LESSON 1.

INTRODUCTION
TO PSYCHOLOGY OF EDUCATION

1.1. CAN GOOD

TEACHING BE
TAUGHT?

Course: Educational Psychology

Teacher: Irene Solbes Canales. 2017/8
 THE ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

 EP does research on learning and teaching and,

at the same time, work to improve educational
practice (Pintrich, 2000)

 EP´s goals (Berliner, 2006): to understand and to improve the

teaching and learning processes -> examination of…
- what happens when someone (a teacher or parent or computer or peer)
- teaches something (math or weaving or dancing)
- to someone else (student, or co-worker, or team)
- in some setting (classroom or theatre or gym or Internet)
 DEFINITION OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
 Psychology: scientific study of human behaviour and mental processes
 EP: science of human behaviour applied to the teaching and learning processes, which can
happen in formal or informal settings
 Science -> findings generated through research that relies heavily on the scientific method
 Why to study Psychology? Knowing Psychology is particularly valuable for anyone whose
profession involves…
- frequent interaction with others,
- where one has some degree of responsibility for other’s outcomes,
- people acting under the influence of psychological variables
(cognitive, emotional, social, behavioural…)
 E.P. will allow you to learn principles and theories of human behaviour because
these may help teachers determine the best way to behave in
different situations
 BUT… it does not bring recipes or “formulas for successful teaching”
to follow every time, in every situations, in every subject, in every grade… -> several restrictions
that you will have to apply when using EP knowledge (organization, space, curriculum, time,
number and type of students…)
 VARIABLES AFFECTING
THE QUALITY OF THE
TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS
SOCIAL VARIABLES: - -
- -

SCHOOL VARIABLES: - -
- -

CLASSROOM VARIABLES:
INPUT -
-
Teacher's variables: -
- -
-
- Learning PROCESS: OUTPUT variables:
- - -
- -
- -
- -
Students´ variables:
-
-
- EVALUATION
-
 DO TEACHERS MAKE A DIFERENCE?
 Some researches reported findings suggesting that wealth and social status,
not teaching, were the major factors determining who learned in schools -

Coleman Report (1966):

data from over 600,000 students and teachers in USA -> academic achievement
was less related to the quality of a student's school, and more related to the
social composition of the school, the student's sense of control of their
environment and future, the verbal skills of teachers, and the student's family
background

… HOW CAN WE DECIDE IF GOOD TEACHING MAKES A DIFFERENCE?

 DO TEACHERS MAKE A DIFERENCE?

EXAMPLE of study about teacher-student relationship

(Pianta, Belsky, Vandergrift, Houts, & Morrison, 2008)

They followed all the children who entered kindergarten one year in a small school district and
continued in that district through the 8th grade.
The researchers concluded that the quality of the teacher-student relationship in kindergarten
(defined in terms of level of conflict with the child, the child’s dependency on the teacher, and the
teacher’s affection for the child) predicted a number of academic and behavioural outcomes
through the 8th grade, particularly for students with high levels of behaviour problems.
Even when the gender, ethnicity, cognitive ability, and behaviour ratings of the student were
accounted for, the relationship with the teacher still predicted aspects of school success. Students
with significant behaviour problems in the early years are less likely to have problems later in school
if their teachers are sensitive to their needs and provide frequent, consistent feedback.
In a recent study that followed children from four and a half years thought 5th grade, Pianta and his
colleagues found that the emotional warmth of the teacher-child interactions and the teacher's
skill in recognizing and responding to children's needs consistently predicted the child's growth in
reading and mathematics
 BUT TEACHERS ARE NOT EVERYTHING…

Psychology of Education should also care about ecological variables which influence
learning, development and academic achievement of students

So we will study in the Course individual variables (cognitive, emotional, social…)

related to teachers and students,

but also organizational and process variables involved in the teaching-learning process
WHAT CHARACTERIZES GOOD TEACHING?
 WHAT CHARACTERIZES GOOD TEACHING?
 Teachers must have knowledge about the subject they teach
 They must be able to use a range of organized strategies, and they must also be able to invent
new strategies (creativity)
 They must have some basic research-based routines for managing classes, but they must also
be willing and able to break from the routine when the situation calls for change (flexibility)
 They must know the research on student development, patterns common to particular ages,
culture, social class and gender
 Good teachers are emotionally committed to their students
 They must deal with a wide range of student abilities, and challenges (different languages,
different home situations, and different abilities and disabilities)
 They must adapt instruction and assessment to students´ needs
 The have to take care of the emotional needs of their students, propping up self-esteem and
encouraging responsibility
 They carefully plan and teach the basic procedures for living and learning
 They reflect about their work: think back over situations to analyse what they did and why and
to consider how they might improve learning for their students
 TEACHER´S EPISTEMOLOGY

“Attitudes or beliefs about the nature of knowledge and the teaching-learning process”

What is learning?
How do children learn?
What is the best way of teaching?
What is the “main character” in this process?...

 These kind of attitudes and beliefs may influence (in an open or subtle way) how do we
face teaching and how we behave, feel or think while we teach
 These beliefs might be explicit and conscious, but sometimes they are subtle and we are
not even aware of them (implicit knowledge)
 In some situations, teachers do not act in a congruent way with their beliefs… Why is
that? Can you think about any example of this?
 TEACHER´S EPISTEMOLOGY

Some examples of graphic representations of

teacher´s beliefs, attitudes, behaviours, problems…

What do they suggest you?

 TEACHER´S EPISTEMOLOGY
Where are you??

1 2 3 4
Learner-Centered Beliefs about Learners,
Learning, & Teaching

1 2 3 4
Nonlearner-Centered Beliefs about
Learners

1 2 3 4
Nonlearner-Centered Beliefs about
Learning & Teaching