Maharashtra Board Class 11 Education Chapter 4 Educational Psychology PDF Download

Chapter 4. Educational Psychology

Introduction

The goal of education is to develop ideal responsible citizen. To create a good citizen, appropriate education system is essential. To achieve this goal, the curriculum should be based on student's interest and grasping power. Therefore necessary pedagogy and co-curricular activities etc. should be included so that the students can learn according to their ability. Educational Psychology helps in developing an appropriate curriculum according to students age, subject and its content. So it is important to study educational psychology.

4.1 Meaning Of Psychology

The word Psyche (soul) + logos (study) are two Greek words which together mean Psychology, i.e. study of soul.

The great Greek philosopher Aristotle has written "De Anima" which means about the soul. That mean psychology was defined as the science of soul.

What is a soul? The answer to this question was unsatisfactory, so it was decided to change the definition. Hence the new definition of psychology as 'the study of mind' came into practice.

Later in 1879 William Woods studied about emotions, feelings and internal experiences in the laboratory and further defined 'psychology' is science of consciousness. J. B. Watson, behavioural psychologist stated that, we can study the human behaviour objectively, and therefore behaviour is the subject matter of psychology. Hence according to new definition psychology is the study of human behaviour.

According to the above definition, the study of animals was not included in study of Psychology.

William McDugall defined psychology as the "Science of Behaviour".

There are many branches of psychology. From those diverse branches educational psychology is the important branch.

Teacher's Note

Psychology means the study of mind and behaviour. In India, we see children learning differently in schools - some like to study hard while others like to play. Educational Psychology helps teachers understand why children behave this way.

Exam Trick

Remember: Psychology = Psyche (soul) + Logos (study). Just like "photo" means picture, "psychology" means the study of mind. The word comes from Greek!

Points to Remember

Psychology is the study of human behaviour and mind.
Aristotle first defined psychology as the science of soul.
William McDugall called it the "Science of Behaviour".
Educational Psychology applies psychology to improve teaching and learning.

4.2 Definition Of Educational Psychology

"Educational Psychology is psychology applied for improving teaching and learning process". - B.F. Skinner

"Educational Psychology describes and explains the learning experiences of an individual from the birth to old age'.- Crow and Crow

"Educational Psychology is the science which applies already recognized psychological principles to solve educational problems." - E.R. Guthrie and F.F. Powers

"A systematic study of human behaviour and experience in the context of how to teach people is called as educational psychology. - Mcfarland

We can say that from all the above definitions, educational psychology is applied branch of psychology, which includes individual's personality, developmental stage, teaching- learning methods, expectations of the development and problems reacted to it etc.

Teacher's Note

Educational Psychology helps teachers understand students better. For example, when a teacher knows why a shy child does not speak in class, she can help that child feel confident and speak up.

Exam Trick

Remember: Educational Psychology = Understanding students + Understanding teaching. It is like a doctor understanding a patient before giving medicine!

Points to Remember

Educational Psychology helps improve teaching and learning.
It describes how a person learns from birth to old age.
It applies psychology to solve school problems.
It is a systematic study of human behaviour in schools.

4.3 Objectives Of Educational Psychology

To understand how psychological principles and laws are used to solve teaching - learning, personality development, problems of adjustment.

To utilise psychological principles, to solve the problems related to class management, discipline, social and ethical behaviour.

To use motivation and punishment properly.

To bring about students personality development skillfully through proper understanding of their individual differences.

To use scientific methods, for educational and professional guidance to the students.

To acquire psychological knowledge for teaching-learning, memory and forgetfulness and factors affecting on teaching and learning.

Understanding the problems of normal and abnormal students and solving them skillfully.

Psychological Analysis of behavioural issues to solve the problems of people and environment by suitable measures and the remedies.

To Understand generalizations of mental science, rules, principles and theories in psychology.

Teachers should take care of their own and students' mental health. The teacher should introspect and improve the behaviour as the impression of his/her behaviour influences the students.

