EDUCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY
February 13, 2009

Educational Psychology
Studies how people learn in educational settings.
Tends to focus on the classroom.
May often focus on specific groups such as gifted
students or those with disabilities.

An analogy perhaps?
Educational Psychology : Psychology ::
Medicine : Biology ::
Engineering : Physics

Aspects We Won’t Address Today
Individual differences (too much!)
Social, moral, or cognitive development (we’ve
touched on this!)
Research methodology (we’ll talk about this later)

Four Important Ideas
Behavioral
Cognitive
Social cognitive
Constructivist
Connectivist (a bonus!)

Behaviorism
Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning (late 1890s)
BF Skinner’s radical behaviorism (1930-1950s)

Behaviorism
Focus on behavior outcomes
Systematic rewards
Operant Conditioning

Behaviorism
How do you use this?
When might it be useful?

Cognitivism
The idea that traits, beliefs, memories, motivations, and
emotions can determine how information in perceived,
processed, stored, retrieved, and forgotten.
Dual coding theory
Cognitive load
Spaced Learning Effect
Mnemonics
Problem solving as fundamental to learning
Involves long term memory, mapping between problem and
pre-existing schema

Cognitivism
Allan Paivo’s Dual-Coding Theory (1970s-80s)
John Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory

Cognitivism
How do you use this?
When might it be useful?

Social Cognitivism
(Social Learning Theory)
Blends behavioral, cognitive, and social thinking
Observational learning: watching others and change
own behavior as a result of observation
Last few decades: self-regulated learning and
metacognition
These both hypothesize effective learners are active agents
who construct knowledge by setting goals, analyzing tasks,
planning strategies, and monitoring understanding
Those who are better at goal setting and self-
monitoring have a greater intrinsic task interest and
self-efficacy

Social Cognitivism
(Social Learning Theory)
NE Miller and J Dollard’s Social Learning Theory
(1941)
Albert Bandura (1977)

Social Cognitivism
How do you use this?
When might it be useful?

Constructivism
Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural learning focuses on
internalization based on interaction with adults,
more capable peers, and cognitive tools.

Constructivism
Places emphasis on agency and prior knowledge of
the learner and often on social/cultural
determinants of the learning process
Related to Piaget’s individual/psychological
constructivism from social constructivism
Learners socialized through social interactions within
community of practice

Constructivism
How do you use this?
When might it be useful?

Connectivism
George Siemens (2000s!)
Learning in a digital age
Builds on previous models
Community of Learning

Connectivism
How do you use this?
When might it be useful?

Four Important Ideas
Behavioral
Cognitive
Social cognitive
Constructivist
Connectivist (a bonus!)

MOTIVATION!

Motivation
Internal state that activates, guides, and sustains
behavior.
Will, interest, intrinsic motivation, personal goals,
belief about the causes of their success or failure

Motivation
Bernard Weiner’s Attribution Theory:
Focuses on students’ beliefs about their success level

Motivation
Goals:
Mastery goals increase ability and knowledge
Performance approach goals strive for high grades and
seek opportunities to demonstrate their abilities
Performance avoidance goals driven by fear of failure
and where abilities are exposed

Motivation
Issues in motivation?