Showkat Ahmad Lone
Educational psychology makes use of psychological principles in order to comprehend how people learn. Every person’s mind processes information in a unique way. Knowing how a person’s mind works might help them better understand topics, bringing us closer to the optimal outcomes. Educational psychology is useful in this situation, as it improves learning outcomes and teaching methods. We couldn’t fathom how a teacher could teach without knowing educational psychology, according to psychologists. Educational psychology has revolutionised the way people think about education and has given classroom learning a whole new meaning. It provides education with the individual differences theory, which states that each child has distinct mental abilities and learns at a varied rate. Educational psychology is the cornerstone of education in today’s world. Why educational Psychology is important for a teacher is because of the following reasons:
1. The teacher who knows psychology can make his teaching very successful while keeping in view the innate nature of the child. The child has got natural urges, instincts, potentialities and propensities. These innate qualities are the “Prime movers” of his behavior.
2. It helps the teacher in understanding the physiological and psychological basis of behavior, i.e. nervous system, glands, instincts, emotions, sentiments, motives, play, intelligence, heredity and environment etc.
3. It helps the teacher in giving guidance to the pupils by having an understanding of interests, abilities, aptitudes, achievements, problems, educational and vocational plans of the pupils.
4. It helps the teacher to know about himself. He learns the psychology of being a teacher and acquaints himself with the traits of a successful teacher.
5. Children pass through different stages of development at infancy, childhood and adolescence. These developmental stages have their own characteristics. If the prospective teacher knows the characteristics emerging at different stages of development, he can utilize these characteristics in imparting instruction and moulding their behavior according to the specified goals of education.
6. No two individuals are alike. The teacher with the knowledge of this kind of individual differences may adjust his teaching to the needs and requirements of the class and thus may be helpful in creating a conducive environment in the schools where the students can develop their inherent potentialities to the maximum.
7. The knowledge of educational psychology provides a teacher the knowledge of the learning process in general and problems of classroom learning in particular i.e. understand the Nature of Classroom Learning.
8. The teacher by the knowledge of educational psychology can understand the principles of learning and various approaches to the learning process, problems of learning and their remedial measures and also about factors affecting and guidance for effective learning.
9. Educational psychology gives the teacher knowledge of appropriate teaching methods. It helps in developing new strategies of teaching. It also provides the knowledge of different approaches evolved to tackle the problems of teaching at different age levels.
10. Psychological principles are also used in formulating curriculum for different stages. Needs of the students, their developmental characteristics, learning patterns and needs of the society all are to be included in curriculum construction.
We can conclude that Educational Psychology comes in here for planning the process of teaching and learning by adopting the scientific principles of minimum input for maximum output. As a result, with the help of educational psychology, a teacher can teach effectively by making minimum use of his energy in terms of his time and labour. Educational Psychology helps to carry out the process and produce the best results.
– The writer is a Ph.D Research Scholar at University of Kashmir and can be reached at loneshowkat440@gmail.com
