third-grade teacher issuing from your own mouth.Teaching: Art or Science?Teaching involves intuition, spontaneity, artistry, and characteristics not usually regarded as scientificGood Teaching Skills- Good teachers probably use the same skills used by artists and scientists alike.

Teachers as Decision Makers and Problem Solvers- You can acquire many of the skills needed for good teaching only be aware of the findings of new research and being open to new ideas and thoughtful reflection.- Good teaching is multifaceted; you will be a decision maker and a mediator, as well as a problem solver, a communicator, and a learner. Cognition is the Scientific term for "the process of Thoughts". Usage of the term varies in different disciplines; for example in psychology and cognitive science, it usually refers to an information processing view of an individual's psychological function. Other interpretations of the meaning of cognition link it to the development of concepts; individual minds, groups, and organizations.

The Cognitive Revolution- Cognitive processes refers to mental activity such as attending, perceiving, thinking, remembering, problem solving, decision making, and creativity.- Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, showed that children actively use their cognitive processes to construct their understanding of the word, their initial cognitive processes differ from those of adults.- Many psychologists saw parallels between how information is processed by computers and how it is processed by human mind.The Explosion of Cognitive Research- Cognitive research addresses many topics of critical importance to teachers, including thinking, concept formation, comprehension, and problem solving.- Cognitive research will help teachers to teach more competently and students to learn more effectively.Curriculum Changes in U.S. School- A curriculum represents the body of knowledge that a society deems valuable.- The curriculum of schools in United States has centered on traditional Western ideas.- Curriculum content has important ramifications because what students learn often determines how well they learn.Fantini (1986) has suggested the following principle forthe U.S education to govern:A) all students can learn under the right conditionsB) students must have choice among educationally sound optionC) students possess various kinds of intelligences and talentsD) students motivation is increased if they have some control over their own fate Chapter 2: Learning: The Major Focus of Educational PsychologyThe Study of Learning- How changes in behavior occurChanges in Behavior as a Function of LearningSome changes occur as a result of maturation, or normal growthLearning refer to changes in an individual due to experience- No single theory adequately explains how all learning takes place yet.Approaches to the Study of Learning- Not all learning occurs in school- Children know how to understand and use language, they can perform many motor skills, and they often understand a wide variety of concepts.Behavioral and Cognitive Approaches : Contrasting Views- Behaviorists attempt to explain learning in terms of how events in the environment affect behavior.Ex: Behaviorists would claim that Jamal learned to give the correct answer because he had been positively reinforced for doing so.- Cognitivists attempt to explain learning in terms of how people think.Ex: Cognitivists would claim that Jamal learned because he had actively placed the correct response in his memory.Philosophical Differences Between Behaviorism and Cognitivism- Empiricists believe that a person can acquire knowledge only about thing that can be experienced by means of the senses of sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste.- Rationalists believe that we learn because of our ability to interpret events occurring in the environment.

I. The behavior Approach to learningBehaviorism is the most ambitious approach to learning in that it tries to account for how all learning occurs.- Behaviorists refuse to consider intervening mental processes, such as paying attention, that are not directly observable.-Introspection: is a method in which persons participating in a psychological experiment attempt to analyze their own thought process while they complete various experimental tasks.

Behaviorists use the concept of conditioning to explain how learning occurs.Behaviorists rely on two kinds of conditioning to account for learning : Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning- Classical conditioning: The process by one learns to make a familiar response to a new stimulus+ Responses are controlled by stimuli that occur before the response is made- Operant conditioning: Learning occurred and behavior changed+ Responses are controlled by stimuli that occur after the response is made

Reinforcers- Stimuli occurring after a response are called reinforcers. A reinforcers may be received as pleasant or unpleasant by the learner.+ Do not assume that what is pleasant or desirable to one student will be desirable to another.Positive Reinforcement- Positive reinforcement is the presentation of a pleasant stimulus following the occurrence of a response. Punishment- Punishment is the presentation of an unpleasant stimulus following a response.Extinction- Involves removing a pleasant stimulus that previously followed a response.Negative Reinforcement- Negative reinforcement refers to a method of increasing behavior through the removal of an unpleasant stimulus following a response.Extinction and negative reinforcement involve removing stimuli to change behavior.Positive reinforcement and punishment involve introducing stimuli to change behavior.Figure 2.1Outcomes resulting from presenting or removingpleasant and unpleasant stimuli

ActionType of stimuli presented removed

PleasantPositive ReinforcementExtinctionUnpleasantPunishmentNegative ReinforcementStimulus Discrimination and Stimulus Generalization- Stimulus Discrimination is the process by which individuals learn that a particular response is appropriate in the presence of some stimuli, but not in the presence of others.- Stimulus Generalization is the process by which people learn to make the same response in the presence of more than one stimulusShaping- Shaping is the process of teaching a new behavior by reinforcing behaviors that become closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.Computer-Assisted Instruction(CAI)- Sometimes CAI can be solitary and discourages students from working together- CAI is better suited for drill and practice than for building concepts and promoting comprehensionControversial Issues Concerning BehaviorismCognitive psychologists argue that behaviorism does not fully address a number of critical issues concerning human learning.

