Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EDITION PERRY
EDUCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOG
vi PREFACE
New sections on cultural differences in play, physical activity and students with
disabilities, eating disorders and the websites that promote them, self-conceptparticularly
elaborations of gender and sexual identityand Jonathan Haidts
student drug use, and ways to identify students who are gifted and talented.
New information on learning to read, emergent literacy and language diversity, shel-tered
New coverage of homeless and highly mobile students, expanded coverage of pov-erty
New material on inquiry learning and teaching in a digital world, including Bettys
self-regulation.
of helping students cope with anxiety, and new material on flow and motivation
PREFACE vi
The seventh Canadian edition maintains the lucid writing style for which the book is
renowned. The text provides accurate, up-to-date coverage of the foundational areas
combined with intelligent examination of emerging trends in the field and society
that affect student learning, such as student diversity, inclusion of students with special
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
During the years we have worked on this book, from initial draft to this most recent revi-sion,
many people have supported the project. Without their help, this text simply could
Many educators contributed to this and previous editions. For recent contributions,
we give thanks to
For reviews in connection with the sixth, fifth, and fourth Canadian editions, thanks to
PART I STUDENTS
2 Cognitive Development 22
AND EDUCATIONAL
Lessons for Teachers: General Principles 34
Influences on Development 37
Guide Education? 13
Piaget: What Can We Learn? 55
Summary 60
COGNITIVE
DEVELOPMENT 22
CHAPTER 3
A Definition of Development 23
Teachers CasebookMean Girls: What Would You Do? 64
GUIDELINES: Dealing with Physical Differences in the Disabilities and Handicaps 112
Peers 78
Learning Styles and Preferences 124
Reaching Every Student: Teacher Support 80 Beyond Either/Or 126
GUIDELINES: Encouraging Initiative and Industry 86 Students with Learning Challenges 132
Moral Judgments, Social Conventions, and Personal Choices 98 Students with Physical Disabilities and Chronic
Diversity in Moral Reasoning 100 Health Concerns 145
Personal/Social Development: Lessons for Teachers 106 Education Laws and Policies Pertaining to Exceptional
Summary 156
CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6
Teachers CasebookSupporting Language Diversity in the Teachers CasebookWhite Girls Club: What Would
What Develops? Language and Cultural Differences 161 Culture and Group Membership 196
When and How Does Language Develop? 162 Meet Four Students 198
GUIDELINES: Promoting Language Learning 175 GUIDELINES: Teaching Students Who Live in
Teaching Students and English Language Learners 177 Terms: Ethnicity and Race 206
Bilingual Education and English Learners 181 Gender in Teaching and Learning 214
Appropriately 245
GUIDELINES: Gaining and Maintaining Attention 275
GUIDELINES: Applying Operant Conditioning: Encouraging Cognitive Load and Retaining Information 278
Assessments 255
Challenges, Cautions, and Criticisms 260 GUIDELINES: Helping Students Understand and
CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10
Teachers CasebookUncritical Thinking: What Would Teachers CasebookLearning to Cooperate: What Would
Metacognitive Knowledge and Regulation 304 What Are the Learning Sciences? 343
Individual Differences in Metacognition 305 Basic Assumptions of the Learning Sciences 344
Teaching 350
GUIDELINES: Becoming an Expert Student 314
Applying Constructivist Perspectives 352
Reaching Every Student: Learning Strategies for Struggling
Inquiry and Problem-Based Learning 353
Students 314
CHAPTER 11 CHAPTER 12
Teachers CasebookFailure to Self-Regulate: What Would Teachers CasebookMotivating Students When Resources
You Do? 382 Are Thin: What Would You Do? 414
What Influences Self-Regulation? 397 Beliefs about Causes and Control: Attribution Theory 431
Models of Self-Regulated Learning and Agency 399 Beliefs about Self-Worth 433
Control 408
Self-Evaluation 409
GUIDELINES: Coping with Anxiety 444
Bringing It All Together: Theories of Learning 410 Tasks for Learning 445
Lessons for Teachers: Strategies to Encourage Reaching Every Student: Peer Mediation and Negotiation 490
FAMILY AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS GUIDELINES: FAMILY AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS GUIDELINES:
Are Thin: What Would They Do? 456 Teachers CasebookBullies and Victims: What Would
They Do? 49
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CREATING LEARNING
TEACHING EVERY
ENVIRONMENTS 457
STUDENT 497
The What and Why of Classroom Management 458 Overview and Objectives 498
The Basic Task: Gain Their Cooperation 461 Research on Teaching 498
Routines and Rules Required 465 The First Step: Planning 501
GUIDELINES: Creating Caring Relationships 478 FAMILY AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS GUIDELINES:
Homework 514
Stopping Problems Quickly 478
Idea? 484
Within-Class and Flexible Grouping 521
Achievement? 528
Grading 553
GUIDELINES: Avoiding the Negative Effects of
Effects of Grading on Students 554
Teacher Expectations 530
POINT/COUNTERPOINT: Should Children
Teachers CasebookGiving Meaningful Grades: What Would Reaching Every Student: Helping Students with Disabilities
You Do? 534
Prepare for High-Stakes Tests 568
Overview and Objectives 535
GUIDELINES: Preparing Yourself and Your Students
Basics of Assessment 535
for Testing 569
Measurement and Assessment 536
Gaining and Maintaining Attention 275 Conferences and Explaining Test Results 566
Creating Caring Relationships 478 Are High Levels of Teacher Efficacy Beneficial? 396
Imposing Penalties 479 Does Making Learning Fun Make for Good Learning? 438
Handling Potentially Explosive Situations 485 Is Zero Tolerance a Good Idea? 484
1
Clivewa/Shutterstock
It is your second year as a high school teacher in the Surrey school district in British
do?
