Pedagogical psychology is a branch of psychology that examines psychological mechanisms, patterns, and factors in the development of the psyche in the conditions of training and education.
Pedagogical psychology is the science of the formation and development of the psyche in the educational space.
The beginning of the formation of this science dates back to the last third of the 19th century. The term “educational psychology” itself appeared in 1877, it was introduced by the Russian psychologist and teacher P.F. Kapetev. He wrote the book “Pedagogical Psychology for Folk Teachers, Educators and Educators.” After the publication of this book, educational psychology was recognized as an independent scientific field. The epigraph of this book was taken from Pestalozzi’s statement “I want to reduce all learning to psychological grounds.” Today, this problem is extremely relevant, very popular among researchers, but still controversial, having a number of contradictions that require solutions.
The subject of educational psychology is the psychological basis of personality formation in the process of training and education.
Tasks of educational psychology:
Identification of patterns of mental development in the process of training and education;
Establishing conditions for successful development of the psyche in the educational space;
Determination of the basic mechanisms of the functioning of the psyche in the process of training and education;
Establishment of factors influencing the psychological sphere of the individual during training and education;
Creation and development of methods and techniques for studying the characteristics of the functioning of the psyche in the process of education and upbringing;
Popularization of scientific knowledge in society.
Sections of educational psychology:
- psychology of learning;
This direction deals with the study of psychological patterns of cognitive activity of students. One of the most important problems in this area is the issue of mental development of students. The issue of individualization and differentiation of the learning process is important. Today, a person-oriented approach in the process of teaching and educating schoolchildren is very popular and applied. This approach helps to solve, to a certain extent, the problem of developing human creative abilities. For educators, the issue of diagnosing mental development and the development of methods aimed at improving the productivity of students’ cognitive activity are extremely relevant.
- psychology of education;
This section studies the basic psychological mechanisms and patterns of formation of personal parameters of students within the educational process.
This section is aimed at identifying factors influencing the system of relations:
Student - student;
Teacher - student;
Parents - student;
Teacher - administration;
Parents - school;
Student - administration;
Adults are children.
This section examines the psychological conditions for the formation and development of morality, worldview, and personality orientation. A very important aspect is the psychology of self-development and self-education of a person.
- teacher psychology.
This direction studies the features of the functioning and development of the teacher’s psyche in the process of his professional activity. Of particular importance are studies of the pedagogical abilities of individual-typological personality traits that influence professional activity, the issue of developing pedagogical skills, as well as the psychological aspects of professional interaction.
All three areas of educational psychology are developing very actively, having a significant impact on the holistic educational process.
Basic patterns of formation of a child’s personality
It is a well-known and indisputable proposition that personality is formed throughout life, and personal formations can appear at any age.
The basis for personality formation, according to Alexey Nikolaevich Leontyev, is socialization- human appropriation of social experience in ontogenesis.
It is worth noting that socialization is an objective process (I invite everyone to answer for themselves why).
Any society prefers that its citizens acquire the desired social experience that does not contradict social norms and moral principles. Although gaining such experience is an individual process, it is subject to certain laws:
- recognition of education as the basis for personality formation;
Upbringing- this is a purposeful influence on an individual in order to form the desired personal parameters.
Those changes that occur in the individual will be the result of upbringing.
Without the process of education, spiritual change, observance of traditions, development of norms of behavior and communication are impossible, that is, the qualitative change in personality that will provide her with a comfortable stay in society is impossible.
- recognition of the child as a subject of the educational and training process;
A child’s independent activity is one of the characteristics of a subjective attitude towards the world. This means that only personal desire, personal desire for a particular action leads to a positive result.
Without individual activity, the process of personality formation is extremely ineffective. Therefore, treating a person’s developing personality as an object of development does not bring the desired results.
The teacher must remember that he is obliged to organize the child’s activities in such a way that he is convinced that he himself wants this. The role of the teacher, according to Vygodsky, is only to organize the conditions, environment and control the results of the child’s independent activity.
- inclusion of the child’s motivational-need sphere;
Needs play a huge role in the life of any creature. In addition to natural needs, a person also has socially significant ones. They arise against the background of specific socio-economic relations, formed interests and internal incentives.
Personal qualities are formed depending on motives. The basis for the practical implementation of motives is activity.
Thus, the scheme is implemented: Activity à Need à Motive à Activity à Need à house-house à
For a teacher, parent, or adult who influences a developing personality, the basis is the formation of needs and motives.
- taking into account “the developing child’s tomorrow”;
These are the potential, objectively existing, well-founded capabilities of the child, which the parent, teacher, and educator should focus on.
In this case, the process of personality development becomes purposeful, individual, manageable and productive. Moreover, knowledge of this pattern makes it possible to design the development of personality and painless, without great mental stress, its development.
- taking into account the principle of psychology: the development of the psyche occurs only in activity.
A teacher, parent, educator must remember that not every activity develops a personality or contributes to the emergence of new mental formations, but only the leading activity of its age period of development.
Psychology of learning
Questions:
Subject of psychology of learning, characteristics of learning;
Psychological theories of learning, development and organization of educational activities;
Psychological components of knowledge acquisition;
Psychological reasons for children's academic failure.
Thorndike's theory consisted in recognizing the identity of the processes of development and learning. His followers still believe that every step in learning is a step in development, every step in development is the result of training and education. Moreover, representatives of this direction still believe that there is no difference in the training (and development) of humans and animals. Over time, this movement developed into behaviorism.
Representatives (for example, Skinner, Maslow and their followers) believe that the basis of human development is the formation of behavioral skills. They are the basis of human socialization, adaptation and intellectualization. These scientists believe that it is possible to instill even intellectual skills that will gradually develop into skills. In this way, you can instill, for example, the skill of being attentive, the skill of thinking, etc.
- The theory of Jean-Jacques Piaget.
Piaget theoretically substantiated and practically tried to prove that development is absolutely independent of training and education. These processes, in his opinion, are like rails - absolutely parallel, never intersecting anywhere. Moreover, Piaget believed that development goes ahead of learning and pulls it along with it.
