P251: Educational Psychology for Elementary Majors
Instructor: Jenna McWilliams
Office: Wright 4009
Email: jenmcwil@indiana.edu
Office hours: Tuesdays 2-3, and by appointment
Course Overview
To teach effectively, teachers need to know a great deal about their students. In this course,
we will focus on three core questions:
 How do children learn, and what influences how they learn?
 How does this affect how we approach classroom teaching?
 How can educational psychology help us better understand how to create effective
learning environments?
This course aims to introduce you to some aspects of the nature of learning, and of the
relation between learning and teaching. While it is not mean to familiarize you with the “ins
and outs” of classroom teaching, we will spend time in class discussing your practicum
experiences in relation to theories of learning and will refer to recent research to guide
your practice in classrooms.
Learning to teach can be challenging because it involves moving between the general and
the particular, between theory and practice, and between our experiences and the
experiences of others. In this class, we will address these challenges through readings,
discussion, activities, and writing about learning and teaching. To further enrich your
understanding of learning to teach, we will also share, discuss, and analyze your
experiences at your practicum sites.
Because this class will primarily be conducted online, you will be expected to participate
actively and frequently in discussion forums and collaborative work, as well as completing
individual assignments in a timely manner.
Course Text (required)
 Bohlin, L., Durwin, C.C., & Reese-Weber, M. (2009). EdPsych: Modules. NY:
McGraw Hill.
 Additional readings will be posted to Oncourse. Also, additional readings not on
the syllabus may be announced over the course of the semester.
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Course Expectations and Contract
Practicum: To earn a passing grade for P251, you must successfully complete the
associated field work experience. The field experiences provide authentic issues for
students to bring back to the educational psychology class and are not designed for direct
supervision by an IU instructor. Note that you will receive a pass or a fail grade for M101
and those who do not complete their field work requirement will get a failing grade for
P251 regardless of their actual progress in the course throughout the semester. Attendance
is documented with a time sheet that is mailed to each cooperating teacher to document
the hours the student attended.
All questions or issues related to M101 should be directed to Tiffany Dolder-Holland. Her
contact information is:
Tiffany Dolder-Holland
Office of Early Field Experiences
Suite 1000 Office of Teacher Education
School of Education
Office hours 8-5 Wed/Thurs.
Phone: 856-8502 for message
tdolder@indiana.edu
Participation: Your participation in class discussions and activities is essential for your
own learning as well as for your classmates’ learning. Participation includes contributing to
discussion forums about course readings and concepts; engaging with the contributions of
your classmates; collaborating with your peers to complete class activities and
assignments; and submitting assignments in a timely manner. Successful completion of this
course will require that you log in to and participate on the class OnCourse site a minimum
of 4 times per week.
Assignments: This is a writing-intensive and assignment-heavy course, and it is essential
for you to submit work on time. Major assignments for this course are described in the
“assignments overview” section of this document.
Discussion forums: The majority of class conversation will take place on the discussion
forums, and you will therefore be required to post to the forums every week. You will be
required to respond to weekly reading questions; unless otherwise noted, your response
will be due by 5:00 p.m. each Wednesday. You will also required to respond to at least two
of your classmates’ posts each week; unless otherwise noted, this will be due by 5:00 p.m.
on Friday.
Individual and small-group activities: Most weeks, you will be required to submit an
assignment that is to be completed either individually or in small groups. Due dates for
these activities will be announced through OnCourse, and the activities must be submitted
through the Dropbox feature of OnCourse.
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Late Assignments: Late submission of course assignments will result in a lowered grade as
described below:
 For discussion forum posts & responses, and for weekly group or individual
activities, your grade on late assignments will drop by 1/3 with every 24 hours that
passes.
 For the larger individual and group assignments (op/ed, theories of learning paper,
equity assignment, and assessment tools assignment), you will lose one letter grade
for every 24 hours that passes after the assignment due date.