Qualitative Changes in learning- Psychological studies of human growth and development have produced convincing evidence that certain qualitative changes occur in the way individuals learn as they age.Differences Between Animal and Human Learning- Human beings have the ability to use language and exhibit a far greater degree of judgment and reasoning than pigeons and rats.Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation- Teachers need to strike a balance regarding use of Extrinsic and intrinsic forms of motivation.The use of rewards to motivate students is called Extrinsic Motivation.The use of self-motivation to teach students what is the right thing to do is called Intrinsic Motivation.Individual Differences- Teachers are well aware that what students learn may vary from student to student, even when students have exposed to the same environment.Behaviorists claim that students who are placed in the same learning situation may respond differently because each student has a different set of previous experiences.Cognitivists argue that previous experiences are stored in memory and that even the same event is remember differently by different people.

II. The Cognitive Approach to Learning- Cognition is a term used to describe all of our mental processes, such as perception, memory, and judgment.There are two major approaches to the study of thinking : The cognitive-developmental model and the information-processing model.The Cognitive-Developmental Modal- The Cognitive-Developmental Modal focuses on changes that occur in how people think as they progress from infancy though childhood and adolescence and ultimately into adulthood.

People go through a sequence of four qualitatively different stages of thinking1. Infants acquire knowledge based on the sensory experiences of sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.2. Preschoolers progress to the stage of acquiring knowledge of the world though their perception of their own experiences in the world.3. Old children begin to apply the rules of logic to understand how the world work.4. Adolescents and adults progress to the stage where they can apply logic to hypothetical as well as the real situation.The Information-Processing Model- Uses the way a computer works as a way of understanding how the human mind works. A Computer takes in input, processes it, and produces out put.The human mind takes in information (sensory experience), processes it(think), and produces out put ( behavior).According to the Information-Processing theory, students learn most effectively when they can relate new knowledge to what they already know.

III. The Social Learning Approach- Social learning theory, which is called observational learning, focuses on how we learn by observing the behavior of others.To understand the linkage, however, it is first necessary to distinguish the concepts of learning and performance.Learning and Performance- People can learn to do many things without actually doing them.According to the social learning approach, people learn by observing and modeling the behavior of others.The Role of Reinforcement in Social Learning Theory- Reinforcement severs a motivational role.Vicarious learning occurs when people learn as a result of observing someone else being reinforced.Effective ModelsA models effectiveness depends on the degree to which the learner is motivated to learn.1. Retention PhaseDuring the retention phase, learners encode the observed behavior in memory using verbal cues, mental images, or a combination of both.2. Reproduction PhaseDuring the reproduction Phase, learners actually attempt to perform the behavior.3. Attention PhaseThe attention phase consists of two parts: getting learners attention and maintaining it.- To get students attention, provide a stimulus that is more noticeable than the other stimuli in the classroom.- To maintain students attention, you need to provide them with sufficient incentive to attend.4. Motivation PhaseDuring this phase learners decide whether or not to perform the behavior they have learnt.IV. The Humanist Approach to Learning It focuses on the affective or emotional components of learning; its goals is to help students develop as independent learners and emotionally healthy individuals.- Humanist educators attempt to build students self esteem by using values clarification and teaching without grading.Chapter 3: The cognitive Developmental Model

Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget became internationally known for his pioneering studies of the mental development of children. Piaget defined four discrete stages of cognitive development through which a child passes. Sensorimotor, Preoperations, Concrete Operation, and Formal Operations.Sensorimotor StageDuring the sensorimotor stage, infants explore their environments, seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling the objects around them.

Infants at this stage develop the concept of Object Permanence or the understand that Object continue to exist even though they may not be visible at the moment.

Newborn Baby Newborns can see, hear, taste, smell, and feel pain; vision is the least developed sense at birth but improves rapidly in the first months. Crying communicates their need for food, comfort, or stimulation. Newborns also have reflexes for sucking, swallowing, grasping, and turning their head in search of their mothers nipple.

Developmental Milestones in Infancy Infants develop motor skills in a highly predictable sequence, but they differ in the age at which they achieve these skills. The bars in this chart show the age span at which most children reach a particular developmental milestone. Some children will attain these milestones earlier or later than the ranges shown.

