Theory of Functionalism In Education Psychology

by Sultan Muhammad

Functionalism is a theory of mind in contemporary philosophy, developed largely as an alternative to both the identity theory of mind and behaviourism. Its core idea is that mental states (beliefs, desires, being in pain, etc.) are constituted solely by their functional role — that is, they are causal relations to other mental states, sensory inputs, and behavioral outputs. Since mental states are identified by a functional role, they are said to be realized on multiple levels; in other words, they are able to be manifested in various systems, even perhaps computers, so long as the system performs the appropriate functions. While functionalism has its advantages, there have been several arguments against it, claiming that it is an insufficient account of the mind.

Functionalism formed as a reaction to Titchener theory of structuralism.
Titchener argue that such a functionalist analysis is incomplete without a Thorough investigation of the mental structure and functions, Titchener arguments formulate a coherent goal and helped functionalist due to which psychologist became interested in the function of mind.

Titchener was against functionalism but during describing his theory of structuralism, he explains in detail functionalism too. Before him functionalism was loosely formulated between empiricism and the common–sense Mentalism of the Layman.

Functionalism was heavily influenced by the work of William James and titchener



Functionalism’s Roots

Functionalism was rooted in Darwin’s theory of evolution. Evolution is based on individual differences and the survival of adaptive features.
“Adaptation” becomes a popular approach to measuring intelligence. “Individual differences” become a valued part of mental research.
Functionalists sought to explain the mental processes in a more systematic and accurate manner, Rather than focusing on the elements of consciousness. Functionalists focused on the purpose of consciousness and behaviour.
Functionalism also emphasized individual differences, which had a profound impact on education.

Mind
Mind is a complex processes like a computer, function of memory, judgment, acquire, retain, process and organize. Functionalists were interested in the “function”, the mental abilities of adapting to an environment

William James

William James commonly considered the father of U.S. psychology, Contributed to the foundation of functional psychology in the US, but he did not develop his own ideas into an independent “school” of study.

Principle of functionalism in psychology

• Functionalist oppose the search for the elements of consciousness as futile
• Functionalist believed that the mind has the function of helping us to adapt to the environment. They want to understand the function of the mind, the way it helps us to adapt
• Functionalist wants psychology to be practical, not pure science.
• They want psychology to be broadened to include research on animals, children, and atypical humans
• Functionalist believed that the needs and motivations of the organism should be understood if some one wants to understand behaviour
• Functionalist are more interested in what makes people different from each other than in what makes them similar
• They are willing to use a wide variety of methods of study

In 1906, Mary Whiton Calkins published an article in Psychological Review asking for reconciliation between these two schools of thoughts, she thinks Structuralism and functionalism were not so different, she argued, since both are principally concerned with the conscious of self.

Adaptation of organism

Functionalist approach adaptation of organism to environment is deep rooted in the Charles Darwin theory of natural selection which explain the origin of species by organic evolution



Charles Darwin theory of mental selection
1. Variation: Biological, social and mental variation among the species
Struggle for existence: Every specie on the face of this planet struggle for their existence
3. Nature selection: it is the adaptation to natural selection; to adapt to a certain environment for the survival of the self.

Major Functionalist Thinkers

• William James
• John Dewey
• Harvey Carr
• John Angell

Strengths of Functionalism

• Functionalism Influenced behaviourism and applied psychology.
• Functionalism influenced the educational system, especially with regards to John Dewey’s belief that children should learn at the level for which they are mentally prepared.

John Dewey as Functionalist

• Progressive education: founded experimental Elementary school in his university for the development of education
• the duty of school to give children, not only an insight into the social importance of such activities, but also the opportunities to practice in real life in the form of games or any other activity base task, which leads naturally into the problem solving
• Dewey emphasized on child interest and his motivation to solve the problems
• Functionalism emphasized on individual Differences (capacity) in mental abilities (Darwin theory of variation)
• Francis Galton and james Cattel functional psychologist work on mental abilities and how to measure with mental tests
• It starts a movement of mental testing on the school level and classifying children in different intellectual groupings

Functionalism in sociology

• Functionalism: Functionalists see society, as being structured like a human body with many interrelated parts that functions together to maintain a healthy whole. So as body has a heart, lungs, liver etc.... Society has Education, the Family and the Economy etc.
• Therefore, to understand the education system we must consider how it functions to contribute to the healthy maintenance of the whole social system.
• The originator of the functionalist perspective, Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) argued that the main function of education is the transmission of society's norms and values in three mains areas:

1. Social Solidarity: For example, the teaching of history provides social continuity

2. Social Rules: At school, we learn to co-operate with strangers and to be self-disciplined.

3. Division of Labour -Education teaches individual skills necessary for future occupations. This is a most important function in advanced industrial society with its complex division of labour.

Angell defence of functionalism
· How, Why and what mental operations also called input-output psychology
· Functionalism is the psychology of adjustment of the organism to its environment (to solve the problem)
· Functionalism is interested in mind-in-body and interested in the physiological level of mental events
· American empirical psychology: Empiricism is a theory of knowledge which asserts that knowledge arises from experience

Strategies of Functionalism for psychological research

• Tolerant and critical and enjoy freedom: a functionalist researcher is critical in thinking and tolerant in nature. He is ready to accept any information obtained by introspection or by objective observation from either source mental test or case study. he is tolerant to Method and Content

• Functionalist is an experimentalist: in today world functionalist is an experimentalist. Today functionalism is dedicated to the experimental method.



