EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:

MIDTERM COVERAGE

What is Educational Psychology?

● Educational psychology is the scientific discipline concerned with the development,

evaluation, and application of principles and theories of human learning
● Educational psychology can provide teachers with the principles and theories they will
need to make good decisions in the classroom as well as with the concepts needed to
discuss and reflect on their decisions.

Principles of Educational Psychology

Theories

● Each theory (behaviorist, cognitive, or socio-cognitive, for example) focuses on different

factors or mechanisms that affect student motivation.
● For instance, behaviorist theory explains why rewards may motivate some students to
study harder for a test.
● However, socio-cognitive theory explains why rewards may not be motivating when
students believe that they lack ability in the content domain

Types of research in educational psychology

1. Descriptive
a. The goal of descriptive research, is to describe what is occurring in a certain
situation without altering the situation.
b. The researcher in this case is an observer who might engage in one of the
following methods:
■ Observation
■ Interviews
■ Questionnaires
■ Case studies
■ Ethnographic studies

For instance, a researcher interested in examining teachers' time management may sit in several
classrooms and record the percentage of time students are on-task and off-task.

2. Correlational Research
 ● The goal of correlational research is to describe whether and to what extent there
is a relationship between two or more events or factors
Example:
● A researcher may collect students' GPAs and their school attendance record and find that
there is a relationship between the two indicating that students with higher GPAs have
higher school attendance, and vice versa.
● In this case, GPA and attendance are said to have a positive correlation because both
factors vary in the same direction.
● In contrast, a negative correlation indicates that higher values in one factor correspond to
lower values in the other factor.

3. Action Research

● A special type of research of increasing interest is action research, the research

that teachers conduct in their own classrooms with the objective of understanding
and improving their practices.
● Teachers can systematically evaluate the effectiveness of their practices through
action research, which follows some of the methods of scientific research used by
educational psychologists such as taking measurements of the frequency,
duration, magnitude, or latency of specific student behaviors.

What makes an effective teacher?

Professional knowledge

A. CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

● Teachers must know the subject matter that they intend to teach, also known as content
knowledge
● Some studies suggest that strong subject matter knowledge, typically measured as having
a major that is relevant to the field to be taught, is associated with teacher effectiveness
and having a master's degree in the field contributes more to teacher effectiveness than
having a master's degree in a different field.

B. PEDAGOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

● An understanding of principles of learning, development, classroom management,

motivation, and assessment that can be used across content domains.
● For instance, you will soon learn that effective teachers are aware that students make
rather than take new information.
● This learning principle was derived from many years of research and suggests that it will
be most effective to promote learning by using methods where students are actively
 engaged in the meaning-making process, such as experimenting, reflecting, or
collaborating in groups with the guidance of the teacher.

C. KNOWLEDGE ABOUT LEARNERS

● Effective teaching requires significant knowledge about the numerous ways in which
learners think and behave depending on their unique characteristics.
● Teachers should know how to plan instruction that is developmentally appropriate for
students of different, and they should be sensitive to the needs of students from diverse
backgrounds.

D. KNOWLEDGE ABOUT CURRICULUM

● Even when teachers are provided with instructional materials such as textbooks for their
classrooms, they need to know what to teach based on the guidelines developed by
national, state, and local standards.
● Knowledge about curriculum, including standards and benchmarks for each content area,
will allow the teacher to make important instructional decisions including the selection of
materials, the design and sequencing of tasks based on students' learning needs, and how
to assess students' learning.

2. PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

A. PLANNING SKILLS

● Teachers need to set a variety of learning goals and organize plans for reaching those
goals.
● As teachers plan instruction, they consider when and how instruction should occur, what
activities students should do, and the types of assessments that can be used to evaluate
students' learning.

B. COMMUNICATION SKILLS

● Teachers need to be good verbal and nonverbal communicators.

● Effective teachers speak clearly, actively listen to students and parents, interpret students'
body language, and constructively resolve conflicts in the classroom.
● They also have assertive rather than passive or hostile communication styles and work to
improve students' communication skills.

C. MOTIVATION SKILLS
● Effective teachers give students the opportunity to think about their personal interests and
goals and use strategies to help them become self-motivated and responsible for their
own.
● Teachers with good motivation skills set high standards for all students yet adjust the
level of challenge and support to different ability levels to ensure that every child
becomes motivated to succeed.
● Teachers can also promote motivation in the classroom by modeling their own excitement
to learn and the value of learning.

D. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT SKILLS

● Teachers need to manage their classrooms to create a successful, orderly environment that
is conducive to learning.
● Effective teachers use a repertoire of strategies for developing classroom rules and
procedures, monitoring and preventing misbehavior, and intervening when discipline
problems arise.