- The theory of two factors.
Proposed and substantiated by Soviet scientists. The theory is based on the teachings of Vygotsky, as his cultural-historical concept.
The essence of the theory is that development and learning are equivalent processes that are closely intertwined and constantly influence each other.
In the formation of personality, the biological factor is important, that is, a certain natural predisposition to a particular activity. No less important is the social factor, that is, the ability to master the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities required by society.
“If a person is naturally hard of hearing, then no matter how much we want, he will never become a composer, however, if a person never sees a musical instrument, he will also not be able to be a composer” Khrebkova.
Theory of Lev Semenovich Vygotsky " Cultural-historical concept".
At a certain stage of a person’s life, development is the predominant factor determining the formation of the psyche and personality. Starting from the complication of the personality’s self-concept (from 6 years of age), education and upbringing gradually begin to lead to development. From now on, writes Lev Semenovich, learning simply must go ahead of development and lead it along.
This theory of Vygotsky revolutionized the content of the organization of the educational process, but for it to work effectively, it is necessary to remember that our psyche constantly characterized by two levels:
Zone of current development;
This is the current, currently available level of development, characterized by a person’s ability to independently, without any help, perform certain external and internal actions.
Zone of proximal development.
The dominant one is, of course, the second level, but without support from the first, it makes no sense.
- Pedology.
The theory appeared in Russia in the 19th century and was very popular among progressive teachers and psychologists
Psychological components of learning
As a result of properly organized activities, the student acquires knowledge, skills and abilities, resulting in the mental development of the student. The main thing in this process is the assimilation and, in the future, the appropriation of previous experience.
Assimilation is the organized cognitive activity of the student, activating a number of mental processes.
Nikolai Dmitrievich Levitov identified the main components of assimilation, which form the basis of personal mastery of knowledge, skills and abilities (appropriation).
Assimilation is the main way an individual acquires socio-historical experience.
Components of assimilation:
- Positive attitude of the student towards the learning process;
From the point of view of mental reflection, the effectiveness of any mental process will be quite high if the sthenic emotional background predominates. The speed and strength of assimilation will be based on non-denial of what a person is doing, that is, the psyche will not erect barriers, sometimes even beyond the desire of the individual.
In recent years, there has been a sharp decline in children's positive attitudes toward learning. Why?
Unfavorable socio-economic relations;
Increasing the amount of required information;
Very frequent predominance of negative emotional background.
For example, school fear is a condition that depresses mental processes, which puts a barrier in terms of assimilation and appropriation of knowledge. Children driven by fear practically do not think, remember very poorly, and their attention is extremely scattered.
A positive attitude is formed:
Interest in knowledge and information;
Accepting information as necessary;
Developing abilities to overcome difficulties.
A huge role in cognition is played by the feeling of satisfaction from acquiring knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as the presence of positive motivation, that is, an internal absolute conviction of the need to acquire knowledge, skills and abilities.
In this process, no one’s role can be assumed: neither the student, nor close adults, nor the teacher.
- Activation of the processes of direct sensory familiarization with the material;
Let us consider only sensations and perceptions as the most effective for assimilation of material.
The teacher’s task is to ensure that the student in the lesson not only looks, but also sees, not only listens, but also hears everything that happens in the lesson. This helps the child to most fully and comprehensively create in his brain an image of the subject being studied.
The object of perception in the learning process is everything that surrounds the child. That is why every teacher must start by ensuring that the educational space does not include unnecessary objects that do not matter at a given moment in time.
If the teacher’s speech suffers from any errors (such as speech defects, fast tempo, high tone, unusual phonemic consonance), then the perception of meaning deteriorates significantly. The teacher's appearance (especially at the first meeting) plays a huge role. Very often, sympathy or antipathy arises in the first minutes of communication. With long-term communication with a teacher, his appearance completely loses importance.
Everything that the teacher uses as visual material must meet the following requirements:
Tables should be clear;
Contrast must be maintained (for example, diagrams);
The best board option is a dark brown background and white chalk;
The main material should always be located in the center;
Familiar material should always be in the same place;
Educational films should be no more than 10 minutes long;
During the entire educational process, it is necessary to use almost all types of perception: hearing, vision, touch.
For most children, perception is best achieved through a complex of sensations.
A theoretical learning process is always less effective than a process with practical elements.
- Thought processlearning as a process of active processing of received information;
Thinking plays an important role in the process of acquiring knowledge.
A special place is occupied by:
Forms of thinking and ability to master them;
Thinking operations must be developed in accordance with age;
Types of thinking must also be at a level of development sufficient for a given age;
Development of mental qualities.
- The process of memorizing and preserving material;
As a rule, students with memory deficiencies perform worse than those with well-developed memory.
The following memory parameters are subject to development:
Types of memory (especially figurative = sensory memory);
Memory processes (especially memorization, assimilation, reproduction).
Types of memory, as a rule, do not change (there are four types: quickly remembered - quickly forgotten, quickly remembered - slowly forgotten, etc.). The teacher simply must take into account what type of memory the child has and treat this with understanding.
- Attention as a necessary condition for the success of all previous components.
Attention is a mental state that ensures the success of all mental forms of reflection. Therefore, special attention must be paid to the formation and development of attention.
In the educational process, it is important to develop types of attention, especially secondary voluntary attention. To do this, it is necessary to involve the processes of awareness, motivation and the volitional sphere.
Reasons for low absorption:
Pedagogical reasons:
Weak teacher;
Overcrowding of classes (the norm for the elementary class is 15 people, for the senior class - 17-22);
Imperfection of programs;
Very low level of textbooks and teaching aids;
Ineffective structure of the school day;
Ineffective forms of conducting classes.
Psychological reasons:
Failure to take into account the current level of personal development;
Developmental delay in accordance with the age norm - developmental delay;
Insufficient development of mental forms of reflection (especially thinking, perception, memory);
Lack of reliance on individual typological characteristics of the personality;
Poor genetic inheritance;
Underdevelopment of the child's ability to self-regulate.
