Essay on Educational Psychology

Psychologist Jean Piaget developed the Piaget’s theory around the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. Piaget’s theory implies that cognitive growth advances in different stages, influenced by an instinctive need to know basis. The four stages of Piaget’s theory are, sensorimotor (birth to about two years old), preoperational (average two to seven years old), concrete operational (seven to eleven years old), and formal operational stage (eleven to undetermined years old).

At the centre of Piaget's theory is the principle that cognitive development occurs in a series of four distinct, universal stages, each characterized by increasingly sophisticated and

Snowman, Jack (1997) defined educational psychology as a branch of psychology concerned with the scientific study of human learning. The study of learning processes, from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives, allows researchers to understand individual differences in intelligence, cognitive development, affect, motivation, self-regulation, and self-concept, as well as their role in learning. The field of educational psychology relies heavily on quantitative methods, including testing and measurement, to enhance educational activities related to instructional design, classroom management, and assessment, which serve to facilitate learning processes in various educational settings across the lifespan.

There are many different kinds of ways that people and animals learn. People can adjust the way they learn to the different situations in which they are learning and what they have to learn. One form of learning is known as conditioning. Conditioning emphasises the relationship between stimuli and responses. The two types of conditioning found are Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning. Learning may occur in different ways. Psychologists have distinguished between different types of learning, these being Observational Learning and Insight Learning.

a result of what has been learnt, which is to say that it is the

1. Define cohort and briefly summarize at least one major difference in how different cohorts, past and present, are experiencing childhood, old age, and adulthood (pp. 5-9).

For this paper I will be exploring Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget, theorized that children progress through four key stages of cognitive development that change their understanding of the world. By observing his own children, Piaget came up with four different stages of intellectual development that included: the sensorimotor stage, which starts from birth to age two; the preoperational stage, starts from age two to about age seven; the concrete operational stage, starts from age seven to eleven; and final stage, the formal operational stage, which begins in adolescence and continues into adulthood. In this paper I will only be focusing on the

Tomorrow’s leaders are sitting in desks, roaming the halls, and hanging out with friends. They are being influenced by the people around them. Their social development today impacts their roles in society tomorrow. Prevention clubhouses are working to target at risk youth and empower them to make a difference. One of these dedicated facilities is located in Northeast Georgia. Next Generation Prevention Clubhouse is impacting adolescents through positive social development. Next Generation also uses teaching styles that are student driven. I was fortunate enough to get to observe how this takes place and its relation to educational psychology.

Behaviorism is everything that we can directly observe. According to the text on page 308, "For the behaviorist, behavior is everything that we do, both verbal or nonverbal, that can be directly seen or heard." The learner starts off as a clean sheet of paper through positive or negative reinforcement behavior is shaped. In contradiction, punishment positive or negative decreases the probability that the previous behavior will happen again. Behaviorism is for beginner developing mind who is starting to learn something new, or for training a pet. For example, as I recently started learning bicycle riding; as a beginner, I was told to sit on the bike while my instructor who happened to be my husband hold the bike from behind, as I push down on the pedals with my feet to move the bike. At this point, balancing is an important part of riding the bike as I started to

While studying not only educational psychology, but general psychology as well, students are taught that the main things that predestine what a child will be like are family, friends, social media, and schooling. While observing a friend of mine, Shanae, and her mom, Char, these four things most definitely had consequences in how Shanae came to be the way she is and how her mother adapted to the changes. Shanae’s family seems to be the typical all-American family with two happily married parents and one older sister. Shanae and her sister have lived their entire lives in Aberdeen, and now continue to do so as they both go to Northern State University. It is interesting that Char and her husband decided to only have two children as Char is an only child and her husband has 18 siblings, but then again, the typical American family is only two children.

Over the course of this semester, I have had the opportunity to learn about educational psychology. I have always enjoyed psychology and was especially interested in how it applied to teaching in the classroom. There were five specific concepts we discussed over the semester that especially interested me. I found that homogenous and heterogeneous grouping, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, operant conditioning, cooperative learning, and divergent versus convergent thinking are five psychological concepts that every teacher should learn about in preparation for teaching.

Jean Piaget, a cognitivist, believed children progressed through a series of four key stages of cognitive development. These four major stages, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational, are marked by shifts in how people understand the world. Although the stages correspond with an approximate age, Piaget’s stages are flexible in that if the child is ready they can reach a stage. Jean Piaget developed the Piagetian cognitive development theory. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development proposes that a child’s intellect, or cognitive ability, progresses through four distinct stages. The emergence of new abilities and ways of processing information characterize each stage. Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of mental development. His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge, but also on understanding the nature of intelligence.

Educational Psychology fosters an understanding for student development and helps teachers be effective, design lessons and make a difference for their students. First we must define what education psychology is, and how it applies student development and to the education community. The textbook, “Educational Psychology” written by Anita Woolfolk, (2012), defines educational psychology as, “A distinct discipline with its own theories, research methods, problems, and techniques. Educational psychologists do research on learning and teaching and, at the same time, work to improve educational practice.” (p. 12). Essentially, educational psychology is the study and research behind creative and effective learning strategies and the principles for development and learning. It enables teachers to reach and engage their students at the highest level of learning with effective learning strategies. Learning educational psychology through the study of cognitive development and the influences on children and adolescents as they grow, the implication of moral and identity development, as well as obligations teachers have professionally to create safe learning environments that promote high expectations and inclusion of all learners, helps teachers to nurture and understand their students. For example, learning about student diversity and culture, characteristics, learning levels, how to design and present content, enhance classroom management creating a safe effective learning

It is vital to know the developmental stages of every child and their behaviour at every stage in order to be a successful teacher. Therefore every teacher or educator requires the knowledge of psychology to be able to provide the best learning experience to learners.

     Intrinsic motivation can be defined as “motivation associated with activities that are their own reward” (Perry 2003). It is motivation that stems from your inner feelings and views which feed your desires to accomplish and perform. Oppositely, extrinsic motivation is “motivation created by external factors such as rewards and punishments” (Perry 2003). When you are extrinsically motivated, you are only performing the task for what you will gain from completion. On the other hand, when we are intrinsically motivated, there is no requirement for external rewards or punishments