Melton (1950)Dashiell’s Diagramof problem solving



• (1) How problem arise block by (2)
• (3) solve the problem through varied Behaviour
• (4) proceeds on his way to (5)
• If the process repeated again the (4) response recurs in Less time

Thus the learning process is the discovery of the adequate response to a problem situation and the fixation of the satisfying situation-response relationship (Melton)
· Motivation
· Initial discovery of the adequate response
· Fixation and elimination
· Transfer of training and retention


Capacity

• Functionalism particularly emphasized on individual Differences (capacity) and mental abilities of the individual (Darwin theory of variation)
• Dewey emphasised on individual differences and established an experimental school for this purpose to confirm his viewpoint.
• Children with Different mental level, learn with different pace.
• Robinson Recognized individual differences in his law of Individual differences and composition
• McGeoch and irion also agree with him
• With increase in age = increase in learning abilities due to organic maturation and second changing in psychological conditions (transfer and motivation)


Capacity and Class Room

• Functionalist suggest different method of teaching, because some children will easily learn from one method and some from other method
• Functionalist also emphasised Teaching according to the pace and capacity of the students

Practice

• Long term Retain happen when the bond is stronger between two elements, which are associated with each other. Functionalists discourage rote memorisation.
• Practice help in the class room environment to strong this bond of association between elements etc




Class Room and practice
• Show the picture of cat to students and repeat again and again so the students associate them with each other, meaning full material memorise easily as illustrate in the above example

Motivation
• Woodworth emphasised on the motivation and give core importance to it in learning by using different means to motivate the students
• Reward is a very good motive for students in class, it not only encourages the students who get the reward but also encourage the fellow students in the class
• Interest and Activity base teaching also motivate the student in learning process

Understanding
• Functionalist emphasis on meaningful material in learning process because meaningful material is easily learned than meaningless material
• Use Visual aid for better understanding of learning material

Transfer
• The effect (use) of old learning in new situation is called transfer of training; Insight is the extreme case of transfer of training according to McGeoch & Irion 1952.






Forgetting

Forgetting Forgetting

Maximum Minimum Medium
Similarity Similarity Similarity



• Theory of forgetting interference theory
• Association between two elements etc words, ideas, situational see the above graph
• Forgetting accord according to functionalist, due to weak bond between two element, one cant recall the original one, instead he remember other things which is identical to the old one and when the bond is stronger again between these two elements, one could recall it easily.






BIBLIOGRAPHY

• James, W. (1904) The Chicago school. Psychological Bulletin. 1, 1-5.
• L. Gordon, (1990) Gender and Higher Education in the Progressive Era
• P. A. Graham, (1967) Progressive Education from Arcady to Academe

New map of pkaistan by USA

Plato and Education

Plato and Education by Sultan Muhammad

Plato was the earliest most important Greek Philosopher and educational thinker. Plato thinks education as a key for a society and he stress on education, for this purpose he want to go to the extreme level even removing children from their mothers and rise them by the state, he want to identify the skills of the children and give them proper education for that particular skill which they have so they could be become a suitable member of the society and fulfil their duty in society. Plato want to a search for intelligent and gifted children in the whole society, Plato's don’t belief that talent belong to a limited class therefore he stress on education for all so the talented children get the chance to shine.

Plato contributed a lot in the form of ideas and it inspired his follower to find new ways for education and training of the children. In fact Plato himself did not contribute directly to science and mathematics but he stress on these subjects, his philosophy of education influenced the developments of these subjects in centuries to come.
In the philosophy of Plato we can see some signs of the philosophy of Socrates; However Plato covered the major aspects of philosophy discussed today.

Plato was born in an upper class family in Athens; he was interested in political career, but after the death of his teacher Socrates Plato pursues his teacher philosophy. For the purpose of education Plato travel to Egypt and Italy, there he learnt mathematics. After returning home he established an Academy, to teach moral values to the elite youth of Athens to make them better leaders of the society.

Plato shows his ability of writing in different fields; ethics, music, drama, poetry, metaphysics, dance, architecture which are the ideal forms of Government. Contribution of Plato in scientific subject is little but his ideas on education inspired his followers to explore new dimension in education.

Plato writes in his book "Let us describe the education of our men. What then is the education to be? Perhaps we could hardly find a better than that which the experience of the past has already discovered, which consists, I believe, in gymnastic, for the body, and music for the mind."
Plato not only consider better education for men but also believe on strong body and sound mind, for body he recommend sports and for sound mind music.

Plato ”No man should bring children into the world, who is unwilling to persevere to the end in their nature and education.”


EDUCATIONAL THEORIES OF PLATO
Education for All
Plato want every boy and girl educated to it limit.

State Education
Education should be provided by the state not by parents.



Organization and Curriculum

Plato curriculum was consist of gymnastic and music, where in gymnastic include physical training and music used in broad term for dram, history, oratory and music in real term, he define different stages for the organization and curriculum;

1. Elementary School

Co-education at elementary level and teach them mathematics, poetry, music and literature till the age of eighteen years.

2. Military Training

After elementary education two years of Physical education should be given to them and select best of them for higher education; to prepare for the future guardians of the state.

3. Higher Education

Higher education should be given from twenty to thirty-five years of age, he well study the subjects at this stage mathematics, literature and philosophy. Later on he would be opponent at a minor administrative position to get experience for the future more important governing positions.

“The object of education is to turn the eye which the soul already possesses to the light. The whole function of education is not to put knowledge into the soul, but to bring out the best things that are latent in the soul, and to do so by directing it to the right objects. The problem of education, then, is to give it the right surrounding.” -(Plato’s Republic, Book vii, 518)

Nothing was more important to Plato in human life as education. He considers education the greatest thing in human life as he mention in his book “the one great thing”.
Plato’s Theory of education was an indispensable necessity for mankind. It was a positive remedy for the problems and operation of justice in an ideal state.

Women Education

Plato also emphases on women education, he consider the same kind of education for women. Women should the same physical and educational training; they should know the art of war. The main aim of Plato was that each member of the society should undertake his work and responsibilities.

Plato believed that women are equal to men and that, although some women are physically smaller or weak, some women are physically equal to men therefore those women who are physically strong should be allowed to learn the same skills that men do. In his book Republic Plato describes how male and female receive the same education and be given the same duties in society as given to the male member. These people are the ones who will be in charge his republic which would be an ideal society, where philosophers are kings. In other words, who know what is good for the people and for the mankind and take their decisions based on that knowledge.


Teaching Methods

Plato recommended play method at elementary level; student should learn by doing. And when he reached the higher level of education, his reason would be trained in the processes of thinking and abstracting.
Plato wants motivation and interest in learning. He is against the use of force in education.
"Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind."

In another place he writes "Do not then train youths by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each." – Plato

Plato writes in his Republic
“Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind”

Plato “The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.”

