Educational Psychology: Module 1

 Module 1 

January 16th, 2022

Chapter 1 Overview 

    Chapter 1 tells us about the impact that teachers have and what can make a great teacher. It also talks about the role that Psychology takes in the field of Education. This chapter teaches us about the different ways we can be a better teacher and improve in our professional development. Overall, this book can help us as future educators be the best that we can be for our students. 

Chapter 1 Reflection 

    Slowly but surely we are all in the homestretch of getting into our fields as educators. Currently, I am in my last "class" semester before I start student teaching in the Fall. Many different feelings of anxiety and nervousness always linger around. The main reason behind these thoughts is the question, "what if I am in the wrong field?". This is something that concerns me even though I know that I am on the right path and that I want to be a teacher. Many "what if's" always come up, but sometimes when we start something new there will always be a hint of nervousness or anxiety that can appear. Reading over this chapter is reassuring because I know that I can get more tips and better ways to handle situations that I may not be ready for yet. The most important thing is that I get there and do what I can. This book is going to be a great read as we dive more into the mindset in teaching and how powerful the mind can be in our profession. 

Chapter 2 Overview 

    In Chapter 2 we get to scratch the surface of Educational Psychology as we get to discovery more about Piaget and Vygotsky and how they have influenced the many on the topic of Educational Psychology. Piaget has a theory that states "Certain ways of thinking that are quite simple for an adult, are not so simple for a child" (Piaget 28), this is one of the quotes that stood out to me when reading this chapter and I feel is the more important ways we can view Piaget and his studies. Vygotsky on the other hand believes that adults have the knowledge and pass it down to the younger generation, which in turn, allows the younger generation to improve on their cognitive development. 

Chapter 2 Reflection 

    Reading this chapter got me excited to see how we can incorporate both of these views into our modern age of Education. On one hand we have one person who thinks that children will not understand concepts until they mature and develop more and the other beliefs that the adults will pass knowledge down to the youth and with that they will improve their cognitive abilities. It's fascinating to see both theories and how different but not too far apart they are. In both theories they both have some sort of truth to them and play off each other well. We see that Piaget believes that the youth are not developed enough to understand certain things but on the other hand the older generation was once at that staged and probably felt that they did understand these concepts. Vygotsky believes that the adults pass on their knowledge to help the youth improve their cognitive development, so a generation that may think that their youth do not know anything may be raising a generation that do think they understand different ways of thinking and more mature concepts. It's a real game of cat and mouse. 

Chapter 3 Overview 

    In Chapter 3, we get to see the social aspect of the mental developments. One of the theorists we get to look at this chapter is Erikson. Erikson believes that the environment that we get raised in will have a great effect on how we develop and mature. Of all the few theories we have learned about so far I believe this one to be the most true but it can also be very false. It really depends on the situation and the person who is in the environment. 

Chapter 3 Reflection 

   I think this idea that the environment we grow up in tends to contribute to our cognitive development. We see many instances of this in some of our troubled youth. During the summer I work as a Sports Camp counselor and without naming anyone there is a camper I have that has grown up with an absent Father and a Mother who is never home. During camp he acts out and is always getting into trouble. This doesn't mean he is inherently bad or that he will always be like this but with how his home life is this has a big impact on how he has matured. In the overview of this chapter I mentioned that this theory can be extremely true, but also can be extremely false depending on the circumstance. Everyone is very different has very different views on life. I do have a handful of campers who have been in and out of the sports camp who have lived a very similar life to the camper mentioned before. These campers have always been extremely polite and respectful proving that this theory cannot always be true. I do think home life and the environment we are raised in can effect our developments and maturation, but at the same time I do not think they will always be negative if the experience is negative the same way the development may not be positive if the environment is positive.