We know that not everyone learns and retains information the identical way. So what can we do to make sure everyone advantages from their education? The goal of research in educational psychology is to optimize learning. Educational psychologists study and discover recent educational methods that profit teachers, students, and anyone who desires to learn a brand new skill.
You can apply educational psychology to all human learning, not only formal classroom learning. Examples of educational psychology include:
behaviorism
Behaviorism in educational psychology is the concept that all human behaviors result from interactions with the environment and that changing the environment results in different behaviors. Behaviorism typically uses positive and negative stimuli – rewards and punishments – to influence behavior. For example, rewarding a student who does well on a test could be an try and encourage him to learn using behaviorism.
Cognitivism
Cognitivism in educational psychology encourages learners to “think about thinking” and understand their strengths and obstacles of their education. Cognitivism may help promote student engagement and provides students more authority over their education. Students can learn to raised understand their cognitive process and the way it could possibly be influenced by internal and external aspects.
Social cognitive theory
Social cognitive theory is the idea that learning occurs in a social context. This theory states that learning is influenced by each internal aspects, reminiscent of individual thoughts, and external aspects, reminiscent of social interactions, which might affect learning outcomes.
Cognitive behavioral theory
Cognitive behavioral theory states that our thoughts determine our feelings and behavior. For example, a student who believes they're bad at math might feel like their skills are inadequate and have more difficulty learning math for this reason considering process.
Educational psychologists strive to grasp how social, emotional, and cognitive processes impact learning. Educational psychologists study how people learn and retain information in lots of areas, including:
Curriculum design
Curriculum designers work with schools, organizations, and individuals to create effective learning systems. Educational psychologists can contribute to curriculum design by analyzing existing educational programs to find out where a brand new curriculum can improve the old one.
Standardized testing
Educational psychologists can evaluate institutions which might be fighting test scores and help them improve their educational programs by identifying any gaps they need to handle to enhance test scores.
Educational psychologists may help develop practical standardized tests and research related topics, reminiscent of find out how to reduce students' anxiety about standardized tests.
Teacher training
Educational psychologists can conduct teacher training to assist teachers improve their skills, understand why some learning methods are more practical, provide individualized instruction, and set appropriate goals for his or her students.
Educational psychologists typically earn a master's degree in educational psychology or teaching and learning psychology, although a doctoral degree can open up additional profession opportunities, reminiscent of government and university positions.
Educational psychologists generally work in academic settings reminiscent of schools, universities, research laboratories, or testing corporations. Private corporations and firms also employ educational psychologists.
What does an academic psychologist do?
The average salary for college psychologists is $78,780 per 12 months in 2021.
Employment of psychologists is predicted to grow by a mean of 8%.
Educational psychology is a contemporary field of formal research, but the best way people learn has long interested scientists. Democritus wrote within the fifth century BC. BC in regards to the influence of an individual's private life on learning, and Plato and Aristotle discussed educational-psychological topics reminiscent of:
- Individualized education
- The Impact of Arts Education on Human Development
- The role of a teacher
- Different teaching methods
- Self-education with no teacher
Quintilian argued for public education over private education nearly 2,000 years ago, an instructional argument that continues to be controversial today.
Edward Lee Thorndike is widely credited with creating educational psychology as a definite field with the publication of his 1903 book educational Psychology. Thorndike conducted experiments to check how animals learned, hoping to find “laws of learning” that might improve human education.
Thorndike's work was based totally on behaviorism – the concept that conditioning determines human behavior and that rewarded behavior persists while punished behavior decreases. Modern educational psychology has turned away from behaviorism. Today, educational psychological theories based on cognitivism are preferred, which give attention to internal mental processes relatively than observable behavior.