SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY IN
INSTRUCTION
Education and
psychology are intimately connected with each other, rather they are
inseparable. Psychology is the study of human behavior, and education is the
process of modifying human behaviour Educational psychology deals with human
behavior, and its modification through learning. Educational psychology is an
applied branch of psychology. It is the systematic study of the development of
the individual within the educational settings. According to
skinner-“Educational psychology is that branch of science which deals with
teaching and learning”.
SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
What do you mean by
scope of a subject?
When we are asked to point
out the scope of a subject we are supposed to answer the following question:
1. What are the limt of
its field of operation?
2. What is to be
included in its study or what subject matter does it contain?
Scope of educational
psychology
As pointed out earlier
Educational Psychology deals with human behaviour of the learner in educational
situation. Therefore, it becomes imperative that educational psychology should
limit itself within the walls of the teaching learning process and educational environment.
It must try to solve the problems
evolving in actual teaching learning situations and help the individuals
involved in this process.
Let us judge What are
the key factors in an educational process and list them one by one.
1. The learner
2. The learning
experiences
3. The learning process
4. The learning
situations
5. The teacher
The subject matter of
educational psychology if it is at all necessary to draw its boundaries, reolve
s,round these five pivots mentioned above.
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 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.
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 learning experiences are to
be provided for the learner yet it has the full responsibility of suggesting
the techniques of accquring the learning experiences. Once’s 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 and
development of the learner so that these experiences can be accquired with a
greater ease and satisfaction .Educational psychology has the subject matter
which deals with the knowledge and principles of psychology which facilitates
the selection of the desirable learning experiences for the learner.
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 properly
with ease and convenience. Therefore ,around this pivot, educational psychology
deals with the nature of learning and how it takes place and contains the topic
such as laws ,principles and theories of learning ;remembering and forgetting
,perceiving ,concept formation ,thinking and reasoning process, problem
solving, transfer and training, ways and means of effective learning etc…
The
learning situation
Around this pivot,
educational psychology has the subject matter dealing with the environmental
factors and learning situations which come mid way between the learner and the teacher. Topic 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 come
under the jurisdiction of this pivot.
The
teacher
The last, but the
least, is the teacher. He is a potent force in any scheme of learning 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, interest, aptitudes, the characteristics of effective
teaching etc…so as to inspire him for becoming a success full teacher.
UN LIMITED SCOPE OF EDUCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY
By
mentioning the areas around the above five pivots, the picture of the
boundaries and limits of educational psychology cannot be taken as complete. In
fact sketching of such a full picture is quite a difficult task, because of the
fact that educational psychology is a developing and fast growing science. Like,
any other developing branches of science it multiplies itself every year. New
ideas are coming in to picture, because the result of new researches and
experiments. The change is the law of nature and education being a dynamic
subject is changing very fast. The new problem in the process of education are
coming with a faster rate and harder with the result that new concepts,
principles and techniques are taking their birth in the sphere of educational
psychology. Therefore, it is unwise to fix the hedge or boundary around the
fertile ground of educational psychology by defining its scope. It will not
only hampes the progress of this developing subject but also prove an obstacle
in the progress of education.
Therefore the
boundaries of educational psychology must be left free future expansion so as
to facilitate the inclusion of all what is created in this field in future to
solve the problems of education and help the smoothening of teaching learning
process.
We conclude this
topic the psychology played an important role in education.
ARCHANA.S
Social science
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