Revising Assignments: You may revise and resubmit the larger individual and group
assignments (op/ed, theories of learning paper, equity assignment, and assessment tools
assignment) for a potentially higher grade. In order to revise an assignment, you must 1)
make an appointment with me to discuss your paper, and then 2) complete the revision
within one week of the meeting. Please submit the original assignment along with its
revision. I reserve the right to ask students to complete additional assignments if I believe
they have not reached an adequate level of proficiency as revealed through assignments or
class activities.
Grading: The distribution of your grade will be as follows:
Discussion forum participation & group & individual weekly activities…………………….. 30%
Op/Ed group assignment……………………..……………………..……………………..……………………..10%
Learning Theories in the Classroom……………………..……………………..……………………..……..15%
Assessment Tools……………………..…………………………..………………..………………………………..15%
Midterm & Final Exam……………………..……………………..……………………..……………………..…. 30%
Syllabus Changes: To ensure that this class meets the needs of both you and me, I reserve
the right to amend or change the course syllabus at any time during the semester. In the
event that any changes are made to the syllabus, I will notify you in advance.
Extra Credit: If a worthwhile opportunity for extra credit arises, it will be offered to the
entire class. Extra credit will not be offered on an individual basis.
Academic Integrity: Typically, when instructors talk about “academic integrity,” they
focus primarily on plagiarism. In fact, the Indiana University Code of Student Conduct lists
plagiarism as one of at least 6 distinct forms of academic misconduct. All 6 are listed below;
misconduct in any of these areas is grounds for discipline and may result in failure of the
course. Significant violations of the Code can result in expulsion from the University.
1. Cheating
Cheating is considered to be an attempt to use or provide unauthorized assistance,
materials, information, or study aids in any form and in any academic exercise or
environment.
2. Fabrication
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A student must not falsify or invent any information or data in an academic exercise
including, but not limited to, records or reports, laboratory results, and citation to the
sources of information.
3. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work, including the work of other
students, as one’s own. Any ideas or materials taken from another source for either
written or oral use must be fully acknowledged, unless the information is common
knowledge. What is considered “common knowledge” may differ from course to course.
a. A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, opinions, theories, formulas,
graphics, or pictures of another person without acknowledgment.
b. A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge
indebtedness whenever:
1. directly quoting another person’s actual words, whether oral or written;
2. using another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories;
3. paraphrasing the words, ideas, opinions, or theories of others, whether
oral or written;
4. borrowing facts, statistics, or illustrative material; or
5. offering materials assembled or collected by others in the form of
projects or collections without acknowledgment
4. Interference
A student must not steal, change, destroy, or impede another student’s work, nor should
the student unjustly attempt, through a bribe, a promise of favors or threats, to affect
any student’s grade or the evaluation of academic performance. Impeding another
student’s work includes, but is not limited to, the theft, defacement, or mutilation of
resources so as to deprive others of the information they contain.
5. Violation of Course Rules
A student must not violate course rules established by a department, the course
syllabus, verbal or written instructions, or the course materials that are rationally
related to the content of the course or to the enhancement of the learning process in the
course.
6. Facilitating Academic Dishonesty
A student must not intentionally or knowingly help or attempt to help another student
to commit an act of academic misconduct, nor allow another student to use his or her
work or resources to commit an act of misconduct.
For a fuller description of what constitutes academic misconduct, visit
http://www.iu.edu/~code/code/responsibilities/academic/index.shtml.
Diversity: The Indiana University Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct
guarantees all students’ right to protection from discrimination and harassment:
Students have the right to study, work, and interact in an environment that is free
from discrimination in violation of law or university policy by any member of the
university community. Students at Indiana University are expected to respect the
rights and dignity of other students, faculty, and staff.
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The university will not exclude any person from participation in its programs or
activities on the basis of arbitrary considerations of such characteristics as age,
color, disability, ethnicity, sex, gender, gender identity, marital status, national
origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status.
As teachers, you will need to find ways to protect your own students from any form of
discrimination and harassment that hinders their ability to learn and thrive. This course
will be one of many opportunities for you to practice respect for diversity. Therefore,
degrading language, bullying, harassment, or any other form of discriminatory behavior
will not be tolerated.
