Topic 1

Educational Psychology: The Big Picture

• Connection between Influences:

  • Highlights the complex connections between physical, cognitive, social, and emotional factors in human development and learning.

  • Introduces epistemology (How do we know?) and ethics (How should we act?) as foundational concepts in educational psychology.

• Tensions in Understanding:

  • These tensions refer to the various ways of comprehending human behavior and development, such as viewing them as opposites, complements, or along spectrums.

  • Important positions in these tensions include the Nature vs Nurture debate, which has significant implications for epistemology and axiology in education.

• Nature and Nurture Debate:

  • A central debate in educational psychology regarding the roles of genetics (Nature) and environment (Nurture) in child development across domains: physical, emotional, and cognitive.

  • Nature:

    • Parents have a direct influence on a child's nature; the environment indirectly affects it.

    • Influential theorists include Sigmund Freud and Jean Piaget.

  • Nurture:

    • The environment indirectly influences nurture, whereas teachers and peers have a direct impact.

    • Key theorists in this domain include Urie Bronfenbrenner, Albert Bandura, and Lev Vygotsky.

• Big Little Thinking (BLT):

  • The ZYGO or ‘Big Little Window’ symbolizes the exploration of relationships between opposing concepts, such as Objective-Subjective and Absolute-Relative.

  • Axes Representation:

    • Horizontal axis: Neutral forms of concepts (Left-Right).

    • Vertical axis: Value-laden forms of concepts (Positive-Negative).

  • The quadrants help explore epistemology and axiology in educational contexts, relating to potential conflicts and issues in understanding.

Development and Learning in Context

• Influence of Environment:

  • Learning and development are shaped by an individual's position within their bioecosystem.

  • Influences vary based on proximity to the child and the child's responsiveness to these influences.

• Bronfenbrenner's Model:

  • Developed a model to illustrate how different environmental aspects influence child development, emphasizing varying degrees of influence from different system levels.

  • Microsystem vs Exosystem:

    • Components of the Microsystem (e.g., family, school) have a greater influence on a child's development compared to the Exosystem (e.g., social settings that do not include the child).

• Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Systems Theory:

  • A framework explaining how external factors interact with a child's innate characteristics to affect learning and behavior.