IMIYAS

       

Relevance of Educational Psychology

Introduction

Educational psychology is of great relevance to a classroom teacher. It equips the teacher with the ability to study teaching and learning situations. It helps the teacher to study the ability, interests, intelligence and needs of the student. Educational psychology also allows the teacher to adopt different techniques of teaching for effective communication and it aids the teacher in curriculum development. Another importance of educational psychology is that it allows the teacher to measure and monitor learning outcomes and progress of pupils. Educational psychology also enables the teacher to identify the stages of development in pupils and apply methods that are likely to be effective at each stage. This essay serves to give the relevance of educational psychology to a classroom teacher. The essay is structured in a sequential form, it starts by identifying the relevance of educational psychology to a classroom teacher then it gives the definition of key terms. This is followed by the overview of the relevance of educational psychology to a classroom teacher and finally the conclusion.

Definition of key terms

Educational psychology

Henson et al, (2012) defined educational psychology as psychology applied to teaching and learning in a classroom and school setting. Slavin (2013) further defines educational psychology as a study concerned with the creation of a body of knowledge directly relevant to educational processes and applications. Therefore from these definitions, educational psychology can be defined as a branch of psychology that enables the teacher to study and focus on the needs, interests and problems of the child with the application and use of relevant psychology and educational knowledge.

Classroom teacher

Smith (2012) defines a classroom teacher as a full time classroom practitioner who offers formal instruction to students and whose professional activity involves transmission of knowledge, attitudes and skills that are stipulated to students enrolled in an educational program in a school. According to Seifert and Sutton (2009), a classroom teacher is a subjective insider who uses systematic activities to instruct students, evaluate their performance, grade papers as well as create and maintain a curriculum. From the given definitions, a classroom teacher can be defined as a classroom practitioner and instructor who is responsible for running daily routines of a given group of students.

The relevance of educational psychology to a classroom teacher

One notable relevance of educational psychology to a classroom teacher as given by Seifert and Suttton (2009) is that it equips the teacher with the ability to study teaching and learning situations. Educational psychology provides the teacher with principles that illuminate classroom instruction by providing a framework for studying the learning process, the learning situation and the educational system (Mnkandla, 1999). Through the study of educational psychology the teacher acquires vital knowledge on the characteristics of learners and information on the effects of learning on individual students. This allows the teacher to take into consideration the learners’ characteristics when planning and delivering lessons. It allows the teacher to deal carefully with different groups of students with a wide variation in ability, needs and intelligence. The teacher can therefore use different teaching methods based on the ability, needs and intelligence of the students (Beihler and Snowman, 2000). For example as this teacher has witnessed in some schools, students are grouped in classes according to performance such as from class A to class G. In this case the level of intelligence decreases from class A to class G. In the given situation educational psychology helps the teacher make use of remedial methods to assist pupils with poor performance.  

Educational psychology allows the teacher to deal with individual differences in pupils (Smith, 2012). As shown by Berk (2003), children differ in mental thinking ability, genetic make-up, temperament, cognitive styles, intelligence, learning styles and motor development. Knowledge of ways individuals differ enables the teacher to adjust instructional programmes to the individual needs of learners. An example is teaching children with special needs. The teacher applies educational psychology to adopt the relevant curriculum, teaching activities, teaching methods and material that meets the special educational needs of individuals with disabilities. A teacher who teach a student with physical disabilities may use teaching materials such as stand up tables, moveable chalkboards and pencil holders that are specially adapted to suit the needs of the child.  The teacher can also do an assessment to gather information about a student in order both to identify the strengths of the student and to decide what special educational support the student needs might need (Makotore and Zindi, 2000).

Educational psychology also allows the teacher to know the classroom teaching and learning process by providing the teacher with a better understanding of principles involved in the process of learning and teaching which are vital in a school setting (Husan and Postlewaite, 1994). Smith (2012), articulates that a better understanding of classroom teaching and learning principles by the teacher is helpful for transacting the content to the students effectively, which includes classroom climate and the teaching competence which are required for effective communication and presentation of content. Slavin (2013), concurs with this notion by further postulating that educational psychology helps the teacher gain knowledge on the appropriate approaches of teaching. For example the behaviorism learning theory has four major concepts which are stimuli, responses, reinforcement, punishment and behavior modification. This theory helps the teacher to understand the learning of skills and attitudes in students. In a given classroom situation, the teacher might reinforce concepts through written exercises and homework. The theories may also be applied in classroom management when handling problems. For example the teacher can establish classroom rules to express standards of behavior for which individual students need to take responsibility. These rules encourage the students to be responsible for learning and showing respect for each other (Seifert and Sutton, 2009).

Educational psychology enables the teacher to identify the stages of development and growth in pupils and to apply methods of teaching that are likely to be effective at each of these stages (Mwamwenda, 2009). Methods of teaching are based on the developmental characteristic of the students and the theories of child and adolescence development. For example History is taught effectively to small children with the help of storytelling methods because small children like stories. Smith (2012) concurs with this by stating that educational psychology aids the teacher in choosing teaching and learning aids appropriately. For instant, a primary school teacher applies educational psychology to choose the teaching aids that will effectively assist the children in understanding a specific topic, for example buying and selling. Instead of just explaining, the teacher may create a buying and selling learning center in the classroom. The teacher can also make use of scientific devices such as the television, computers and radios. Through the use of scientific devices, the topic of presentation in the classroom can be made interesting by involving more students’ participation. Many difficult concepts can be made easy and interesting by the use of audio-visual teaching aids (Prakash, 2014). This clearly points to the relevance of educational psychology to a classroom teacher.

