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PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING
Unit Structure :
1.0 Objective
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Meaning and Definition of Educational psychology
1.3 Nature Of Educational Psychology
1.4 Scope of Educational Psychology
1.0 OBJECTIVE
After going through this unit carefully you should be able to
- Define Educational Psychology.
- Explain the nature of Educational Psychology.
- List out the functions of Educational Psychology.
1.1 INTRODUCTION
This is the first unit of the second paper of Psychology of Learning. This course deals with the importance and contribution of educational psychology on the theory and practice of education. every teacher is confronted with the problem of individuals difference in the classroom. The purpose of this unit is to define the concept of educational Psychology. It describes meaning and nature of Educational Psychology. An attempt has also been made to describe the characteristics and meaning of learning.
1.2 MEANING AND DEFINITION OF EDUCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY
Educational Psychology and consists of two words Psychology and Education. While Genral Psychology is a pure science. Educational Psychology is its application in the field of education with the aim of socializing man and modifying his behaviour. According to Crow and Crow Educational Psychology describes and explains the learning experiences of an individual from birth through old age. Skinner defines Educational Psychology as “that branch of Psychology which deals with teaching and learning”
Stephen – “Educational Psychology is the systematic study of the educational growth and development of a child.”
Judd – “Educational Psychology is the Science which explains the changes that take place in the individuals as they pass through the various stages of development.” Peel- “Educational Psychology is the science of Education.”
Educational psychology is one of the branches of applies psychology concerned with the application of the principles, techniques and other resourse of psychology to the solution of the problems confronting the teacher attempting to direct the growth of children toward defined objectives. More specifically, we can say educational psychology is concerned with an understanding of:
- The child, his development, his need and his potentialities.
- The learning situation including group dynamics as the affect learning.
- The learning process its nature and the ways to make it effective. Stated differently, the Central theme of Educational Psychology is Psychology of learning.
PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING
This area is concerned with such problems as : How do children acquire skills? When is learning more effective? What are the factors that help the learning Process? How do we measure the amount of learning? Are there any economic methods of memorizing? Why do we forget? Can memory be improved? Dose the study of Sanskrit helps than study of Hindi?
Psychology helps the teacher to get answers to these questions. It tells us that learning becomes more effective if factors like motivation and interest are taken into consideration by every teacher. The knowledge of psychology has helped the teacher in modifying her approach to the teaching learning process.
The study of educational Psychology has brought about change in the approach and therefore we have child centred education. Psychological principles are used in formulation curriculum for different stage. Attempts are made to provide subjects and activities in the curriculum which are in conformity with the needs of the students, their developmental characteristics, learning patterns and also needs of the society.
1.3 NATURE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Following are the important characteristics of the nature of educational psychology:
1.4 SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Five major areas covered by Educational Psychology are:
- The Learner
- The learning Process
- The learning Situation
- The Teaching Situation
- Evaluation of Learning Performance
- The Teacher
The Learner
Educational Psychology aquaints us with need of knowing the leaves and deals with the techniques of knowing him well. Following are the topics studied included in it: the innate abilities and capabilities of the individual differences and their measurements, the overt, convert, conscious as well as unconscious behaviour of the learner, the characteristics of his growth and development at each stage beginning from childhood to adulthood.
The Learning Process
After knowing the learner and deciding what learning experiences are to be provided, the emerging problem is to help learner in acquiring these learning experiences with ease and confidence.
Hence, it deals with the nature of learning and how it take place and contains the topics such as laws, principles and theories of learning; remembering and forgetting, perceiving, concept formation, thinking, reasoning process, problem solving, transfer of training, ways and means of effective learning etc.
Learning Situation
It also deals with the environment factors and learning situation which come midway between the learner and the teacher. Topics like classroom climate and group dynamics techniques and aids which facilitate learning, evaluation techniques, and practices, guidance and counseling etc. which help in the smooth functioning of the teaching learning process.
