1. Chapter 1 Educational Psychology and Reflective Practice
Themes of the Chapter
Learning how to understand learners and to promote their learning helps teachers feel more comfortable and successful.
Students are diverse and some have special needs
Theory and research play major roles in educational psychology and reflective practice

2. See next slide for more questions
Guiding Questions
What is educational psychology?
What primary concerns do beginning teachers have?
What is reflective teaching, and how is it different from technical teaching?
See next slide for more questions

3. Guiding Questions (cont’d)
How can teachers recognize, adapt, and respond to diverse learners and students with special needs?
How do educational psychologists use theory and research?
How can teachers apply research findings to improve their own classroom practice?

4. Overview of Educational Psychology
“The scientific study of psychology in education”
What teachers do
How students learn
How teachers can help students learn

5. Critical Thinking To be able to tell fact from opinion
To see holes in an argument
To spot illogic
To evaluate evidence
To tell whether or not cause and effect have been established

6. Educational Psychology and Critical Thinking
Provide objective, data-based evidence from research
Challenge our subjective ways of knowing
Use research to make decisions about the practice of teaching

7. Learning
A relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge as a result of experience
Depends on many factors:
the quality of instruction
student motivation
student engagement
student’s developmental readiness to learn

8. Teaching
One person’s interpersonal effort to help others acquire knowledge, develop skill, and realize their potential

9. What Expert Teachers Know
Broad and deep subject matter knowledge
How-to instructional strategies
Knowledge about learning environments
Knowledge about educational materials

10. Concerns of Beginning Teachers
Classroom discipline
Motivating students
Special needs
Assessment and grading

11. Teaching Efficacy
A teacher’s judgment of, or confidence in, his or her capacity to cope with the teaching situation in ways that bring about desired outcomes
Beginning teachers generally have lower teaching efficacy than do veteran teachers

12. Teaching Efficacy Categories
Efficacy for classroom management
Efficacy for student engagement
Efficacy for instructional strategies

13. Examples of Statements of Efficacy
Classroom management: “I can prevent behavior problems in the classroom.”
Student engagement: “I can develop interesting tasks that students will enjoy.”
Instructional strategies: “I can teach writing very well.”

14. Metaphors for Teaching
Entertainer
Coach
Lion tamer
Choreographer
Party host
Circus master
Traffic cop
Ship captain
Air traffic controller

15. What Would They Say?
Give examples of how teachers might describe their teaching if they adopted the metaphor of teacher as:
Entertainer
Coach
Lion tamer
Choreographer
Party host
Circus master
Traffic cop
Ship captain
Air traffic controller

16. What Would You Say?
Complete the phrase “The teacher as a(n)___________________”. Which metaphor captures the spirit of what you would like to accomplish in the classroom?

17. Benefits of Having Metaphors for Teaching
Facilitates reflection
Serves as a standard for self-evaluation
Helps initiate desired changes in teaching

18. Two Modes of Teaching Technical teaching
Teaching situation is predictable and calls for routine action
Classroom experience  Constructive learning experience
Reflective teaching
Teaching situation is surprising and calls for conjectures, information gathering, and decision-making.
Knowledge about the teaching and learning
situation  Constructive learning experience

19. Model for Reflective Teaching: RIDE
Reflection
Information gathering
Decision making
Evaluation

20. Your Turn
Ms Newby is nervous about teaching and feels that she will not be able to handle students’ misbehaviors
How might she solve this problem using the RIDE model?

21. Diverse Learners
Response to diversity
Equality
Accommodation

22. Instruction for Students with Special Needs
Individualize instruction
Offer personalized scaffolding
Rely on direct and explicit instructional practices
Meticulously arrange or structure the learning environment
Provide external supports, such as calculators, tape-recorded textbooks, adaptive furniture, special lighting or acoustics
See next slide for more tips

23. Instruction for Students with Special Needs (cont’d)
Closely monitor students’ progress and provide systematic feedback
Teach skill-based strategies, such as how to generate questions while reading
Use flexible means to reach defined goals
Create a caring classroom in which differences are seen as assets
Keep integration into the general education environment the priority

24. Theory
An intellectual framework that organizes a vast amount of knowledge about a phenomenon so that educators can understand and explain better the nature of that phenomenon

25. Why is Theory Important?
Explains a phenomenon
Helps teachers create a hypothesis or prediction
Helps educators gain new insights
Guides research studies

26. Why is Research Important?
Provides evidence that assists teachers make appropriate choices in the classroom

27. Research Methods Descriptive studies Correlational studies
Experimental studies
Action research

28. Descriptive Studies
A research method used to describe the educational situation as it naturally occurs – what typically happens, how teachers teach, and how students learn and develop
Example research question: “How do Ms. Newby organize the physical layout of her classroom?

29. Correlational Studies
A research method used to measure two naturally occurring variables and summarize the nature and magnitude of their relationship in numerical form
Example research question: “How is measured intelligence related to school achievement?”

30. Experimental Studies
A research method used to test for a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables
Example research question: “Is reading program A better than reading program B for teaching first graders to read?”

31. Action Research
A research method carried out by teachers in their own classrooms to inform and refine their personal theories of teaching and classroom learning
Example research question: “Do I ask boys more questions than I ask girls?”

32. Steps for Conducting Action Research
Identify a problem
Formulate a plan to address the problem
Collect and analyze data to see if the plan worked
Reflect on what has been learned
Use the new- and improved personal theory of teaching
Repeat steps 2, 3, 4, and 5 as needed

33. What Kind of Research?
I want to decide if boys in the 6th grade benefit more from cooperative learning than girls?
I want to decide if completion of homework is associated with better achievement
I want to examine the number of errors present in the 8th grade science book
I want Maria to tell me about her experiences in solving a math problem?

34. Critical Thinking of Teachers
Supplement their subjective ways of knowing with objective, data-based ways of knowing and go beneath the surface of their idea

35. Guiding Questions Revisited
What is educational psychology?
What primary concerns do beginning teachers have?
What is reflective teaching, and how is it different from technical teaching?
How can teachers recognize, adapt, and respond to diverse learners and students with special needs?
How do educational psychologists use theory and research?
How can teachers apply research findings to improve their own classroom practice?