Religious Observances: Because this class primarily meets online, I expect that students
will arrange to complete coursework to avoid conflicts with religious or other obligations.
However, I will make every effort to accommodate students who, because of religious
obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, provided I am notified well in advance (at
least two weeks) of the scheduled conflict.
Reasonable Accommodation: If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability,
please submit a letter to me from Disability Services early in the semester so that your
needs may be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on
documented disabilities. To contact Disability Services, call 855-3508, or view their website
at: http://www.indiana.edu/~iubdss/.
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Assignments Overview
Letter of Introduction: hard copy due 9/3/11 at class meeting
Your cooperating teacher would like to know a little bit about you before you arrive in his
or her classroom for your early field experience. A letter of introduction is your
opportunity to introduce yourself and make a good impression. Your letter will be mailed
to your cooperating teacher along with your placement materials. The letter should be
typed in standard letter format (12 point font). It should be brief, upbeat, and friendly, but
not overly informal. Be sure to include:
 Your name, phone number, local address, e-mail address, and class standing.
 A summary of any previous experiences working with children (e.g., summer camp,
day care, baby-sitting).
 A bulleted list of your goals for this experience.
 A list of any relevant college courses that helped you learn about the growth and
development of children or teaching children in general.
 A brief description of your background in your content area (e.g., high
school/college achievements or honors in your major field).
 A list of any other relevant interests, activities, and hobbies.
Use your letter to make a good first impression. Keep it positive; do not make negative
comments about other experiences, teachers, or classrooms. Be sure to proofread your
letter carefully and ask someone else to look over it. Remember, this is the first
information that your teacher will learn about you- you want to be sure to set the right
tone!
Op/Ed Group Assignment: outline due 9/10/11 at class meeting; final draft due 9/18/11
The issue of ability grouping continues to be hotly debated in schools, and many teachers
across the nation continue to look to the insights of others in order to decide how to
organize their classroom. Now that you have had a chance to develop some expertise in the
subject, it’s time to give back to the community. In small groups, you will work together to
write an op/ed piece that addresses whether classes should be divided into ability groups.
Following the format seen in the sample op/ed pieces we will review in class, you want to
consider three elements in your writing: 1.) who is your audience? 2.) what about this issue
would be relevant and interesting to this audience? 3.) what kind of evidence would you
have to present in order to persuade this audience?
Theories of Learning in the Classroom: due 10/9/11
Do theories of learning really shape what happens in the classroom? If so, how? The
purpose of this assignment is to attempt to discern what your field work teacher’s theory of
learning might be, based on the ways that he or she structures the lesson, what kinds of
content she gives students opportunities to engage with, how he interacts with the
students, etc. In this paper you will reflect upon what you see happening in the classroom
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using the lens of the theories of learning that we have been studying. In your written
response, address what the structure of the lesson suggests about the theory of learning
held by the teacher. In order to do this, begin by BRIEFLY describing the interaction both in
terms of its purpose (what the lesson was about) and outcome (the ways students
responded to the idea, both academically and motivationally). Then analyze the lesson by
considering the theory of learning that was behind:
 The design of the lesson (i.e. how was information presented?).
 The implementation of the lesson (the ways students worked on the content).
Be sure to provide evidence for your claims by citing discussions of particular theories of
learning. Your paper should be 4-6 pages long (12 point font, double spaced) and use the
APA style (6th edition).
Assessment tools: Due 12/4/11
Assessment is a complicated endeavor, especially with the pressures that schools are under
from No Child Left Behind. How CAN we know what students know? Sometimes it seems
like they know something one minute, but then forget it the next. And then there’s the
problem of helping students to get better at learning, and to monitor their own learning.
What’s a teacher to do? For this assignment, you will draw on your learning about
assessment and your understanding of student conceptual development to design
assessment tools that will document learning. Your assessment tools should have two
levels: document what is happening in relation to the way the curriculum is being enacted;
and document whether “transfer” of the ideas has occurred. Be sure to explain how you see
your measures as being related to the topics you are studying, and justify why you are
assessing your students in this way.
