EDUC 1068 Development and Learning 1

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EDUC 1068Development and Learning 1

• MAGILL CAMPUS
• Staff Dr Greg Yates, Dr Barbara Spears, Margaret
  Chandler, Murray Oswald, Deb Green, and Sue
  Mitchell.
• Greg Yates is course coordinator for 2007. This
  PPT will appear on course website (via Unisanet)

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TEXTBOOK

• Woolfolk, A. Margetts, K. (2007).
• Educational Psychology. NSW Pearson.
• (Use within EDUC 1068, and also next year,
  Development Learning 2)
• Note other general educational psychology
  books are valuable in this course, as many books
  overlap considerably.

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Reading for Week 1

• Chapter 1, Teachers, teaching, and educational
  psychology
• This chapter is gives an overview of how
  educational psychology relates to our knowledge
  about human learning and teaching. Specific focus
  on what we know about expert teachers.

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What is educational psychology?

• It is a branch of psychology (1 of 50), where
  staff hold qualifications in both teaching and
  psych.
• Psychology is a discipline area where the subject
  content is concerned with human behaviour,
  learning and adjustment.
• Educational psychology is an applied science. It
  uses the scientific model for accumulation of
  knowledge relevant to teaching.
• Our discipline draws upon empirical data, not
  personal opinion. It is associated with an
  extensive data base, much of which is available
  within the professional journals accessible
  within UNISA Library and on-line journals.

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How can educational psychology help? As a source
of professional development

• It will provide new insights into how you
  yourself learn.
• It will help you to appreciate your own
  limitations, and be able to set far more
  realistic goals.
• It will provide you with an excellent model of
  how children naturally develop.
• It will help you to analyse the appropriate
  conditions under which you can assist other
  humans to master new skills.
• It will become an on-going source of personal
  reflection, especially in aspects such as How do
  I motivate these students?, How can I develop
  my instructional strategies?, What is going on
  in their heads?

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Will edpsych turn me into a great teacher?

• Of course not !
• Reading about skills is not same do actually
  performing skills.
• As a professional you make your own decisions.
  But when you do so, it is prudent to do so with
  appropriate professional knowledge.
• At best, edpsych gives you ideas. Its value often
  lies in suggesting some very good strategies,
  rather then telling you what you should be
  doing.

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What can you learn from Chapter1?

• That there is a large body of research into
  traits found in expert or effective teachers.
• These traits hinge around two key aspects
  Instructional strategies, and motivational
  strategies.
• That teachers exhibit predictable stages of
  professional development, from beginning teacher
  to expert.

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David Berliners theory of teacher professional
development

• Novice (In training Idealistic,
  overly-optimistic, highly conscious, needs
  considerable direction)
• Advanced beginner (Graduate level, attuned to
  realistic concerns Basically responsible under
  guidance, level of effort still very high)
• Competent teacher (Teaching now easier, and
  this person is professionally autonomous)
• Expert (Around 10 years skill Teaching is now
  almost totally automatic Extremely skilful
  displays in the ability to interact with students
  conveying educational goals, even though they may
  not be able to verbalise what they do)

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Please note the use of theory

• Within psychology we use the term theory
  remarkably different from its lay meaning.
• It means a well-validated analysis. We endorse
  theories as models or descriptions that
  represent an extensive area of knowledge.
• But they have been extensively validated through
  observations and experiments.
• In following slides, I now cite two major
  theories (a) attribution. (b) reinforcement.

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An example of a highly-validated theory
Attribution theory

• This theory says that for every major event that
  occurs to a person, the person will need to
  explain how, and why, this event happened.
• A thought experiment Suppose you did well in
  SSABSA exams. Why? Why did you do OK?

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In objective terms, its ALL of these (and more)

• school you attended
• teaching you received
• subjects you studied
• pressure placed on you by your home
• pressure placed on you by the school
• peer group you belonged to
• your parents educational level
• your personal motivation to achieve
• your siblings attitudes
• the amount of time you devoted to study
• the availability of holiday study programs
• your natural ability
• your confidence in knowing you could do it
• AND SO ON, (a never ending list?)

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In truth

• The truth is that human behaviour is
  multi-determined.
• There is never any one SINGLE explanation.
  Instead, at any one point, there are scores of
  salient factors that can determine and predict
  behaviour
• But the human brain typically can highlight only
  around 4 such causes. In many contexts we
  highlight only 2 such things, and in our personal
  thinking, we fix upon ONE cause.
• In fact, we know from many experiments, that
  humans typically DO NOT KNOW what caused them to
  react as they did.

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In effect

• During your study of Edpsych with us, you will be
  exposed to many such well-validated theories.
• Do not be fooled by what may appear as competing
  theories. Avoid dichotomous thinking (either one
  or the other is true). In fact, our theories
  turn out as far more complementary than
  conflicting.
• E.g. theories of direct , and indirect
  instruction. Studies show us these two traits
  correlate together, and are not opposites.

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How common themes run through behaviour Consider
following

• Child bangs head on floor when asked to do
  things. Andre was a 6-year-old autistic child.
• Another child, 9-years, lit fires. He created
  much damage, even set fire to own bedroom. Lovely
  healthy child, but highly dysfunctional family.
• In South Australia, people loose over one million
  dollars per year via poker machines. Several
  thousand people are rendered destitute,
  miserable, or suicidal.
• But there is a common theme cutting through all
  these examples Reinforcement theory, that
  behaviour is controlled by its consequences.

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Toward Understanding ResearchThe Different
Types (pp12-15)

• Descriptive research.
• Correlational studies.
• Experimental studies.
• Other types include Case studies, Single case
  designs, microgenetic work.
• Cross-sectional vs longitudinal studies.
• Quantitative vs qualitative distinction

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Finally, a word about your self-efficacy as a
young trainee

• Self-efficacy is your confidence about being an
  effective teacher.
• Typically, at outset of training it is strong
  (i.e. high). Thats why you are here.
• However, during training it reduces. You may
  become disillusioned as reality kicks in.
• By end of training (or later) your confidence
  gets rebuilt. You now move to professional
  concerns stage, with feelings that the job is
  hard, but you can do it. You believe that
  outsiders totally under-estimate how much
  effort job needs. Only by about 3rd year in the
  job do you feel highly comfortable in your
  role.