Teaching Situation
It suggests the techniques of teaching. It also helps in deciding what learning situation should be provided by teacher to learner according to his mental and physical age, his previous
knowledge and interest level. By describing the learner’s characteristics, what teaching aids are appropriate for the particular subject
Evaluation of Learning Performance
Main objective of education is allround development of the learner. It includes cognitive, affective and psychomotor aspects of personality. Educational Psychology suggests various tool and techniques for assessment and evaluation such as performance test, oral test and written test. It does not stop at measurement only, after the testing results of the test are anyslysed causes for poor performance, backwardness in any aspect of development is corrected by maladjustment are helped by guidance and counselling study habit, examination techniques and learning styles are analysed and helped the learner so that he can overcome the difficulties.
The Teacher
Educational Psychology emphasizes the need of knowing the self for a teacher to play his fole properly in the process of education. it throws light on the essential personality traits, interests, aptitudes, the characteristics of effective teaching etc., so as to inspire, help teacher handle the stress, conflict and anxicty by giving insight in their own personality.
Unit End Exercises :
1) Knowledge of Educational Psychology helps teacher in ….
A) Obtaining the B.Ed. degree B) It is ethical to have the knowledge of Educational Psychology. C) Improving the socio-emotional climate of the class. D) Teaching the special type of children.
2) Educational Psychology aims to ……
A) To decide the future of the learner B) To forecast the future behaviour of the learner. C) Improve learning situation by desending learning’s needs and interest. D) To control the Educational Programme.
A brief review of the development of methods will be helpful for you to understand the important of the subject in greater perspective.
The first effort of conducting systematic experimental studies in psychology was stared in 1879 in Germany with the establishment of first laboratory of psychology by William Wundt.
The next important method of collecting data was evolved with the development of psychoanalysis an independent system of psychology by Sigmund Freud who emphasized importance of unconscious in understanding the behaviour. In the second decade of 20 th^ century, psychology developed as an objective science of behaviour by the efforts of Pavlov Watson and Guthrie. Experimental and observation methods were developed to collect data to study behaviour. Simultaneously testing movement started with the introduction of statistics in psychology.
Students here we will study only the following methods of studying psychology of learning. They are:
A] Introspection method B] Observation method C] Experimental method
2.2 INTROSPECTION METHOD
Students at many times, when you have experienced an emotion like anger or fear you begin to think reasons for the state of yours.
You say, “Why have I been annoyed over this or that? Why been afraid of such things” The analysis of your emotional state may take place simultaneously with the emotion or it may be done after the emotional state is over. In whatever manner it is done, it gives you an understanding, though rudimentary of your mind. This method of probing into your mental processes is a method of introduction utilized by psychologists in a much-refined manner.
Let us see in detail what do we mean by Introduction and its merits and demerits.
What we mean by introspection
Introduction is a method of self-observation. The word ‘Introspection is made up of two Latin words. “Intro” meaning within and “Aspection” meaning looking. Hence it is a method where an individual is looking within one self.
Angel considered it as “looking inward”. In Introduction the individual peeps into his own mental state and observes his own mental processes.
Stout considers that ‘to introspect is to attend to the working of one’s own mind in a systematic way’.
Introspection method is one of the oldest methods to collect data about the conscious experiences of the subject. It is a process of self – examination where one perceives, analyses and reports one’s own feelings. Let us learn this process with the help of an example, suppose you are happy and in the state of happiness you look within yourself. It is said you are introspecting your own mental feelings and examining what is going on in your mental process in the state of happiness. Similarly, you may introspect in state of anger or fear; etc Introspection is also defined as the notice, which the mind takes of itself.
Let us see the stages distinguished in introspection.
Students there are three clear stages in introspection.
- During the observation of external object, the person beings to ponder over his own mental states. For example While listening to the music, which is to him pleasant or unpleasant he starts thinking about his own mental state.
- The person begins to question the working of the his own mind. He thinks and analyses: Why has he said such and such thing? Why as he talked in a particular manner? And so on.
- he tries to frame the laws and conditions of mental processes: He thinks in terms of improvement of his reasoning or the control of his emotional stages. This stage of that of the scientific methods for the advancement of our scientific knowledge.