Columbia. Over the last four years, the number of students from immigrant families
has increased dramatically in your school. You have students in your class who speak
you
a wide range of languages, including Mandarin, Filipino, Hindi, and Punjabi. Some of
them know a little English, but many have very few words other than OK. In
addition, you have several students with special needs; learning disabilities,
would
particularly problems in reading, are the most common. The district and provincial
policies are to educate all students in the general education classroom as much as
possible, so you need to find meaningful ways to support all students participation
what
in classroom tasks.
CRITICAL THINKING
What will you do to help all your students to make progress with learning
How will you make use of resources in your school and classroom?
How can you work with the families of your nonEnglish-speaking students and
If you are like many students, you begin this course with a mixture of anticipation and
wariness. Perhaps you are required to take educational psychology as part of a program in
teacher education, speech therapy, nursing, or counselling. Or you may have chosen this
class as an elective because you are interested in education or psychology. Whatever your
reason for enrolling, you probably have questions about teaching, schools, studentsor
even about yourselfthat you hope this course may answer. This seventh Canadian edition
of Educational Psychology has been written with questions such as these in mind.
In this first chapter, we begin by considering the state of education in todays worldmore
today? Teachers have been both criticized as ineffective and lauded as the best hope for
good teaching? Only when you are aware of the challenges and possibilities of teaching
and learning today can you appreciate the contributions of educational psychology.
benefit teachers, therapists, parents, and others who are interested in teaching and learning?
What exactly is the content associated with the field of educational psychology, and where
does this information come from? Finally, we consider an overview of a model that organizes
research in educational psychology to identify the key student and school factors related to
After you read and study this chapter, you should be able to:
1.3 Describe the methods used to conduct research in the field of educational psychology
1.4 Recognize how theories and research in development and learning are related to
educational practice.
the most important course you will take to prepare for your future as an educator, whether
your students are children or adults learning in classrooms or in environments that are
outside schools. In fact, there is evidence that new teachers who have completed course-work
in development and learning are twice as likely to stay in teaching (National Com-mission
on Teaching and Americas Future, 2003). This may be a required course for you,
so let us make the case for educational psychology by introducing you to classrooms today.
Who are the students in Canadian classrooms today? Where do they come from? Here are
a few facts taken from 2011 and 2016 Census data (Statistics Canada, 2018a-c; Statistics
Canada, 2018):
According to the 2016 Census, 22% of Canadas population is foreign-born. Most immi-grants
(62%) come from Asian countries, but people come to Canada from all over the
some neighbourhoods.
Nearly 1.2 million (approximately 25%) children TEACHER EFFICACY Teachers personal sense of efficacy is related to a school
live in poverty in Canada and children represent atmosphere of high expectations for teachers and students, administrative
Professional/Shutterstoc
Children in classrooms have diverse abilities and disabilities. Our inclusive policies
mean that children with disabilities spend the majority of their school day in general
education classrooms.
Children are surviving diseases as serious as cancer and returning to school, but some-times
with so-named late effects related to the treatment they underwent that have
Finally, childrens families are diverse. Some children live with a mom and dad, but
many live with a mom or dad, and some live with two moms or two dads (e.g., in the
case of gay and lesbian parents or blended families where parents are divorced and
remarried). Still others live with grandparents, or with aunts and uncles.
One thing these children have in common is that they are all digital nativesthey have
not lived without digital technologies and many are better equipped than their teachers to
deal with the changes to learning and living technology brings. Of course, there is also a
growing digital divide, which disproportionately advantages some groups over others.
These statistics are dramatic, but a bit impersonal. As a teacher, counsellor, recrea-tional
worker, speech therapist, or family member, you will encounter real children. You
will meet many individual children in this text, too. Even though students in classrooms
are increasingly diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, language, and economic and tech-nological
chapters in this text are devoted to understanding students. In addition, we will explore
the concepts of student diversity and inclusion through the research, cases, and practical
applications we present within each chapter.
Schools are about teaching and learning; all other activities are secondary to these basic
goals. But teaching and learning in the contexts described above can be challenging for
both teachers and students. This text is about understanding the complex processes of
development, learning, motivation, teaching, and assessment so that you can become a
capable and confident teacher.
Teachers sense of efficacy
Much of Anita Woolfolks research has focused on teachers sense of efficacy, defined A teachers belief that he or she
as a teachers belief that he or she can reach even difficult students to help them learn. can reach even difficult students
This confident belief appears to be one of the few personal characteristics of teachers to help them learn.
4 CHAPTER 1 LEARNING, TEACHING, AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
that predict student achievement (akirog ?lu, Aydin, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2012; Tschannen-Moran
& Woolfolk Hoy, 2001; Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, & Hoy, 1998; Woolfolk &
Hoy, 1990; Woolfolk Hoy, Hoy, & Davis, 2009). Teachers with a high sense of efficacy
work harder and persist longer even when students are difficult to teach, in part because
these teachers believe in themselves and in their students. Also, teachers are less likely
to experience burnout and more likely to be satisfied with their jobs (Collie, Perry, &
Martin, 2017; Fernet, Guay, Sencal, & Austin, 2012; Fives, Hamman, & Olivarez, 2005;
Klassen & Chiu, 2010).
