Festus Asikhia PhD
May 9, 2023
Background
The field of educational psychology traces its roots to some of the major figures in psychology at the turn of the past century. William James at Harvard University is often associated with the founding of psychology in the United States with his Influential books of the late 1800s. Other major theorists and Thinkers that figure in the early history of the field of educational psychology include G. Stanley Hall, John Dewey, and Edward L. Thorndike. Hall, cofounder of the American Psychological Association and its first president, was a student of James. Dewey at the University of Chicago was one of Hall’s students and introduced major educational reforms in the United States. Thorndike, whom we often associate with theories of intelligence and learning, was also one of James’s Students and went on to start the Journal of Educational Psychology in 1910. Similarly, the impact of Lewis Terman (Terman & Childs, 1912) on the field of educational psychology and the assessment of intelligence (as well as related areas such as educational tracking) was monumental at that time and throughout much of the twentieth century.
Other influences on educational psychology, and its impact on the field of education, have been linked to European philosophers of the mid- and late nineteenth century. For example, the impact of Herbart on educational reforms and teacher preparation in the United States has been described by Hilgard (1996) in his history of educational psychology. Largely ignored by western psychologists until the 1980s, the work of Russian Psychologists in the early twentieth century—in particular the work of Lev Vygotsky (1978)—also contributed to the field of educational psychology. As readers of this paper will find, the work and influence of Vygotsky permeate research in educational psychology in the United States at the end of the twentieth and into the twenty-first century.
From a pedagogical perspective, educational psychology differs from most fields of psychology in that it is most often found as a separate department in universities and colleges. To some extent this reflects the diversity of research and academic domains within educational psychology, as well as the rich and applied nature of this field of study. Departments of Educational Psychology are most often found in colleges of Education, and courses in educational psychology are typically required for students in teacher education programs and related majors. The field of educational psychology includes a rich heritage in the domains of research design and methodology, including Statistics and measurement. For most of the twentieth century, educational psychologists have contributed to enhancing statistical and measurement procedures. In the 1950s, educational psychologists published two articles reporting on statistical and measurement procedures; these articles have become among the most frequently cited ones in psychology. CronBach’s (1951) classic paper on the internal structure of tests and the derivation of coefficient alpha as an internal measurement of reliability continues to be one of the most cited papers in the behavioural sciences and most used procedure for the measurement of test reliability. Henry Kaiser’s (1958) dissertation in educational psychology at the University of California at Berkeley provided the basis for an orthogonal rotation procedure in factor analysis that he called varimax factor rotation, with various little jiffy procedures to follow. These are but two of the many statistical, measurement, and methodological contributions that have been and continue to be made to the fields of psychology and behavioural and social sciences by educational psychologists.
Educational Psychology- Definition
Educational psychology has been described as “the scientific study of psychology in education” (Wittrock, 1967, 1992). Traditionally, educational psychologists have studied individual differences in learning and development, and have made significant contributions to measurement, testing, instructional practices, and cognition, particularly as these subjects relate to schooling. For the most part the subjects of study in these investigations have been children, as educational psychologists were apparently content to focus their concerns on patterns of learning and change in childhood and adolescence. In fact, some writers have suggested that, during much of the first half of this century, educational psychologists were little interested in education (Grinder, 1967), having retreated to their laboratories.
The problems of adult learning could not be said to occupy the minds and the work of educational psychologists. A significant outcome of this lack of interest in adulthood among educational psychologists is that today, the terms educational psychology and adult learning are rarely mentioned in the same sentence. A perusal of the small, but growing, number of introductory textbooks on the topic of adult development and aging finds virtually no references to the field of educational psychology. The Handbook of Educational Psychology (Berliner & Calfee, 1996)—which comprises the state of accumulated knowledge within our discipline—devotes no more than a single sentence to describing adult learning. Concern with the nature of adults’ learning processes, the most effective ways to teach adults, and the processes and outcomes of adult development has, as suggested previously, been given over to adult educators, counselors, and more recently, life-span developmental psychologists. These facts suggest that educational psychologists have made few contributions to our present understanding of the nature and complexity of adult learning and development.
