syllabus for Educational Psychology

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY This section contains syllabi that have been written by individual faculty or groups of faculty. Using the HEC Scheme of Studies for the course, they considered the balance between the demands of the subject itself, active learning pedagogies, their students, and the particular university milieu in which they work. The syllabi all reflect the same key concepts and broad goals, but they vary in sequence and emphasis.

SYLLABUS 1 Course description This course is an introduction to educational psychology that covers the basic concepts, theories, and principles of human development, learning, motivation, individual differences, intelligence, and assessment. Additionally, it relates how these concepts are applied to classroom teaching. In an educational setting, it is essential for teachers to know about human development and how students learn. Students learn according to their own pace and ability, so concepts about individual differences and different types of learners are also covered.

Learning outcomes At the end of this course, Student Teachers will be able to: 1

• describe different schools of thought and differentiate between psychology and educational psychology • define learning and explain different theories of learning and their application in the classroom • categorize individual differences based on physical, intellectual, emotional, and socio-cultural differences.

• analyse the concept and theories of motivation • analyse the impact of educational psychology on the processes of teaching and learning.

Essential questions • Why do we behave the way we do?

• How can knowing and understanding research help shape effective teaching practice?

• Can educational psychology inform teaching?

• What is good teaching and how is it recognized?

Main ideas • Knowledge is actively and socially constructed by each person in light of and in relation to past experiences, the context of learning, personal motivation, and personal beliefs, attitudes, and prior knowledge.

2

• We have learned how the human mind functions, yet we do not yet know how people learn.

• Cognitive psychologists’ understanding of the learning process of schoolaged children is constantly evolving.

• It is the learners who learn.

• Metacognition, simply put, is learning about learning. More specifically, it is about knowing who we are as learners and developing the capacity to leverage our strengths to our advantage.

• Educational psychology applies the psychological principles that underlie learning in both formal and informal educational settings.

Learning and teaching approaches A major portion of the course will be taught using an interactive, studentcentred teaching approach through the following methods: • inquiry content and process • discussion • cooperative learning strategies (e.g. jigsaw, readings, group work, mind mapping, and think, pair, share) • question and answer • text-against-text 3

• Interactive lectures

Source:

EDUCATIONAL

PSYCHOLOGY

WINDOWS

PRACTICE GUIDE B.Ed. (Hons) Elementary 2012 page No. 13.

4

ON