Teacher's Note

The main goal of Educational Psychology is to help teachers teach better and students learn better. In India, many schools now use these ideas to help children with different learning styles.

Exam Trick

Remember: Educational Psychology helps solve school problems. If a child is always angry in class, a teacher using Educational Psychology will understand why and help that child feel better.

Points to Remember

It helps solve teaching and learning problems.
It helps manage classroom discipline properly.
It helps teachers understand each student's differences.
It helps with student guidance and counselling.
Teachers must take care of their own mental health too.

4.4 Nature Of Educational Psychology

Educational Psychology is a science of studying education process in depth. Educational psychology tries to solve educational problems of teachers and students. It helps in curriculum planning, teacher training, planning teaching learning methods, keeping in mind, student's interests, capacity, needs etc.

Educational Psychology is a developmental science. New research, new information, formulas,methods, etc. are being included. Some ideas are changing and some ideas are getting included, due to which educational psychology is progressing.

Internal capacity increases due to teacher training, which is the application of Educational Psychology.

Educational Psychology means systematic study of educational development. It includes collection and application of information providing scientific base for teaching-learning process and strengthening educational process.

In short Educational Psychology is the study of human growth and development, maturity and learning, psychological principles and application in the teaching-learning process.

Teacher's Note

Educational Psychology keeps changing as we learn new things through research. Just like mobile phones keep getting better updates, our teaching methods also improve with new knowledge.

Exam Trick

Remember: Educational Psychology is not fixed - it grows and changes! New ideas keep coming, making it a living and growing science like a growing child.

Points to Remember

It is a science that studies education deeply.
It is a developmental science that keeps growing.
It helps in curriculum planning and teacher training.
It is based on scientific methods and research.

4.5 Scope Of Educational Psychology

1. Learner

In the educational process a person who is active participant individually or in the group is known as learner. Student is a major component of educational process. The main goal of education is all-round progress of the student. For this student's physical, mental, emotional, ethical, aesthetic, social development should occur educational psychology takes the note of changes at every stage of development and provides guidance accordingly.

2. Learning Process

Along with understanding the students, it is also important to understand the learning process of the learner. A student learns in a classroom means, what does the student learn in the classroom? How does his learning process work? What are the teaching methods? Which factors affect learning? Such diverse thoughts are considered in educational psychology.

3. Teaching Methods

The basic purpose of teaching is to let students learn. Therefore the teacher needs to decide which method is useful for students. Accordingly, which is a good, impressive and result-oriented teaching method? How it should be done? What methods and techniques should be used for it? How to attract student's attention towards learning?, etc, all these issues are considered in educational psychology.

The teaching has to be done after judging students inerest, capacity, eligibility and inclination. Educational psychology also provides guidance regarding how to motivate students for studying. The study of educational psychology enables teachers to get familiar with Student's temperament, emotional, conflicts, mental health etc. The teacher can select proper method of teaching accordingly.

4. Evaluation

After providing the learning experiences to the students, the teacher has to evaluate them. This evaluation enables him to verify whether the expected change in behaviour and an all round development has taken place or not. The teacher has to use various techniques and tests for this. Educational psychology comes to his help in preparing administering and scoring of these tests.

In Short, educational psychology renders valuable guidance to teachers regarding educational objectives, effective teaching methods, use of appropriate teaching aids, attracting student's attention towards learning, motivating them for learning and doing many other educational tasks successfully.

Teacher's Note

The scope of Educational Psychology is very wide - it covers students, learning, teaching, and testing. In a good Indian school, all four of these areas are equally important for success.

Exam Trick

Remember the four main areas: Learner, Learning, Teaching, and Evaluation. These are the four pillars of Educational Psychology - like the four legs of a table!

Points to Remember

Educational Psychology studies the learner and their growth.
It studies how students learn best.
It helps teachers choose the right teaching methods.
It helps teachers test and evaluate student learning.
It covers all stages from birth to old age.

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