Think back to when you were in a classroom, and all your buddies were present there with the teacher stepping up his/her game helping you comprehend something new be it solving an arithmetic problem or explaining why is sky blue.
Never have you pondered all the same that your teacher knows how best to help them understand. In comes Educational Psychology, which is like a mini manual that guides the teacher for instance on how you as a kid learn best and ways in which they can make learning more enjoyable and easier etc.
What is Educational Psychology?
In simple terms, Educational Psychology is knowing how to learn. Kind of the same way that you study yourself trying to solve a puzzle, or remember something important – like understanding your brain. Educational psychologists, in the same way that a doctor studies illness to promote health, study learning and teaching processes so they can effectively apply these natural laws of brain science for better comprehension. They ask, “Why are some children faster learners than others?” and ‘Why are our learning experiences so dull and dry?
Magic of Learning, Theory and Practice for Education
Educational psychologists develop theoretical ideas which are referred to as theories, that give a holistic understanding of how learning occurs. Essentially, these theories are like recipes that describe how learning happens. Individuals know, and some theories suggest that “Kids learn best when they are able to be curious” or even explore new pieces of information.
Some believe that they understand better when learning is tangible with physical objects or actions, such as block construction or games playing.
One of the most well-known theories is the development and growth of our brain. Remember when you were a baby? You didn’t know how to walk or talk but eventually, your brain figured it out. One of the biggest discoveries in educational psychology is that instead, our brains keep learning as we grow older—how to read writing and solve problems.
Teachers & the Classroom: Making Theory Into Practice
In From What Is Educational Psychology and How Can It Help Us Understand Learning? we learned about what educational psychology is, and how it helps us to understand learning. Think about this… you are playing a video game, and each level gets more difficult the further along in the world you go.
Your teacher acts like the game designer who knows exactly what problem they can give you for direction, challenge and personal growth without making it too frustrating.
Teachers use educational psychology to design better ways of teaching. That is to say, they can use amusing tales to help you memorize details or organize group work and learn from each other. They understand the fact that no one person learns in the same way. While some children may prefer to read about something, others do better when they can use their hands (such as drawing or building)
The Significance of Practice in Learning
You know the old expression — practice makes perfect. This important concept in educational psychology. It’s like, you exercise your brain by practicing it. Repetition is the mother of skill. Compare this state to how you felt as a child learning to ride a bike. Maybe it was a bit shaky on your first try, yet with practice things started falling into place one by one. Learning is no different.
Practice your reading, and writing and solve more math problems so that you become stronger and smarter.
And educational psychologists have found that when kids practice what they learn, they remember it better than anything else. This is the reason why you receive assignments/homework or are told to revise over lessons. This is not to make life more difficult, but simply to help your brain become a better grasp of things and retain them.
Play and Learn: Fun is Essential
They say learning should be enjoyable, right? Educational psychology also focuses on pleasurable and natural learning, or how enjoyment will cause a student to learn. When you are happy and interested in something, your brain takes more notice of it (and tends to remember things a lot longer). No wonder teachers make learning fun with games, songs and hands-on experiences.
Consider your favourite subject in school. Is it art where you paint and draw or science to do cool experiments? We know that when learning is fun, it doesn’t feel like work to instructional psychologists. You enjoy it and want to do more.
Helping Everyone Learn — Understanding Modalities
Educational psychology is extremely important, one of the things it teaches us all is that not everyone learns singly. In much the same way as some are naturally tall or have blue eyes, everyone has a brain that processes information uniquely. But other kids will be great at reading but not so good at math, or sports.
Educational Psychologist supports teachers to grasp these variations so they can assist every scholar in carrying out their best. If a student is struggling to understand, the teacher would approach trying new ways of teaching that may help make things more clear. For instance, if you have a hard time reading, then the teacher has to read a story or put pictures as an aid to understand.
Educate Your Way into a Better Tomorrow
Indeed, educational psychology is far from being merely what goes on in the classroom today. It is also a way of making learning better for generations to come. Nowadays, educational psychologists are making a lot of efforts to teach children in different ways. They could create new games, apps better learning tools which can make learning more pleasantly and also much effective.
It is building a better playground, essentially. New ideas in educational psychology are like a new slide or swing set to the playground, they make learning more fun and easier for you.
Why Everyone Needs Educational Psychology
Educational psychology is a whole lot more than teachers. And it is for parents as well! So what can parents and caregivers who are trying to help you learn at home do instead according to educational psychology? They might read with you, play games that help make learning fun, or ask questions about what you are studying in school. This ensures that learning does not stop once you leave the classroom; it extends to your home and beyond.
Yes, my dear, you can also apply educational psychology. Learning to learn is one of the best things you can do for yourself; it means that when you study, your studies will become more fun and at least as effective. You might be someone who enjoys music while doing homework or using colourful markers to note what is important. These tips can make you enjoy learning and do well in school!
Positive Thinking Holds Great Power
An important concept in educational psychology is the power of optimism. Just think of a challenging puzzle. And talking yourself through it, saying over and over “I can not do this…” is only going to make the feelings worse maybe even magnify them. But if you say, “I can make this work,” your brain is going to think until you succeed. Positive thinking in students is promoted by educational psychologists because of the following reasons.
Learning from Mistakes
Nobody is perfect, and that means nobody does everything perfectly. These days experiences in educational psychology (e.g. make- mistakes-the-best-way-to-learn) tell Cookiesberg that is a normal and essential part of learning, yet wasteland still hovers on the horizon.. 99) Making a mistake is like discovering that one of the pieces does not belong this puzzle.
It could be frustrating, but it is also an opportunity for you to learn and try one more time. Educational psychologists hypothesize that when students understand mistakes are permissible, they feel more comfortable experimenting and being a bit adventurous.
Conclusion
A good comparison for what Educational psychologists do can be that they function as a treasure map guiding teachers, students and parents along the journey of learning. It informs how we learn, why practice is valuable and what makes for fun or interesting learning.
By understanding how that works, and using the discoveries from educational psychology, we can all learn in school better — enjoy our time there rather than finding reasons to avoid it— and feel equipped with decent self-esteem about learning problem-solving skills and being adventurous toward new quests. Therefore, next time you sit in a classroom doing your homework think about how educational psychology is working for you to expand, develop and achieve!