Plato wants a place where children love to go and stay there and they play with things which enhance their education by playing.
Plato gives importance to nursery education, he thinks nursery education plays a vital role in the education of man, it help to build his moral character and state of mind "The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery." –plato

Plato think It will be hard to discover a better [method of education] than that which the experience of so many ages has already discovered, and this may be summed up as consisting in gymnastics for the body, and _music_ for the soul... For this reason is a musical education so essential; since it causes Rhythm and Harmony to penetrate most intimately into the soul, taking the strongest hold upon it, filling it with _beauty_ and making the man _beautiful-minded_.

The above quotation of Plato show, how he sees education, he wants the total development of a man, mind body and soul by using every possible mean. That why in another place Plato writes;
"But then, if I am right, certain professors of education must be wrong when they say that they can put a knowledge into the soul which was not there before, like sight into blind eyes.
They undoubtedly say this, he replied.
Whereas, our argument shows that the power and capacity of learning exists in the soul already; and that just as the eye was unable to turn from darkness to light without the whole body, so too the instrument of knowledge can only by the movement of the whole soul be turned from the world of becoming into that of being, and learn by degrees to endure the sight of being, and of the brightest and best of being, or in other words, of the good." -Plato's Allegory of the Cave & Exploring Plato's

Plato Aims of Education* To develop leader among the future rulers. * To develop hard and competent workers.
* To produce leaders with military skill among the warriors.
* To produce future Civil Servants of the state.

The highest goal of education, Plato believed, is the knowledge of Good; to nurture a man to a better human being it is not merely an awareness of particular benefits and pleasures,


Stages of Education

Plato describes different stages of education in his republic. According to Plato the education of child should be start at the age of seven year and before this stage the child should stay with their mother or elders and learn moral education from them.
After the age of six years both girls and boys should be separated and boys should play with boys and girls with girls and they should be taught the use of different arms to both sexes. This stage goes up to the age of seventeen years. During these years they should teach them music and early education. After the age of seventeen years the youth should be brought to battle filed to learn real life experiences.

The four stages start at the age of twenty five to thirty years and in this age they get the training of Mathematical calculation and last for another ten years, after the completion the selected one’s are admitted in the study of dialect.

During fifth stage they study dialect for another five years and after that, at the sixth stage one is ready to become a ruler and philosopher and the one enter in practical life.



Plato's View on Moral Ethics

Ethics is the most important branch of philosophy. Plato especially gives attention to the moral and ethical education of the men, later on Plato gradually widened the scope of his investigations by reflecting not only on the social and political conditions of morality, but also on the logical and metaphysical presuppositions of a successful moral theory.

Plato presents his ideas for an ideal society in his Republic and he provided detail about the curriculum and system of education. According to Plato the ideal society who cares for their youth and the guardian would be responsible for the moral education of their children. Every person would know his duty and his responsibility.



Bibliography

Annas, J. (1993). The Morality of Happiness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 
Franck, Matthew. (n.d). "Aldous Huxley’s City in Speech: Brave New World and the Republic of     Plato" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the The Midwest Political Science Association, Palmer House Hilton, Chicago, Illinois, A

Kahn, C. (1996). Plato and the Socratic Dialogue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Numan, M. (2003). Foundation of education. Peshawar: Umair composing center.

30 second Manager

30 Second Manager By Sultan Muhammad


Review of the book

30 second manger is written by Faiez Seyal, it is a very good and interesting book. The main theme of this book is leadership that is highlighted from its title 30 second manger.

The objectives of this review are

n To review the book 30 second manager using the reviewing techniques.
n To Provide a brief introduction of the author and his books
.

Author

About the author, Faiez Seyal is a professional management consultant and authority on the philosophy of change. Faiez Seyal is the man who brings a positive to our society; he is the man of vision, who can see for beyond where no common man can see. He writes several books using his experience of life long,
He is a well known public speaker and know for his life-changing seminars like " "Born Again", "The Road to Success", Six Discipline", "Change Your Lens, Change Your World", "30 Second Manager", etc


This book has three main parts,
· Human Resource Management
· Issues (finance etc)
· Leadership

In first section the author highlight the problems and issues of human resource management, how to improve the performance of the staff and how to recruit. He Explain in very detail the selection and recruitment process and to improve the performance by involving them in the whole process. He put stress on the solving problem of the staff so they can give attention to their work, according to him a happy employ is the asset of the company.

In part two he address the issues regarding basic managerial matters, communications gaps and problems, finance related issues and other problem related to manager. He especially put emphasis on the communication for the managers; a good communicator is always a good manager. He eliminates the gap between him and his staff member and understands the problems and need of his staff

The author also put emphasis on the finance related issues which manager face every day and how to overcome these problem, how to manage the these problem so it not effect the performance of the employees

In the final section he discus the leadership and changes, according to the author a leader should be always dynamic, he should be the man of change, introduce new ideas, quick decision making quality and always ready to accepts good suggestion and implement them

The author has great knowledge of Islam and knew the rules of Islamic leadership, he mention these rules for the a good leader;
kindness
· Ready to accept suggestion
· Model for the society
· Respect the people
· To Help the people
· Communication skills
· Dynamic in nature
· Man of words

In this book he used the guide lines of Islam to solve every day problems. The primary purpose of this is to enhance the performance of corporations and improve the organisation from within. This book is also very good for those individuals who are willing or at the position of a leader or manager.

John Dewey

John Dewey By Sultan Muhammad

Dewey was an American Philosopher, Psychologist, and educationist, whose thoughts and ideas have been greatly influential not only in the United State but also around the world He was a great writer and had a career over 65 years (1859 – 1952).

John Dewey, a philosopher of the early nineteenth century and a major figure in American intellectual and educational history, today educationist gives importance to his thoughts on education and acknowledged him on a world scale as a spokesman for mankind.

