Term Paper on "Educational Psychology Socioeconomic Status and Academic Achievement"

Term Paper 8 pages (2625 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Educational Psychology - Socioeconomic status and academic achievement

Learning has been defined in many ways and its definitions were elaborated according to the formations of its theoreticians. The definitions in the dictionary's seem to be more general.

Online dictionary, Wikipedia, defines learning as "the process of gaining understanding that leads to the modification of attitudes and behaviours through the acquisition of knowledge, skills and values, through study and experience. Learning causes a change of behavior that is persistent, measurable, and specified or allows an individual to formulate a new mental construct or revise a prior mental construct (conceptual knowledge such as attitudes or values). It is a process that depends on experience and leads to long-term changes in behavior potential. Behavior potential describes the possible behavior of an individual (not actual behavior) in a given situation in order to achieve a goal. But potential is not enough; if individual learning is not periodically reinforced, it becomes shallower and shallower, and eventually will be lost in that individual" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning).

Learning is achieved with the help of education, defined by the same Wikipedia online dictionary as "the process by which an individual is encouraged and enabled to fully develop his or her potential; it may also serve the purpose of equipping the individual with what is necessary to be a productive member of society. Through teaching and learning the individual acquires and develops knowledge and skills" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education).

The most influent factor in education is the school. Of course, family and the environment has an essential influence on every student, because the base of knowledge must be achieved from early childhood and without it, education has very little effect on children, but school is the one who refines all we knew before in a general mind development.

As a teacher, the most important thing is to adapt the learning methods to every category of children, by age, by their mental development and by their interests. In every school, children are already categorized in classes, but this is not a great help in teaching, because children differences still exist in every class, every child having its own personality, its own mental development, interest and learning style. That is why, knowing the basic characteristics of every class of students, it is essential for the teaching process and, of course, for students learning improvement.

Psychological theories of the development of the child could be a big help in better understanding the differences between children and the how their mind is working.

First, I will refer to Erikson's theory of psychosocial development. "Erikson believed that childhood is very important in personality development. He accepted many of Freud's theories, including the id, ego, and superego, and Freud's theory of infantile sexuality. But Erikson rejected Freud's attempt to describe personality solely on the basis of sexuality, and, unlike Freud, felt that personality continued to develop beyond five years of age" (Davis, D. And Clifton, a., 1995).

Erikson's main study element was the ego. He based his theory on the development of the identity of our ego, and split this development in 8 (eight) stages, stages that are following the change of our sense of identity due to the continuous social interaction and the new information and experiences gathered from these interactions (Van Wagner, K., 2006).

His first stage is Trust vs. Mistrust, having as basic strengths drive and hope. Autonomy vs. Shame is characterized by self-control, courage, and will. In initiative vs. Guilt, the third stage, we become to know the meaning of purpose. Industry vs. Inferiority develops method and competence and Identity vs. Role Confusion - Devotion and Fidelity. The sixth stage, Intimacy and Solidarity vs. Isolation is known by affiliation and love. Generativity vs. Self absorption and Stagnation is characterized by production and care and the last stage, Integrity vs. Despair, by wisdom.

Obviously, Erikson's studies are very important for a better knowledge of the student development in education. If a teacher manages to place his students on a specific period in relation with their ego and self-perception, their communication improves and, with this education too, because this way lessons, which before have been made on a more generalized category of students, can be, with these information, personalized, on classes, and even on individuals.

Erikson believes that all the information we will get in stages already exists at the birth, but in a latent form. "Each stage builds on the preceding stages, and paves the way for subsequent stages. Each stage is characterized by a psychosocial crisis, which is based on physiological development, but also on demands put on the individual by parents and/or society. Ideally, the crisis in each stage should be resolved by the ego in that stage, in order for development to proceed correctly. The outcome of one stage is not permanent, but can be altered by later experiences. Everyone has a mixture of the traits attained at each stage, but personality development is considered successful if the individual has more of the "good" traits than the "bad" traits (Davis, D. And Clifton, a., 1995).

Other theorist that we can name is Piaget. His stages of cognitive development pointed out the differences of thinking in children of the same age, every individual having his own developmental rhythm.

Piaget's theory of cognitive development is based on the behavior, saw as the human ability to adapt to environment. This human ability to adapt is called intelligence by Piaget. "Behavior (adaptation to the environment) is controlled through mental organizations called schemes that the individual uses to represent the world and designate action. This adaptation is driven by a biological drive to obtain balance between schemes and the environment (equilibration)" (Huitt, W., & Hummel, J., 2003).

Piaget's cognitive development is made in four stages:

Sensorimotor stage (Infancy). In this period (which has 6 stages), intelligence is demonstrated through motor activity without the use of symbols. Knowledge of the world is limited (but developing) because it is based on physical interactions / experiences. Children acquire object permanence at about 7 months of age (memory). Physical development (mobility) allows the child to begin developing new intellectual abilities. Some symbolic (language) abilities are developed at the end of this stage.[...]

Pre-operational stage (Toddler and Early Childhood). In this period (which has two substages), intelligence is demonstrated through the use of symbols, language use matures, and memory and imagination are developed, but thinking is done in a nonlogical, nonreversable manner. Egocentric thinking predominates.[...]

Concrete operational stage (Elementary and early adolescence). In this stage (characterized by 7 types of conservation: number, length, liquid, mass, weight, area, volume), intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects. Operational thinking develops (mental actions that are reversible). Egocentric thought diminishes.[...]

Formal operational stage (Adolescence and adulthood). In this stage, intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. Early in the period there is a return to egocentric thought. Only 35% of high school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal operations; many people do not think formally during adulthood" (Huitt, W., & Hummel, J., 2003).

Piaget had a great influence in education. His theory changed the way learning was thought before, bringing a new view over its process. Learning has to follow children abilities first, not the expectations. Teachers used to have already prepared lessons for all their students, their capacities being ignored many times. It was normal that the results and the education were not always as expected to be. Taking this theory into consideration, education is fundamentally based on construction of the intelligence. Every stage must be achieved before stepping to the next one.

Many pre-school and primary programs are modeled on Piaget's theory, which, as stated previously, provides part of the foundation for constructivist learning. Discovery learning and supporting the developing interests of the child are two primary instructional techniques. It is recommended that parents and teachers challenge the child's abilities, but NOT present material or information that is too far beyond the child's level. It is also recommended that teachers use a wide variety of concrete experiences to help the child learn (e.g., use of manipulatives, working in groups to get experience seeing from another's perspective, field trips, etc.)" (Huitt, W., & Hummel, J., 2003).

Other, theoretician, who followed Piaget's theory, was Kohlberg. "Kohlberg extended Piaget's theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan"

Van Wagner, K).

Kohlberg based his theory upon research and interviews with groups of young children. A series of moral dilemmas were presented to children, who were then interviewed to determine the reasoning behind their judgments of each scenario. The following is one example of the dilemmas Kohlberg presented. "Heinz Steals the Drug: In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was… READ MORE

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