Historically, educational psychology has had little direct impact on adult education and there is no formal association between adult education and educational psychology (e.g., professional societies, common journals). In fact, the most recent Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education (Merriam & Cunningham, 1989) contains no reference to educational psychology. Much of the important work in adult education, however, is based on learning theories developed by educational psychologists. For example, R. M. Smith’s (1982) learning how to learn model, Knowles’ (1980) experience-based learning approaches, and Tough’s (1977) learning projects model all may be traced to psychologically based learning theories.
Although the significance of formal learning and motivational theories are acknowledged as useful in explaining how and why adults learn, many adult educators refer to adult learning as a self-directed activity. Here, the adult is seen as being primarily responsible for planning, carrying out, and evaluating his or her own learning. Thus, adult educators act primarily as facilitators of, or coaches for, adults’ learning projects and activities and have little concern for what goes on “in the heads” of adult learners. Nor do adult educators concern themselves with individual differences among adult students. Yet, the focus on developing adult learners’ autonomy and self-directedness provides an arena where the work of educational psychologists and adult educators have great potential for collaboration.
As we approach the 21st century, education has become a lifelong activity. Record numbers of adults are entering or returning to educational institutions of one kind or another, including community education centres, business and technology training centres and schools, vocational institutions, community colleges, and universities. Corporate downsizing and other industry trends brought about by technological advances and economic shifts are causing many adults to seek job retraining. The adult population is also aging. Given these societal trends and demographic changes, educational psychologists are likely to find a willing audience of adult educators, program administrators, personnel directors, and mental health workers who want to know about learning strategies, assessment methods, and educational curricula that are appropriate for adult learners and clients.
Empirical Studies in Educational Psychology
Pressley and Roehrig (2002) provided a synopsis of the major domains reflected in the field of educational psychology during the last 40 years. These researchers categorized all research articles published in the 1960–1961 and the 1997–1998 issues of the Journal of Educational Psychology, the leading journal serving the field. Domains of information reflected in three contemporary handbooks and textbooks were also categorized, and editorial board members of the Journal of Educational Psychology were surveyed for their opinions of texts and articles that had the most significant impact on the field. The consensus of these reviews is amazingly similar in that at least 11 consistent domains appear: Cognition, Learning, Development, Motivation, Individual differences, Teaching and Instruction, Classroom and Sociocultural processes, social relations in education, psychological foundations of curriculum, educational technology, and educational research methods and assessment.
These authors also noted that behaviourism and then the cognitive revolution was two critical forces driving the field, with the former more prevalent before the 1960s and the latter dominating the last 40 years (Pressley & Roehrig, 2002). Many significant changes were noted that led up to this change, beginning with the idea that an internal processing system and internal mechanisms could be objectified and studied (Miller et al, 1960, Plans and the structure of Behaviour) and followed by work focused on memory (Tulving & Donaldson, 1972).
Contemporary educational psychology draws substantial inspiration and guidance—directly and indirectly—from social learning theory and in particular from the work of Bandura (1982). This work reflects a strong sociocultural perspective in which the emphasis is on interpersonal, motivational, and social processes that occur in classrooms and other culturally situated settings. Work reviewed here focuses on group structures, cooperative learning, and interpersonal relationships, and on the role of personal motivation, goals, and other internalized social processes that contribute to academic, behavioural, and social adaptation.
Review on the Sociocultural Contexts for Teaching and Learning
Social and cultural contexts are important considerations for the understanding of learning and development. The influence of Vygotsky in the latter part of the twentieth century has provided a scaffold for the development of theories of language acquisition, writing, assessment, concept formation, and other domains of learning. Vygotsky’s work and that of other Russian psychologists such as Luria in the early part of the twentieth century created a major paradigm shift in western psychology in the 1960s and 1970s (Luria, 1961; Vygotsky, 1978). This body of work—in particular, the concepts of internal dialogue and the verbal mediation of behaviour—greatly influenced the field of learning and also the emerging field of cognitive behaviour modification, as evidenced in the work of Meichenbaum in the development of self-instructional training (1977).