E. ASSESSMENT SKILLS

● Effective teachers regularly assess the knowledge and skills of their students with a
variety of formal and informal methods.
● Formal assessments include students' presentations, quizzes, project assignments, and
state-mandated tests.
● Teachers also use informal assessments, such as portfolios of student work, student
journals, and examination of students' questions, comments, and behaviors during
classroom and group activities.

F. TECHNOLOGY SKILLS

● Effective teachers also have well-developed technological skills and critically evaluate
the potential of technology before integrating computers into their classrooms.
● The design of technology should be based on theories of learning and motivation.
Teachers need to be skilled in the use of technology. Technology should be embedded in
learner-centered classrooms, where students are given opportunities to actively construct
knowledge and skills
Professional Development Thinking Tool

Reflection

● Reflection is the process of thinking about your thinking and practices in critical ways,
learning from the process, and applying what you learned to improve learning for all
students.

Rewards of teaching profession

● Teachers' sense of satisfaction seems to be intimately connected to making a difference in

the well-being of their students and families, particularly when they had a positive
influence in the lives of “hard to reach" or "problem" students.
● Both elementary and secondary teachers report that their joy of teaching comes mainly
from interacting and connecting with children and adolescents, watching how their
students learn and grow, and seeing that former students have succeeded.
● Other sources of satisfaction are the emotional and intellectual stimulation engendered by
classroom interactions, the passion for a subject, the autonomy of the teaching profession,
and the collegiality of fellow teachers.

UNIT 1: UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM

A. CULTURAL, ETHNIC, AND RACIAL

● Today’s classrooms are likely to have a wide array of cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity
among students. Teachers need to understand that ethnicity cannot be judged on the basis
of physical characteristics (white skin or brown skin, for example) or birthplace (Korea,
Chile, or the United States) alone but rather by learning about the extent to which
students participate in various cultural and ethnic-group activities
● The larger the difference between students’ home culture and the mainstream culture, the
more likely they will experience some type of culture shock, a term used to describe
the anxiety and confusion felt when people have to operate within an entirely
different cultural or social environment, such as a foreign country.
● Culture shock can threaten students’ adjustment to school and achievement especially
when there is a cultural mismatch between the teacher and the student, because teachers
are likely to misinterpret ethnic minority behaviors by viewing the world from their own
cultural frame of mind
B. LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES

● Dialects are usually the preferred way to communicate in the everyday life of a cultural
group and are considered to be part of group identity. An example is African- American
Vernacular English, also known as Black English or Ebonics.
● Teachers may find it difficult to perceive speakers of other dialects in the same positive
light as those students who speak Standard English, the form of the English language that
is thought to be the norm for educated speakers.
● Respecting a student’s first language is essential for building a solid classroom
community
● Experts argue that it is very important to clearly communicate with students about when
it is appropriate for them to use Standard English or their first language.

C. COMMUNICATION DIFFERENCES

● In addition, the mainstream classroom practice of interacting by asking students questions

to evaluate their understanding may be unfamiliar in some cultures or even run against
their expectations. This is the case of people from some African-American and Mexican
cultures, who consider asking questions to be appropriate only when the initiator does not
know the answer to the question.
● Another source of cultural diversity comes from the amount of wait time, the time given
to respond to a question. According to research, teachers’ typical wait time is a second.
When no answer is produced quickly, they either provide the answer themselves or call
on another student. However, some cultures express their respect for others by giving
significant time to respond to a question.

“It is important that teachers leave enough wait time for students’ responses not only because of
the potential cultural differences in this regard but also as an effective method to engage them in
deeper thinking”
EFFECTIVE MULTICULTURAL TEACHERS

LEARNING STYLES

● A learning style can be defined as a consistent preference over time and subject matter
for perceiving, thinking about, and organizing information in a particular way.
● Some students, prefer to think about the nature of a task, collect relevant information, and
formulate a detailed plan before taking any action, whereas others prefer to run with the
first idea they have and see where it leads. Some students prefer to work on several
aspects of a task simultaneously, whereas others prefer to work on one aspect at a time in
a logical sequence.
● Notice that styles are referred to as preferences. They are not fixed modes of behavior
that we are locked into. When the situation warrants, we can, at least temporarily, adopt
different styles, although some people are better than others at switching styles
● Among the many learning style dimensions that have been investigated, we will examine
three. reflectivity-impulsivity, field dependence–field independence, and mental
self-government.
A. Reflectivity and Impulsivity

● Impulsive students are said to have a fast-conceptual tempo. When faced with a task for
which there is no ready solution or a question for which the answer is uncertain, the
impulsive student responds more quickly than students who are more reflective.
● In problem-solving situations, the impulsive student collects less information, does so
less systematically, and gives less thought to various solutions than do more reflective
students.
● Reflective students, in contrast, prefer to spend more time collecting information (which
means searching one’s memory as well as external sources and analyzing its relevance to
the solution before offering a response.
● When tests of reading and inductive reasoning were administered in the first and second
grades, impulsive students made more errors than reflective students did. Impulsiveness
is a general trait; it appears early in a person’s life and is consistently revealed in a great
variety of situations.

