EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Introduction: Your experience and behavior have much in common with the experience and behavior of other people. Even your problem of adjustment – the frustration to be overcome, the aspirations to be achieved, the emotions to be controlled, the personal and interpersonal conflicts to be resolved – are shared by many others. So, look upon this as a subject about yourself – not as a treatise on some hypothetical human being. While studying it, continually ask yourself, “How does this apply to me”. Remember, too, that the study of psychology can give you insight into the conduct of other people. It should increase your understanding; improve your ability to predict, perhaps even control, their behavior. Application of psychology in the home, in the classroom, in the professions, in business, in industry, in warfare, and in the perpetuation of peace are focused primarily on the prediction and control of human conduct.
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| Shocking Revelation of EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY |
The professional preparation for teaching requires more than mere knowledge of a given subject. The aspiring teacher should have a solid foundation in general education in addition to a sound knowledge of the subject of his specialization. Besides, he must have knowledge of Educational Psychology.
Educational Psychology plays a significant role in equipping the student-teacher for effectively guiding children and young people in their growth and development through learning. The nature and scope of Educational Psychology are examined in the discussion, which follows.
Psychology and Education: Before we explain Educational Psychology, it may be appropriate to define education and psychology individually. Education attempts to modify behavior through the process of learning, while psychology studies behavior. Behavior can be modified only after it has been studied and understood. Thus, a student-teacher must learn and absorb psychology before he proceeds to impart education.
Pestalozzi, a Swiss schoolmaster, ingeniously thought of psychologizing education by stating that “a good schoolmaster studies his scholar’s nature as carefully as they study their books.” He proclaimed that the mind of a people is the primary concern of the educator and that the art of education must be based on accurate knowledge of the mental processes. He must know both English and the people in order to teach English to him. Since the knowledge of the people in psychology, the teacher must know psychology.
The earlier definitions of psychology as the science of the soul, or mind or of the consciousness have since been discarded in favor of the definition that psychology is the science of behavior. Various states of consciousness like thinking, feeling and desiring can no doubt be examined by looking into one’s mind, i.e., by introspection, but introspection is not foolproof. Behavior, on the other hand, can be successfully studied by several means, besides the simple method of observing it. You cannot study a child conscious state like anger directly, but you can definitely recognize it from his behavior: from the glare in his eyes, his flushed face and clenched fists, all of which are easily observable. You know from your own experience how you behave when angry and hence conclude from the child’s behavior that he is angry. Thus, psychology is the interpretation and explanation of behavior in mental and psychical terms. The assumption behind this belief is that the mind controls behavior or is the source of behavior.
Educational psychology helps the teacher to understand his pupils, whose education or training is his responsibilities. It also makes him more competent to shape them. It helps him to know himself and to adjust himself to the demands of the school environment. It gives him the confidence to deal with his pupils and the ability to control and manipulate the teaching methods and materials. Psychology is the science that underlies the art of teaching.
IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY FOR TEACHERS:
Educational psychology helps the teacher to become a better teacher, and to learner to become a better learner. In the education of teachers, educational psychology makes discipline a scientific tool, a precision instrument by which teachers can clarify goals, increase their perspective of the learning process, and learn to evaluate not only their pupils but also themselves.
Educational psychology is as crucial to teacher education as physics is to engineering or anatomy is to medicine. Although the anatomy teacher suggests no surgical techniques, one can imagine the consequences if a surgeon were to operate without a sound knowledge of anatomy. A similar relationship exists between educational psychology and teaching. Educational psychology advocates no particular teaching method or learning theory, but a variety of choices that would help one to understand standard behavior and thus improves one’s teaching techniques (Travers, 1979).
Educational psychology equips the teacher with such knowledge as can make him competent to direct or guide learning, motivates pupils to learn, helps pupils develop desirable attitudes, improve teaching techniques, and achieve those personal qualities that are conducive to successful teaching (Crow and Crow, 1964).
The teaching-learning process is somewhat like that of selling and buying. A salesman’s job is to convince customers to buy his wares. He has to demonstrate and smooth talk, irrespective of the fact whether he wins a prospective buyer. Hence all that he does from promoting to actual selling is merely a means to an end.
Similarly, the primary task of an educationist is to guide and direct the learning process of students and steer them towards a goal: that of knowledge and wisdom. And the more his persuasive skills the better he can instruct and edify. The educator is in effect an applied scientist who on the basis of his knowledge and teaching skills can guide young minds to be on the right track to academic aims and aspirations.
Another way of looking at it is to consider learning as a natural process of growth of the mind and intellect. And for healthy growth, a child requires an atmosphere congenial to his physical, mental and psychological development. At the same time, he can best excel in the field he has an aptitude for.
We must also remember that children learn according to their abilities and in terms of what nature has endowed them with. An effective teacher is one who has the ability to recognize a child’s aptitude and help him or her excel in his area of interest. Teachers should consistently encourage students to cultivate their skills and not to strive to excel in what he is not good at. The teacher must be a keen observer of a child’s behavior. Apart from classroom lessons, learning from experience, curiosity, and observation is also a natural process. Hence the social milieu in which a child grows up has a significant role to play in the child’s education. Nowadays, with the breakdown of the family values, loneliness has become a deterrent to the healthy growth of a child.
Hence the teachers should also be in constant interaction with parents, especially in the case of children with attitude problems. Thus a teacher also has a vital role to play in the psychological well-being of a child. To effectively take on these multifaceted roles, the teacher must not only be academically accomplished but also morally sound and socially mature. How thoroughly he has understood and accepted his responsibilities, determines his success as an educator.
Over and above these basics, a teacher must have patience, self-direction, and perseverance.
The teacher’s position is like that of the medical practitioner who has to study his patient before giving a prescription. The teacher who knows his pupils and the psychological principles, but does not know diagnose and improve his own behavior and his relationship with his pupils may be ineffective. Educational psychology functions as an essential aid to the work of the teacher. It, therefore, assists him to develop competence in studying children, in utilizing psychological principles, and in evaluating his own teaching methods.
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