Psychology of educational influences
Upbringing and educational tasks in educational institutions are solved largely depending on how the teacher knows how to influence students.
Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky once said: “Without the personal direct influence of the teacher on the student, true education is impossible.”
All educational influences affect the inner world of a person. That is why they must be built in accordance with the laws of the functioning of the psyche.
Types of educational influences:
- Impact "request";
This is one of the softest effects. The request does not imply any pressure on the child.
The main characteristic of a request is that it takes into account the child’s ability to fulfill it.
When making a request, it is important to remember:
The request should not exceed the child's capabilities;
The child should not be an intermediary between the teacher and the performer;
Refusal to comply should not have a negative impact on the child;
Any request should be based on future gratitude for fulfillment.
- Impact "demand";
This is a more severe impact, which requires mandatory implementation.
The requirement must be subject to some administrative regulation.
The requirement must be reasonable. An unreasonable requirement will cause resistance and non-compliance.
When presenting demands, you cannot use a pleading tone; you cannot allow lack of control and lack of evaluation.
Failure to comply should result in some form of reprimand or punishment.
- Impact "order";
This is the most severe of the imposed impacts. That is why the order is always based on legally accepted provisions. These provisions are adopted at the level of institutions or government bodies.
Execution of the order is not discussed. It is mandatory for all participants in the process.
- Impact "score":
- Evaluation-praise;
The only difference between evaluation and praise: praise is verbal encouragement, but true encouragement has a material basis. From the point of view of psychological perception, encouragement causes a positive emotional background.
- Evaluation and encouragement;
When applying incentives, you must remember:
The business is encouraged, not the individual;
Encouragement must be adequate to what has been done;
You should not reward for the same thing several times;
Encouragement must necessarily evoke the approval of others;
It is better to encourage and praise publicly, and not one-on-one;
Melancholic and phlegmatic people should be encouraged more often than choleric people;
Even the desire to do something should be encouraged;
Don't reward too often.
- Evaluation-punishment.
Punishment is the opposite of reward.
Requirements for punishment:
It is better to punish one than in front of all;
You cannot punish for what is not proven;
You cannot punish simply for bad behavior;
The punishment must correspond to the extent of the offense;
You cannot punish for the same thing several times;
You cannot punish rashly;
You cannot punish with labor;
The punishment must be fair.
It is easy for a teacher to make mistakes when using rewards or punishments.
Undeserved constant rewards lead to arrogance and hostility on the part of others. Wrong punishment can cause personal humiliation, feelings of anger and hatred towards the teacher. All this leads to deformation of the child’s personal growth.
- Impact "shortcut";
The teacher has no right to label or invent nicknames for students. This has an extremely negative effect on children and others. Most often, such an action causes a similar reaction.
- The influence of "suggestion".
Suggestion is a very complex type of influence, which is built on a significant reduction in a person’s critical attitude to incoming information.
Among all people who are suggestible - 70%. Therefore, the teacher must very carefully use suggestion as a measure of influence.
Suggestion is always deliberate and is most often carried out verbally.
Affects suggestibility:
Age;
The most suggestible are children and the elderly.
State of the body;
Tired, weakened, sick people are more suggestible.
Large crowd of people acting synchronously;
Level of intellectual development
The lower the level, the easier it is to suggest.
Character traits;
Trust, suspicion, kindness, simplicity...
The effectiveness of suggestion also depends on:
From the environment where the person suggests;
On the nature of social relations;
In a society where there is intimidation, suggestibility is stronger. Those in need are more suggestible.
The teacher must remember rules of suggestion:
You need to look into the eyes of the suggestible;
You need to remain absolutely calm, relaxed and relaxed;
Speech should be clear, intelligible, slightly slow;
Under no circumstances should you show any nervousness.
Subject, tasks and sections of educational psychology
Pedagogical psychology is an interdisciplinary and typically applied branch of psychological science that arose in connection with real needs pedagogical theory and expanding educational practice. The presence of systematic and mass education is one of the significant achievements of civilization and at the same time a condition for the very existence and development of humanity.
In the pedagogical and educational process there is no special psyche set aside for it, different from that described in the previous chapters of the textbook. It’s just that in the psyche and personality, only some of its aspects, the accents of functioning and development, determined by the specifics of the educational process itself, stand out in relief. But since this process occupies one of the leading, decisive places in the life of a modern person, the need for the existence and practical application of educational psychology does not require special argumentation. Education needs separate and systematic psychological support.
Educational psychology studies human psyche as a subjective reflection of objective reality, carried out in special educational activities in order to implement other activities, for the entire life of a person.
The subject of educational psychology phenomena, patterns and mechanisms of the psyche appear subjects educational process: student(pupil, student) and teachers(teacher, lecturer). This involves a targeted study of the structure and dynamics, formation, functioning of the mental image in the course and as a result of processes training And education.
Since the specifics of the content and numerous tasks facing educational psychology are objectively determined by the characteristics of the educational, or pedagogical, process, let us first consider the initial concept education both process and result.
Education in the narrow sense of the word, this is the assimilation by a person of knowledge, skills and abilities, carried out in the learning process, therefore educated in everyday life is a literate, knowledgeable, well-read person.
In a broader and strictly psychological interpretation process and result of education take on a special meaning creation man, his "education"as a whole as an individual, and not just an increment, an arithmetic increase in knowledge and skills.
This is a fundamental, qualitative change, a basic redesign, a re-equipment of the psyche and personality. Education is a socially organized assistance the current and subsequent development of personality, its self-realization and self-change, the entire existence of a person. That is why the level of education of an individual is not reduced to the sum of years allotted for his education. The legalized questionnaire gradations of education: primary, secondary, specialized secondary, higher are very arbitrary, changeable, and relative. Education as a holistic result, it presupposes something different and much more than graduation certificates, certificates and diplomas, than a listing of compulsory disciplines attended by a person and passed during the period of study.
