Category Archives: Educational Psychology

Articles on how students learn and how teachers can help them to learn effectively.

How to Motivate Middle School Students

motivation in school

Teaching middle school students is no easy feat. These kids at an age where they want their independence but they’re still too immature to be left alone entirely. They need a lot of guidance in order to succeed. Plus, since they’re dealing with the pressures of growing up and the hormones that come with it, they tend to get emotional and their moods are hard to manage. Therefore, it’s extremely important for teachers to learn the tricks that work for motivating these socially and biologically flustered young minds. Continue reading

Share

Sir Ken Robinson: The World We Explore (Video)

Education and creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson gives a fantastic talk on how the standardized nature of the educational system restricts the imagination and creative diversity of today’s students. He argues that rather than worrying about the future of the external world, more resources should be invested in breaking down the boundaries that society subtly sets within our own minds and hearts.

Share

The Struggle to Find Acceptance for Online Course Delivery

college degree online

More colleges are offering psychology courses and full psychology degree programs online. While just a handful of universities offered such programs a few years ago, now it is rare to find a college that doesn’t offer online subject courses. Colleges have embraced the idea of distance learning and the ability to serve a greater number of students without investing time and faculty presence for a traditional class. If you are hesitant about taking an online class or doing your degree online, then kindly read on for a bit more info about this rapidly growing trend. Continue reading

Share

Kathryn Schulz: On Being Wrong (Video)

In this video Kathryn Schulz explains that while “we all know that the human species, in general, is fallible,” our abstract appreciation of human fallibility goes out the window if we are personally questioned or challenged. Schulz claims that we get stuck in the feeling of being “right” due to (1) error blindness and (2) the fact that we are educated from a very early age that the way to succeed in life is to never be wrong. She goes on to show the dangers of such a mindset, and suggests that we can improve ourselves simply by embracing our fallibility.

Enhanced by Zemanta
Share

What is Educational Psychology?

schoolgirl taking exam

Educational psychology is the scientific field concerned with applying psychological theories and concepts to the understanding and improvement of teaching and learning in formal educational settings. In simpler terms, it is concerned with the study of how students learn and how teachers can help them to learn effectively. Educational psychology draws on and combines various psychological theories and principles – such as those related to human development, motivation, learning, behavior management and assessment, among others – in order to improve the conditions of teaching and learning. Educational psychologists study the process of learning not only among the general population but also among sub-groups such as gifted children and those with various learning disabilities. Continue reading

Share

Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity? (Video)

A profound talk by Sir Ken Robinson on human intelligence and the pressing need for an education system worldwide which nurtures childhood creativity. He argues that schools today are geared towards stigmatizing wrong answers (which subsequently restricts creativity and freedom of expression in students) and makes the point that creativity is something we slowly unlearn as we get older and become molded by the “rules” of general society.

Share