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 takes a village to raise a child.” I never quite understood that saying when I was growing up, but my experiences teaching and working in school settings have showed me how true it really is. Obtaining a degree in school psychology will allow me to give the support that students, families and educators need to ensure that every student will thrive.
School Psychology is a general practice and health service provider specialty of professional psychology that is deals with the practice of psychology with children, youth, families; learners of all ages; and the schooling process. The basic education and training of school psychologists prepares them to provide a large range of diagnosis, assessment, intervention, prevention, health promotion, and program development and evaluation services with a special focus on the developmental processes of children and youth within the context of schools, families, and other systems (Ehly, 1986).
When I declared a psychology major during the second year of my undergraduate career, my objective was to attend medical school and eventually become a psychiatrist. I enjoyed the psychology classes in which I was enrolled and found them to compliment the premed curriculum I also wanted to study. I reasoned that a major in psychology would provide insight that could later be useful in my planned studies of psychiatry. Although I decided against going to medical school, psychology remained the primary area of focus of my studies with the ultimate career goal of becoming a clinical psychologist. While my long term professional plans include achieving a PhD and becoming a clinical psychologist. Pursuing a masters degree in
In Psychology 101, you learn about a personal fable; something that I have not lost. I have always wanted to change the world that I was destined for greatness and teaching elementary school students gives me that power. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
I am sending an email in response to the question you posed in the videos. I am starting my third year in the Ph.D school psychology program. I switched from the Ed.S program to the Ph.D program this fall. I am not certain why I chose school psychology. My bacholers is in Political Science and Psychology. I always thought I was going to go to law school, I even took the LSAT. While I was applying for law schools, I decided the career may not make me happy, so I found school psychology. I also saw a lot of unemployed laweyers when I was applying for law school. I want to work with any population. My practcum last year was at an elementary, middle school, and high school. I enjoyed working with all of the age groups. I have worked with children
The general public has doubts about the psychology’s credibility and usefulness (Lilienfeld, 2012). These misconceptions have been tied to possible sources of skepticism such as “illusions of understanding, psychology’s problematic public face, and individual’s hindsight bias” (Lilienfeld, 2012). This skepticism must exist for a reason and it is crucial to understand why the general public finds behavioral science research less credible than that of other scientific disciplines often described as “harder” sciences.
Three main theories of education exist: behavioral, constructivist, and cognitive. I find myself ideologically aligned most closely with the constructivist approach, yet for reasons to be explored later in this document, find the theory one that can only offer guidance for my actions as a teacher a portion of the time I am working with students. Constructivism means students don’t just absorb information and understand
My subject of attention is school psychology and career choice is school psychology. I have researched this topic and found lots of valuable information to discuss. I will cover all aspects of this career including a definition of what it involves on a day to day basis, why I have chosen this career as my subject of interest, common personality characteristics and values that go along well with this job. I will also talk about the minimum requirements and educational path that must be followed for this career choice along with advancement opportunities. Lastly, I will discuss the leading companies in this area, local perspectives, and present outlooks and salaries that can be expected
The field of psychology is steadily expanding due to the progression in technology, which is being driven by the advancement of civilization. More and more time is spent on the internet, which has gradually altered the method in which primary communication takes place. Previously face-to-face interaction was touted as the primary method of interfacing with one another, now communication via the internet is almost mandatory to establish and maintain healthy relationships (Greenfield and Yan, 2006). This is especially true amongst children, adolescents and teenagers. The need for psychologists have never been greater in order to assess how individuals are able to acclimate to this societal change. Traditionally, there are two methods in which children, adolescents and teenagers communicate via the internet, through social media and video games. Each primary method presents their own unique social challenge. In response to the issues in of teenagers over use of the internet, psychologists are providing assistance for internet addictions at a greater rate. The first method utilized by mental health professionals is traditionally counseling and if those efforts fail, then the potential exists for adolescents to be placed on medications.
The psychology theorists of the past have shaped the classrooms of the present. There are many theorists that have affected the teaching styles of today and a theorist that has had a major impact is Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky’s work interests me much because his concepts and ideas encompass many of the ways in which teachers teach in today’s classrooms. The ideas he presented have contoured the strategies of teachers. It is interesting to look into the reasons why teachers have adopted some of the strategies they use and many of those reasons are formed from the original ideas of Vygotsky.
After working on the low and high ropes I found out many things about myself. Before the course I had known that I was afraid of heights but I didn’t realize how much until I actually saw the course in front of me. That was when I decided to help belay than be a climber. I cheered many friends on from below. This might not have helped with my fear but it helped with my communication skills. I learned how to encourage people better and also learned how to say the right things to help people conquer their fears, even if I couldn’t conquer my own. After many attempts to get myself to go on the course, my fear was to great and ended up not doing it. But then when we got to the low ropes I figured I would challenge myself. The high ropes were pretty tall, but the wall didn’t seem so bad. As I got on the harness, I have to be honest, I was a bit nervous. But then I just told myself everyone else can do it so what’s the difference between them and me. It’s not like half the people in my class have special wall climbing skills. And after that I did the climb. And with the help of my peers I
Drawing on examples from chapters 3, 4 and 8 of Investigating Psychology, examine and assess the extent to which psychological research is of value to society.
One of the more popular areas of psychology is Educational Psychology. Educational Psychology can be explained several ways. The idea is to study theories and concepts from different parts of psychology and apply them in educational settings. These educational settings may occur in different school settings such as preschool. The goal of educational psychology is to create a positive student-teacher relationship. Educational psychology uses five different types of psychology, behavioral, cognitive, developmental, and social cognitive, and constructivist in this research paper I will be briefly discussing each type of psychology listed above.
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.
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