Educational Psychology

Course goals

Knowledge about and understanding of:
•        Influential educational theories, with respect to attention regulation, learning and memory processes, problem solving, expert behavior, and cognitive development.
•        Implications of learning theories for the use of instructional media, specifically focusing on the development of learning materials.

Content

In this course we study almost everything that is related to education and learning. How do we learn and remember information? Why do students differ in their proficiency? We look at these subjects from a variety of perspectives, centering on Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism. Using these perspectives we discuss statements and hypotheses about the most effective methods for learning new information and for developing learning materials. It’s not just information processing that is important to understand, but also the way people develop over time, the way they behave in different learning situations (on their own or in a group), and the ways in which experts differ from beginners in a domain. The course also looks at historical developments, attention is paid to both past developments and recent ones (e.g., neuroscientific research). During the tutorials, you will be challenged to debate about the similarities and contrasts between educational theory and practice.