John-Steiner, one of the original editors of Vygotsky’s (1978) major work Mind in Society: The Development of higher Psychological Processes, describe the social and cultural contexts for instruction and learning. They discuss sociocultural approaches in educational psychology with an emphasis on the contributions of Vygotsky and his notions of the individual in the creation of contexts and the internalization of person and environment interactions.
Educational psychology and impact on Cooperative learning
After reviewing literature conducted over the past 30 years, Slavin (1995) and Hurley (1997) present an integrative model of the relationships among variables involved in cooperative learning. These researchers move beyond a review that establishes the effectiveness of cooperative learning to focus more specifically on conditions under which it is optimally effective. Slavin (1995) Review recent empirical work on cooperative learning directed at identifying critical factors that motivate and impede learning outcomes. The work in this area primarily has been framed within four theoretical perspectives: motivational, social cohesion, cognitive, and developmental perspectives. Critical group processes, teaching practices, or classroom structures are evaluated within each of these frameworks. Although several comparative studies have been conducted to contrast alternative theoretical formats of cooperative learning or to isolate essential elements, this work has been hindered due to the variety of factors examined and the different measures, durations, and subjects that have been used.
Much of the research conducted over the last decade has focused on how to structure interactions and incentives among students in cooperative groups. One consistent finding is that cooperative learning is most effective when groups are recognized or rewarded for individual as well as group learning goals (Slavin, 1995). Although the specific forms and means of implementing group incentives and individual accountability have varied widely across studies, evidence overwhelmingly points to the need to include both to obtain the greatest long-standing impact on students’ learning. Slavin (1995) also point out work that demonstrates the times when group goals and individual accountability may not be necessary. For example, when students are working collaboratively on higher level cognitive tasks that lack a single right answer, when students are already strongly motivated to perform (as in voluntarily formed study groups), or when the tasks are so structured that learning is likely to result simply from participating. Another context in which group goals and individual accountability may not be essential is during communal learning groups composed of homogeneous ethnic minority members, possibly because of an already high level of interdependence functioning within African American communities (Hurley, 1997).
Relationships Between Teachers and Students
Pianta and fellow associates (1999) assert that classroom research on teacher processes and teacher-student relationships has moved far beyond its original focus on teachers’ and students’ expectations and instructional interactions, classroom discipline and management, socially mediated learning, school belonging and caring, and teacher support. They point out that many of these topics have roots in many sources and disciplines, a sampling of which include the original work of Brophy and Good (1974) on teacher-child interactions, Rosenthal (1969) on classroom interpersonal perceptions and expectations that influence student performance, Vygotsky (1978) on socially constructed development, Bronfenbrenner and Morris (1998) on the influence of multiple contexts on development, Bowlby (1969) and Ainsworth et al (1978) on attachment Processes between parents and children, the clinical work investigating marital and familial processes (Bakeman & Gottman, 1986), the role of adult relationships in promoting resiliency (Pederson et al. 1978; Werner & Smith, 1980), and finally the longitudinal contributions of developmental systems theory and longitudinal studies of health and psychopathology (Loeber, 1990; Rutter, 1987).
Conclusion
The influence and impact of research in educational psychology on society are probably best recognized by applications to the education and training of teachers and the development of procedures to enhance classroom instruction and learning, ways to motivate learners, and the integration of technology into the classroom. These and other applications in educational psychology are buttressed by an empirical rigor of research methods in the design of both basic and applied experiments and field-based investigations. It is evident that researchers in educational psychology are addressing major issues related to the education of learners in regular and special education contexts. In addition to the impact of educational psychology on learning and learners, it has also played a major role in informing policy and educational reform.
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