Notes: Educational Psychology | Teaching Aptitude for Teaching Exam - B.Ed Entrance PDF Download

Introduction

According to Skinner, ''Educational psychology is that branch of psychology which deals with teaching and learning."

Meaning of  Psychology
The word psychology has been derived from two Greek words 'Psyche' and 'Logos' which means soul and science respectively. Thus the meaning of psychology is the science of the soul. But as the concept and nature of souls were not defined in a definite term such a definition was given up. Next psychology was defined as the science of mind and later on, it became a scientific study of human behavior.

Meaning of Education
Education is a deliberate and organized activity through which the physical, intellectual, aesthetic, moral and spiritual potentialities of the human child are developed. Education is used for the purpose of teaching people in society. It helps to develop desirable habits, skills, and attitudes that make an individual a good citizen.

Meaning of Educational Psychology
Educational psychology is a branch of psychology that deals with the application of psychological findings in the field of education. In other words, it deals with human behavior in educational situations. 

Definition of Educational Psychology by different authors

• Crow and Crow- ''Educational psychology describes and explains the learning experiences on an individual from birth through old age.''
• Skinner-  ''Educational psychology is that branch of psychology which deals with teaching and learning.''
• Trow- ''Educational psychology is the study of the psychological aspect of educational situations."
• Stephen- ''Educational psychology is the systematic study of educational growth and development of a child.''
• F. A Peel- ''Educational psychology is the science of Education''
• Walter B Kolesnik- ''Educational psychology is the study of those facts and principles of psychology which helps to explain and improve the process of education.''
• Judd- ''Educational Psychology is the science which explains the changes that take place in the individual as they pass through the various stages of development."

Importance of Educational Psychology

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

Characteristics of Educational Psychology

• Applied Science
  Educational psychology is an applied science. It applies the psychological principle in the field of education. It applies to study the behavior of the learners in educational situations.
• Social Science
  Educational psychology is a social science as it studies the human being and society. 
• Positive Science
  Educational psychology is a science in the sense that it uses all the methods to collect data and interpret them. Educational psychology aims at understanding, predicting human behavior in a systematic way. 
• Growing science
  Educational psychology is a developing science. Educational psychology is not a formative science like logic or ethics because it deals with facts. 

For Educational Psychology Helps Teachers

• Educational psychology helps the teacher to know about responsibility in the teaching-learning process.
• It helps the teacher to understand the student's behavior in the classroom. 
• It helps the teacher to study the nature of the child.
• It enables the teacher to know the various principle and stages of growth and development. 
• It helps the teacher to understand the individual difference.
• Educational psychology provides laws, principles, and processes of teaching.
• It helps the teacher to choose a suitable method of teaching, devices, and materials. 
• It provides knowledge on heredity, environment which has some influence on learning.
• It enables the teacher to select a better evaluation technique to evaluate the students.  
• It helps the teacher to diagnose the students and find out the solutions.
• It helps the teacher to study exceptional children and arrange a special program for them.
• It helps the teacher to construct the curriculum according to the need and necessity of the stage.
• It enables the teacher to give proper guidance to the student.
• It provides knowledge about the efficiency of reward, punishment in the teaching-learning process.
• Educational psychology helps the teacher to create a good learning environment in the school.

Thus, educational psychology is essential for a teacher to increase the quality of the teaching-learning process.