The amount of knowledge in itself does not change a person’s consciousness, his attitude towards the world in which he exists. Real, truly human education is inseparable from the process of education. Form a person - this means not only teaching him, but also helping to build image own personality, samples and models of social and professional behavior, life in general. Therefore, a competent, humanely organized educational process is certainly educational, those. complex in essence, inseparable into separate and seemingly sequential components.
Despite the apparent obviousness of this situation, even in the modern history of Russian education, for example, new ideological slogans and direct orders to remove the educational process from school and university practice have been recently proclaimed. Fortunately, this is almost impossible to implement even for the most order-obedient official from the education system. Thinking and consciousness are inseparable, like the psyche and personality. In a specific person, training and education are impossible without the other, although they are realized by different psychological mechanisms. To ensure the effectiveness of each of these processes, special conditions, targeted social and pedagogical efforts are required, a state educational system and special professional training and skill of teachers are required.
Varied and numerous tasks of educational psychology, can be reduced to five main ones, which in reality are interdependent, intersecting, interdisciplinary, i.e. not only psychological.
The first task is comprehensive study of the student’s psyche(educated) involved in a single educational process. Such organized, targeted research is necessary to optimize and individualize education, to promote the formation of the necessary psychological and personal characteristics, to provide competent, systematic psychological support and support for the processes of training and education. Here there are many particular and general psychological and socio-psychological problems, the solution of which provides an answer to the interdisciplinary and practically important question about the main subject of the process: "who is studying(educated, brought up)?"
People are not the same from birth, with the possible exception of monozygotic twins. But the number and scope of individual differences (behavioral and psychological) increases with age. The younger the child is, the more similar he is to his peers, although from a psychological point of view there are not even two identical personalities on the planet.
To identify and take into account the psychological characteristics of each student’s personality, it may be useful to use all seven parameters identified in the psychological structure of the individual: needs, self-awareness, abilities, temperament, character, characteristics of mental processes and states, mental experience of the individual (see Chapter 4), each of which can be decisive in the educational process.
The second task is psychological justification and selection of educational material to be learned. The problems solved here are intended to answer the never-ending and always debatable question: "why exactly what should be taught (educated, brought up)?" These are complex issues of selecting the content and volume of educational material, choosing compulsory (and elective, selective) academic disciplines.
Suppose it is necessary to study logic and Latin in a modern school (as previously in gymnasiums)? How much class time should I devote to geography and what sections should be taught? How to conceptually and logically build a Russian (or other) language course from first to 11th grade? There are no clear, universal or convincing answers to such questions. Everything depends on the level of civilization, cultural traditions, and state educational ideology and policy. A professional driver, for example, pragmatically does not need knowledge about the structure of the nervous system of the lancelet. But why does someone “at the top” have the right to decide what the same driver needs and does not need to know as a person, an individual, a citizen?
The school is designed to prepare people not only for work, but for life as a whole. In addition, every person has the right not only to choose, but also to a conscious, sometimes necessary change of profession. To do this, he must be sufficiently broad and comprehensively educated. Otherwise, mass education may become socially unjust, veiledly caste-based, and therefore inhumane. It is impossible (and not necessary) to “teach everyone and everything,” but it is absolutely necessary to facilitate the process of personal development as much as possible in teaching.
- The third psychological and pedagogical task is to answer probably the most popular question: “how to teach and educate?”, i.e. in the development and psychological testing, testing of pedagogical methods, techniques and holistic technologies of training and education. We can say that the majority of pedagogical and psychological-pedagogical research is aimed precisely at such methodological problems and issues of the processes of education, training and upbringing. The subsequent chapters of the textbook are devoted to their consideration (see chapters 39–41).
- The fourth task of educational psychology is study of the psyche, professional activity and personality of the teacher. This is the answer to a pressing, fundamentally important subjective question of the entire sphere of human education: "Who teaches (educates, educates)?". The problems raised here are equally social and psychological (see Chapter 42). Can anyone who wants to become a teacher? What are the individual psychological characteristics and professionally significant (necessary) qualities of a teacher, his social -psychological and material status? What are the objective and subjective opportunities for improving mastery and self-realization (professional and personal)?
- The fifth, but theoretically central, initial task of educational psychology is participation in the development of theoretical and practical issues related to the conscious formulation and formulation goals public education, training and education. It is here that the social and the individual clearly appear in their inseparable and possibly contradictory (dialectical) unity. Society determines For what educate people; the personality transforms this question into his own, subjective one: " For what should I have an education?"
Without detailed, clearly formulated goal setting, there cannot be a controlled educational process; prediction, verification, and evaluation of the result are impossible. Psychologically reasoned answers to the basic vital, semantic and even moral question are needed: "For what educate (educate, educate)?". Why and for whom does this education system exist? What can or should acquired knowledge and learned forms of behavior become for an individual? How have they changed the individual himself, his relationships and views on the world, on himself? What kind of personality (and not just a socially necessary professional, a narrowly oriented artisan) does society expect to create at the “output” of the educational process? For more information on this, see § 41.3.
It is clear that such educational issues go far beyond the scope of the subject of psychology, but even without its “shared” and often leading participation, they cannot be competently resolved. At the very least, maximum consideration of the so-called human factor is necessary; practical implementation in education of the well-known ideology of “human relations” is necessary.
The listed and many other problems are solved within the framework of three textbook sections of educational psychology:
- psychology of learning;
- psychology of education;
- psychology of work and personality of the teacher (teacher).
The first two sections relate primarily to the psyche of the subject being trained and educated. These sections of educational psychology are characterized by varying degrees of development and implementation in real educational practice. Currently more developed than others psychology of learning. It coexists many different scientific schools and concepts, which have their successors and critics (see Chapter 39). However, in any psychological and pedagogical design, methodological understanding and theoretical interpretation of fundamental categories and concepts such as “personality”, “psyche”, “education” are especially important. All other concepts, terminological constructs and specific pedagogical “techniques” are derivative, although this is not always recognized and clearly formulated by the authors of numerous modern psychological and pedagogical “innovations.” Unfortunately, behind the indicated pedagogical schemes, a living person, his real psyche, is most often “lost.”