Classroom teachers can develop curricula using and applying educational psychology. According to Mwamwenda (2009), educational psychology is helpful in developing curricula of different levels of students in different subjects. In the preparation of a curriculum, educational psychology assists the teacher to prepare the curriculum that will best suit age, needs and the interests of students who will study that particular subject. For example, the curricula in primary schools include sections of physical education (PE) and home economics to keep the children interested. In Zimbabwe teachers prepare the junior certificate Science curriculum different from the ordinary level Science curriculum considering the age, needs and interests of the students.

Another relevance of educational psychology to a classroom teacher is that it allows the teacher to measure, monitor and assess the learning outcomes of students. According to Child (2007) educational psychology enables the teacher to assess the progress made by the students and the teacher’s effectiveness in transmitting information. The testing activities help in measuring learning outcomes of the students to judge their improvement and progress (Makotore and Zindi, 2009; Slovin, 2013, Woolfolk, 1995). For example most teachers use tests and exercises to evaluate pupil’s progress. The results of the students in the tests and exercises allows the teacher to group children within a class according to their ability and teach accordingly.

The teacher can apply educational psychology bring about desirable changes in the student’s behavior. Seifert and Sutton (2009) are of the view that with the use of educational psychology, the teacher can create learning conditions that provide knowledge and experiences to the students for behavioral change. Behaviorist approaches to motivation assist the teacher to encourage students to sustain and to increase their behavior towards specific goals. The teacher takes into account individual differences in attitude towards school and how the pupil feel about specific subjects.  For instant, there are some students who have fear for subjects such as Mathematics. The teacher can apply educational psychology to motivate the students and to allay such fears in order to reduce the feelings of ‘dislike’ towards the subject (Makotore and Zindi, 2000). The teacher can starts by stimulating the interests of the subject in the student. The teacher can also invest extra time and effort for the student while influencing the student’s behavior in a constructive direction. Another method that the teacher can use in such a case can is to start by initially giving the pupils easy tasks followed by more difficult tasks.

Motivation is another relevance of educational psychology to a classroom teacher. The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory has been found to be very useful in teaching as postulated by Makotore and Zindi (2000). The theory states that the needs of pupils determine their motivation to learn or not to learn in particular cases. According to Maslow (in Mnkandla, 1999), people’s needs include physiological needs that are basic needs for survival, such as food and water. Safety needs, love and belonging needs, self-esteem and self-actualisation, respectively and other needs in Maslow’s hierarchy. Only when people’s basic needs are met will they strive to satisfy higher needs. With the knowledge of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it becomes the teacher’s responsibility to know the needs of the students and ensure that they are met as they develop appropriate teaching programmes.

Educational psychology also aids the teacher in the preparation of the time table. The classroom teaching of various subjects is organized by a perfectly arranged time table. Preparation of the time table needs knowledge of psychology, as the difficult subjects like mathematics and science must be placed in the first periods and other subjects like history, geography may be placed in the last periods. According to Prakash (2014), this is done because students are considered to be more mentally active in the early hours of the day.

Berk (2003) postulated that educational psychology can be applied by a teacher to help in the language development of the students. Communication in a classroom serves a unique combination of three purposes at once which are content, procedures and behavior control. The teacher uses class activities to take on patterns that guide communication in ways that class members learn to expect, often without even being reminded. Some the common class activities are lecturing, questions and answer, discussion and group work. Each of these structures influences how communication among teachers and students tends to occur and each is itself sort of an implied message about how, when, and with whom to interact (Seifert and Sutton, 2009).

According to Makotore and Zindi (2000), educational psychology is well applied by a teacher in the guidance and counselling of the students. Counselling is done to help the pupils to solve individual to solve some problems of abuse, vocational selection and community conflicts. It allows the teacher to advise students in all aspects of well-being so that the student can reach his/her potential.

Conclusion

In conclusion the relevance of educational psychology to a classroom teacher is undeniable. The basis of this view has been explored in the essay. Factors that show this relevance include, equipping the teacher with the ability to study teaching and learning situations; helping the teacher to study the ability, interests, intelligence and needs of the student. Other factors include allowing the teacher to adopt different techniques of teaching for effective communication and it aiding the teacher in curriculum development. Other factors that shows the relevance of educational psychology to a classroom teacher are that it allows the teacher to measure and monitor learning outcomes and progress of pupils and it enables the teacher to identify the stages of development in pupils and apply methods that are likely to be effective at each stage.

References

Berk, L.E (2003). Child Psychology. New Delhi: Pearson Education.

Biehler, R.F. and Snowman, J (2000). Psychology Applied to Teaching. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Child, D (2007). Psychology and the Teacher. London: Cassell.

Henson et al (2012). Education psychology. Second edition. Kendal hunt publishing company. Mississippi. USA

Husen, T and Postlethwaite T. N (1994). The International Encyclopedia of Education, Volume1. New York: Pergamon.

Makotore S and Zindi F (2000). Educational Psychology module. ZOU. Harare. Zimbabwe

Mnkandla, M (1999). “The Relevance of Psychology to Teaching and Learning.” In Peresuh, M. and Nhundu, T. (editors) Foundations of Education for Africa. Harare: College Press.

Mwamwenda T (2009). Educational Psychology, an African perspective. Third edition. Durban: Heinemann.

Prakash J (2014). Introduction to Psychology. New Delhi: A.I.T.B.S.

Seifert K and Sutton R (2009). Educational psychology. Global text project. Zurich. Switzerland  

Slavin R (2013). Educational psychology; theory and practice. Peason publishers. Boston

Smith B (2012). Science of education. Macmillian

Woolfolk, A.E (1995). Educational Psychology. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Zindi, F, Peresuh, M. and Mpofu, E (1997). Psychology for the Classroom-wise. Harare: College Press.