Significance of Educational Psychology to the Teacher

Importance of Educational Psychology for Teachers

  

Teacher is like a philosopher who guides his student. He is responsible to be aware about growth and development of the students. It is educational psychology which enables the teacher to use various techniques.  The importance of educational psychology and teachers has the following points:

1. Educational Psychology helps teacher to know that how learning takes place.
2. It enables a teacher that how learning process should be initiated, how to motivate, how to memorize or learn.
3. It helps teachers to guide the students in right direction in order to canalized student’s abilities in right direction.
4. It informs a teacher, about the nature of the learners and his potentialities.
5. It helps a teacher to develop a student personality because the whole educational process is for student’s personality development.
6. It helps a teacher to adjust his methodologies of learning to the nature / demand of the learner.
7. It enables a teacher to know the problems of individual differences and treat every student on his / her merit.
8. It helps a teacher that how to solve the learning problems of a student.
9. It helps a teacher that how to evaluate a students that whether the purpose of teaching & learning has been achieved.

Family, Schools and Community with Relation to Child Development

Introduction: 

Social Development Educators have defined social development in a number of ways. E.B. Hurlock thinks “Social development means the attaining of maturity in social relationships” H.E. Garret states “Socialization or social development is the process whereby the biological individual is converted into a human person” Thus social development refers to the process of development by which a child acquires the necessary attitudes, skills and values that makes him an acceptable member of the group to which he belongs.

i) Characteristics of Community:

(i) Adolescence is marked with too much sex consciousness resulting in sexual social relationships. (ii) During adolescence loyalty becomes very much pronounced and adolescence are in a mood to sacrifice their selfish interests for the greater cause of the group, society and nation.
(iii) Adolescence stage is often marked with increased friendly relationships.
(iv) Emotional behavior of the adolescence dominates his social characteristics and qualities.
(v) There is too much diversity in the adolescents regarding their social interests.

ii). Role of the schools:

 The function of the school has considerably changed in the rapidly changing civilization. The traditional function of imparting the basic skills of the three R’s is now 17 no longer considered to be adequate to meet the present challenge. The present day school has also to perform some of the functions of the family. It may develop certain desirable social habits. It is through co-curricular and extra-curricular activities that the task of social development can be achieved more successfully. It is only the sympathetic understanding and sincere desire of the teacher to act positively in an unprejudicial manner that can help.

iii) Role of the family and other factors:

 A teacher can play a vital role in the social development of adolescent under his charge. He exerts a great influence upon the development of the personality of the adolescent. Following are the important suggestions for the social development of the adolescent.
(i) Adolescent may be taken from time to time to public places like museums, courts and places of historical importance etc to observe social interaction.
(ii) People engaged in different economic activities or vocations may be invited to school for giving a description of what they do and how useful their work is to the nation. This will enable the adolescent to be acquainted with those around them in the society.
(iii) Adolescent should be acquainted with the social events like the celebration of the birthdays of leaders.
(iv) The school programme should be full of numerous co-curriculum and curricular activities in which adolescent meet, co-operate and learn from each other’s personality.
(v) Stories depicting self-sacrifices made by great men for the cause of general good may be told to adolescents so that they are motivated to rise above petty gains and work for the betterment of the humanity.

Stages of development: Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence Development

Introduction:

Change is the law of nature. Animate or inanimate objects are all subject to change. Animate objects are distinguished from inanimate objects chiefly by their potentiality to maintain the flow and cycle of life. Seeds, after germinating in the soil grow as saplings and then as specific plants or trees which in turn flower and produce seeds or fruits for further germination. Similar is the case with birds, animals and human beings who can reproduce their own kind by the transmission of specific characteristics of the species through sexual union between the male and the female. As far as the human being is concerned, life starts with the conception in the mother’s womb as a result of the process of fertilization of the ovum(egg cell) of the mother by the sperm cell of the father. The mother’s womb then becomes the site and the meaning for the growth and development of the new life and it is only after nine months that the baby is able to come into the world as a new born. The period spent in the mother’s womb is termed as pre-natal period and is usually not included in the computation of one’s chronological age.

The term growth may be limited to the changes in the quantitative aspect i.e increase in size, length, height and weight and expansion of vocabulary etc., The term development implies the overall changes occurring in both the quantitative as well as qualitative aspects. Therefore, development as a term carries a wider and more comprehensive meaning than the term growth. The term “growth” carries a limited and narrower meaning. It is a sub-system of the development as it is concerned merely with the quantitative changes in comparison to the overall changes described and explained by the process of development. This does not continue throughout one’s life. It stops when maturity has been attained, while development is a continuous process. Starting right from conception it does not end with the attainment of maturity but continuous throughout the entire life span of an individual. Development is said to be a complex process in comparison to the process of growth. The results of growth in terms of quantitative changes are very specific, fairly easy to observe and measure. The results of development, in comparison are quite complex and difficult as far as their actual assessment & measurement is concerned. 

