EPSY 2130 - Exam 1 UGA Pritchett-Neuharth

Purpose of Educational Psychology

to create theories that can be implemented on a larger scale in classrooms around the world

Teacher Efficacy

teacher's belief that they can reach even the most difficult students; teacher confidence can predict student achievement

Quantitative Research

objective/uses numbers; explores relationships among variables or differences between groups based on measurements and computations

Qualitative Research

subjective; explores specific people of situations in depth; tells a story; ex: interviews and observations

Correlation Studies

explores the relationship between two variables; ranges from 1 to -1; correlation does NOT EQUAL causation

Positive Correlation

indicates that the variables increase and decrease together

Negative Correlation

indicates that as one variable increases, the other variable decreases

Experimental Study

experiments can conclude causation; random assignment; quasi-experimental studies are when participants are not randomly assigned (i.e. classes/schools)

Single-Subject Experiments

examines the impact of an intervention; tracks behavior before intervention, experimenter adds the intervention and tracks behavior, takes away intervention again, adds it back again

Physical Development

changes in the body; maturation

Personal Development

changes in an individual's personality

Social Development

changes in the way an individual relates to others

Cognitive Development

changes in thinking

Plasticity

the brain's ability to adapt

Lateralization

specialization of the two sides/hemispheres of the brain; left brain=language acquisition/logic; right brain= visual spatial/movements

Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

his theory is based on the fact that children have cognitive abilities and mature in identifiable stages; the standard against which all other theories are judged; 4 factors that influence changes are: biological maturation, activity, social experiences, equilibration

Adaptation

adjusting to the environment

Assimiliation

incorporating information into existing schemes; i.e. child sees a raccoon and believes that it's a cat

Accomodation

changing/expanding schemes when new information is added

Sensorimotor Stage

about 0-2 yrs; children explore the world using their senses; object permanence/goal directed actions

Pre-operational Stage

about 2-7 yrs; impressive cognitive acquisitions and equally impressive limitations; symbolic representation- use of one object to stand for another (banana=phone); egocentrism/centration

Concrete Operational

about 7-11 yrs; children able to solve concrete problems; can successfully demonstrate: conservation, reversibility, classification, seriation; cannot use hypothetical thinking

Formal Operational

adolescence to adulthood; cognitive development culminates in the ability to think abstractly/hypothetically; according to Piaget, not everyone reaches the formal operational stage

Equilibration

act of searching for balance; when disequilibrium occurs we are uncomfortable and we must search for a solution through adaptation

Schemes

organized systems of actions or thoughts that allow us to mentally represent or think about objects and events; i.e. there is a scheme on how to answer the phone (specific) or how to go to a party (general)

Object Permanence

"out of sight, out of mind"; characteristic of the sensorimotor stage

Egocentrism

tendency to perceive the world solely from one's own point of view; characteristic of the preoperational stage

Centration

tendency to focus on a single, perceptually striking feature of an object or event; characteristic of the preoperational stage

Conservation Concept

idea that merely changing the appearance of an object does not change their key properties; children in preoperational stage do not have this ability

Seriation

making orderly arrangements based on size

Vygotsky's Theory

sociocultural perspective; social interactions create our cognitive structures and thinking processes; ability to think through problems is first co-constructed by a parent or teacher and then internalized by the child to become part of their cognitive development

Zone of Proximal Development

area where a child cannot solve a problem alone but can solve it with help; "magic middle"

Scaffolding

role of the parent or teacher; helping the child in the zone of proximal development

Mirror Systems

brain rehearses the action it sees another person perform; observing and visualizing support learning

General Knowledge

applies to many different situations; to have knowledge of something is to remember it over time and be able to find it when you need it

Domain-specific Knowledge

pertains to a particular task of subject; learning requires both general and domain-specific knowledge

Sensory Memory

initial processing that transforms incoming stimuli into information; only holds information for a brief period of time (i.e. after image); very large capacity

Sensations

everything that comes directly into our senses; sight, smell, taste; more objective

Perception

how we interpret the incoming stimuli; subjective

Working Memory

system responsible for holding/processing information; limited capacity (5-9 items); central executive- supervises attention; phonological loop- holds verbal and sound information; visuospatial sketchpad- holds visual and spatial information; episodic buffer- integrates information from the other mechanisms and creates complex memories