Anita Woolfolk (and other researchers) have found that prospective teachers tend to
but sense of efficacy may decline after the first year as a teacher, perhaps because the
support that was available during student teaching is gone (Woolfolk Hoy & Burke-Spero,
2005). Teachers sense of efficacy is higher in schools when the other teachers and admin-istrators
have high expectations for students and the teachers receive help from their
important conclusion from this research is that efficacy grows from real success with
students, not just from the moral support or cheerleading of professors and colleagues.
Any experience or training that helps you succeed in the day-to-day tasks of teaching will
provide a foundation for developing a sense of efficacy in your career. This text aims to
provide the knowledge and skills that form a solid foundation for an authentic sense of
efficacy in teaching.
For a while, some researchers reported findings suggesting that wealth and social status,
not teaching, were the major factors determining who learned in schools (e.g., Coleman,
1966). In fact, much of the early research on teaching was conducted by educational psy-chologists
who refused to accept these claims that teachers were powerless in the face of
poverty and other societal problems among students (Wittrock, 1986).
How could you decide if teaching makes a difference in the lives of students? You
could look to your own experience. Did you have teachers who had an impact on your
life? Perhaps one of your teachers influenced your decision to become an educator. Even
if you had such a teacher, and we hope you did, one of the purposes of educational psy-chology
with the child, the childs dependency on the teacher, and the
student were accounted for, the relationship with the teacher still
behaviour problems in the early years are less likely to have prob-lems
RELATIONSHIPS MATTER Research has shown that the
Images/Shutterstoc
and provide frequent, consistent feedback. In another study that
predicts a number of academic and behavioural outcomes,
followed children from grades 3 through 5, Pianta and his col-leagues
particularly for students with behavioural problems, who
teachers are sensitive to their needs and provide frequent, mathematics begin to close the achievement gap. The factors were
consistent feedback. higher-level (not just basic skills) instruction and positive relation-ships
Monkey
The Cost of Poor Teaching. In a widely publicized study, researchers examined how
students are affected by having several effective or ineffective teachers in a row (Sanders &
Rivers, 1996). They looked at fifth graders in two large metropolitan school systems in
Tennessee. Students who had highly effective teachers for grades 3, 4, and 5, scored at
district and at the 96th percentile in the other (99th percentile is the highest possible
score). In contrast, students who had the least effective teachers 3 years in a row averaged
at the 29th percentile in math achievement in one district and 44th percentile in the
othera difference of over 50 percentile points in both cases! Students who had average
teachers or a mixture of teachers with low, average, and high effectiveness for the 3 years
had math scores between these extremes. Sanders and Rivers concluded that the best
teachers encouraged good-to-excellent gains in achievement for all students, but lower-achieving
students were the first to benefit from good teaching. The effects of teaching
were cumulative and residual; that is, better teaching in a later grade could partially make
up for less effective teaching in earlier grades, but could not erase all the deficits. In fact,
one study found that at least 7% of the differences in test score gains for students could
be traced to their teachers (Hanushek, Rivkin, & Kain, 2005; Rivkin, Hanushek, &
Kain, 2001).
Another study about test score gains from the Los Angeles public schools may be
especially interesting to you. Robert Gordon and his colleagues (2006) measured the test
ranked into quartiles based on how well their students performed during the teachers
first 2 years. Then the researchers looked at the test performance of students in classes
with the top 25% of the teachers and the bottom 25% during their third year of teaching.
After controlling for the effects of students prior test scores, their family income, and
other factors, the students working with the top 25% of the teachers gained an average
scores, while students in the bottom 25% lost an average of 5 percentile points. So students
working with a less effective teacher could be an average of 10 percentile points behind
the students working with an effective teacher. If these losses accumulate, then students
working with poorer teachers would fall farther and farther behind. In fact, the research-ers
speculated that . . . having a top-quartile teacher four years in a row would be enough
to close the black-white test score gap of about 34 percentile points (Gordon, Kane, &
Effective teachers who establish positive relationships with their students appear to
be a powerful force in those students lives. Students who have problems seem to benefit
the most from good teaching. What makes a teacher effective? What is good teaching? We
consider those points next.
scientists, historians, policy-makers, and parents, to name only a few groups, have exam-ined
this question; there are hundreds of answers. And good teaching is not confined to
classroomsit occurs in homes and hospitals, in museums and sales meetings, and in
therapists offices and summer camps. In this text we are primarily concerned with teach-ing
in classrooms, but much of what you will learn applies to teaching in other settings
as well.
To begin our examination of good teaching, lets step inside the classrooms of several out-standing
teachers. All the situations that follow reflect the conditions in real classrooms today.
learners. As is true for most linguistically diverse students in Canada, they spend 100% of
6 CHAPTER 1 LEARNING, TEACHING, AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
their school day using English instead of their native language. This immersion, or sub-mersion,
approach to second-language learning contrasts with the bilingual approaches
students in small groups and make modifications to the curriculum to enable students
who are English language learners to participate in all the activities of the classroom.