Dewey's work spread on multiple subject and areas that included psychology, philosophy, education, social thought and politics. According to Pam Ecker during the celebration of his 90th birthday, in 1949, Dewey described his life’s goals as the quest to obtain a clear moderately and distinct idea of what are the problems that underlie the difficulties and evils which we experience in fact. Key element of his philosophical concept is Pragmatism, which Dewey explains in his writings. Dewey was also consider an expert in the field of educational Philosophy in American, with special emphasis on what is generally called "progressive education."
Dewey start his work in the late Eighties and accomplish forty (40) books and over 700 articles and in addition to countless lectures, letters, and other published works which play an influential role in many fields of human education.

Biography
John Dewey was born on 20 October 1859, in Burlington, Vermont. His father was a grocer in Burlington after leaving the tradition of farming of his three generations. His mother, Lucina, was also from a farming family. Later on his father sold his grocery business and volunteered to join the Union Army during the Civil War, but after the war he became the owner of a tobacco shop.
John grew up in a middle-class household in a community that included old Americans tradition as well as new immigrants from around the world. Lucina Dewey was involve in social work with poor families in Burlington and at his mother's request Dewey also joined the First Congregational Church at age of eleven year,
Dewey completed his school education at the age of 15. He attends the University of Vermont, in 1875, when he was 16 years old. The curriculum of university was similar to Dewey's high school, emphasizing on Greek, Latin languages and English literature.
He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1879. Through a relative, he became a teacher in a high school in Oil City, Pennsylvania.
Later on he enters in Johns Hopkins University for graduate studies in philosophy.
Dewey's dissertation, "The Psychology of Kant," was completed in 1884. This manuscript was never published. However, in an article of Dewey titled "Kant and Philosophic Method," cover some of the material of the dissertation is available which Published at that time.
After the completion of Ph.D., Dewey became an instructor of philosophy at Michigan.
Dewey taught a variety of courses in department and wrote a number of articles at that time, which highlight him in the scholarly community. In those articles Dewey express his views about philosophy and psychology and their relationship. He called philosophy an expanded or more comprehensive shape of psychology.
Dewey's published his first book”Psychology”, the book was respected by the scholars and adopted by several universities as a textbook. University of Minnesota offer Dewey to join the faculty at the University of Minnesota. Dewey accepted the offer and became a Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy in 1888.later on he return to his mother university Michigan in 1889 to serve as Chair of the Department of Philosophy, Dewey remained there at Michigan university until 1894, after that he joined at the request of William Rainey Harper the faculty at the University of Chicago. Chicago University was offering graduate research and scholarship to students and expected from faculty members to publish outstanding scholarly work and show excellence in teaching as well. The intention of Dewey's department was to bring together philosophy and psychology and the study of pedagogy with special focus on the relationships between elementary and secondary school teachers.
Dewey established pedagogy as a separate department with the endorsement of Harper to train its students to be specialists in education.
After 1890's, Dewey diverts his energies in developing the curriculum for the Department of Pedagogy. In 1896, the department's experimental school was converted to the Department of Education. Dewey's writing about education acknowledged him the leader in American educational philosophy. He was also recognized as pragmatism.
He resigned from his position in 1904 due to political reasons. Later on he was offered by the Columbia University, he accept the offer and joined the Columbia University. Dewey spent 26 years in Columbia University and ends his teaching career by 1939.
He completes his most important work in philosophy and education there in Columbia University. Dewey continued his writing about intellectual and social issues till his death on June 1, 1952. University of Southern Illinois as a dedication to Dewey, established The Center for Dewey Studies to explore the significance of Dewey's work. A sound clip of John Dewey is also available on the Center's Web site.
Dewey and Education
October 20, 1959 is the one-hundredth anniversary of John Dewey’s birthday. He was a dominant figure in American education. Dewey will be remembered for his great educational reforms than for his instrumentalist philosophy. He reshape the educational system which effect the whole world not just America.
He especially emphases on the child education and introduce ideas for children education, First started by Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Froebel and by kindred reformers in the United States.
This movement of reform in child education must be seen in the historical context. They are the weakest, most dependent and defenceless population of the society.
Society may ignore the rights and satisfaction to the physical, educational needs of the young and children, Children couldn’t conduct organized struggle for the improvements in their conditions and improvement in Education system. They can protest individually but nobody care to see their problems. Therefore it is necessary to understand them and solve their problems, they must be helped by adults who are sensitive about them and see for a remedy for their troubles.
This new thinking create aware ness among adults to seek new ways of satisfying the new demands of the children and their education. The problem of this readjustment of the child according to the child’s social status motivates the adult to experiment the new ways of education for the children live in different environment. Conditioning and regulating the relations between different sexes, rich and poor, the upper and lower classes. These are the bases which determine the characteristics of the educational system and children trained under it.
Dewey’s theories bring attention to the child as an individual with rights and to an outdated and class-distorted educational system inherited from the past, need urgent review and the requirements of the new era.
According to dewey The educational system had to be thoroughly overhauled to remove the problems, he see the old system of education as the path of destruction which weakened the influence of religion.
In the city schools the training of children became one-sided and distorted due to intellectual activities were disconnected from practical and everyday occupations according to Dewey.
The grammar school Established in the eighteenth century when it was felt that boys should have the minimum ability to read, write and calculate. Later on kindergarten was added due to the arising needs from the break-up of the family and the home by the industrial revolution.
Dewey sought to apply pattern and the principles and the practices of democracy, as he interpreted them, consistently throughout his life in the educational system. First of all the school would be available freely to all children from kindergarten to college. Second, the children would carry on the educational process, aided and guided by their teachers. Third, they would be trained to behave cooperatively and take cares each other. In this way the difference between the old education and new conditions of life would be overcome.
This new school system that foresee by Dewey was to take over the functions and compensate for the losses sustained by the old crumbling institutions. The family, church and the town. “The school”, Must be made a social center for the child in which he participate in the daily life of the community.
Therefore he stress on the need of manual training, art, science, and other similar subjects and given them priority over arithmetic, reading, writing and traditional education in the primary curriculum, this would help child’s motor powers in constructive work and lead him naturally.
Dewey stated that child involvement in activities should take first place in the primary education; Dewey aimed to the early specialized training or technical education in the public schools which was established not by individual needs or for the growing youth, but by external interests.
The question of how soon the vocational training should be started for children had been under debate in the educational circles since the days of Benjamin Franklin. During the nineteenth century private business colleges were set up in the cities to teach the students mathematics and bookkeeping later on stenography was added. Later on Mechanicals institutes were established on the demand of skilled manpower for industry.
Again these demands of capitalist invaded the school system produce labour for the industry and ignore the place of the child in Education. Dewey and his follower co-educator, Francis Parker, rejected this commercial-minded approach to elementary education. They opposed the slotting of children prematurely into grooves of capitalist manufactures. They think the business of education is business not education and it is only for the sake of business.
The kindergarten system was the first intentional efforts to adopt the methods of instruction for a particular age group which they could understand. Later on Dewey extended this approach from the pre-school age to the primary and secondary school. In Each grade the child must be the centered of education, “The actual interests of the child must be discovered if the significance and worth of his life is to be taken into account and full development achieved. Each subject must fulfil present needs of growing children . . . The business of education is not, for the presumable usefulness of his future, to rob the child of the intrinsic joy of childhood involved in living each single day,” he insisted.
Dewey said Child must not be treated as adults or as means for adult needs. Children had their own rights. Childhood is a period of enjoyment of life for children. This right of childhood should not be sacrificed for the needs of adults or adulthood or for the name of personality development.
A ready made curriculum could not induce desirable Social qualities in the child, they could be only easily and fully developed by guiding their normal motor activities, with the interest and outgoing energies of the child
The child learns better from direct personal experience. Therefore in the primary stage of education it should be mainly activities base that provide experience. This is the duty of school to give children, not only an insight into the social importance of such activities, but also the opportunities to practice in real life in the form of games or any other activity base task, which leads naturally into the problem solving or “project method” Dewey aimed to integrate the school with the society, and integrate the processes of learning with problems of real life situation. His school system would be open to all people with out any restrictions of color or race and completely free. Arrange group activity under the direction children of their own.
This type of education would have the most beneficial social consequences in the life of child. It would reduce the unjust and prejudices toward children. It would develop confidence in children and the qualities and capacities required to cope with the real life problems. It would help to produce a member society with a balanced personality and a critical minded individual.
Later on the Progressive Education Association, inspired by Dewey’s philosophy codified his doctrines as follows:
1. The conduct of the pupils shall be governed by themselves, according to the social needs of the community.
2. Interest shall be the main motive for education.
3. Teachers will inspire and serve as guides in the investigations process undertaken by the children; he will be not a task-master.
4. A complete record of scientific study of each pupil’s development etc physical, mental, spiritual and social, it is essential for the intelligent direction of the development of the child.
5. Attention will be paid to the child’s physical needs, with the greater use of out doors activities.
6. A greater Cooperation between school and home to fill the needs of the child’s development.
Dewey's educational theories were presented in
1. My Pedagogic Creed (1897)
2. The School and Society (1900),
3. The Child and Curriculum (1902),
4. Democracy and Education (1916)
5. Experience and Education (1938).
Dewey and functional psychology