Physical Growth, Birth to 2Human beings grow faster in infancy than at any other time of life. On average, infant boys are slightly taller and heavier than infant girls. Growth charts like these help health-care providers assess whether physical growth is proceeding normally. Percentiles indicate the percentage of the population a specific individual would equal or exceed. For example, a one-year-old girl whose weight is at the 10th percentile weighs the same or more than only 10 percent of girls the same age.Preoperations StageDuring this stage, children become better and better at using language to represent objects and events symbolically.- The egocentric thinking of preoperational children affects the way they interact socially.- The egocentric thinking also affect the way in which children play.- The egocentric thinking is consistent with a pattern of magical thinking common in preoperations.Because of egocentrism, preoperational children have difficulty differentiating between their dreams and reality.

Children become interested in mirror images around 6 months of age. Beginning at 15 to 18 months, toddlers understand they are looking at a reflection of themselves. The girl in this photograph is 21 months old.

Self-Awareness

Concrete Operations StageChildren remain at the concrete operational stage of cognitive development during most of elementary school- Children can classify objects according to various abstract characteristics.- Children can engage in seriation arranging objects in a logical order.- Children also understand transitivity and conservation.

During middle childhood, from about ages 6 to 12, friendships become closer and more exclusive. Children develop a small circle of friends and begin to rely on them for companionship, advice, and understanding of social relationships. Acceptance by peers becomes important to children and to their self-esteem.Friends Reading Together Formal Operations StagePeople can apply logical to abstract and hypothetical situation.At this stage, students can answer questions such as, what might have happened if the Germans and Japanese had won World War II?

Piagets Influence on Educational Thinking in theUnited StatePiagets work did not fit into the behaviorist approach that dominated at that time.Piagets work began to attract attention in the United State because of an accident of history.Criticisms and ControversiesPsychologists began to lose interest in Piagets theory because of some valid criticisms.No Explanation of how people move from state to stage.TransitionPeople seem to be in transition longer than the stages.

Piagets theory does not account for individual differences.Retarded and nonretarded children ,both groups, performed similarly Piagets theory failed to provide guidelines for accelerating children cognitive development.He believed children would move to higher stages when they were develop mentally ready. Piaget has contributed to educational practice by demonstrating that learners:Construct their own knowledgeMust be activeGo through a process of equilibration andGo through distinct stages of cognitive development

Vygotskys Approach to Cognitive DevelopmentDevelopment and Learning- Piaget believed that development precede learning.- Vygotsky believed that development and learning influence each other.The Role of Society in Cognitive Development-Both Piaget and Vygotsky believed that children construct their own knowledge: maturation, experience and social interaction.- Bruner(1987) notes that Piaget minimizes the role of the teacher. Therefore, children have the job of trying to understand the world by themselves.- Vygotsky believe that humans are biological beings living in a society.Elementary Processes and Higher Mental Functions-Vygotsky believe that biological maturation accounts for elementary processes in cognitive development.- Children develop higher mental functions by internalizing the values and knowledge of their culture.- Children self-talk, or inner speech, is part of the process of building higher mental functions.- Vygotsky believed that teachers and school, along with the family, play a pivotal role in childrens cognitive development.Vygotskys Theory and EducationZone of Proximal Development- Vygotsky claimed this phenomenon occurs because peoples cognitive processes function differently at the individual and group levels.- Ask questions or give suggestion that move students toward their potential levels of development.- Create collaborate learning situations in which students guide each other.Scaffolding- Scaffolding refers to support and guidance adults give as a child attempts to solve problems beyond his or her current knowledge.-Engage students in active learning by presenting in an implicit rather than explicit way.Language- Vygotsky believed that people with highly developed language skills can perform complex tasks that nonliterate people cant because literate people use language as a tool to mediate between a task and the performer of a task.

Vygotskys Contribution to Educational Thinking in the United States- Vygotskys theory stresses the active role that adults play in guiding children- In both Piagets and Vygotskys approaches, the role of the teacher is to facilitate learning, not to transmit information.- Vygotsky tells us that learners internalize knowledge most efficiently when other, such as teachers, parents, or peers guide and assist them.Gallimore and Tharp (1990) have identified six ways you can help students learn.1. Modal a behavior so that students can imitate it.2. Reward students for behaving in desired ways.3. Give students feedback about their performance and allow them to revise or improve it.4. Provide students with information they need to learn.5. Ask questions that require students to actively formulate a response.6. Provide students with a cognitive structure for organizing and understanding new knowledge.Bruners Approach to Cognitive DevelopmentStages of Development- Bruner believes that people go through three stages of cognitive development: Enactive stage, Iconic stage, and Symbolic stage.Discovery Learning- To foster the discovery of structures, encourage students to make intelligent guess based on available evidence.- Use the technique of guided discovery, in which you create situations that help students induce ideas and uncover relationships.The Spiral Curriculum- To study a topic or lesson within the context of information they have learned in the meantime.Motivation- Like Piaget, Bruner emphasizes active learning. Students learn best by doing.The Constructivist Approach- The term constructivism takes the position that learners actively construct their own knowledge.Making School Learning Relevant-To demonstrate the relevance of the material to students, teacher must know the relevance of itself