Like any applied branch of science, educational psychology has a pronounced interdisciplinary nature. Any practical, vital task is multi-subject and complex. This fully applies to the educational process, which is studied in its own way not only by pedagogy and educational psychology, but also by philosophy, medicine, sociology, cultural studies, physiology, economics, law, and management. All of these aspects of education in one way or another come to subject necessarily focus on a person - the real creator, performer and user of the public education system.
True, not all specialists and educational leaders are by any means always interested in or satisfied with some positions of domestic scientific psychology (see § 39.4; 39.5). For example, some directions and methods of the current reform of Russian education (early specialization of school education, simplification and reduction of curricula, mandatory two-stage higher education, fetishization of ubiquitous tests, mandatory “competency-based” approach, unproven effectiveness of a number of pedagogical “innovations”, etc.) cannot be considered scientifically indisputable and psychologically substantiated. But this, one must assume, is a traditionally temporary, transitory stage in the existence of modern Russian education and its constantly ongoing modernization. Mass education, according to the ideas of Russian psychology, should not be pragmatically minimal, but reasonable, verified, redundant, and in some ways ahead of both the current society and the current student. Education should work for the future, and therefore be developmental and educational. However, this requires hard efforts not only from the teaching, educational and scientific community, but also from the entire society, the entire Russian state.
To illustrate the deeply interdisciplinary nature of educational psychology, let us outline its connections with some other sections of scientific psychology, since in reality it is associated with almost all modern psychological science. Educational psychology is either part of some other applied branch of psychology, for example, legal, sports, engineering, or organically includes large parts and blocks of many types of modern psychology.
General psychology acts here as a kind of base that sets the necessary methodological, categorical and conceptual structure of educational psychology. It is impossible to list all the general psychological concepts and terms without which educational psychology simply cannot exist. Psyche, personality, consciousness, activity, thinking, motivation, abilities - all these categories “work” here in their own way, in the special context of education.
The relationship between pedagogical and child (age) psychology, especially in relation to school education. A child is not just a small adult, but a qualitatively different personality (J. Piaget), therefore, it is necessary to teach and educate, for example, a junior schoolchild differently than a teenager, and a teenager – differently than a young man. Without taking into account the basic age characteristics of students, effective education is impossible.
The processes of learning and development are not adjacent and not synonymous. They are in complex interaction, the research, organization and optimization of which is one of the pressing problems of modern education. Learning and development now occur in qualitatively different social (and personal, subjective) conditions than those presented in classical psychology of previous years and generations. The current subjects of the educational process - children, schoolchildren, teachers, parents, students - have become in some ways significantly different than just a decade ago (see Chapter 20). All this urgently requires systematic psychological and interdisciplinary research and direct access to mass educational practice at school and university.
A significant place in educational psychology should be occupied by socio-psychological problems(see chapter 25). Education exists in society, solves certain social, state, and not only personal tasks of the subjects of this process. Such tasks may not only not coincide, but also be in serious contradiction. Let's assume that society does not need as many lawyers, economists, bank employees as there are people who want it. But objectively, there are not enough specialists in engineering and blue-collar professions. Coordination of such “demand” and “supply” is a state, economic, political task, and not just an educational one, and even more so a narrowly psychological one. However, its optimal, humane solution cannot do without psychology: social, general, political, differential, pedagogical.
In addition, every teacher actually works not only with the individual student, but with a social group, a class, with parents, a group of professional colleagues, therefore, the educational process necessarily involves an extensive socio-psychological phenomenology of small and large groups, their interactions, group speakers. All these inevitable and significant influences of society on the process and result of education must be properly planned, taken into account, measured, and, if possible, coordinated.
Almost the most important, relevant and directly significant for educational psychology are its connections and interactions, relationships with pedagogy. It would seem that there are and should not be any problems in the cooperation and commonwealth of these two sciences. They have largely common goals and methods, identical scientific objects, a uniting scientific community represented by the Russian Academy of Education, and the presence of common historical roots, creators and great predecessors. In Russia, these are such extraordinary personalities and scientists of an organic psychological and pedagogical profile, such as K. D. Ushinsky, P. P. Blonsky, L. S. Vygotsky, P. F. Kapterev, A. S. Makarenko and many others, including including modern ones. There are many examples of a real, systematic, and not eclectic combination of educational psychology and “psychological pedagogy”; there are models for constructing modern psychodidactics. There are well-developed scientific and practically implemented psychological and pedagogical directions, concepts, and educational technologies. But, on the other hand, interdisciplinary relations between psychology and pedagogy cannot be called idyllic, established, or problem-free.
For a future teacher, an introduction to general and educational psychology begins with the learning process at a pedagogical university. There is a psychological and pedagogical triad that has been established here for decades: psychology – pedagogy is a private teaching methodology. Such a combination of academic subjects is an absolutely necessary part, achievement and main feature of vocational pedagogical education in our country. This triad greatly contributes to ensuring mandatory psychological and pedagogical literacy and culture, the same name as the student’s readiness for future teaching activities.
The subject of professional work of a chemistry teacher, in contrast to, say, a chemist, is not only chemical substances and properties, but also the students themselves. Scientist and teacher are close, definitely related, but still not the same professions. Many people (including teachers, professors) may not understand this and may not subjectively accept this, but this is an essential, empirically established fact. The true professionalism of a teacher lies not only in knowledge of the subject taught, not only in the assimilation of pedagogical theories and techniques, but in an adequate understanding of the structure and functioning of the human psyche in the process of teaching or upbringing. The true psychological and pedagogical education of a teacher can only be comprehensive, holistic, and not narrowly subject-specific - musical, mathematical, historical, etc. Real educational practice does not need either “pure” teachers as “transmitters” of knowledge, nor “emasculated” psychologists as “all-knowing” and critical theorists. Everyday, labor-intensive and always creative “pedagogization” of psychology and “psychologization” of pedagogy are required.