At University of Michigan, Dewey published his first two books on psychology.
1. Psychology (1887),
2. Leibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding (1888)
Pragmatism and Instrumentalism

Although Dewey did not identify himself as a pragmatist but he is considered one of the most important part of the three central figures in American pragmatism. Dewey called him self,Instrumentalism.
List of publications by John Dewey

The full collection of his writings, making up 37 volumes
1. The Early Works, 1882-1898 - 5 volumes
The Middle Works, 1899-1924 - 15 volumes;
The Later Works - 17 volumes.

Books
Psychology (1887)
Leibniz's New Essays Concerning the Human Understanding (1888)
The School and Society (1900)
The Child and the Curriculum (1902)
Moral Principles in Education (1909) The Riverside Press Cambridge Project Guntenberg
How We Think (1910)
Democracy and Education: an Intorducation to the Philosophy of education (1916)
Reconstruction in Philosophy (1919)
Human Nature and Conduct: An Introduction to Social Psychology
Experience and Nature (1925)
The Public and its Problems (1927)
The Quest for Certainty (1929)
Individualism Old and New(1930)
Philosophy and Civilization (1931)
Ethics, second edition (with James Hayden Tufts) (1932)
Art asEWxperience (1934)
A Common Faith (1934)
Liberalism and Social Action (1935)
Experience and Education (1938)
Logic: The Theory of Inquiry (1938)
Freedom and Culture (1939)
Knowing and the Known (1949) (with Arthur Bentley)

Articles
"The New Psychology" Andover Review, 2, 278-289 (1884)
"The Ego as Cause" Philosophical Review, 3,337-341. (1894)
"The Postulate of Immediate Empiricism"] (1905)

Bibliography


L. Gordon, Gender and Higher Education in the Progressive Era (1990)
K. Jervis and C. Montag, ed., Progressive Education for the 1990s (1991)
H. Rugg and A. Shumaker, The Child-Centered School (1928, repr. 1969)
P. A. Graham, Progressive Education from Arcady to Academe (1967)

Education Psychology & Method Of Educational Psychology

By Sultan Muhammad

TABLE OF CONTENTS


1. Meaning of Psychology 1
2. Education and Psychology 1
3 Contribution of Educational Psychology 2
4 Methods of educational psychology 4
5 Observation Method 6
6 Experimental Method 8
7 Clinical Method 10
8 Case Study Method 10
9 References 12


Educational Psychology & Methods of educational psychology


Meaning of Psychology

The word “psychology” comes form the Greek word (Psyche mean Soul, Logos mean Science), thus the meaning of Psychology is the science of soul.

Education and Psychology

Psychology is the science of behaviour, the activities of animate creature, which can be observed and measured in an objective way.
Education in the narrow sense is the modification of behaviour of children in a controlled environment. To shape the behaviour of the subject and bring some positive or negative changes, it is necessary to study the science of behaviour. The developmental stages and characteristics of children are very essential factors from which the teacher must aware in order to be a successful teacher. If the teacher has no knowledge of children psychology, how can we expect from him that he would succeed in bringing about the desirable changes in children?

Definition of Educational Psychology;

Educational psychology is the application of psychological findings in the field of education. Educational psychology is the systematic study of the development of the individual within the educational settings. It helps the teacher to understand the students and enhance their skills.