1. Infancy:

Every child grows and develops in different environment. According to the environment and experience they differ. The Interaction of students has with teachers and friends provide experiences .These experiences bring, about a change in thinking and feelings. The changes that take place indicate learning has occurred the adolescents with physical growth and development are given training they become good sportsmen. So learning is very necessary for the development to take place.

2. Childhood

Cognition means knowing through which activity knowledge is received. Cognitive development means changes in mental activities like attention, learning, thinking and recognizing. Cognitive development takes place with the help of experiences through sensory organs, observation and memory, arranging thoughts and by finding solutions to problems. Some educationalists feel that cognitive development takes place in different stages from the time of birth. According to them the development of one stage is based on the development of the previous stages. These stages of growth may occur at different age for different children. But the order of the stages will be the same. We can identify the stage of a person’s cognitive development by observing the persons activities and the infer from that the stage of the cognitive development.

3. Adolescence

1. Introduction:

The word ‘adolescence’ comes from the Latin Verb “adolescere” which means ‘to grow’. So the essence of the word adolescence is growth and it is in the sense that adolescence represents a period of intensive growth and change, in nearly all aspects of child’s physical, mental, social and emotional life. Adolescence begins with the onset of puberty and lasts till the beginning of adulthood. Several Physiological and psychological changes occur during this period. According to Cole, adolescence is a period of growth in all systems of the body. In the course of a few years the individual undergoes both in size and in his internal body chemistry. The rapidity, variety and force of these developments are amazing. The changes are so extensive that some people call this as second birth. Stanelly Hall called this period as “Period of storm and stress” a time when the individual is erratic , unstable and unpredictable.

1. It is most crucial period of life.
2. Rapid changes in physical, mental, moral, spiritual and sex, social outlook.
3. It is period of learn new things.
4. It is a period of anxieties and worries.
5. It is the period of ambitions.
6. It is the period of conflicts and complexity.
7. Jersild said "Girls move from childhood to adulthood by mentally, emotionally socially and physically"
8. It is an attitude for effective participation of society (Rogers).
9. This period is more complex like Admiration, Awe, Reverence, Gratitude, Scorn, Contempt, Hatred and Joy.
10. Stanley Hall, said, "A period of great Stress, Strain, Storm and Strife". 

2. Educating the adolescent:

Educational Psychology: Definition, Meaning and Principles

Definition:

1. Skinner (1958), It is a branch of Psychology, which deals with teaching and learning process.
2. Crow/Crow, explains the learning experiences of an individual from birth to old age.
3. Peel (1956) It is the science of education.

Meaning:

1. It will enable him to know and understand just the people for whom he is employed and for whom the whole school organization is tended the pupils.
2. A result of this knowledge the teacher will feel in himself greater power over the pupils to mould and shape them in a definite direction.
3. Psychology will help the teacher to know himself and accordingly to adjust himself better the the school environment.

Principles:

1. Well organised, systematic and universally accepted body of facts supported by the relevant psychological laws and principles.
2. It is constantly in search of the truth.
3. It employs scientific methods.
4. Logical viability. reliability and validity
5. Cause and effect.
6. What/ why answerable one.
7. Positive science not normative procedures.
8. Generalization.

Nature of Educational Psychology

Psychology: Definition, Concept, Scope of Psychology, Branches of Psychology.

Definition:

1. Psychology as a Traditional Belief in Philosophy Ex. Animism'. 
2. Psyche means Soul.
3. Study of Mind.
4. Consciousness (William James Principle of Psychology-1890).
5. Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) established Psy. Lab. at the University of Leipzig (Germany).
6. Titchener defined as science of consciousness (Introspection).
7. Behaviour -In 19th centuary William Mc Dougall (British) science of behaviour (Physiological psychology, 1905).
8. Positive Science, (1908) and (1949) in his book- An outline of Psychology.
9. Pillsbury (1911) -Human behaviour.
10. N.L. Munn - Psychology as Scientific study.
11. Jackson (1976)- Psychological Processes.
12. Ex. 

    

    Animism (Ghost)
    
    
    

Concept:

1. Psychology as a science help us to understand, control and predict the behaviour.
2. Psychology as Biological Science.
3. It is an instinct, need, desperation (willing to do anything) and motivation.

Scope of Psychology:

1. Practitioners (Individual and Group).
2. Academicians (Teacher/ Experimenter)
3. Researcher (Agencies/NGO).

Branches of Pschology:

1. General psy. (Normal behaviour)
2. Abnormal psy. (Causes/ symptoms)
3. Social psy. (Interpersonal relation)
4. Experimental psy. (cause/effect)
5. Physiological psy. (Brain/ Neurons)
6. Para-psychology (ESP/Telepathy/Rebirth)
7. Geo-psy. Climate with behavirou)
8. Developmental psy. (Growth progress)
9. Edl. Psy. (Teaching learning process)
10. Industrial psy. (Worker's problems/ job statisfaction).

References:

1. Elements of Educational Psychology by HR Bhatia.
2. Advanced Educational Psychology by SK Mangal.
3. Advanced Educational Psychology by SS Chauhan.