Theories And Research Of Educational Psychology

Piaget was the first psychologist to make a systematic study of cognitive development. Piaget’s work includes a detailed observational study of cognition in children. Piaget showed that young children think in different ways to adults. According to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent knowledge is based.

Jean Piaget is a key figure for development, focusing on cognitive constructivism – that being that we must learn from experience and development, building on knowledge that has already been developed. The strengths and weaknesses of Piaget 's cognitive development theory will be discussed.

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.

This is one of the most reoccurring criticism that Piaget’s theory faces. (Lourenco, 1996) This is mostly based on the fact that researchers believe that the children competence were not really revealed because Piaget’s experiments did not include the necessary controlling factors as they have implicated in their studies. Some of these controlling factors are questions with better clarity, scoring criteria’s and instructions. But I agree with this because I believe that if you are going to try to justify a concept that is based on the development of a child there be a scoring criteria, and there should be a certain age limit for that concept. For instance Piaget did a formal operational thought experiment where children of various ages were to balance a scale by hooking weights on the scales are. For them to pass all the children had to do was notice that the weight’s heaviness and its distance from the center in the end affected the balance. Children who were three to five years old could not comprehend this concept, however children who were seven could balance the scale. And for the children who had reached the age of ten they thought about the locations but this is because they trial and error, not logical thinking. (Berger, 2010, p. 334) Such a test that is meant to see if a child can accomplish such a task should be for a child who is much more developed such as in the age range of six to eight not a young child who is merely just three or five. Another reason why I feel that Piaget underestimated a child competence is because it has been stated that some children with intellectual disabilities have “a persistent failure of normal synapse pruning”, this causes it to be difficult for them to think. (Berger, 2010, p. 96) In addition a group of researchers redid Piaget’s construction of the object concept and the

Researchers also claim that Piaget’s unsuccessful efforts to teach children developmentally advanced concepts is false. “Researchers have found that in some circumstances, children often learn advanced concepts with brief instruction. All of this research has led up to the belief that children may be more competent that Piaget gives them credit for, especially in their practical knowledge.”

Piaget was a cognitive theorist and is the most common of all educational theorists and possibly the main factor to current exercise of education. Piaget made vast contributions towards the direction, meaning and idea of current constructivism. Examples of Piaget's efforts include his concepts that knowledge needs to be actively constructed by the child and learning activities should match the degree of the development stage of each child. Also, several major ways to the national course and instruction depend on Piaget's theory. For example, Piaget influenced a lot of teaching techniques for example the focus on the process of the child's thinking and also the active role from the learner. Piaget's focus on the process from the child thinking

Having spent the last 4 years studying psychology at St Peters Catholic School, I have come to realise that I have a passion for Educational Psychology and working with children in the psychological field. My fascination with Psychology derives from the prevalence of my everyday life, due to my interest in the human mind; I have considered working in this sphere for many years now. I experienced and thoroughly enjoyed working voluntary around children of different ages at Our Lady of the Wayside School. Discovering and practically working with children has grant me an insight into the authenticity of a school environment, it opened my eyes to something that I am truly passionate about and that galvanises me to work as an Educational Psychologist in the future.

The educational implications of Piaget’s theory are closely tied to the concept of intelligence as the dynamic and emerging ability to adapt to the environment with ever increasing competence (Piaget, 1963). According to the development ideas presented by Piaget’s theory, cognitive structures are patterns of physical and mental action that underlie specific acts of intelligence and correspond to changes in child development. A review of the assumptions and ideas grounded in his theory and investigation into research conducted since will illustrate applications of his developmental

Another application of psychology in the education sector is in curriculum development. Children at different levels learn in different ways, and that can

Furth, H. G. & Wachs, H. (1975). Thinking Goes to School: Piaget’s Theory in Practice. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press, Inc. Retrieved from ebrary http://site.ebrary.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/lib/ashford/reader.action?docID=10103507

Does Psychology and Education have a link? Well in this essay I will be elaborating the link between Education and Psychology. I have identified the positives of Educations, negative and emotion intelligence and I will be referring these to my own experiences as learner myself. “Imam Ghazali” said “Education is the process of encouraging learning”. Behaviours such as how a person reacts individually and in groups as well as how they feel, thinks and acts. On the other hand, education with psychology is the logical study of the educational growth and the improvements of a child. It is very crucial for a teacher to teach students according to their rational abilities and their availability of educational psychology allows the teacher to do so. Psychology has changed as in a way where in the past education was only available for the upper class to where now it is available for all kinds of children with no regards to one background and the ability they have.

Psychology is a modern science which studies the human mind and how it functions. The area of psychology refers to all aspects of conscious and unconscious experience as well as thoughts. It can be described as both an academic and applied discipline. The aim of this science is to understand individuals and social groups. Psychology examines peoples mental functions and why they exhibit specific behaviours in certain settings. Some of the key concepts explored in psychology include cognition, perception,attention,emotion,motivation,personality, brain functions,behaviour,cognition and interpersonal relationships. Psychology has gone through many changes throughout the years. It has roots in philosophy, the link between biological foundations

According to Jean Piaget, our thinking processes change radically, though slowly, from birth to maturity because we constantly strive to make sense of the things going on around us. (Woolfolk, p. 45). Piaget believed that the mental structures were associated with each stage of intellectual development. Piaget came up with four stages of cognitive development that people pass through in the exact same order. The four stages are sensorimotor (0-2 years old), preoperational (3-7 years old), concrete operational (8-11 years old) and formal operational (adolescence to adulthood). Age can be associated with each stage, but this is not always the case. Knowing a student’s age is not always a guarantee that you will know how that child thinks. (Woolfolk, p. 47). The stages observed by Piaget are not necessarily “natural” for all children because to some extent they reflect the expectations and activities of Western cultures. (Kozulin, 2003; Kozulin et al., 2003; Rogoff, 2003). When applying Piaget’s work to teaching environments, one must know when to capitalize on student’s natural curiosity and that some students may not be capable of understanding certain ideas. Piaget believed that the main goal of education should be to help children learn how to learn, and that education should “form not furnish” the minds of students. (Piaget, 1969, p. 70).

This assignment is set out to identify the links or relationship between Education and Psychology. It also seeks to demonstrate my understanding of these links and explain how the relationship or link enables better educational experiences for both the educators and the learners (educated).