Educational Psychology :: essays research papers fc

Educational Psychology ? Mr. ? Psychology 16 Oct. 1996 The field of psychology that deals with the ability to solve educational problems and to improve educational situations is the field of educational psychology. Educational psychology is sometimes referred to as an applied field, meaning, one in which the objective is to solve immediate practical problems (James 29). The beginnings of educational psychology were initiated by Aristotle in his formulation of the laws of association. These laws: similarity, contrast, and contiguity, supplemented by frequency, are the beginnings to an experimental science (Piaget 9). As the science began to develop, the educational psychologists did little more than administer mental tests, which started with the Stanford-Binet test (IQ test). Today, the science has been expanded to include counseling students, teachers, administrators, and parents, in an effort to help make the school environment one which is most effective in promoting learning. As an example, if a student in school commits a disciplinary action, instead of being indiscriminately punished, that student would be sent to see the school psychologist to find out the causes of the students misbehavior and deal with them accordingly (Frandsen 92). Though studies of educational surveys, there were nine major factors that increased learning. These nine factors can be placed into three groups: student aptitude, instruction, and psychological environments. Student aptitude includes (1) ability or prior achievement as measured by score on educational test; (2) development as indexed by chronological age or stage of maturation; and (3) motivation or self-concept as shown by personality tests and students' perseverance on learning tasks. Instruction can be thought of as (4) the amount of time students engage in learning and (5) the quality of the instructional experience. Psychological environments include: (6) the "curriculum of the home," (7) the morale of the classroom social group, (8) the peer group outside school, and (9) the amount of leisure-time television viewing. These are the factors that influence academic achievement and behavioral learning (A.A.E. 66). Educational psychology does not only hold true for humans, but also for animals. Ivan Pavlov displayed the principle of association by applying it to the salivary reflex. He trained his dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell alone if previously they had so responded to meat and the bell together. In another case, B. F. Skinner trained pigeons to play a form of table tennis by rewarding the birds with food pellets each time they hit a ball into a designated trough (James 66). This area of psychology is used today to teach specific subjects such as foreign languages, arithmetic and mathematics, reading, writing, spelling, and the sciences. However, teaching of these subject requires a person that