One strategy the two teachers have found useful is to make information available
through visual materials (e.g., pictures, diagrams, word or concept maps). Anne also
makes use of peer tutors and, whenever possible, offers one-on-one instruction to stu-dents
and their parents to continue talking, reading, and writing in their first language at home.
As well, she fosters an appreciation for diverse languages and cultures in her classroom
by designing tasks and activities that invite students to draw on their cultural knowledge
and by having students compare and contrast their home or community experiences and
Anne makes a point of learning as much as she can about her students linguistic
and cultural heritages. She recognizes how important it is for teachers to understand how
issues of language and culture influence childrens learning, so that they do not misinter-pret
childrens motivation and behaviour. This year, five languages are represented in
Annes classroom: English, Hindi, Punjabi, Mandarin, and Malay. She has a lot of learning
to do.
Richmond, BC. Students in the class have varying racial, ethnic, family income, and
language backgrounds. Ken emphasizes process writing. His students complete first
drafts, discuss them with others in the class, revise, edit, and publish their work. The
students also keep daily journals and often use these to share personal concerns with
Ken. They tell him of problems at home, fights, and fears; he always takes the time to
respond in writing. The study of science is also placed in the context of the real world.
The students use a National Geographic Society computer network to link with other
schools in order to identify acid rain patterns around the world. For social studies, the
class plays simulation games; for example, in two games that focused on the first half
of the 1800s, the students lived as trappers collecting animal skins and as pioneers
heading west.
Throughout the year, Ken is very interested in the social and emotional development
of his studentshe wants them to learn about responsibility and fairness as well as sci-ence
and social studies. This concern is evident in the way he develops his class rules at
the beginning of the year. Rather than specifying dos and donts, Ken and his students
generate a list of rights and responsibilities for their class. This list covers most of the situ-ations
that might need a rule.
An Inclusive Class. Eliot was bright and articulate. He easily memorized stories as a
child, but he could not read by himself. His problems stemmed from severe learning dif-ficulties
with auditory and visual integration and long-term visual memory. When he tried
to write, everything got jumbled. His teacher, Mia, and a special education teacher worked
together to tailor tasks to take advantage of Eliots strengths as well as to provide explicit
and intensive instruction to address his learning patterns and errors. With his teachers
help, over the next years, Eliot became an expert on his own learning and was trans-formed
into an independent learner; he knew which strategies he had to use and when
to use them. According to Eliot, Learning that stuff is not fun, but it works! (Hallahan &
to their students. They must deal with a wide range of student abilities and challenges:
different languages, different home situations, and different abilities and disabilities. They
must adapt instruction and assessment to students needs. They must make the mos
CHAPTER 1 LEARNING, TEACHING, AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
abstract concepts, such as integrals, real and understandable for their particular students.
Then there is the challenge of how to use new technologies and techniques. The teachers
must use them appropriately to accomplish important goals, not just to entertain the stu-dents.
And the whole time these experts are navigating through the academic material,
they are also taking care of the emotional needs of their students, propping up sagging
self-esteem and encouraging responsibility. If we followed these individuals from the first
day of class, we would see that they carefully plan and teach the basic procedures for
living and learning in their classes. These teachers can efficiently collect and correct
homework, regroup students, give directions, distribute materials, collect lunch money,
and deal with disruptionsand they can do all this while also making a mental note to
find out why one of their students is so tired. Finally, these teachers are also reflectivethey
constantly think back over situations to analyze what they did and why, and to consider
So, What Is Good Teaching? Is good teaching science or art, the application of research-based
explainera sage on the stageor a great coacha guide by the side? These debates
have raged for years. In your other education classes, you probably will encounter criti-cisms
student-centred guides. But beware of either/or choices. Teachers must be both knowl-edgeable
and inventive. They must be able to use a range of strategies, and they must also
be able to invent new strategies. They must have some basic research-based routines for
managing classes, but they must also be willing and able to break from the routine when
the situation calls for change. They must know the research on student development, and
they also need to know their own particular students with their unique characteristics of
culture, gender, and geography. Personally, we hope you all become teachers who are
Anne, Ken, and Mia are examples of expert teachers, but they have been teaching
for a long time. What about you? Lets look at what it is like to be a new teacher.
STOP & THINK Imagine walking into class on your first day of teaching. List the concerns,
fears, and worries you have. What assets do you bring to the job?
Beginning teachers everywhere share many concerns, including how to maintain class-room
2003; Melnick & Meister, 2008; Veenman, 1984). Many teachers also experience what has
been called reality shock when they take their first job because they really cannot ease
into their responsibilities. On the first day of their first job, beginning teachers face the
same tasks as teachers with years of experience. Student teaching, while a critical element
of becoming a good teacher, does not really prepare prospective teachers for starting off
a school year with a new class. If you listed any of these concerns in your response to the
Stop & Think question, you should not be troubled. They come with the job of being a
beginning teacher (Borko & Putnam, 1996; Cooke & Pang, 1991).
With experience, hard work, and good support, seasoned teachers can focus on stu-dents
needs and judge their teaching success by the accomplishments of their students
(Fuller, 1969; Pigge & Marso, 1997). One experienced teacher described the shift from
concerns about yourself to concerns about your students: The difference between a begin-ning
Reflective Thoughtful and
teacher and an experienced one is that the beginning teacher asks, How am I doing?
inventive. Reflective teachers
and the experienced teacher asks, How are the children doing? (Codell, 2001, p. 191).
think back over situations to
Our goal in writing this text is to give you the foundation to become an expert as
analyze what they did and why,
you gain experience. One thing experts do is listen to their students. Table 1.1 shows and to consider how they might
some advice students in a grade 1 class gave to their student teacher: It looks like the improve learning for their
students know about good teaching, too. students.
