The Concept of Educational Psychology

 

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The relevance of Educational Psychology in the classroom can not be over-emphasized. This is because a teacher who has skills and knowledge in psychology will be able to manage his/her classroom effectively. Besides, knowledge of psychology is a sine-quo-non to successful teaching-learning activities.

What Is Educational Psychology

Educational Psychology is an integral part of psychology which seeks to find how positive relationship/interaction can be established between the teacher, students and the learning process. Educational psychology is an applied psychology which studies the ways in which the learner can be most effectively brought into contact with the learning process. Educational psychology is geared towards investigating or exploring the factors that will stimulate, enhance or obstruct the learning process. The knowledge and skills acquired from educational psychology will guide and direct in resolving the enormous problems confronting both the teachers and students in the classroom.

Implications of Educational Psychology to Classroom Situations

1)    Educational Psychology allows the teacher to know the tone of his/her classroom. It assists the teacher to understand the behaviour of every member of his/her classroom.

2)     It affords the teacher the opportunity to know the factors that can enhance or impede teaching-learning activities.

3) It helps the teacher to appreciate the importance of motivation, and how and when to motive the students in the classroom.

4)  It equips the teacher to know or be able to predict what might likely happen to a learner in terms of his/her personality, developmental stages and psychological problem.

5) It gives the teacher the opportunity of varying his/her instructional strategies based on the behaviour of the students in the classroom. It is a known fact that no particular instructional method is regarded as the best. The viability of any instructional method is based on learners’ characteristics as well as the instructions to be delivered at a particular time.

6) Educational Psychology enables the teacher to understand the interest of the learners and how to follow this in planning the curriculum or learning contents.

7)   It aids/guides the teacher in grading or placing the learners into a particular class. Feedback is an important aspect in the learning situation, a constant evaluation of students’ performance will serve as a yardstick of measuring or assessing whether the students are responding positively to learning situation or there is a need for the teacher to adjust his/her teaching style.

8)  Behavioural problem is an integral part of learning process. It is an undesirable act in the classroom. However, a teacher who is well    trained will be able to explain why students behave irrationally at a particular time and how the teacher can tackle such problems without much harm to the classroom teaching/learning activities.

9)   It also assists the teacher to assess his/her effectiveness. It is believed that teacher’s effectiveness is measured based on the learners’ performance in the classroom, hence, a teacher with good foundation in psychology will be able to judge his/her own efficiency and competency.

Psychology of Learning

Psychology of Learning provides necessary theoretical and empirical data regarding the learning process. It describes the principles of learning, motivation strategies, transfer of learning, memory, retention and forgetting. The interest in Psychology of Learning is not just in academic per se, but is useful in understanding the fundamental problems or emotional development motivation, social behaviour and personality of people.

Definition of Learning

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour, which includes both observable activity and internal processes such as thinking, attitudes and emotions. Learning occurs right from the birth of the child and proceeds until he/she dies. Learning is acquired due to the prior experience one has gained.

A child may learn from his/her environment (teacher) consciously or unconsciously, and in the process, his/her behaviour is being modified either negatively or positively. However, the essence of enrolling in the school by the students is to acquire desirable/positive behaviour under the tutelage of the teacher. To this end, learning can be described as a process by which an individual:

1. acquires a novel idea or experience to a situation;
2. retains and applies the idea, skills and knowledge in solving the confronting problems.

iii.  Modify one’s behaviour by the experience gained in the past and making the change permanent.

In view of the above points, learning is considered as:

1. relatively permanent change in behaviour
2. not just a visible but also a manifest responses of the learner
3. modifying the learner’s behaviour.
4. being dependent on previously acquired experience.

Some behaviour cannot be described as being learnt because they occur at the moment of anatomical maturation. This type of learning occurs as one matures physically. For example, a child does not learn how to walk, eat or talk but acquires these skills as he/she advances in age. This behaviour is regarded as “specie-specific behaviour”.

Conclusion

Educational Psychology is an applied psychology which seeks to find and provide necessary solutions to problems confronting the teacher and his/her students in the classroom. The importance of educational psychology cannot be over emphasized.

Examples of its relevance are: to equip the teacher on how to tackle students disciplinary problems in the classroom, guide the teacher in the selection of the learning contents according to the students’ cognitive capability, and to provide useful information about the differences among learners and how these can be taken care of so that every member of the class can benefit in the classroom activities. Psychology of Learning provides necessary theoretical and empirical data regarding the learning process.