Chapter 1
Educational Psychology and Reflective
Practice

Themes of the Chapter
 Learning how to understand learners and to
promote their learning helps teachers feel
more comfortable and successful.
 Students are diverse and some have special
needs
 Theory and research play major roles in
educational psychology and reflective practice
Guiding Questions
What is educational psychology?
 What primary concerns do
beginning teachers have?
 What is reflective teaching, and
how is it different from technical
teaching?

See next slide for more questions
Guiding Questions (cont’d)
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How can teachers recognize, adapt, and
respond to diverse learners and students
with special needs?
How do educational psychologists use
theory and research?
How can teachers apply research
findings to improve their own classroom
practice?
Overview of Educational Psychology
“The scientific study of psychology in
education”
What teachers do
 How students learn
 How teachers can help students
learn

Critical Thinking
To be able to tell fact from opinion
 To see holes in an argument
 To spot illogic
 To evaluate evidence
 To tell whether or not cause and
effect have been established

Educational Psychology
and Critical Thinking
Provide objective, data-based evidence
from research
 Challenge our subjective ways of
knowing
 Use research to make decisions about
the practice of teaching

Learning

A relatively permanent change in behavior or
knowledge as a result of experience

Depends on many factors:
 the quality of instruction
 student motivation
 student engagement
 student’s developmental readiness to learn
Teaching

One person’s interpersonal effort
to help others acquire knowledge,
develop skill, and realize their
potential
What Expert Teachers Know
Broad and deep subject matter
knowledge
 How-to instructional strategies
 Knowledge about learning
environments
 Knowledge about educational
materials
Concerns of Beginning Teachers
Classroom discipline
 Motivating students
 Special needs
 Assessment and grading

Teaching Efficacy

A teacher’s judgment of, or
confidence in, his or her capacity
to cope with the teaching situation
in ways that bring about desired
outcomes

Beginning teachers generally have
lower teaching efficacy than do
veteran teachers
Teaching Efficacy Categories
Efficacy for classroom
management
 Efficacy for student engagement
 Efficacy for instructional strategies

Examples of Statements
of Efficacy

Classroom management: “I can prevent
behavior problems in the classroom.”

Student engagement: “I can develop interesting
tasks that students will enjoy.”

Instructional strategies: “I can teach writing very
well.”
Metaphors for Teaching
Entertainer
 Coach
 Lion tamer
 Choreographer
 Party host

Circus master
 Traffic cop
 Ship captain
 Air traffic controller

What Would They Say?
Give examples of how teachers might describe
their teaching if they adopted the metaphor of
teacher as:
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
Entertainer
Coach
Lion tamer
Choreographer
Party host




Circus master
Traffic cop
Ship captain
Air traffic controller
What Would You Say?
Complete the phrase
“The teacher as a(n)___________________”.
Which metaphor captures the spirit of what you
would like to accomplish in the classroom?
Benefits of Having Metaphors for
Teaching
Facilitates reflection
 Serves as a standard for self-evaluation
 Helps initiate desired changes in teaching
Two Modes of Teaching


Technical teaching
 Teaching situation is predictable and calls for routine
action
• Classroom experience  Constructive learning
experience
Reflective teaching
 Teaching situation is surprising and calls for
conjectures, information gathering, and decisionmaking.
• Knowledge about the teaching and learning
situation
 Constructive learning experience
Model for Reflective Teaching: RIDE
 Reflection
 Information
 Decision
gathering
making
 Evaluation
Your Turn

Ms Newby is nervous about teaching
and feels that she will not be able to
handle students’ misbehaviors

How might she solve this problem using
the RIDE model?
Diverse Learners

Response to diversity
 Equality
 Accommodation
Instruction for Students with Special
Needs

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Individualize instruction
Offer personalized scaffolding
Rely on direct and explicit instructional practices
Meticulously arrange or structure the learning
environment
Provide external supports, such as calculators,
tape-recorded textbooks, adaptive furniture,
special lighting or acoustics
See next slide for more tips
Instruction for Students with Special
Needs (cont’d)
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Closely monitor students’ progress and provide
systematic feedback
Teach skill-based strategies, such as how to
generate questions while reading
Use flexible means to reach defined goals
Create a caring classroom in which differences
are seen as assets
Keep integration into the general education
environment the priority
Theory

An intellectual framework that organizes a vast
amount of knowledge about a phenomenon so
that educators can understand and explain better
the nature of that phenomenon
Why is Theory Important?
Explains a phenomenon
 Helps teachers create a hypothesis or
prediction
 Helps educators gain new insights
 Guides research studies

Why is Research Important?

Provides evidence that assists teachers
make appropriate choices in the
classroom
Research Methods

Descriptive studies

Correlational studies

Experimental studies

Action research
Descriptive Studies


A research method used to describe the
educational situation as it naturally occurs –
what typically happens, how teachers teach,
and how students learn and develop
Example research question: “How do Ms.
Newby organize the physical layout of her
classroom?
Correlational Studies
A research method used to measure two
naturally occurring variables and
summarize the nature and magnitude of
their relationship in numerical form
 Example research question: “How is
measured intelligence related to school
achievement?”

Experimental Studies
A research method used to test for a
cause-and-effect relationship between
two variables
 Example research question: “Is reading
program A better than reading program B
for teaching first graders to read?”

Action Research
A research method carried out by teachers
in their own classrooms to inform and
refine their personal theories of teaching
and classroom learning
 Example research question: “Do I ask
boys more questions than I ask girls?”

Steps for Conducting Action
Research
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Identify a problem
Formulate a plan to address the problem
Collect and analyze data to see if the plan
worked
Reflect on what has been learned
Use the new- and improved personal theory of
teaching
Repeat steps 2, 3, 4, and 5 as needed
What Kind of Research?
I want to decide if boys in the 6th grade
benefit more from cooperative learning than
girls?
 I want to decide if completion of homework is
associated with better achievement
 I want to examine the number of errors
present in the 8th grade science book
 I want Maria to tell me about her experiences
in solving a math problem?

Critical Thinking of Teachers

Supplement their subjective ways of
knowing with objective, data-based ways
of knowing and go beneath the surface of
their idea
Guiding Questions Revisited

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
What is educational psychology?
What primary concerns do beginning teachers have?
What is reflective teaching, and how is it different from
technical teaching?
How can teachers recognize, adapt, and respond to
diverse learners and students with special needs?
How do educational psychologists use theory and
research?
How can teachers apply research findings to improve
their own classroom practice?