8 CHAPTER 1 LEARNING, TEACHING, AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
The students in Ms. Amatos elementary school class gave this advice as a gift to their student teacher
2. Give us homework.
7. Teach us to read.
Source: From Nieto, S. Affirming Diversity: The Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural Education, 4e. Published by
Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA. Copyright 2004 by Pearson Education. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
For as long as the formal study of educational psychology has existedabout 100 yearsthere
have been debates about what it really is. Some people believe educational psychol-ogy
is simply knowledge gained from psychology and applied to the activities of the
classroom. Others believe it involves applying the methods of psychology to study class-room
and school life (Brophy, 2003; Wittrock, 1992). A look at history shows the close
role of the teacher, the relationship between teacher and student, methods of teaching,
the nature and order of learning, the role of affect in learningare still studied by edu-cational
psychologists today. From its beginning, psychology in North America was linked
to teaching. In 1890, William James officially founded the field of psychology and devel-oped
a lecture series for teachers entitled Talks to Teachers on Psychology. These lectures
were given in summer schools for teachers and then published in 1899. Jamess student,
G. Stanley Hall, founded the American Psychological Association. His dissertation was
about childrens understandings of the world; teachers helped him collect data. Hall
encouraged teachers to make detailed observations to study their students developmentas
his mother had done when she was a teacher. Halls student, John Dewey, founded the
Laboratory School at the University of Chicago and is considered the father of the progres-sive
education movement (Berliner, 2006; Hilgard, 1996; Pajares, 2003). Another of William
Jamess students, E. L. Thorndike, wrote the first educational psychology text in 1903, and
differences, assessment, and learning behaviours. In the 1960s and 1970s, the focus
of research shifted to the study of cognitive development and learning, with attention to
how students learn concepts and remember. More recently, educational psychologists have
investigated how culture and social factors affect learning and development (Anderman,
and learning processes; it applies What is educational psychology today? The view generally accepted is that educational
the methods and theories of psychology is a distinct discipline with its own theories, research methods, problems, and
psychology and has its own as well. techniques. Educational psychologists study learning and teaching and, at the same time
CHAPTER 1 LEARNING, TEACHING, AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
9
strive to improve educational policy and practice (Anderman, 2011; Pintrich, 2000). In
order to understand as much as possible about learning and teaching, educational psy-chologists
learning and motivation, including how people learn different academic subjects such as
reading or mathematics; social and cultural influences on learning; teaching and teachers;
But even with this long history of interest in teaching and learning, are the find-ings
of educational psychologists really that helpful for teachers? After all, most
teaching is just common sense, is it not? Lets take a few minutes to examine these
questions.
In many cases, the principles set forth by educational psychologistsafter spending much
thought, research, and moneysound pathetically obvious. People are tempted to say,
Helping Students. When should teachers provide help for lower-achieving students as
Common Sense Answer. Teachers should offer help often. After all, these lower-achieving
students may not know when they need help or they may be too embarrassed to ask
for help.
Answer Based on Research. Sandra Graham (1996) found that when teachers provide
help before a student asks, the student and others watching are more likely to conclude
that the helped student does not have the ability to succeed. The student is more likely
some students, moving quickly through the material cooperative learning. Will their knowledge of science improve using this
and working in advanced courses with older students approach? Are there better ways to learn this subject? Educational research
West/PhotoEdit,
is a very good idea. See Chapter 4 for more on adapt-ing should shed light on questions like these.
Obvious Answers? Many years ago, Lily Wong (1987) demonstrated that just seeing
research results in writing can make them seem obvious. She selected 12 findings from
research on teaching. She presented six of the findings in their correct form and six in
exactly the opposite form to university students and to experienced teachers. Both the
college students and teachers rated about half of the wrong findings as obviously cor-rect.
In a follow-up study, other participants were shown the 12 findings and their oppo-sites
and were asked to pick which ones were correct. For 8 of the 12 findings, the
participants chose the wrong result more often than the right one.
More recently, Paul Kirschner and Joren van Merrinboer (2013) made a similar point
when they challenged several urban legends in education about the assertion that learn-ers
know best how to learn. Today society has strongly held beliefs about students being
self-educating digital natives who can multitask, having unique learning styles, and always
making good choices about how to learn; these beliefs have no strong basis in research,
You may have thought that educational psychologists spend their time discovering
the obvious, but the preceding examples point out the danger of this kind of thinking.
When a principle is stated in simple terms, it can sound simplistic. A similar phenomenon
takes place when we see a gifted dancer or athlete perform; the well-trained performer
makes it look easy. But we see only the results of the training, not all the work that went
into mastering the individual movements. And bear in mind that any research findingor
its oppositemay sound like common sense. The issue is not what sounds sensible, but
what is demonstrated when the principle is put to the test (Gage, 1991).
STOP & THINK Quickly, list all the different research methods you can name.
Educational psychologists design and conduct many different kinds of research studies.
Some of these are descriptive studiesthat is, their purpose is simply to describe events
in a particular class or several classes.
Correlational Studies. Often the results of descriptive studies include reports of cor-relations.
