Applying Educational Psychology and Developmental Stages in Learning

Applying Educational Psychology and Developmental Stages in Learning

By Amanda Zack
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education

School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 21, 2009

Today in class we learned about the three major gurus of educational psychology Erikson, Piaget, and Vygotsky. I found today’s class to be very interesting. Dengting did a great job of explaining all the theories of educational psychology using real-life examples that made me better understand the lesson. The examples of all the stages and theories helped me reflect on my own life experiences and realized they were very similar to the examples explained by Dengting. Class made me reflect on all the stages in my life and helped me to better understand why I am the way I am.

Erikson focuses on psychological development, and believes that there is no bad child, and that everyone wants to succeed. He believes that there are eight stages of psychological development. Erikson’s theory of eight stages of psychological development is caused by a crisis; the stages are predetermined and universal. However, he believes that the stages may differ from culture to culture, and that the nature of the crisis depends on social environment.

Piaget focuses on cognitive development and why people learn. Piaget’s reasoning for why we learn is explained by a cycle of disequilibrium, learning, followed by acquiring equilibrium. Piaget deems that there are four stages of cognitive development, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The first stage, sensorimotor is an infant 0-2 years old. The characteristics of this stage are senses, actions, imitation, and object permanence; if you see it you believe it. Stage two is preoperational stage in which a child is 2-7 years old. Characteristics of this stage are illogical thinking, perceptual centration, irreversibility, and egocentrism. Concrete operational is stage three, age 7-12. A characteristic of this stage is logical thinking, but generalization only from concrete experiences. The final stage is formal operational with the age of 13 and up. During this stage a person has the ability to think abstractly and has the capacity for metal manipulation.

Vygotsky’s educational theory is based on social linguistic development. Vygotsky believes that culture affects learning. Social interaction with experts assists learning. The zone of proximal development is the difference of what a child can do on his or her own and what he or she can do with assistance. If you make class challenging but achievable and provide support and assistance you will build growth and enhance connection. Scaffolding, along with working at the limits of the student’s capability, understanding, and expanding is excellent advice for a teacher.

After learning about the three gurus of educational psychology, I reflected on a memory that I had of myself that relates most to Piaget’s theories. When I was in preschool, my teacher asked the class what our parents did for a living. I told my class that my father was a doctor and that he also worked at a gas station. After class my teacher spoke with my father to find out if that was true because it seemed so odd. My dad laughed and replied “No! I own an Insurance brokerage company”. Later on my parents asked me why I thought my dad was a doctor and a gas station attendant. Apparently I saw pictures of my dad in the hospital when my sister was born, he was wearing scrubs in the delivery room, and he always would pump his own gas! This clearly represents Piaget’s preoperational stage of life of perceptual centration. At that age I did not possess logical thinking. I truly believed that since my father was wearing scrubs, and that I saw him pump his own gas, that he was a doctor and worked at the gas station!