MEANING:
Educational psychology is combination of two words ‘Education’ and ‘psychology’. It is one of the branches of applied psychology. It consists of the applications of the psychological principles and techniques to human behaviour in educational situations. In general, educational psychology is a study of the experiences and behaviour of the learner in relation to educational environment.
DEFINITION:
Educational psychology is that branch of psychology which deals with teaching and learning – Skinner.
Educational psychology describes and explains the learning experiences of an individual from birth through old age -Crow and Crow.
NATURE AND SCOPE:
Educational psychology is an applied branch of the subject psychology.
Psychology deals with all the behaviour of all individuals. But educational psychology deals only the behaviour of the students.
It gives the technical guidance to the pupil in a satisfactory way.
Educational psychology is not a perfect science.
It employs scientific method and adopts scientific approach to study the behaviour of an individual in educational situation.
Educational psychology mainly focused the following concept,
The learner
The teacher
The learning process
The learning experiences and learning Situation
IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY TO TEACHERS:
1. To know the learner:
Educational psychology helps the teacher for understanding the child in the following different ways:
Students interest, attitudes, aptitudes
the stages of development
adjustment problems
creativity and motivation pattern
level of aspiration
his conflicts and mental health
2. To select and organize the subject matter or learning experiences:
The teacher should know the characteristic of the learner at each stage of his development, the nature and laws of learning.
3. To suggest art and techniques of learning as well as teaching:
Educational psychology explains the process of learning and suggests the means for effective and permanent learning. It also suggests that not a single method or technique is suitable for all kinds of learners in all circumstances. A teacher should select a proper device or method according to the learning situations.
4. To arrange learning situations or environment:
The educational psychology helps the teacher for taking care of the desirable learning situations or environment.
5. To explain him with the mechanism of heredity and environment:
The growth and development of the students is very essential for the teacher. So that, the teacher can teaches according to their mental ability.
6. Helping in maintaining discipline:
It helps the teacher to have a creative type of discipline as it acquaints him with the nature of the child, his strength and weakness.
7. Giving Guidance and Counseling:
Educational psychology helps the teacher to give guidance and counseling to the students. The guidance may be educational, personal and vocational. With the help of the educational psychology, the teacher can show the right direction to his pupils for their total development.
8. Helping in Evaluation and Assessment:
In educational psychology, as applied behavioural science, evaluation, measurement and appraisal find its place which makes the teacher well-equipped in the task of evaluation with proper professional skill.
9. Solving Class-room problems:
The study of the characteristic of the problem children, the dynamics of the group, behavioural characteristics and adjustment etc. equip the teacher to solve the actual class-room problems.
10. Knowing about himself:
It helps the teacher to know about himself. His own behaviour pattern, personality characteristics, likes and dislikes, motivation, anxiety, conflicts, adjustment etc. the teacher also learns the psychology of being and characteristics of effective teaching.