Descriptive studies Studies that
We will take a minute to examine this concept, because you will encounter many
collect detailed information about
correlations in the coming chapters. A correlation is a number that indicates both the
specific situations, often using
strength and the direction of a relationship between two events or measurements. Cor-relations
observation, surveys, interviews,
recordings, or a combination of range from 1.00 to 1.00. The closer the correlation is to either 1.00 or 1.00,
these methods. the stronger the relationship. For example, the correlation between height and weight is
about .70 (a strong relationship); the correlation between height and number of languages
Correlation Statistical description
spoken is about .00 (no relationship at all).
of how closely two variables are
The sign of the correlation tells the direction of the relationship. A positive
related.
correlation indicates that the two factors increase or decrease together. As one gets
Positive correlation A relationship larger, so does the other. Height and weight are positively correlated because greater
between two variables in which
height tends to be associated with greater weight. A negative correlation means that
the two increase or decrease
increases in one factor are related to decreases in the other. For example, the less you
together. Example: calorie intake
pay for a theatre or concert ticket, the greater your distance from the stage. It is impor-tant
and weight gain.
to note that correlations do not prove cause and effect (see Figure 1.1). Height
Negative correlation A relationship and weight are correlatedtaller people tend to weigh more than shorter people. But
between two variables in which a gaining weight obviously does not cause you to grow taller. Knowing a persons height
high value on one is associated with simply allows you to make a general prediction about that persons weight. Educa-tional
a low value on the other. Example: psychologists identify correlations so that they can make predictions about
height and distance from top of important events in the classroom.
head to the ceiling.
manipulated and the effects observing and describing an existing situation, the investigators introduce changes and note
recorded. the results. First, a number of comparable groups of subjects are created. In psychologica
CHAPTER 1 LEARNING, TEACHING, AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 11
FIGURE 1.1
When research shows that broken homes and crime are correlated, it does not show causation. Poverty,
a third variable, may be the cause of both crime and broken homes.
Poverty
n
o
t
C
a
o
l
C or r el a ti e r
o r
r
to
leads
r
e
l
o
C
t
i
leads
to o
Broken Broken
Crime Crime
lead to
homes homes
research, the term participants (also called subjects) generally refers to the people being
subject to a group using a random procedure. Random means that each subject has an equal
chance to be in any group. Quasi-experimental studies meet most of the criteria for true
experiments, with the important exception that the participants are not assigned to groups
at random. Instead, existing groups such as classes or schools participate in the experiments.
an expected effect. The results in each group are then compared. Usually, statistical tests
are conducted. When differences are described as statistically significant, it means that they
probably did not happen simply by chance. For example, if you see p < .05 in a study,
this indicates that the result reported could happen by chance less than 5 times out of
by asking questions such as this: If some teachers receive training in how to Participants/subjects People or
teach spelling using morphology, the study of the smallest parts of words that contain animals being studied.
meaningsuch as s or ies for making words plural(cause), will the trained teachers
Random Without any definite
students become better spellers than students whose teachers did not receive training in
pattern; following no rule.
morphology (effect)? This was a field experiment because it took place in real classrooms
and not a simulated laboratory situation. In addition, it was a quasi-experiment because Quasi-experimental studies
single-subject design is called an ABAB experiment. For example, a teacher might record
Single-subject experimental
how much time students are out of their seats without permission during a week-long base-line
studies Systematic interventions
period (A), and then try ignoring those who are out of their seats but praising those who to study effects with one person,
are seated, and record how many are wandering out of their seats for the week (B). Next, often by applying and then
the teacher returns to baseline conditions (A) and records results, and then reinstates the withdrawing a treatment.
12 CHAPTER 1 LEARNING, TEACHING, AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
praise-and-ignore strategy (B) (Landrum & Kauffman, 2006). When this intervention was first
tested, the praise-and-ignore strategy proved effective in increasing the time students spent
Clinical Interviews and Case Studies. Jean Piaget pioneered an approach called the clin-ical
childs responses lead. Here is an example of a clinical interview with a 7-year-old. Piaget
is trying to understand the childs thinking about lies and truth, so he asks, What is a lie?
What is a lie?What isnt true. What they say that they havent done. Guess how old
I am.Twenty. No, Im thirty.Was that a lie you told me?I didnt do it on purpose.I
know. But is it a lie all the same, or not?Yes, it is the same, because I didnt say how
old you were.Is it a lie?Yes, because I didnt speak the truth.Ought you be
Researchers also may employ case studies. A case study investigates one person or situation
in depth. For example, Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues conducted in-depth studies of
highly accomplished concert pianists, sculptors, Olympic swimmers, tennis players, mathema-ticians,
outstanding talent. The researchers interviewed family members, teachers, friends, and
coaches to build an extensive case study of each of these highly accomplished individuals
(Bloom et al., 1985). Some educators recommend case study methods to identify students
for gifted programs because the information gathered is richer than just test scores.
Ethnography A descriptive
approach to research that focuses
Ethnography. Ethnographic methods, borrowed from anthropology, involve studying the
on life within a group and tries to
naturally occurring events in the life of a group to understand the meaning of these events
understand the meaning of
events to the people involved. to the people involved. In educational psychology research, ethnographies might study
how students in different cultural groups are viewed by their peers or how teachers
Participant observation A beliefs about students abilities affect classroom interactions. In some studies the researcher
that focus on groups of subjects studies, focusing on groups of students at different ages. For example, to study how childrens
at different ages rather than conceptions of numbers change from ages 3 to 16, researchers can interview children of
following the same group for several different ages, rather than following the same children for 14 years.
many years. Longitudinal and cross-sectional research examines change over long periods of time.