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EDUC-P251 Course Calendar
*I reserve the right to adjust the schedule if necessary & will give advance notice of all changes.*
The Developing Learner
week
Week 1 (to
Sept. 4)
Saturday,
Sept. 3:
in-person
meeting
topics
Introduction to class; brainbased research
readings
Intro (pgs. 4-16),
“project night” (pgs.
96-97), Module 6 (pgs.
102-117)
introduction to P251;
how to read / participate in
P251; intro to field
experience (T. DolderHolland)
no reading due
task/s*
first forum posts due 9/2 at 5:00
p.m.
Letter of introduction due 9/3 (in
class)
Big Thinkers: Piaget & Vygotsky
week
Week 2 (to
Sept. 11)
topics
Stages of development:
Piaget vs. Vygotsky
Saturday, the rhetoric of educational
Sept. 10: discourse
in-person
meeting
readings
Module 7 (117-132);
Supplements:
Vygostky_Driscoll
Piaget_Driscoll
no reading due
task/s
Applying Vygotsky (group
activity) due 9/11
readings
Cluster 3 case studies
Modules 9 & 10
Driscoll—radical
behaviorism
Module 11
Driscoll—information
processing
task/s
OP-ED ASSIGNMENT (group
assignment) due: 5 p.m. 9/18
outline for op/ed group
assignment due 9/10 (in class)
Learning Theories
week
week 3 (to
Sept. 18)
topics
Behaviorism;
Social Cognitive Theory
week 4 (to
Sept. 25)
Information Processing /
Schema Theory
*Please
Information processing / schema
theory research activity
(individual) due: 5 p.m. 9/25
note that you will be required to post and respond to the discussion forums in our OnCourse
page every week unless you are notified otherwise. As noted in the course syllabus, responses to
discussion questions will be due each Wednesday by 5 p.m., and 2 responses to your classmates’
posts will be due each Friday by 5 p.m.
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Grouping Practices;
Review & Comparison of
Learning Theories
Module 21
Letter to the Editor in Response
to Op/Ed (group assignment)
due: 5 p.m. 10/2
Cluster 4 case studies
Modules 12, 13, 14
Midterm review materials (group
assignment) due: 5 p.m. 10/9
Cluster 6 case studies
Modules 18, 19
Supplemental readings
TBD
MIDTERM EXAM
Cluster 5 case studies
Modules 15-17
supplemental readings:
Delpit; others TBA
motivation case study group
assignment due 5 p.m. 10/30
equity statement (individual
assignment) due: 5 p.m. 11/6
Higher –Order Thinking
week 6 (to
Oct. 9)
Metacognition, critical
thinking, transfer of skills &
knowledge
Classroom Management
week 7 (to
Oct. 16)
week 8 (to
Oct. 23)
Tensions in classroom
management
Student-centered vs.
teacher-controlled
classrooms
PAPER: THEORIES OF LEARNING
IN THE CLASSROOM
(individual) due: 5 p.m. 10/23
Informed Instruction
week 9 (to
Oct. 30)
week 10 (to
Nov. 6)
Motivation
Equitable instruction
Instructional Practices, Instructional Design
Instructional Practices
Modules 20, 21
Individual assignment TBA
Instructional Design
(problem-based learning,
direct instruction, online
learning)
Supplemental readings
TBA
Group assignment TBA
week 13 (to
Nov. 27)
Assessment’s big ideas;
Formative Assessment
Cluster 8 case studies;
Modules 26 & 27
week 14 (to
Dec. 4)
Performance Assessment /
Standardized testing
Cluster 9 case studies;
Modules 28-30
assessment tools (individual or
pair assignment) pre-design
activity due: 5 p.m. 11/27
ASSESSMENT TOOLS
(individual or pair assignment)
due: 5 p.m. 12/4
week 11 (to
Nov. 13)
week 12(to
Nov. 20)
Assessment
FREE WEEK (Dec. 5-11)
FINALS WEEK
no readings or assignments due
final exam date and time TBA