Characteristics of Introspection:
Introspection being self- observation has the following characteristics:
- The subject gets direct, immediate and intuitive knowledge about the mind.
- The subject has actually to observe his own mental processes. He cannot speculate about them.
Students, Introduction Method was widely used in the past. Its use in modern time is being questioned. It is considered unscientific and not in keeping with psychology which has recently
- The data collected by introspection in highly subjective. It has danger of being biased and influenced by preconceptions of the individual.
- The observer and the observed are the same. Hence there is ample scope fro the individual to lie deliberately and hide the facts to mislead.
- Introspection cannot be applied to children, animal and abnormal people. It requires highly trained and skilled workers to introspect.
- Introspection us logically defective because one and the same person is the experiencer and observer. It is not possible for the same individual to act as an experiencer as well as an observer.
There introspection is logically defective.
Conclusion:
The limitations of introspection can be overcome by practice and training, by remaining alter during introspection and by comparing results obtained by experts.
Check Your Progress:
Note a] Write your answers in the space given below.
b] Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
1] Fill in the blanks:
A] Introspection is a method of ------------- B] The word introspection is made up of two Latin words ---------
2.3 OBSERVATION METHOD
Student we observe so many things in nature. We also observe the action and behaviour of others and form our own notions about these person. We look at other persons, listen to their
talks and try to infer what they mean. We try to infer the characteristics, motivations, feelings and intentions of others on the basis of these observations. So let us study about Observation method employed by psychologists in detail.
With the development of psychology as an objective science of learning behaviour, the method of introspection was replaced by careful observation of human and animal behaviour to collect data by research workers.
In introspection we can observe the mental process of ourselves only, but in observation, we observe the mental processes of others. Hence Observation is the most commonly used for the study of human behaviour.
Meaning of Observation
Observation literally means looking outside oneself. Facts are collected by observing overt behaviour of the individual in order to locate underlying problem and to study developmental trends of different types.
The overt behaviour is the manifestation of court conditions within the individual. The study of overt behaviour gives indirectly the clue to the mental condition of the individual. Observation means ‘perceiving the behaviour as it is”
In the words of Goods, “ Observation deals with the overt behaviour of persons in appropriate situations.”
Observation has been defined as “Measurements without instruments.”
For example students in classroom have been labeled as good, fair or poor in achievement and lazy or diligent in study etc. on the basis of observation, observation is indirect approach to study the mental processes of others through observing their external behaviour. For example if someone frowns, howls, grinds his teeth, closes his fists, you would say that the person is angry by only observing these external signs of his behaviour.
Students in the process of observation, following four steps are generally required:
1. Observation of behaviour:
The first step involved in the method of observation is directly perceiving or observing the behaviour of individuals under study. For example, if we want to observe the social behaviour of children we can observe it when they assemble and play.
4. Structure Observation:
Here the observer in relevance sets up a form and categories in terms of which he wishes to analyse the problem. The observer always keeps in view
a] A frame of reference b] Time units. c] Limits of an act
5. Unstructured Observation :
This is also called as uncontrolled or free observation. It is mainly associated with participant observation in which the observer assumes the role of a member of the group to be observed. Here the individual is observed when he is in his class, playground or when he is moving about with his friends and class follows without knowing that he is being observed.
Observation is very useful method to study child and his behaviour. Student’s observation method, being commonly used method psychology has following merits:
Merits of Observation Method
- Being a record of actual behaviour of the child, it is more reliable and objective.
- It is an excellent source of information about what actually happens in classroom.
- It is a study of an individual in a natural situation and is therefore more useful than the restricted study in a test situation.
- The method can be used with children of all ages. Younger the child, the easiest it is to observe him. This method has been found very useful with shy children.
- it can be used in every situation, physical- activities, workshop and classroom situations as well.
- It is adaptable both to the individuals and the groups.
Although observation is regarded as an efficient method for psychological studies, students yet it suffers from the following drawbacks limitations:
Limitations:
- There is great scope for personal prejudices and bias of the observer. The observers interest, values can distort observation.