However, it should be recognized that both in the content and in the execution of the educational psychological-pedagogical triad itself, there are unresolved issues, theoretical and methodological inconsistencies, shortcomings, and inconsistencies. In the mass teaching of these three disciplines there is often no proper methodological, conceptual and operational continuity. There may be substantial repetitions and obvious inconsistencies in the interpretations of the same educational, especially psychological, phenomena. The psychological-pedagogical triad is not always realized as a necessary integral, unified cycle of related, but subject-wise and operationally different disciplines. There are ambiguous, complex, and sometimes adversarial relationships between modern psychology and pedagogy, which is quite acceptable for academic theory as a means of promoting its development. In relation to real educational practice, this situation cannot be considered normal.
A school teacher or university teacher, of course, cannot and should not be professional psychologists. But the requirements for their psychological preparedness, education and culture should not be simplified, downplayed and reduced, for example, to pedagogical communication skills. This is only an integral part, albeit an important one, of the general professional and psychological culture of the teacher (see Chapter 42). In turn, a school psychologist is not obliged and cannot be a teacher without having the appropriate education. However, to ensure efficiency, i.e. practical usefulness of his specific and actually psychological work, he must professionally know and adequately perceive existing pedagogical theories, problems and everyday realities.
In an ever-changing world, learning and development abilities require more and more attention. Not so long ago, at the intersection of pedagogy and psychology, educational psychology arose, studying the processes of cognition, trying to answer the question “Why do some students know more than others, what can be done to improve their learning and motivate them?”
Educational psychology as a science arose as a result of the emergence of learning theories; it is closely related to psychology, medicine, biology, and neurobiology. Its achievements are used in the development of curricula, principles of educational organization, and methods of motivating students. The main task is to find ways of optimal development in a learning situation.
History and scope of application of forces
The history of the formation of educational psychology goes back far into the past, even if it was formed as a separate direction only recently. The stages of development of educational psychology can be represented by three periods: laying general didactic foundations, systematization, and development of independent theories.
Even Plato and Aristotle wrestled with the issues of character formation, possibilities and limits of education, especially highlighting music, poetry, geometry, and the relationship between mentor and student. Later, Locke came onto the scene, introducing the concept of a “blank slate” - the child’s lack of any knowledge before learning. So, from Locke’s position, the basis of knowledge is the transfer of experience.
In the middle of the 20th century, the first well-developed psychological theories of learning emerged; they required a new branch for themselves, which cannot be attributed entirely to either psychology or pedagogy. Theories about programmed and problem-based learning are becoming widely known.
Although the final formation of educational psychology took place during this period, Davydov expressed the idea that educational psychology could become part of developmental psychology, since developmental psychology examines the patterns of child development, and the characteristics of mastering a particular area of knowledge depend on its development.
On the other hand, Skinner defined educational psychology as dealing with human behavior in educational situations. Education, in turn, tries to shape the behavior of the student, the desired changes in him for the comprehensive development of his personality. So this is a science not just about the peculiarities of learning, but also about the organization of the educational process and the study of its influence in general.
Pedagogical psychology studies the patterns that make it possible to manage the development of people. She seeks to understand the possible paths of development of students, the range of their capabilities, and the processes that result in the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Now it is used as a basis for the development of methodological programs.
general information
Over the years of its existence, the main problems of educational psychology have been formulated. All of them are connected in one way or another with the study of the educational process or the student in it:
- The influence of training on development and education.
- The influence of genetic and social factors on development.
- Sensitive periods.
- Child's readiness for school.
- Individual training.
- Diagnosis of children in the psychological and pedagogical aspect.
- Optimal level of teacher training.
All of them are considered together, each problem is based on the fact that we do not yet fully understand how learning occurs, what impact this or that action has on the development of the student. In connection with these problems, the following tasks of educational psychology are distinguished:
- Reveal the influence of training on development.
- Determine mechanisms for optimal assimilation of social norms, cultural values, etc.
- To highlight the patterns of the learning process for children at different levels of development (intellectual and personal).
- Analyze the nuances of the influence of the organization of the learning process on the development of students.
- Study teaching activities from a psychological point of view.
- Identify key points of developmental learning (mechanisms, facts, patterns).
- Develop ways to assess the quality of knowledge acquisition.
The structure of educational psychology consists of three main areas of its study - education, training, and teacher psychology. The tasks are accordingly divided into these areas.
The basic methods of educational psychology coincide with the methods that psychology uses in its activities. Research methods in educational psychology: tests, psychometrics, paired comparisons, experiments. And if earlier the methodology used more theoretical concepts, now the basis of the theories put forward are achievements in cognitive psychology.
Experiments and conclusions
The tasks and problems assigned to educational psychology intersect with other areas, so it often uses the work of cognitive psychologists, neuroscientists and sociologists. Data are used in educational psychology both for the design of possible practical research and for purely theoretical revision or modification of existing methods and views. Let's look into the brain and see how it learns.
In particular, quoting Aleksandrov almost verbatim, we can say that learning leads to the formation of specialized neurons, so learning is the creation “in the head” of specialists of various profiles. Many already known patterns have been found in the psychology of learning:
1. Eternity of skill. The formation of specialization is associated with gene activity, which, in turn, serves as a trigger for the processes of neuronal restructuring. How long does specialization last? Perhaps forever. In Thompson and Best's experiment, the response of a rat neuron to a specific segment of the maze did not change over six months.
In this case, the memory is not erased, excluding special methods. New experience associated with a certain specialization is layered on the old one, neurons are modified. In this regard, the question arises whether it is worth teaching people first simple schemes and then complicating them, whether past understanding will prevent them from learning new ones.
3. Sum of actions or goal? An experiment by researchers Koyama, Kato and Tanaka showed that different goals are controlled by different groups of neurons, even if the behavior in both cases is the same! It follows that for one result some neurons will be involved, and for another - different ones, although the behavior itself may be the same.
There are no neurons specializing specifically for a particular skill. There are groups of neurons for some results, there are groups responsible for other results, but not skills. Therefore, it is impossible to form a skill that will not be aimed at some result, and learning for future use is useless, according to Aleksandrov.
If you can't learn something not to achieve a specific result, then what do children learn? Get good grades and approval.