Educational psychology is an applied discipline which combines the two different fields of education and psychology. It is the scientific study of human behaviour by which it can be understood, predicted and directed by education to achieve goals of life.

Judd describes educational psychology as, “a scientific study of the life stages in the development of an individual from the time he is born until he becomes an adult.”


Contribution of Educational Psychology

One simple question may be asked as to why educational psychology should be taught to prospective teachers in training colleges. The educational psychology helps the teachers in the following ways;


1. To understand developmental characteristics

Children pass through different stages of development in life as infancy, childhood and adolescence. These developmental stages have their own characteristics and demands.

2. To understand the nature of class room learning

With the help of education psychology the teacher understand the students and their need and problems, it help teacher in learning process in general and class-room learning in particular.

3. To understand individual differences

With the help of psychology teacher understand the individual’s differences. Teacher faces a class of 30 to 50 students who have a different range of individual differences. Teacher with the knowledge of education psychology and individual differences may adjust his teaching to the needs and requirements of the class.

4. To understand effective teaching methods

Every day experience shows that lack of proper methods of teaching sometimes results in failure of communication in the classroom. The educational psychology gives us the knowledge of appropriate methods of teaching. It helps in developing new strategies of teaching.

5. knowledge of mental health

Mental health of the student and teacher is very important for efficient learning. With the help of educational psychology, the teacher can understand the various factors, which are responsible for the mental health and maladjustment.

6. Curriculum construction

Psychological principles are also used in formulating curriculum for different stages.

7. Measurement of learning out-comes

Psychological tools help the teachers to evaluate the learning out-come of the students. it helps the teacher to evaluate his own performance.

8. Guidance for the education of exceptional children

Most important contribution of educational psychology is the provision and organization of the educational psychology is the provision and organization of the education for the education of sub normal children.


Methods of educational psychology

Different types of techniques are used by researchers to collect data and conduct research studies. With the increasing use of educational technology in education, psychology and other social sciences, new research strategies are evolved.

Following are the important methods and techniques of collecting data are:

1. Introspection
2. Observation
3. Clinical method
4. Case study
5. Survey or differential methods
6. Scientific or experimental method

Etc


1. Introspection

Historically introspection is the oldest method of all, which was formerly used in philosophy, and then in psychology to collect data about the conscious experience of the subject. Introspection means to see with in one self or self observation. To understand one’s own mental health and the state of mind. This method was developed by the structuralists in psychology who defined psychology as the study of conscious experiences of the individual. Introspection has some advantages and disadvantages;

Merits:

1. It gives information about one’s own self which is difficult by other methods.

2. It is an easy method and needs no equipment

3. It makes a base for other methods such as experimental and observation method

Demerits:

1. This method is subjective in nature and lacks scientific objectivity

2. The most serious objection against this method is that human mind is not static like inanimate objects such as stone or chairs etc. our mental process is under constant changes so when one attempts to introspect, the sate of mental process disappears and it becomes a retrospect.

3. The human mind is divided in two parts. One is his own mental operation and the other is the object to which this mental operation is directed. To expect any individual to attend the workings of his own mind during a mental process, specially in a complex and emotional state such as anger or fear, is a mistaken idea. Ross commenting on the limitation of introspection said, “ The observer and the observed are the same, the mind is both the field and the instrument of observation

4. Introspection can not be employed on children and insane propel.
5. There are conflicting reports, as regards the findings collected from different introspectionists.



2. Observation

With the development of psychology as an objective science of behaviour, the method of introspection was replaced by careful observation of human and animal behaviour. Observation literally means looking outside oneself. It is a very important method for collecting data in almost all type of research studies. Different type of Observation used in research, direct or indirect, scheduled or unscheduled, natural or artificial, participant and non-participant. But there are two basic types of observation. They are;

1. Natural observation

In natural observation the observer observe the specific behavioral and characteristics of subjects in natural settings and the subject does not aware of the fact that their behaviour is being observed by someone. The teacher can observe the behaviour of his student in the playground or in any other social gathering without making him conscious. Natural observation can be done any where with out any tools.

2. Participant observation

In participant observation the observer became the part of the group which he wants to observe.
Observational study is particularly very important and produces significant results on developmental characteristics of children. No doubt that observation is a scientific technique of collecting data, whose results can be verified and relied upon to locate behavioral problems


Merits:

1. this type of observation is a natural and normal way of knowing the external world but also the mind of the subject

2. This method is objective in nature and free form personal bias and prejudice.

3. Through this method we can observe as many children as we like

4. This method id quite suitable for children and abnormal person who can not be examined through introspection.

5. this can be used any time and anywhere

Demerits:

1. Observation is useful only for collecting data about overt behaviour which is manifested in a number of activities. This overt behaviour does not provide reliable information regarding the internal mental process. We can only guess about the mental state of the individual on the basis of overt behaviour which may or may not be true. It becomes very difficult to draw any conclusion in case of adults who can hide their actual behaviour in the presence of the observer.

2. Subjectivity of interpretation is another limitation of this method. The observer may interpret his sensation of external stimulus on the bias of his past experience. He may be biased in his interpretation. It has also been found in some studies that strong personal interests tend to make researcher see only those things which he wants to see.

3. Observation is subject to two types of errors, sampling error and observer error. The first error occurs because of inadequacies of selecting situation to be observed. The observer error may be due to knowledge and background of the situation to be observed. Because some time the observer is not familiar with the total situation and hence he may commit error.



3. Experimental Method


This method has been developed in psychology by the continuous efforts by psychologists to make objective and scientific study of human behaviour. One of the major contributions of the behaviorism is the development of experimental method to understand, control and predict behaviour. It is the most precise, planned systematic observation. The experimental method uses a systematic procedure called experimental design. Experimental design provides important guide lines to the researcher to carry out his research systematically. The lay out of the design depends on the nature of the problem that an investigator wants to investigate. The lay out or design of the experimental method is as follows:

1. selecting a research topic
2. formulating hypotheses
3. selecting an appropriate design
4. collect data
5. analyzing and interpreting data
6. discussion and conclusions

Experiments may be conducted in a laboratory or in the classroom or anywhere else in the community. Experimentation involves comparison between behaviour of a control group and that of an experimental group.
Hypotheses have a rational base or they emerged from a frame work of theory or preliminary experimentation. An experiment involves two or more variables for example; incentives have a measurable impact on learning. The variables whose effects are being studied are called independent variable.