B. Field Dependence and Field Independence

● In school, the notes that field-dependent students take are more likely to reflect the
structure and sequence of ideas as presented by the teacher or textbook author, whereas
the notes of field independent students are more likely to reflect their own ideas about
structure and sequence.
● When reading, field-independent students are more likely than field-dependent students
to analyze the structure of the story. The significance of this difference in approach is
clearly seen with materials and tasks that are poorly structured. Field-independent
students usually perform better in these situations because of their willingness to create a
more meaningful structure.
● The positive effect of field independence on achievement is particularly noticeable in the
sciences because of their emphasis on analyzing objects and ideas into their component
parts, reorganizing ideas into new configurations, and identifying potential new uses of
that information.
● Biology students, for example, need to be able to identify tissues, organs, and systems
that are difficult to see at first glance because they are embedded in the surrounding tissue
of an organism.
● In social situations, field-dependent people, in comparison with field-independent people,
spend more time looking directly at the faces of others; are more aware of prevailing
attitudes, values, and behaviors; prefer to be in the company of other people; and are
generally thought of as more tactful, considerate, socially outgoing, and affectionate than
field-independent individuals.
LEARNING STYLES

C. Mental Self-Government Styles

In Sternberg’s theory of styles of mental self-government, thirteen mental self government styles
fall into one of five categories: functions, forms, levels, scope, and leaning. Most individuals
have a preference for one style within each category.

● The typical classroom contains two dozen or more students who collectively exhibit
several styles, teachers must be flexible and learn to use a variety of teaching and
assessment methods so that, every student’s style is addressed.
 ● An impulsive boy, for example, may disrupt a class discussion by blurting out the first
thing that pops into his head, thereby upstaging the reflective types, who are still in the
process of formulating more searching answers.
● To minimize this possibility, you may want to have an informal rotation scheme for
recitation or sometimes require that everyone sit and think about a question for two or
three minutes before answering. To give the impulsive style its place in the sun, you
might schedule speed drills or question-and-answer sessions covering previously learned
basic material.
● To motivate students with a legislative style, for example, have them describe what might
have happened if a famous historical figure had acted differently than he or she did.
● To motivate students with a judicial style, have them compare and contrast the literary
characters Tom Sawyer (from Mark Twain’s novel of the same name) and Holden
Caulfield (from J. D. Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye).
● Using a variety of instructional techniques and assessments makes sense for several
reasons. Students bring different experiences and perspectives to the classroom. Student
diversity calls for a diversity in learning experiences and in opportunities to demonstrate
what has been learned.

GENDER DIFFERENCES

A. Gender Differences in Cognition and Achievement

● A study of more than 900 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade children (Pomerantz, 2002)
showed that the girls on average received higher grades than the boys in language arts,
social studies, science, and mathematics.
● But, somewhat unexpectedly, girls expressed greater worry about academic performance,
higher levels of general anxiety, and higher levels of depression. The girls’ perceived
self-competence was lower than that of the boys for social studies, science, and math.
● Girls achieve higher grades than boys but don’t seem to be able to enjoy the fruits of their
labors as much. One possibility is that girls are more concerned than boys with pleasing
teachers and parents. Thus, failure or lower-than-expected achievement is interpreted as
disappointing those on whom they depend for approval.
● Another possibility is that girls are more likely than boys to use academic performance as
an indicator of their abilities, spurring them to higher levels of learning, as well as higher
levels of internal distress because of the possibility of failure.
● Boys may be better able to maintain higher levels of self-confidence by denying the link
between performance and ability. After extensive analyses, Duckworth and Seligman
(2006) concluded that part of the reason girls had higher GPAs was their greater
self-discipline.
GENDER BIAS

B. How Gender Affects Students

B1. Course Selection

● Although there was no difference in the percentages of boys and girls who took geometry
and precalculus, slightly more boys than girls took calculus (11.2 versus 10.6 percent).
The pattern for science courses was similar. A larger percentage of girls than boys took
biology (94.1 versus 91.4 percent), and chemistry (63.5 versus 57.1 percent).
● Whereas more boys than girls took physics (31.7 versus 26.2 percent) and engineering
(7.1 versus 6.5 percent)

B2. Career Choice

● A much smaller percentage of women than men held positions in such math and
science-oriented professions as chemistry and biological science, engineering, computer
systems analysis and drafting/surveying/ mapping.
● Several factors are thought to influence the choice male and female students make to
pursue a career in science or engineering. One is familiarity with and interest in the tools
of science.
● In one study of middle school science classes in which instructors who were committed
to increasing girls’ active participation emphasized hands-on experiences, gender
differences were still noted. Boys spent more time than girls manipulating the equipment,
thereby forcing girls to participate in more passive ways.