5. Rewards or punishments? What is the best way to motivate? Intimidate or reward? As a result of research, it was found that these two pathways have fundamental differences in their effects on memory, attention and learning. Apparently, both methods can bear fruit under different conditions. For example, as a result of working with children, it was found that before puberty, their behavior is more influenced by encouragement, and after - by punishment.
6. Time. Experiments on animal learning of a skill have shown that brain activity in animals performing the same task varies depending on the time that has passed since learning.
In conclusion, here are the words of Bill Gates, who spoke at the TED conference about the problems of education and the need to increase the general level of education to open equal opportunities for different people. Although his words relate to the US experience, it is unlikely that the situation in other countries is much different. “The difference between the best and worst teachers is incredible. The best teachers give a 10% increase in test scores in one year. What are their characteristics? This is not experience, not a master's degree. They are full of energy, they track those who are distracted and engage them in the learning process.” Of course, the research that Gates relies on is not enough to say who the best teachers are and what matters most, but without attention, knowledge will not arise. Author: Ekaterina Volkova
Since ancient times, people have been trying to master the experience of previous generations, trying to increase it, enrich it with their own understanding and perception, in order to subsequently pass on their knowledge to subsequent generations.
This desire is characterized by one word - “pedagogy”, which implies a science that studies the patterns of transmission by elders and perception by the younger generation of social experience necessary for everyday life and work.
Psychology and pedagogy are among those sciences that are applied to practice, introduced into the problems of human life and society as a whole, they seek answers to the most common problems.
Psychology is the science of the natural development and functioning of the psyche as a special form of life, the field of knowledge about the inner world of man, while pedagogy is the discipline of training and education of the individual. These two independent sciences have a huge number of related theories and areas of practical use, which makes it possible to study them together.
Often, psychology and pedagogy are understood by people as something purely theoretical, consisting of difficult-to-understand connectives. This is to blame for the large number of scientific publications and manuals, which sometimes contradict each other and further mislead people regarding these two reliable disciplines.
Psychology and pedagogy allow us to most comprehensively understand the patterns of development of the human psyche. This makes it possible to find the most effective ways of education and training.
Let's consider the basics of psychology and pedagogy.
The main goal of pedagogy is to study the patterns and prospects for the development of the process of improving teaching practice. In this discipline, the following areas should be highlighted: research into the social and personal formation and development of a person in conditions of specially organized education, determination of the goals and content of the concept of education, search, as well as scientific confirmation of methods and forms of organizing educational work.
There is nothing more complex than the problems of an individual; there is nothing more difficult than raising a person, living with him in the same society, working with him. Incompetent and illiterate actions in this area are unacceptable and dangerous. Where there is no exact knowledge, there is always a guess, and out of ten guesses, nine are usually wrong. We need to approach solving human problems especially responsibly.
Special pedagogy and psychology are especially important because it is aimed at studying the processes of regularity, management tendencies and the development of the individuality of a child who has limited capabilities due to health conditions. Such children need a specialized approach to upbringing, learning and perception of the world around them.
The main goal of this science is the timely identification of all possible deficiencies in personality development and the correction of functional disorders of mental activity and behavior. And all this can be revealed by psychology and pedagogy. Every specialist in these areas must be aware that he bears a huge responsibility towards a person with limited physical or psychological capabilities.
When trying to help a problem child or an adult, you need to choose purely individual methods of communication with each individual separately, and special conditions must be created for receiving education. These can be certain educational programs, specific teaching methods, all kinds of technical means, medical, psychological and social services designed to help people with disabilities master general educational and professional skills and programs. In a word, psychology is called upon not only to observe the process but also to help a person form his thinking and adequate perception of the world.
Definition 1
Pedagogical psychology is an applied branch of psychology that arose due to the demands of theoretical pedagogy and educational practice.
Definition 2
Mass education- an achievement of civilization, and at the same time a condition for the development of humanity.
In the human psyche, those aspects that are associated with the educational process are highlighted. This process occupies one of the main places in the life of a modern person, so there is no need to argue for the importance of the practical application of educational psychology. Training and education require psychological support.
Subject of educational psychology
The subject of educational psychology is phenomena, the laws of their development associated with the learning process, as well as the mechanisms of the psyche of subjects of education. The subjects of the educational process are pupils, students, listeners and teachers. Pedagogical psychology deals with the purposeful study of the structure and dynamics of the psychological image in the process of teaching and upbringing.
Note 1
Educational psychology has many tasks determined by the characteristics of the educational process.
Definition 3
Education is the acquisition and assimilation by a person of knowledge, skills and abilities in the learning process.
An educated person in life is a competent, well-read, erudite person. If we talk about education in a broad sense, then the process and result of education is the creation of a person, his formation as an individual. That is, this is a fundamental, qualitative change, a re-equipment of the psyche and personality. Promoting the development of personality, its self-realization and self-change is called education. Therefore, the level of education is not determined by the number of years that are intended for education. Education is distinguished: primary, secondary, secondary vocational, higher. These gradations are arbitrary. The holistic result is education. This is more than certificates, diplomas and certificates. The knowledge gained changes a person’s consciousness and his attitude to the world only in conjunction with the process of education. A person’s education is not only learning, but also building an image of one’s own personality, mastering patterns of social and professional behavior. The educational process must certainly be educational and comprehensive.
This statement seems obvious. But in the history of Russian education, ideas of removing education from the educational process were heard quite recently. Training and education cannot be applied separately; they are inextricably linked, however, like consciousness and thinking, like the psyche and personality. In order for training and education to be effective, special social conditions and pedagogical efforts are required, a state educational system and professional training of teachers are needed.
Tasks of educational psychology
These are five main tasks that intersect and depend on each other, that is, they are not only psychological:
- comprehensive study of the student’s psyche;
- psychological justification and selection of educational material;
- development of teaching and educational methods and their psychological testing;
- studying the psyche of a teacher’s professional activity;
- participation in the development of theoretical issues in the field of pedagogical knowledge.
Comprehensive study of the student’s psyche is an organized, purposeful study. It is carried out in order to optimize and individualize the educational process, which in turn contributes to the formation of competent psychological support during training and education.