Merits:

1. This method is the most systematic procedure of solving problems. It provides reliable information.
2. it is a revisable method
3. it makes psychology a scientific study

4. It provides objective and precise information about the problems.
5. it give observer easy approach to the mind of an individual
6. It provides innovative ideas for the further experimentation.
7. It enable us to control and direct human behaviour
8. it is applicable in educational, individual and social problems



Demerits:

1. It is arranged in a laboratory like situation. This situation is artificially arranged. Behaviour is a natural phenomena and it may change under artificial environment.

2. This method is time consuming and costly. Moreover it requires specialized knowledge and skills.

3. Psychologists have criticized the fact that mostly the experiments have conducted on rats, cats and dogs. The results are conducted and then applied on human beings.

4. It some times interferes with the very thing that we are trying to observe.


4. Clinical Method

This method is primarily used to collect detailed information on the behaviour problems of maladjusted and deviant cases. The main objective of this method is to study individual case or cases of group to detect and diagnose their specific problems and to suggest therapeutic measures to rehabilitate them in their environment.

It involves the following steps;
1. Interview
2. Information gathering
3. A hypothesis formulate
4. Diagnoses are made
5. Planned a treatment programme


5. Case Study

Case study is in-depth study of the subject. It is the in-depth analysis of a person, group, or phenomenon. A variety of techniques are employed including personal interviews, psychometric tests, direct observation, and archival records. Case studies are most often used in psychology in clinical research to describe the rare events and conditions of the subject; case study is specially used in education psychology. It deals in education the following problems;

Lack of interest in students
Aggressive behaviour in student
Day dreaming
Poor academic performance
Emotional problem
Social problems
Empathetic understanding
Find the problem
Establish report
Treatment

Etc




                                                           Bibliography

Alberto, P., & Troutman, A. (2003). Applied behavior analysis for teachers (6th ed.). Columbus, OH, USA: Prentice-Hall-Merrill.

Elliot, A. J. (1999). Approach and avoidance motivation and achievement goals. Educational Psychologist,

Bloom, B. S. (1984). The two sigma problem: The search for methods of group instruction as effective as one-to-one tutoring. Educational Researcher,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychometric_tests

Education Psychology & Method of Education psychology

By Sultan Muhammad

TABLE OF CONTENTS


1. Meaning of Psychology 1
2. Education and Psychology 1
3 Contribution of Educational Psychology 2
4 Methods of educational psychology 4
5 Observation Method 6
6 Experimental Method 8
7 Clinical Method 10
8 Case Study Method 10
9 References 12



















Educational Psychology & Methods of educational psychology


Meaning of Psychology

The word “psychology” comes form the Greek word (Psyche mean Soul, Logos mean Science), thus the meaning of Psychology is the science of soul.

Education and Psychology

Psychology is the science of behaviour, the activities of animate creature, which can be observed and measured in an objective way.
Education in the narrow sense is the modification of behaviour of children in a controlled environment. To shape the behaviour of the subject and bring some positive or negative changes, it is necessary to study the science of behaviour. The developmental stages and characteristics of children are very essential factors from which the teacher must aware in order to be a successful teacher. If the teacher has no knowledge of children psychology, how can we expect from him that he would succeed in bringing about the desirable changes in children?

Definition of Educational Psychology;

Educational psychology is the application of psychological findings in the field of education. Educational psychology is the systematic study of the development of the individual within the educational settings. It helps the teacher to understand the students and enhance their skills.

Educational psychology is an applied discipline which combines the two different fields of education and psychology. It is the scientific study of human behaviour by which it can be understood, predicted and directed by education to achieve goals of life.

Judd describes educational psychology as, “a scientific study of the life stages in the development of an individual from the time he is born until he becomes an adult.”


Contribution of Educational Psychology

One simple question may be asked as to why educational psychology should be taught to prospective teachers in training colleges. The educational psychology helps the teachers in the following ways;


1. To understand developmental characteristics

Children pass through different stages of development in life as infancy, childhood and adolescence. These developmental stages have their own characteristics and demands.

2. To understand the nature of class room learning

With the help of education psychology the teacher understand the students and their need and problems, it help teacher in learning process in general and class-room learning in particular.

3. To understand individual differences

With the help of psychology teacher understand the individual’s differences. Teacher faces a class of 30 to 50 students who have a different range of individual differences. Teacher with the knowledge of education psychology and individual differences may adjust his teaching to the needs and requirements of the class.

4. To understand effective teaching methods

Every day experience shows that lack of proper methods of teaching sometimes results in failure of communication in the classroom. The educational psychology gives us the knowledge of appropriate methods of teaching. It helps in developing new strategies of teaching.

5. knowledge of mental health

Mental health of the student and teacher is very important for efficient learning. With the help of educational psychology, the can understand the various factors, which are responsible for the mental health and maladjustment.

6. Curriculum construction

Psychological principles are also used in formulating curriculum for different stages.

7. Measurement of learning out-comes

Psychological tools help the teachers to evaluate the learning out-come of the students. it helps the teacher to evaluate his own performance.

8. Guidance for the education of exceptional children

Most important contribution of educational psychology is the provision and organization of the educational psychology is the provision and organization of the education for the education of sub normal children.


Methods of educational psychology

Different types of techniques are used by researchers to collect data and conduct research studies. With the increasing use of educational technology in education, psychology and other social sciences, new research strategies are evolved.

