Meaning of Educational Psychology.
Aspects of Educational Psychology
Importance of Educational Psychology for the
Teacher
PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION
 Educational psychology is derived from two major concepts
education and psychology.
 Psychology provides explanation of the general idea about
behavior.
 Education’s major concern is practice. These practices are based
on the general idea or laws formulated by psychology.
 Educational psychology focuses on teaching and learning. The
focus is on assessment and other aspects related to teaching and
learning.
 Educational psychology facilitates the work of the teacher by
solving teaching problems, and guides the teacher on what to do
and how to do.
Educational Psychology
is the scientific discipline
that addresses the questions
“Why do some students learn
more than others?”
and
“What can be done to improve
that learning?”
WHERE IS EP APPLIED?
 Educational Psychology is applied in the following major areas:
 Curriculum plan and design
 Educational and school leadership
 Educational measurement and evaluation
 Classroom management.
 Educational research.
 Classroom management
 Teaching methods, materials in designing and using.
 School guidance and counseling
 Planning lessons
(
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY…
is a branch of psychology that
specializes in understanding
teaching and learning in
educational settings.
ASPECTS OF EDUCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY
 Therefore,
As educational psychology focuses
on teaching and learning it logically
means that it includes the learner,
the learning process, the teacher
and the teaching process.
THE LEARNER
 The learner is the target in teaching and learning process. Therefore, he must be
understood by the teacher or by the educator to device effective strategies of
teaching to involve the learner into effective learning process.
 Characteristics of a learner to be understood by the teacher are:
 Behavior of the learner related to age. This is studied in child development
 The learner's personality
 Physical characteristics (strong, weak, disability)
 Mental ability and mental health.
 Emotional characteristics
 Social characteristics affecting learning (family, peer relations etc.)
 Moral characteristics.
THE LEARNING PROCESS
The teacher should understand how the learner
learns. This includes all the activities included in and
experiences encouraged in school.
Children learn through observation,
experimentation, manipulation of objects, acting,
listening, asking, imitating etc.
These mode of learning are sustained by teachers
or adult’s motivation, encouragement and
challenges.
(More about this on learning approaches)
THE TEACHING PROCESS
 Teaching is the process of facilitating students’ learning by putting
the learner into the most conducive environment for learning,
guiding, supporting, instructing, giving good treatment , understand
and help students to solve problems, planning lesson plans,
encouraging, leading, observing etc.
 It is generally accepted that by understanding the learner and the
learning process, the teacher will be able to organize effective
teaching.
 Psychology helps the teacher to understand his/her roles and
responsibilities, develop decision making, abilities, ability to choose
teaching strategies and materials.
THE TEACHER
 Is the one who facilitates learning.
 Helps others to gain experience, acquire knowledge and skills
 Measure students’ learning.
 Correcting students’ learning.
 Psychology will help the teacher to understand :
o His/her attitude about learning,
o Children
o Professional responsibilities
o How to behave.
o How to interact with students.
o How to improve his/her knowledge and understanding in teaching subjects and
children as well..
REFLECTION & OBSERVATION
Reflection:
 What were the characteristics of the
most effective teachers in your
educational experience?
EFFECTIVE TEACHING
PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
Teachers Must Exhibit:
• Subject matter competence
• Classroom management skills that create an
optimal learning environment
• Instructional planning skills
• Goal-setting
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EFFECTIVE TEACHING
PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
Teachers Must Exhibit:
• Ability to encourage student motivation:
provide real-world learning opportunities that allow
students to think creatively and deeply about
projects
• Ability to model good communication skill
• Sensitivity in multicultural environments
• Technological skills to integrate computers
appropriately in the classroom
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EFFECTIVE TEACHING
COMMITMENT AND MOTIVATION
Effective Teachers:
 Have a good attitude
 Care about students
 Invest time and effort
 Bring a positive attitude and enthusiasm to
the classroom
EFFECTIVE TEACHING
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH
Effective Teachers:
 Developing a positive identity
 Seek advice from competent, experienced
teachers
 Never stop learning
 Build up good resources and supports
Characteristics of Best Teachers
Source; (Michelle;2009)
Characteristics of Worst Teachers
Source;
IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY FOR THE TEACHERS
 The knowledge of educational psychology helps teachers in various ways. It
improves the teacher’s ability in teaching and managing students.
 Some of the uses of educational psychology are as follows:
1.
It enables the teacher to understand children’s behavior and
characteristics, the cause and effect of their behavior, their
attitudes, mental ability, their problems, that are related to
their age and environment they live, their learning styles and
how they grow and develop. This helps the teacher to
understand ways of assisting them to solve their personal and
learning problems and planning for their learning, in an
effective way
IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY FOR THE TEACHERS
2. Enabling the teacher to understand how environment, rearing
style, values and culture of children influence their behavior,
perception and mental ability. Understanding this will enable
the teacher to create a conducive environment for children’s
effective learning.
3. Educational psychology helps the teacher gain techniques and
strategies for studying his students. Human behavior is difficult
to predict even though various scientific theories attempt to
explain it. With the knowledge of educational psychology the
teacher will be able to gain more knowledge about his/her
students for effective planning of their learning.
IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY FOR THE TEACHERS
The knowledge of educational psychology improves
teacher’s ability to choose/design the most
appropriate teaching strategies. When children learn
their learning styles and attitudes towards learning appear.
So, educational psychology helps the teacher to analyze
the styles and attitudes and use them to design effective
learning for children.
5. Educational psychology helps to improve teacher’s
ability to choose and construct appropriate measure
of student’s learning according to knowledge level,
mental ability, learning environment, etc.
4.
IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY FOR THE TEACHERS
6. Educational psychology helps the teacher to
understand children’s individual difference,
behavior, physical and physiological, mental and
personality differences. Children’s individual
differences appear on how they learn , how they
adapt to the environment, how they build social
relationship and how they can be motivated.