GUSTAVO NAJAR CÁRDENAS.
gustavo10najar@[Link]
FINAL PROJECT
THE ROLE OF THE EDUCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM.
Today’s educational system is highly complex. There is no single learning approach that
works for everyone.
That’s why psychologists working in the field of education are focused on identifying and
studying learning methods to better understand how people absorb and retain new
information.
Educational psychologists apply theories of human development to understand individual
learning and inform the instructional process. While interaction with teachers and students
in school settings is an important part of their work, it isn’t the only facet of the job.
Learning is a lifelong endeavor. People don’t only learn at school, they learn at work, in
social situations and even doing simple tasks like household chores or running errands.
Psychologists working in this subfield examine how people learn in a variety of settings to
identify approaches and strategies to make learning more effective.
Psychologists working in education study the social, emotional and cognitive processes
involved in learning and apply their findings to improve the learning process. Some
specialize in the educational development of a specific group of people such as children,
adolescents or adults, while others focus on specific learning challenges such as attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or dyslexia.
No matter the population they are studying, these professionals are interested in teaching
methods, the instructional process and different learning outcomes.
Education and psychology are interdependent. One psychologist said that I did not
understand how a teacher could teach without the knowledge of education Psychology.
Psychology had changed the spirit of education and it gives new meaning to learning in
classroom. Psychology also changed the old concept of education where only upper class
had the ability and right to learn. Psychology gives education the theory of individual
differences that every child has different mental ability and learns with different pace.
Today in modern era, education psychology is the foundation of education. Psychology
effect education in every field of teaching learning process. It is very essential for a teacher
to teach his students according to their mental abilities. Educational psychology helps the
teacher in doing so. It enables the teacher to teach where and how? The way in which
teachers are educated and supported to meet the challenges of the 21st century has become
a contended issue. In raising alarm, criticizing the status quo, and making
recommendations, various study groups and blue ribbon panels have focused on economic
issues, equity and excellence, the need for more rigorous subject matter preparation, and on
the restructuring of incentives and the career ladder for teachers.
Course “Psychology of education”
Without doubts this course was very interesting because we could see, learn and understand
all the important aspects and concepts of psychology in education. We learnt how all these
concepts are linked and psychology is essential and important in teaching and learning. One
of the most important activities we did was 2.5 Activity where we explained some strategies
to improve learning especially with students with special educational needs.
First “learning process” which is a process that people pass through to acquire new
knowledge and skills and ultimately influence their attitudes, decisions and actions.
Second “students with special educational needs” The term 'Special Educational Needs' is
used to describe learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for children to learn
than most children of the same age. Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) are
likely to need extra or different help from that given to other children their age.
Third “Real situation in classroom” Two years ago I had a female student (12 years old)
whom suffered learning process troubles. It really was so difficult to teach her. I asked for
some help with expert people about students with special educational needs. They told me
that she suffered “Intellectual disability” (Significantly below average general intelligence,
existing with deficits with adapting behavior. Children with an I.Q. below 70, they have
difficulties in comprehension and life functions).
Two strategies:
Use baby steps - Start by breaking each lesson down into its simplest, most vital
components. These steps can be provided to ID students alongside teaching a wider class to
ensure they can keep up and develop the same understanding as their peers. To reduce
frustration and encourage participation, this method is highly effective.
Visual stimulus - Whether it’s simply drawing the concept you’re describing on a
whiteboard, or providing students with video or photographic content to study, ID students
find it easier to focus when they are visually involved in the learning process.
With an intellectual disability such a common difficulty for many students, it’s vital to
ensure that they receive the same level of care and attention when it comes to their
education as any other student. At the same time, it’s vital that teachers, educators, and
parents work together to ensure they are providing the best environment for every student.
Conclusion:
According to my real situation with my student with intellectual disability, we could see in
the last slides the description of intellectual disability which is related with learning
process. For that reason I decided to ask for some help with expert people in cases like
these and getting start to deal with her. The first strategy “Use baby steps” which I started
using concrete examples, have patient and break down material. The second strategy
“Visual stimulus” it is well known that in English classes this term is very helpful since the
beginning until intermediate levels but, in this case it was necessary use visual stimulus
even in lessons which wasn’t necessary for normal students. After a period of time the two
strategies were really effective and the student’s learning process got up.
How do I apply the educational psychology in my classroom?
Psychology as a whole is an extensive chapter that defines the characteristics and attitudes
of an individual based on their behavioral traits, emotionally, mentally and also
intellectually. On a wider point of view, psychology has stretched further from the early
18th century till today’s emerge as a separate discipline. Philosophers though have created
and used a variety of methods in order to distinguish the field of the study in ways that
some are still pending if they are as efficient as expected. The observations, on the other
hand, enable psychology to be a more sophisticated discipline in all ages with different
results.
In my opinion, psychology should provide an individual with the free will to open up their
innermost feelings, acts or behaviors without criticism. This is a big issue to us as humans
because people like judging each other and thus making us be laid back. I do not deny the
fact that psychology has its advantages and disadvantages, but honestly it’s complicated as
it sounds due to its categorization into different sectors. Some of those fields are
counseling, health, educational, forensic, occupational psychology and so forth.
In a classroom setting, educational psychology revolves in cooperative learning from the
students. Precisely, the latter are in a stage where learning is fun and also are eager to
explore what education has to offer. Their mental ability to configure the learning processes
is as simple as counting or reading, thus increasing perspectives that would define quality
performances. Teachers express this through different activities set up to monitor the
performances and reactions to certain problems experienced along the way. These children,
being at a young age, encourages the teachers to learn how to implement different teaching
practices that incorporate the psychology behind teaching and studying.
The setting should be a place where teachers and students have to learn to talk and listen
differently, not like the traditional ways where each plays a role that seems rehearsed each
and every day while learning. Freedom should be exercised so as to remove fear and
uneasiness to express oneself fully as required. Recently the curriculum is extended to
longer depths where more of new and challenging practices are incorporated. To top that,
the classroom should reflect more ideal student-driven capabilities which provide adequate
understanding of the curriculum.
My preferred classroom setting is where students treat each other as a family. The latter in
this context means that the students are free to express their ideologies and share their
thoughts without the fear of being criticized, judged or even laughed at. To monitor their
psychology in different ways, various methods are put in place to produce exemplary
results as opposed to the normal classroom, which is a routine for learning- traditional
methods. Students do not have similar intellectual capacity to understand concepts at the
same level. In my classroom discussions are a major practice where every student will be
given a chance to participate and air their views, and also be accountable for it.
Gender plays an important role in educational psychology because girls acquire more
beneficial results from cooperative learning than boys. An explanation to this is that latter
view this type of learning as a competition ground so as to be dominant in a peer group
environment where their learning area is represented in their mental capacity. Therefore, in
my classroom this enabled coherence will help in distinguishing not only various characters
but also the strengths and weaknesses of each and every student.
Conclusion
In conclusion, educational psychology is a massive phenomenon that most educators,
researchers and also students are yet to understand. Everybody has a perspective of how
psychology should be analyzed and monitored, although skepticism is always around to
linger into their minds whether it is as easy as some describe it to be.