Intro to Educational Psychology CLEP

Allocated Time

The amount of class time devoted to teaching.

Generative learning

A type of learning where the teacher encourages the students to find their own meaning in learning. The teacher will show relationships between the new subject matter and past learning and will encourage the students to have confidence in their own ability to make these connections.

Instructional Theory

A theory which focuses on how to structure material to best teach students, especially young ones. This approach can be divided into two general approaches: cognitive and behavioral.

Critical pedagogy

A teaching style which seeks to instruct students in how to recognize and rise up against oppression. This area of teaching is influenced by the works of Karl Marx.

Law of Effect

A principle proposed by Edward Thorndike stating behaviors with positive outcomes will be repeated while those with negative outcomes will be avoided.

Direct instruction

A type of instruction which involves the teacher systematically leading the students step by step to a particular learning goals. This type of teaching is best for learning math or other complex skills, but not for less structured tasks such as English composition.

Academic Learning Time

The amount of time the student spends focused on his studies when he is successful at learning the material.

Scheduled Time

The total length of the class.

Engaged Time

The amount of Allocated Time each individual student spends focused on the class.

Active teaching

A method of pedagogy where the teacher actively looks for ways to improve the students' knowledge of a subject. Ways of doing this include actively presenting concepts, checking to see if the students understand, and reteaching any trouble areas for the students.

Two-sigma problem

According to researcher Benjamin Bloom, students with individual tutors generally perform two standard deviations (two "sigmas") above those in average classrooms.

Token Economy

A form of behavior modification using operant conditioning principles. Every time the patient displays the desired behavior, he is awarded a token (such as a star or a coin) that can be traded for a physical possession or special privilege.

Pedagogy

The art of teaching. It encompasses different styles and methods of instructing.

Norm-Referenced Testing

A testing procedure that measures an individual student's score relative to those of a representative group of students. These tests are used to rank students based on their skill levels compared to their peers.

Criterion-Referenced Testing

A testing procedure that measures a student's mastery of a particular skill or understanding of a certain concept. The purpose of this kind of test is to measure whether a student has achieved a certain learning objective.

Instruction

All sources that contribute to a student's learning. This term includes the teacher, the textbook, the principal, and any others who promote education.

Carroll's Model of School Learning

A learning model that proposes that learning is a function of the ratio between the effort needed to the effort spent learning.

learning=f(time spent/time needed)

Mastery Learning

Allowing each student to reach full mastery of a concept, regardless of how long it takes.

Educational Psychology

The study of how students learn and develop.

Steiner-Waldorf Education

A humanistic, interdisciplinary form of teaching which emphasizes the role of creativity and imagination in learning. According to this theory, children pass through three learning stages: imitative learning, artistic learning, and abstract learning.

ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)

A disruptive disorder characterized by the underdevelopment of certain traits such as impulse control, leading to inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness. The three types are predominantly hyperactive-impulsive, predominantly inattentive, and combined hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive.

Learning Disability

A broad category of disorders in which the individual has difficulty learning in a typical way.

Dyslexia

A learning disability which impairs a person's language ability. Those with this disorder may have difficulty with reading, writing, or spelling.

Mental Retardation

A disorder characterized by an impairment of one's cognitive abilities and problems with adapting to situations. Individuals with this problem often have IQs of under 70.

Cerebral Palsy (CP)

A group of non-progressive motor problems which cause psychical disability. These disorders are caused by injuries to the motor control centers in the brain during birth or early childhood.

Epilepsy

A neurological disorder characterized by seizures. This disorder is caused by excessive, abnormal brain activity.

Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences

A theory which proposes that there are eight different kinds of cognitive intelligences, none of which are necessarily correlated. The intelligences are spacial, linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic.

Psychometrics

The study of the theory and technique of creating psychological tests, such as IQ, aptitude, or personality trait tests.

WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children)

An individually administered intelligence test designed for children ages 6-16.

WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale)

An intelligence test for adults used most commonly in clinical settings.

WPPSI (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence)

An intelligence test for young children ages 2-7.

Pivotal Response Therapy

A form of behavioral modification designed for autistic children. This treatment targets key parts of an individual's development, such as motivation or social responsiveness, in the hope that the treatment will spread to other behavioral areas as well.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

Behavioral modification based on behavioral learning theory.

Self-Determination Theory

A theory of internal motivation, the forces which drive behavior in the absence of any external stimuli. A key part of this theory is intrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic Motivation

According to self-determination theory, the drive one has to perform a specific behavior not for a reward (extrinsic motivation) but for the sheer pleasure of the action itself.

Constructivism

A theory which states that individuals create schemata (mental concepts and rules) based on the interaction between their experience and ideas. This theory is based on the ideas of Jean Piaget.

Character

The collection of traits in a person that inspires him to behave honestly, respectfully, and courageously.

Simple Moral Education Programs

A type of character education where an instructor discusses moral questions with students. This type of program has limited success.

Community-Based Education Programs

A community-centered approach to character education that attempts to apply what the students learn in the classroom to everyday life.

Character Education Programs

Programs which teach students about different positive character traits and how to apply them to their lives.

Two-Store Model

A model of memory that includes three interacting components (sensory register, working memory, and long-term memory) that together process external information. Although there are three parts, only two of them (working and long-term) are used for memory storage.

Sensory Register

According to the Two-Store Model, this is the first phase of memory processing. This part of memory temporarily holds all sensory information.

Iconic Storage Register

The sensory register for visual information.

Echoic Storage Register

The sensory register for auditory information.