Following are the important methods and techniques of collecting data are:

1. Introspection
2. Observation
3. Clinical method
4. Case study
5. Survey or differential methods
6. Scientific or experimental method

Etc


1. Introspection

Historically introspection is the oldest method of all, which was formerly used in philosophy, and then in psychology to collect data about the conscious experience of the subject. Introspection means to see with in one self or self observation. To understand one’s own mental health and the state of mind. This method was developed by the structuralists in psychology who defined psychology as the study of conscious experiences of the individual. Introspection has some advantages and disadvantages;

Merits:

1. It gives information about one’s own self which is difficult by other methods.

2. It is an easy method and needs no equipment

3. It makes a base for other methods such as experimental and observation method

Demerits:

1. This method is subjective in nature and lacks scientific objectivity

2. The most serious objection against this method is that human mind is not static like inanimate objects such as stone or chairs etc. our mental process is under constant changes so when one attempts to introspect, the sate of mental process disappears and it becomes a retrospect.

3. The human mind is divided in two parts. One is his own mental operation and the other is the object to which this mental operation is directed. To expect any individual to attend the workings of his own mind during a mental process, specially in a complex and emotional state such as anger or fear, is a mistaken idea. Ross commenting on the limitation of introspection said, “ The observer and the observed are the same, the mind is both the field and the instrument of observation

4. Introspection can not be employed on children and insane propel.
5. There are conflicting reports, as regards the findings collected from different introspectionists.




2. Observation

With the development of psychology as an objective science of behaviour, the method of introspection was replaced by careful observation of human and animal behaviour. Observation literally means looking outside oneself. It is a very important method for collecting data in almost all type of research studies. Different type of Observation used in research, direct or indirect, scheduled or unscheduled, natural or artificial, participant and non-participant. But there are two basic types of observation. They are;

1. Natural observation

In natural observation the observer observe the specific behavioral and characteristics of subjects in natural settings and the subject does not aware of the fact that their behaviour is being observed by someone. The teacher can observe the behaviour of his student in the playground or in any other social gathering without making him conscious. Natural observation can be done any where with out any tools.

2. Participant observation

In participant observation the observer became the part of the group which he wants to observe.
Observational study is particularly very important and produces significant results on developmental characteristics of children. No doubt that observation is a scientific technique of collecting data, whose results can be verified and relied upon to locate behavioral problems


Merits:

1. this type of observation is a natural and normal way of knowing the external world but also the mind of the subject

2. This method is objective in nature and free form personal bias and prejudice.

3. Through this method we can observe as many children as we like

4. This method id quite suitable for children and abnormal person who can not be examined through introspection.

5. this can be used any time and anywhere

Demerits:

1. Observation is useful only for collecting data about overt behaviour which is manifested in a number of activities. This overt behaviour does not provide reliable information regarding the internal mental process. We can only guess about the mental state of the individual on the basis of overt behaviour which may or may not be true. It becomes very difficult to draw any conclusion in case of adults who can hide their actual behaviour in the presence of the observer.

2. Subjectivity of interpretation is another limitation of this method. The observer may interpret his sensation of external stimulus on the bias of his past experience. He may be biased in his interpretation. It has also been found in some studies that strong personal interests tend to make researcher see only those things which he wants to see.

3. Observation is subject to two types of errors, sampling error and observer error. The first error occurs because of inadequacies of selecting situation to be observed. The observer error may be due to knowledge and background of the situation to be observed. Because some time the observer is not familiar with the total situation and hence he may commit error.



3. Experimental Method


This method has been developed in psychology by the continuous efforts by psychologists to make objective and scientific study of human behaviour. One of the major contributions of the behaviorism is the development of experimental method to understand, control and predict behaviour. It is the most precise, planned systematic observation. The experimental method uses a systematic procedure called experimental design. Experimental design provides important guide lines to the researcher to carry out his research systematically. The lay out of the design depends on the nature of the problem that an investigator wants to investigate. The lay out or design of the experimental method is as follows:

1. selecting a research topic
2. formulating hypotheses
3. selecting an appropriate design
4. collect data
5. analyzing and interpreting data
6. discussion and conclusions

Experiments may be conducted in a laboratory or in the classroom or anywhere else in the community. Experimentation involves comparison between behaviour of a control group and that of an experimental group.
Hypotheses have a rational base or they emerged from a frame work of theory or preliminary experimentation. An experiment involves two or more variables for example; incentives have a measurable impact on learning. The variables whose effects are being studied are called independent variable.

Merits:

1. This method is the most systematic procedure of solving problems. It provides reliable information.
2. it is a revisable method
3. it makes psychology a scientific study

4. It provides objective and precise information about the problems.
5. it give observer easy approach to the mind of an individual
6. It provides innovative ideas for the further experimentation.
7. It enable us to control and direct human behaviour
8. it is applicable in educational, individual and social problems



Demerits:

1. It is arranged in a laboratory like situation. This situation is artificially arranged. Behaviour is a natural phenomena and it may change under artificial environment.

2. This method is time consuming and costly. Moreover it requires specialized knowledge and skills.

3. Psychologists have criticized the fact that mostly the experiments have conducted on rats, cats and dogs. The results are conducted and then applied on human beings.

4. It some times interferes with the very thing that we are trying to observe.


4. Clinical Method

This method is primarily used to collect detailed information on the behaviour problems of maladjusted and deviant cases. The main objective of this method is to study individual case or cases of group to detect and diagnose their specific problems and to suggest therapeutic measures to rehabilitate them in their environment.

It involves the following steps;
1. Interview
2. Information gathering
3. A hypothesis formulate
4. Diagnoses are made
5. Planned a treatment programme


5. Case Study

Case study is in-depth study of the subject. It is the in-depth analysis of a person, group, or phenomenon. A variety of techniques are employed including personal interviews, psychometric tests, direct observation, and archival records. Case studies are most often used in psychology in clinical research to describe the rare events and conditions of the subject; case study is specially used in education psychology. It deals in education the following problems;

Lack of interest in students
Aggressive behaviour in student
Day dreaming
Poor academic performance
Emotional problem
Social problems
Empathetic understanding
Find the problem
Establish report
Treatment

Etc














References

Alberto, P., & Troutman, A. (2003). Applied behavior analysis for teachers (6th ed.). Columbus, OH, USA: Prentice-Hall-Merrill.

Elliot, A. J. (1999). Approach and avoidance motivation and achievement goals. Educational Psychologist,

Bloom, B. S. (1984). The two sigma problem: The search for methods of group instruction as effective as one-to-one tutoring. Educational Researcher,