B. How Gender Affects Students

● A second factor is the competence-related beliefs and expectations communicated by

parents and teachers. Girls who believe they have the ability to succeed in
male-dominated fields were encouraged to adopt these beliefs by parents and teachers

Women who had very high levels of self-efficacy for math and science that could be traced to
three sources:

(1) early and consistent academic success

(2) encouragement to pursue math and science careers from such influential others as parents and
teachers
(3) the availability of respected models (both male and female) whom they could observe and
model themselves after
All three sources working in concert appear necessary to persuade women to consider a career in
math, science, or technology.

GENDER BIAS

B. How Gender Affects Students

B3. Class Participation

● Many children tend to adopt the gender role that society portrays as the more appropriate
and acceptable. Through the influence of parenting practices, advertising, peer norms,
textbooks, and teaching practices, girls are reinforced for being polite, helpful, obedient,
nonassertive, quiet, and aware of and responsive to the needs of others. The degree to
which girls feel comfortable expressing themselves and their views is known as “level of
voice.”
● Boys, to a greater extent than girls, are reinforced for being assertive, independent,
aggressive, competitive, intellectually curious, and achievement oriented.
● Males and females are most likely to speak their minds when they are with close friends
and classmates of the same gender and are less likely to do so when they are in the
presence of members of the opposite gender, parents, and teachers.
● These findings have major implications for the way in which teachers address female
students, particularly those who have adopted a strong feminine gender role, and for the
use of constructivist approaches to teaching.
● Constructivism relies heavily on free and open discussion to produce its effects; teachers
need to monitor carefully the verbal exchanges that occur among students and to
intervene when necessary to ensure that all students feel that their opinions are getting a
fair and respectful hearing.

UNDERSTANDING DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM : EXCEPTIONAL STUDENTS

Classifying Exceptional Students

● Educators are increasingly speaking of students with disabilities, which emphasizes the
whole person, rather than using the term disabled children, which emphasizes the
disablity rather than the person.
Learning Disabilities.

● Students with learning disabilities have significant difficulties in a school-related area

such as reading, writing, reasoning, listening, or math.

Speech or language Impairments

Students with speech or language impairments have difficulty receiving and/or expressing
information and ideas.

Receptive impairments involve difficulty understanding messages

Expressive impairments involve problems in forming and sequencing sounds and may include
stuttering and mispronunciation.

Mental Retardation

Mental retardation is a disability that is characterized by significant intellectual and adaptive

behavior limitations.

Adaptive behaviors are those that help people function in their everyday lives, such as eating,
dressing, toileting, managing money, using transportation, and doing housekeeping activities.

Emotional Disturbance

Students with emotional disturbances show serious and persistent age-inappropriate behaviors
that adversely affect their ability to learn and get along with others.

Students with externalizing emotional disturbances show behavior problems outwardly

(externalized). They display hyperactivity, defiance, hostility, and even cruelty and violence,

Students with internalizing emotional disturbances display behavior that is more inward
focused; these students withdraw and may exhibit depression, guilt, anxiety, and even suicidal
tendencies.
Sensory and Physical Impairments

Sensory and physical impairments are those that adversely affect a student's educational
performance and may include visual, auditory, and orthopedic impairments.

Multiple Disabilities

Students with multiple disabilities are those who display a combination of two or more
disabilities (e.g., mental retardation and blindness) that cause such severe educational problems
that their needs cannot be adequately met by programs designed solely for one of the
impairments.
Autism Spectrum Disorders

Students with autism are characterized by extreme withdrawal and deficiencies in cognitive and
language processes. Autism cases range from mild to severe.

Asperger's syndrome (AS) is a neurobiological disorder on the autistic spectrum. Students

diagnosed with AS may appear to lack in empathy and typically have difficulty with
organization, using and understanding nonverbal behaviors, and developing appropriate peer
relationships.

Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD).

Students with ADD experience persistent limitations in their attention span, are highly
distractible, have difficulty in concentrating and finishing tasks, and are impulsive.

Giftedness and Talent.

Students who are gifted and talented have been traditionally defined as those who have
above-average ability (IQ scores of 130 and above), high level of motivation and commitment,
and high levels of creativity.