The goal of microgenetic studies is to intensively study cognitive processes in the midst of
Microgenetic studies Detailed
changewhile the change is actually occurring. For example, researchers might analyze how
observation and analysis of
changes in a cognitive process as children learn a particular strategy for adding two-digit numbers over the course of several
the process unfolds over several weeks. The microgenetic approach has three basic characteristics: the researchers (a) observe
days or weeks. the entire period of the changefrom when it starts to the time it is relatively stable;
(b) make many observations, often using videotape recordings, interviews, and transcriptions
Qualitative research Exploratory
of the exact words of the individuals being studied; (c) put the observed behaviour under
research that attempts to
a microscope, that is, they examine it moment by moment or trial by trial. The goal is to
understand the meaning of events
explain the underlying mechanisms of changefor example, what new knowledge or skills
to the participants involved using
such methods as case studies, are developing to allow change to take place (Siegler & Crowley, 1991). This kind of research
interviews, ethnography, is expensive and time-consuming, so often only one or two children are studied.
people in depth. in your journey through educational psychologythe contrast between qualitative an
CHAPTER 1 LEARNING, TEACHING, AND EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
13
quantitative research. These are large categories and, like many categories, a bit fuzzy at
the edges, but here are some simplified differences.
Qualitative Research. Case studies and ethnographies are examples of qualitative research.
This type of research uses words, dialogue, events, themes, and images as data. Interviews
and observations are key procedures. The goal is not to discover general principles, but, rather,
Quantitative research Research
to explore specific situations or people in depth and to understand the meaning of the events
that studies many participants in
to the people involved in order to tell their story. Qualitative researchers assume that no
a more formal and controlled way
process of understanding meaning can be completely objective. They are more interested in
using objective measures such as
interpreting subjective, personal, or socially constructed meanings.
experimentation, statistical
Quantitative Research. Both correlational and experimental types of research generally observations.
are quantitative because measurements are taken and computations are made. Quantita-tive
Evidence-based practice in
research uses numbers, measurement, and statistics to assess levels or sizes of rela-tionships
psychology (EBPP) Practices that
among variables or differences between groups. Quantitative researchers try to
integrate the best available
be as objective as possible and remove their own biases from their results. One advantage
research with the insights of
of good quantitative research is that results from one study can be generalized or applied
expert practitioners and
to other similar situations or people. knowledge of the characteristics,
There has been considerable debate about the relative merits of qualitative and quan-titative culture, and preferences of the
approaches to research in education, as you will see in the Point/Counterpoint. client.
Guide Education?
In the past decade, policies in both health care and in the treatment of psychological problems have empha-sized
evidence-based practices (McHugh & Barlow, 2010). The American Psychological Association defines
evidence-based practice in psychology (EBPP) as the integration of the best available research with
clinical expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture, and preferences (American Psychological
Association Task Force, 2008, p. 5). What does this mean in education?
Research should be scientific; educational reforms What happened to education? If research produces useful
should be based on solid evidence. According to knowledge for most of the industries and businesses of the
Robert Slavin (2002), tremendous progress has occurred in world, then should not it be serving the same function for
fields such as medicine, agriculture, transportation, and education? Somehow education has been mostly exempt
technology because: from this grounding in research. Dewey (1896) proposed
POINT
the establishment of laboratory schools to ground educa-tion
In each of these fields, processes of development, rigor-ous
in research through combining research with practice
evaluation, and dissemination have produced a pace
in schools, ensuring both formative evaluation and demo-cratic
ofinnovation and improvement that is unprecedented in
feedback. Unfortunately, his vision has never been
history. . . . These innovations have transformed the
realized. There is no infrastructure in education that rou-tinely
and technology. (Slavin, 2002, p. 16) Writing in the New York Times, Gina Kolata (2013)
medicine. And every educational program is changed by Berliner concludes that a single method is not what the govern-ment
classroom conditions and the way it is implemented. Patti should be promoting for educational researchers (Berliner,
Lather, a colleague of Anitas at Ohio State, says, In 2002, p. 20).
improving the quality of practice, complexity and the
messiness of practice-in-context cannot be fantasized BEWARE OF EITHER/OR: WHAT CAN YOU LEARN?
Correlational To assess the strength and direction of the Is average amount of homework completed weekly
relation between two variables; to make related to student performance on unit tests? If
predictions. so, is the relation positive or negative?
Experimental To identify cause-and-effect relations; to test Will giving more homework cause students to learn
Single-Subject To identify the effects of a treatment or When Emily records the number of pages she
Experiment intervention for one individual.
reads each night, will she read more pages? If
she stops recording, will her amount of reading
Case Studies To understand one or a few individuals or How does one boy make the transition from a
situations in depth. small rural elementary school to a large middle
Ethnography To understand experiences from the How do new teachers make sense of the norms,
participants point of view: What is their expectations, and culture of their new school,
Mixed Methods
To ask complex questions involving causes, Based on an in-depth study of 10 classrooms, select
meanings, and relations among variables; to the classes with the fewest behavioural
pursue both depth and breadth in research problems, then explore how teachers in those
Teachers as Researchers. Finally, research can also be a way to improve teaching in one
classroom or one school. The same kind of careful observation, intervention, data gathering,
and analysis that occurs in large research projects can be applied in any classroom to answer
questions such as Which writing prompts seem to encourage the best descriptive writing in
my class? When does Kenyon seem to have the greatest difficulty concentrating on academic
tasks? Would assigning task roles in science groups lead to more equitable participation of
girls and boys in the work? This kind of problem-solving investigation is called action research
(or teacher research, or teacher inquiry). By focusing on a specific problem and making care-ful
observations, teachers can learn a great deal about both their teaching and their students.