- Records may not be written with hundred percent accuracy as the observations are recorded after the actions are observed. There is some time lag.
- The observer may get only a small sample of study behaviour. It is very difficult to observe everything that the student does or says. As far as possible observation should be made from several events.
- It reveals the overt behaviour only- behaviour that is expressed and not that is within.
- It lacks replicability as each natural situation can occur only once.
Students looking at the drawbacks an observation method has psychologists have suggested various guidelines to be followed for making good observation. So let us find out which are these essential guidelines for making good observation.
Essential guidelines for making good observation
- Observe one individual at a time. It is desirable to focus attention on just one individual at a time in order to collect comprehensive data.
- Have a specific criteria for making observations. The purpose of making observation should be clear to the observe before he or she begins to observe so that the essential characteristics or the behaviour of the person fulfilling the purpose can be noted.
- Observations should be made over a period of time. To have a real estimate of the true behaviour of a person it should be observed as frequently as possible. A single observation will not be sufficient to tell us that this is the characteristic of the individual.
- The observations should be made in differing and natural situations in natural settings to increase its validity. For example, a pupil’s behaviour in the classroom may not be typical of him; therefore he should be observed in variety of settings to know the behaviour most typical of the person.
- Observe the pupil in the context of the total situation.
- The observed facts must be recorded instantly, that is just at the time of their occurrence otherwise the observer may forget some of the facts and the recording may not be accurate.
- It is better to have two or more observers.
- Observations should be made under favourable conditions. The observer should be in position to clearly observe what he or she is observing. There should not be any undue distraction or
J. W. Best describes, “Experimental research is the description and analysis of what will be, or what will occur under carefully controlled conditions.”
Basic concepts /essentials of experimental method
a. Experiments are always conducted in laboratory. Hence the laboratory is essential.
b. Psychological experiments performed in this method essentially require two people; the experiment or group of experimenters who perform experiment and the other is the subject or subjects on whom the experiment is performed.
c. The key factor in this method is the controlling of conditions or variables. The term ’Variable’ means that which can be varied or changed. By controlling. The variables we can eliminate the irrelevant conditions and isolate the relevant ones. We thus become able to observe the causal relationship between the phenomena keeping all other conditions almost constant. Let us understand this by and example. If we try to study the effect of intelligence on academic by the experimental method, we will need to determine the causative relation between the two phenomena (variables)- i.e. intelligence and academic achievement. One of these variables, the effect of which we want to study will be called the independent Variable and the other the dependent variable. Thus the independent variable stands for cause and the dependent variable is the effect of the cause. Other conditions like study-habits, sex, socio-eco conditions, parental education, home environment, health past learning, memory etc. which exercise a good impact upon one’s achievement besides one’s intelligence are termed “interviewing variables”. In Experimentation, all such interviewing variables are to be controlled, i.e. they are to be made constant or equalized and the effect of only one independent variable e.g. intelligence in present case, on one or more dependent variable is studied. The interviewing variables made constant, are hence called as controlled variables.
Steps in the experimental method
Students we have describe above, the basic concepts of experimental method. Here we will describe different steps, which are to be followed in conducting a typical experiment. These steps are as follows.
1. Raising a problem:
In any experiment the first steps is to identify a problem. For example it has been observed that the students cheat in the examinations. To stop it many recommend strict supervision.
But it has also been seen that even when there is strict supervision there is cheating, hence there crops up the problem of cheating under strict supervision or relaxed supervision. This problem may lead to experimentation.
2. Formulation of a hypothesis:
The next step in experimental method is the formulation of a hypothesis that “Strict supervision may lead to less copying in the examination as compared to the relaxed supervision. “This hypothesis is now to be tested by experiment.