Gestalt Principle

people have a tendency to organize sensory information into patterns and relationships; i.e. people group items based on proximity

Automaticity

when information becomes automatic; we have to think about the process while we are learning; i.e. automaticity of driving a car

Attention

selective, takes effort, guided by what we already know; can only pay attention to one cognitively demanding task at a time

Stroop Effect

color words written in different colors; tests reaction times; it takes longer to identity color when it is labeled by a different color

Cognitive Load

amount of mental resources required to perform a particular task; intrinsic- amount of processing necessary to figure out the material (essential to the task); extraneous- amount of processing used to deal with problems not related to task (avoidable); germane- deep processing of relevant information

Maintenance Rehearsal

repeating the information in your phonological loop or refreshing information in your visuospatial sketchpad

Elaborative Rehearsal

connecting the information you are trying to remember with something you already know

Chunking

grouping individual bits of information

Interference

new information gets confused with old information; as new thoughts accumulate old information is lost from working memory

Decay

information is lost by lack of use; information cannot be reactivated/it disappears altogether

Declarative Knowledge

knowing facts/information

Procedural Knowledge

knowing how to do something

Conditional/Self-Regulatory Knowledge

knowing when to do something

Explicit Memories

knowledge from memory that is recalled and consciously considered (long-term memory)

Implicit Memories

knowledge that we are not aware of recalling; unconscious memories (long-term memory)

Semantic Memory

declarative knowledge; memory for meaning; concepts; schemas ---> content memory

Episodic Memory

memory for events in your life/flashbulb memories

Scripts

a schema that involves a predictable sequence of events surrounding a common activity i.e. entering a classroom/ordering fast food; helps us to predict what is likely to happen in familiar contexts in the future

Spreading Activation

retrieval of information based on relatedness to one another

Reconstruction

recreating information by using memories, expectations, knowledge, and logic; a lot of inference/assumptions

Metacognition

ability to think about our own thinking; self awareness about our own cognitive ability i.e. self monitoring in reading for comprehension

Heuristics

approach to problem solving or learning i.e working backwards heuristic/verbalization heuristic

Functional Fixedness

focusing on the conventional uses of materials and missing out on good solutions

Response Set

getting stuck on one way of representing a problem

Divergent Thinking

ability to propose many different ideas or answers; leads to originality, fluency, and flexibility

Domain-Relevant Skills

talents and competencies that are valuable for working in a specific domain i.e. painting

Intrinsic Task Motivation

deep curiosity and fascination with the task

Argumentation

supporting your position with evidence and understanding then refuting your opponent's claims and evidence; takes time and instruction to learn because it requires higher levels of thinking

Transfer

when a rule, fact, or skill learned in one situation is applied in another situation; content is highly applicable

Overlearning

practicing past the point of mastery to the point of automaticity; helps with transfer

Constructivism

learners are active participants in the learning process (constructing their own knowledge); social interactions are important in the knowledge construction process

Cognitive Constructivism

individuals make sense of the world based on individual knowledge, beliefs, and self-concept; fitting concepts into schemas; Piaget

Social Contructivism

social interaction, cultural tools, and activity shape individual development and learning; Vygotsky

Inquiry Based Learning

students follow a scientific procedure to find an answer to a problem

Problem-Based Learning

students identify an authentic problem and seek to solve it given the restrictions of the classroom and resources

Cognitive Apprenticeships

students work with an expert to learn the skills and approaches experts use to solve problems

Reciprocal Teaching

students teach each other and critique each others' understanding of new material

Collaboration

philosophy about how to relate to others; way of dealing with people that respects differences, shares authority, and builds on knowledge

Cooperation

way of working together with others to attain a shared goal; cooperation is a way to collaborate

Jigsaw

cooperative learning strategy; every student has one portion of a topic/piece of the puzzle

Reciprocal Questioning

cooperative learning strategy; lesson followed by paired discussion to answer structured questions

Structured Controversy

cooperative learning strategy; students learn both sides of a topic and debate

Service Learning

project designed to meet community needs and is integrated into the curriculum; ongoing projects that enhance academic learning by providing students with a practical means to apply knowledge