Attention

Consciously focusing on specific stimuli. This process prevents irrelevant information from interfering with one's cognitive processes.

Working or Short-Term Memory

The second level of processing, and the first level of information storage, in the Two-Store Model. At this level, the person is consciously perceiving certain aspects of the external world. In adults, this kind of memory holds up to seven, plus or minus two, bits of information.

Rehearsal

Deliberate repetition of information in short-term memory.

Maintenance or Rote Rehearsal

Repeating information in the same way it was received.

Elaborative Encoding

A method of rehearsal where one retains information in short-term memory by relating it to previously learned knowledge.

Chunking

Dividing large amounts of information into smaller pieces that are easier to remember.

Automaticity

The ability to perform a task automatically, with little or no conscious effort.

Encoding

The process of transferring information from short-term to long-term memory by developing meaningful relationships and patterns in the data that relate to one's previous knowledge.

Perception

The act of assigning meaning to information by interpreting it based on what one already knows.

Long-Term Memory

An unlimited cognitive storage system for retaining permanent records of information deemed important. According to the Two-Store Model, this is the third level of processing and the second level of storage.

Semantic Memory

A division of long-term memory for storing factual knowledge.

Episodic Memory

A division of long-term memory for storing events in one's life.

Procedural Memory

A division of long-term memory for storing rules and methods or performing specific tasks, called procedures.

Schemata

Abstract representations of different parts of reality. These groups usually contain general knowledge of the world and examples of its specific parts.

Subschemata

Concepts, subdivisions of schemata that help one understand and interpret different parts of the world.

Retrieval

Bringing information out of long-term memory.

Dual Coding Hypothesis

The idea that concrete ideas can be remembered better than abstract ones because concrete words are stored as both visual and verbal information.

Analogies

Relating current information with previous learning.

Mnemonic Devices

Memory tools that enhance one's recall by relating information to knowledge with which it has no natural resemblance.

Acronym

A mnemonic device that creates a shorthand based on the first letter of each word in a set to be memorized.

Acrostic Mnemonic Device

A mnemonic device that creates a sentence based on the first letter of each word in a set to be memorized.

Method of Loci

A mnemonic device that aids the memory of a long list of information by linking each item in the list to a specific well-known location.

Keyword

A mnemonic device where one will isolate part of a word, create a mental image of the keyword, and use that image to remember the meaning of the word.

Forgetting

The inability to retrieve learned information.

Decay

The process of learned information simply fading from memory.

Proactive Interference

A kind of forgetting where previously learned information interferes with the retrieval of new information.

Retroactive Interference

A kind of forgetting where new information interferes with the retrieval of previously learned information.

Problem Solving

The application of knowledge, skills, and experience to achieving a particular goal.

IDEAL Strategy

A five-step problem-solving strategy that involves identifying the problem, defining one's goals, exploring possible ways to reach the goals, anticipating the outcomes and acting, and looking back on one's work.

Means-Ends Analysis

An approach to problem solving where one reasons how to reach the goal based on the current situation.

Response Set

Familiar responses to a problem one uses without thinking the situation through.

Functional Fixedness

The inability to see a use for an object other than that to which one is accustomed.

Brainstorming

Thinking of all the possible solutions to a problem.

Algorithm

A step-by-step procedure to solve a problem.

Heuristics

General short-cut strategies to problem solving one uses which may not always be correct.

Working-Backward Strategy

A problem-solving technique where one starts with the goal and works backward.

Transfer of Information

The way that previously learned information affects how one learns new concepts. This can be either positive (helping one understand new ideas) or negative (hindering one from taking in the new information).

Specific (or Low-Road) Transfer

Using a previously learned fact or skill in a different situation in virtually the same way.

General (or High-Road) Transfer

Transferring a general method of problem solving from one situation to the next.

Metacognition

Consciously knowing and using methods of problem solving and memory.

Conditioning

A process that occurs when two stimuli are consistently paired, causing the presence of one to evoke the other.

Type-S Conditioning

Another name for classical conditioning, based on the importance of stimuli on this approach.

Type-R Conditioning

Another name for operant conditioning, due to the importance of responses in determining whether learning has occured.

Respondent Behavior

A behavior related to a particular stimulus, according to operant conditioning.

Operant Behavior

A behavior not clearly related to a particular stimulus, according to operant conditioning.

Reinforcer

Anything which increases the likelihood that a behavior will be repeated.

Generalized Reinforcer

A reinforcer which is paired with multiple primary reinforcers, such as academic achievement or social standing.

Primary Reinforcer

A reinforcer which is naturally desirable, such as food, water, or heat.

Secondary Reinforcer

A reinforcer which is paired with a primary reinforcer, such as money or good grades.

Premack Principle

A form of behavioral modification where an desirable activity is used to strengthen a more unpleasant one.

Shaping

A form of behavioral modification for getting a subject to start performing a preferable behavior by reinforcing components of the desired behavior and gradually rewarding more discriminatively.

Time-Out

A form of negative punishment where a disruptive student is removed from the classroom and not allowed back until he or she is ready to behave.

Contingency Contracting

A form of behavioral modification where the teacher and student create a contract specifying certain academic goals and the rewards or privileges that will be given once the goals are reached.

Response-Cost System

A form of negative punishment where something wanted by the student will be taken away if he or she behaves in an undesirable way.

Planned Ignoring

A form of behavioral modification where the teacher will purposely ignore any disruptive behavior by a student to try to eradicate the behavior.

Corporal Punishment

The use of physical punishment.