Nature of educational psychology
1.
Educational psychology is scientific in
nature as it uses scientific methods.
2.
It has its own methodology.
3.
It is the positive science and not a
normative one.
4.
It studies dynamic and unpredictable
human behaviour. Therefore, is not exact as physical science.
Scope of educational psychology
Five major areas covered by
educational psychology are:
1. The
learner
2. Learning
experiences
3. The
learning processes
4. Learning
situation or environment
5. The
teacher
1.
The
learner
If
we take the first pivot, the learner, we can find that educational psychology
has the subject-matter knitted around the learner. With this section of its
subject-matter it acquaints us with the need of knowing the learner and deals
with the techniques of knowing him well. The topics like the following are
included in this section; The innate abilities and capacities of the
individual, individual differences and their measurements, the overt, covert,
conscious as well as unconscious behaviour of the learner, the characteristics
of his growth and development at each stage beginning from childhood to
adulthood.
2. Learning experiences:
The second
area is learning experiences. Although educational psychology does not connect
itself directly with the problem of what to teach or what leaning experiences
are to be provided for the learner yet it has the full responsibility of
suggesting the techniques of acquiring the leaning experiences. Once the task
of educational philosophy to decide the aims and objectives of a piece of
instruction at a particular stage is finished, the need of educational psychology is felt. At this
juncture, Educational psychology helps in deciding what learning experiences
are desirable at what stage of the growth acquired with a greater ease and
satisfaction. In this area educational psychology has the subject-matter whinch
deals with the knowledge and principles of psychology which facilitates the
selection of the desirable learning experiences for the learner.
3.The learning processes:
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 properly with ease and
convenience. Therefore, aroung this pivot, educational psychology deals with
the nature of learning and how it takes place and contains the topics such as
laws, principles and theories of learning; remembering and forgetting,
perceiving, concept formation, thinking and reasoning process, problem solving,
transfer of training, ways and means of effective learning etc.
4.Learning situation or
environment;
Around this pivot, educational
psychology has the subject-matter dealing with the environmental factors and
learning situations which come midway between the learner and the tacher.
Topics like classroom climate and group dynamics techniques and aids which
facilitate learning, evaluation techniques and practices, guidance and
counselling etc. Which help in the smooth functioning of the teaching-learning
process come under the jurisdiction of this pivot. 5.The teacher;
The
last, but not the least, is the teacher. He is a potent force in any scheme of
teaching and learning and surely, educational psychology does not forget him.
It emphasizes the need of knowing the self for a teacher to play his role
properly in the process of education. It discusses his conflicts, motivation,
anxiety, adjustment, level of aspiration etc. It throws light on the essential
personality traits, interests, aptitudes, the characteristics of effective
teaching etc. So as to inspire him for becoming a successful teacher.
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