Here it is necessary to solve many problems of a private nature and a general psychological plan to answer the question about the main subject of the process: who is learning?
To identify the psychological characteristics of the personality of each student, it is necessary to use all the parameters of the psychological structure of the individual: needs, self-awareness, abilities, temperament, character, characteristics of mental processes and states, mental experience of the individual.
Psychological justification and selection of educational material to be mastered. Solving this problem answers the question: what to teach? Issues of content, volume of educational material, choice of compulsory, selective, and elective disciplines are considered. There are no clear answers to many questions; it all depends on culture, traditions, and educational policy. School prepares a person not only for future work, but also for the rest of life. During a person's life, changes may occur, for example, he will be forced to change his profession.
Note 2
Therefore, education must be sufficiently broad and comprehensive. It is impossible to teach everyone and everything, but it is necessary to promote personal development in the process of education and training.
The third task answers the question: how to teach? Pedagogical methods, teaching and educational technologies are being developed and tested.
The study of the psyche and professional activity of a teacher answers the question: who teaches? This part raises problems both social and psychological. Can anyone become a teacher? What are the professionally significant qualities of a teacher? What should his socio-psychological and material status be? How to improve a teacher's skill and ensure his self-realization?
The fifth task is the initial one, theoretically significant. Participation in the development of theoretical and practical issues where the goals of public education, training and upbringing are considered. Here scientists are looking for an answer to the question: why teach? Without a clearly formulated goal, a controlled educational process cannot exist; forecasting, checking and evaluating results is also impossible. The goal is to determine what kind of personality society plans to create through the educational process. The question of why to teach goes far beyond the boundaries of psychological science. But without the participation of psychology, it is hardly possible to competently answer this question. It is necessary to take into account the human factor and the implementation of the ideology of “human relations” in education.
To solve these and many other educational problems, the following directions have been developed:
- psychology of learning;
- psychology of education;
- psychology of work and personality of a teacher.
The first two sections of educational psychology are devoted to the psyche of the learner. Currently, the psychology of learning is more developed. There are scientific schools and concepts. Particularly important is the formation and interpretation of the theoretical categories and concepts of the section. Methods, psychological and pedagogical structures, pedagogical techniques are derived from the foundations of the scientific and conceptual apparatus. Although many modern authors pass them off as psychological and pedagogical innovations. Unfortunately, the human personality and its psychological characteristics are often lost behind schemes and designs.
Educational psychology, an interdisciplinary science. Any task of educational psychology is multidisciplinary and complex. The educational process is studied by philosophy, medicine, sociology, etc. All aspects of the educational process relate to the person, the subject of education. Not all positions of domestic scientific psychology are indisputable. Questions are raised by the early specialization of education, the simplification and reduction of school programs, the presence of two levels of higher education, and widespread testing. We will attribute these phenomena to the transitional stage of the Russian educational system and its modernization. In general, domestic psychologists believe that education should be reasonable, calibrated, redundant, and ahead of today's society and today's student. Its main goal is to work for the future, to be developing and educating.
Interdisciplinary nature of educational psychology
Pedagogical psychology is necessarily located in another section of applied psychology: legal, sports, medical, or includes sections of modern psychology.
Definition 5
Child psychology is inextricably linked with pedagogical psychology. A child is a qualitatively different personality, according to J. Piaget, therefore he needs to be taught and raised in a special way at different stages of growing up. It is impossible to build an educational process without taking into account age characteristics.
Development and learning are in complex interaction and are a pressing problem of modern education. The fact is that learning and development occur at this stage in new social conditions. The subjects of the educational process have become qualitatively different. All this requires systematic research in psychological and interdisciplinary areas and direct access to mass educational practice in schools and universities.
Education exists in society, so the presence of socio-psychological problems in educational psychology is necessary. Social, state and personal tasks of subjects of education may not only not coincide, but also be in conflict. For example, society does not need so many lawyers, economists and bank employees. Objectively, there are not enough representatives of engineering and blue-collar professions. It is necessary to coordinate desires and needs; this is the task of government agencies. However, in order to optimally solve this problem, the work of psychologists is needed.
Note 3
The teacher works not only with the student as an individual, but also with a small social group, parents, and colleagues. All influences of society on the educational process must be planned, taken into account, measured, and coordinated.
One of the main ones is the connection between educational psychology and pedagogy. They have common goals and methods, the same scientific objects, the scientific community - the Russian Academy of Education, and common historical roots. The organization of the psychological and pedagogical process was carried out by K.D. Ushinsky, P.P. Blonsky, L.S. Vygotsky, A.S. Makarenko. There are examples of systematic and eclectic combination of these two directions, there are models for constructing modern psychodidactics. Scientific and practical psychological and pedagogical directions are being developed.
The future teacher begins his studies at the university according to the psychological-pedagogical triad: psychology - pedagogy - private teaching methods. This combination of academic subjects is a feature of vocational pedagogical education in Russia. This triad ensures the psychological and pedagogical literacy and culture of students and future teachers. The subject of a teacher’s professional work includes not only knowledge of the discipline, but also interaction with the student. The professionalism of a teacher lies in knowledge of the subject taught and in the assimilation of pedagogical theories and techniques. The real psychological and pedagogical education of a teacher can only be comprehensive and holistic.
Note 4
It must be said that the triad has a number of unresolved issues, methodological inconsistencies and shortcomings. There is no proper methodological, conceptual and operational continuity in the mass teaching of these disciplines. There are substantial repetitions and inconsistencies in interpretations, especially of psychological phenomena.
The psychological-pedagogical triad cannot always be implemented as a single cycle of disciplines. Modern psychology and pedagogy are in a complex, often opposing relationship, which is acceptable in academic science. In relation to educational practice, this situation is not desirable. A school teacher should not be a professional psychologist, but psychological preparedness and education should not be reduced to a minimum. A school psychologist does not have to be a teacher, but for the effectiveness and usefulness of psychological work, he must be familiar with pedagogical theories and the everyday realities of the educational process.
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