You can find reports of the findings from all types of studies in journals that are
referenced in this text. Table 1.3 provides a list of some of the major journals that publish
in many of these journals and also have reviewed manuscripts to decide what will be
published. For many years, Anita was the editor of the Theory Into Practice journal, and
Nancy sat on the editorial board. The goal of that journal is just what the title saysto
bring the most useful theories into educational practice and also to bring the wisdom of
practice back to researchers who study education. Theory Into Practice is a great journal
1973). Reaching this goal is a slow process. There are very few landmark studies that answer
a question once and for all. There are so many different kinds of students, teachers, tasks,
and settings; and besides, human beings are pretty complicated. To deal with this complex-ity,
few variables at a time or life in one or two classrooms. If enough studies are completed in
a certain area and findings repeatedly point to the same conclusions, we eventually arrive
at a principle. This is the term for an established relationship between two or more factorsbetween
Another tool for building a better understanding of the teaching and learning pro-cesses
is theory. The commonsense notion of theory (as in Oh well, it was only a theory)
is a guess or hunch. But the scientific meaning of theory is quite different. A theory in
science is an interrelated set of concepts that is used to explain a body of data and to
make predictions about the results of future experiments (Stanovich, 1992, p. 21). Given
There are theories to explain how language develops, how differences in intelligence
Theories are based on systematic research and they are the beginning and ending points of
the research cycle. In the beginning, theories provide the research hypotheses to be tested or Action research Systematic
the questions examined. A hypothesis is a prediction of what will happen in a research study observations or tests of methods
cannot teach young children to think more abstractly, whereas Vygotskys theory might sug-gest
that this is possible. Of course, at times, psychologists do not know enough to make Principle Established relationship
predictions, so they just ask research questions. An example question might be, Is there a between factors.
difference in internet usage by male and female adolescents from different ethnic groups?
Theory Integrated statement of
Research is a continuing cycle that involves:
principles that attempts to
clear specification of hypotheses, problems, or questions based on current understand-ings explain a phenomenon and make
predictions.
or theories;
systematic gathering and analyzing of all kinds of information (data) about the ques-tions
Hypothesis A prediction of what
from well-chosen research participants in carefully selected settings/situations; will happen in a research study
interpreting and analyzing the data gathered using appropriate methods to answer the based on theory and previous
I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time
back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have
no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human
occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very
slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not
yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid
timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed
forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled
his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process
may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main
road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe—
not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few
steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been
cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more,
between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last
pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a
melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them—
cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also
piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and
son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too
busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites
so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles
of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken
the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their
smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if
they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes,
perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.
This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the
virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already
cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble
of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the
secondary bush.
After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the
hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the
country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact,
receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in
the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains,
where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its
abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have
the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working
for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were
accustomed to rule.
But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no
harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has
been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in
time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe
and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and
lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and
desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by
man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and
even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth
is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible,
impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black
occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and
come back to his starting point.
The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.
According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing
else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been
settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great
stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the
south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence
their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the
Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast,
to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied
African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of
population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth
could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on
the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however,
correct.
The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us
of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the
thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau,
instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks
and springs of the low country.
“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern
side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was
nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never
washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.
He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree
growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the
bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and
was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the
Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a still-
born child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the
valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which
was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of
Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In
course of time, the couple had many more children, and called
themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the
Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their
forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to
bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who
was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also
warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams,
for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to
have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest watering-
place; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”
The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is
somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I
extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by
Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my
results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?
Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the
supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other
people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself
by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short,
woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is
likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is
nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from
various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood,
ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and
representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia,
Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well
done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the
keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and
meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably)
would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the
scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures
were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial
deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded
by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely
be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that
they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably
unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.
The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the
Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru
valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the
travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their
descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with
its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible
at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent
to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie
within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly
the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a
point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive
Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.
Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they
had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health
conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the
African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled
by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil
spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to
assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish
districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.
This knowledge is crystallized in the
ancestral warning against settling in the
valleys and near the great waters, the
dwelling-places of disease and death. At the
same time, for security against the hostile
Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted
that every settlement must be not less than a
certain distance from the southern edge of the
plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the
present day. It is not such a bad one, and
certainly they are both safer and more
comfortable than the Makua, the recent
intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF
good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR
plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of
country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings
anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain,
especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a
Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the
most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly
spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with
the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.
The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during
the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings
or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a
veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts
only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists
merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone
have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening
the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but
ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood
or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in
two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If
the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s
upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely
against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle
of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece
horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.
It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few
inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course
cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the
owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding
out how the back door is fastened.