3. Making a distinction between Independent and dependent variables: In the example given above the cheating behaviour of the students will be dependent variable while the nature of supervision will be the independent variable. It is because by changing the supervision the cheating behaviour is expected change. In the present experiment we manipulate the conditions of supervision in order to discover the ways in which they determine the dependent variable that is the cheating behaviour. We may observe the effect of supervision in the experimental situation and also the effect of relaxed supervision under similar conditions and with the same group of students. 4. Controlling the situational variables:
The experiment will not give valid results unless the situational variables are controlled. If the experiment is conducted with different set of students who have been trained in a different manner of have a different value system then the results will be different in comparison to those who have been subjected to experiment earlier. Similarly the other conditions like the person who is supervising the place of supervision etc. have to be controlled. This means that all those conditions, which might affect the dependent variable, are to e controlled. Since in any experiment there are numerous conditions which are needed to be controlled it is many a time difficult to do so. Hence we take recourse to various types of experimental designs, which we have described earlier.
5. Analysis of the Results:
Once the experiment is concluded the results are analysed. In our example we may apply simple percentages to find out in which type of supervision a higher percentage of students have copied. Many a times we apply more sophisticated statistics to analyse the results.
- One group pretest-posttest design: This is also simple design and is considered to be a rather poor design though better than one group posttest design. In this design the experimenter first tests a group on some aspects of behhaviour and then gives special treatment. He statistically analyses the data and calculates the difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the group.
The paradigm of the design is as follows:
Pretest Independent variable Posttest T 1 X T 2
Example, Suppose in the beginning of the semester, we administer test of educational psychology to students of MA education and then we teach them the subject through out the semester. At the end of the semester we administer posttest (T 2 ), and find out the difference between the scores on the initial and final tests.
(B) Two Group Designs Researches in education and psychology have often been criticized of being loosely controlled. In recent year more rigorous designs have been evolved by using statistics to make researches more scientific more scientific and objective.
Generally researchers use two parallel group techniques to see the effects of an independent variable on some dependent variable. Two group are equated on the basis of significant variable. One group called experimental and the other is called control group. The experimental group is subjected to a certain experience or to a specific treatment whereas the control group is not given any type of special treatment. After providing special treatment to the experimental group, both the groups are administered the same final test. The scores are statistically compared and conclusions are drawn as regards the effect of special treatment on the experimental group.
- Randomized Control Group Pretest Posttest Design: The researcher in this design follows the procedure as given below. i. He selects subject by random method. ii. Assigns subjects to groups and X (Treatment) to groups by random method. iii. Tests the Ss on the dependent variable. iv. Keep all conditions the same for both the groups except for exposing the experimental S but not the control group to the independent variable for a specific time. v. Test the ‘Ss’ on the dependent variable.
vi. Finds the difference between the two. vii. Compares the results to see whether the application of ‘X’ (treatment) caused a change in the experimental group. viii. Applies an appropriate statistical procedure.
- Matched two group design. A matched two group design is a modification of the totally randomized two group design described above. In this design, both groups are matched in terms of some variable, the experimenter feels he would influence the dependent variable. Suppose we want to test the retention of two types of words closely associated and disassociated. We believe that I. Q. Will influence how well a person can retain words so we match the two groups on I. Q. Let us be more concrete to understand this point. Suppose there are ten subjects with I. Q. as follows:
(C) Multi group Design with one Independent Variable (ANOVAR)
Two group paradigms are most common in education and psychology but events in nature do not always conveniently order into two groups. Some times the investigator has to compare the effect of different values of some variable or has to see the effect of several alternative variables on more than two groups. The procedure for carrying out one way analysis of variance (ANOVAR) is the same as for two group design. The distinguishing feature between the two types of investigation is the type of statistical analysis used.
(D) Factorial Design Factorial design is employed where more than one independent variables are involved in the investigation. Factorial designs may involves several factors.
(E) Small N Design We have briefly mentioned various experimental designs which are termed as large N group designs. In all large N group designs, the number of subject in classroom situation. In many instances, the psychologist or teacher is faced with situations in which large N is not possible, for example delinquency, problem of indiscipline etc. with the introduction of statistics in psychology, it is possible to conduct scientific research on small N group.
Merits of experimental method
Experimental method being most precise and scientific has following merits:
