What is the Importance of Educational Psychology

in Child Development?
Article shared by Senthil Kumar
Early childhood is considered to be
“an ideal period for learning.”
Watson thinks, ‘the scope and
intensity of learning during this
period exceeds that of any other
period of development.” The
following points should be kept in
view by the educator while planning
the education of the child at this
stage.

1. Proper Atmosphere
A healthy, peaceful and secure atmosphere should be provided for the child. This is necessary
both at home and the school.

2. Proper Treatment
The child has to depend on others for the satisfaction of his requirements. Hence he should
always receive an affectionate, sympathetic, and courteous treatment from others an
atmosphere of fear and repression will not allow the child to develop properly.

3. Developing the Endowments of the Child.

A child takes birth with certain natural endowments. The educator should try to locate them
and plan for their maximum development

4. Satisfaction of Curiosity
Every child is curious to know the details of his social environment. The parents and the
teachers should try to pacify this need of the child by answering the questions asked by him.

5. Developing Self-Sufficiency
The infant depends on others for the satisfaction of his needs. The child has to do everything
himself. The educator should try to develop a spirit of self-sufficiency in the child and should
provide him opportunities so that the child is able to do most of the things himself.

6. Developing a Social Sense

7. Efforts should be made by the teacher to develop a rational social séances in
the child.
The Child starts developing a social sense by the end of this stage.

8. Encouraging the Instinctive Development of the Child.

The child at this stage is guided by his instincts. The teacher should not try to suppress the
instinctive development of the child. It should be sublimated in the best interests of the
personality development of the child.

9. Formation of Good Habits

This is considered to be the most flexible age of the child. Steps should be taken towards the
formation of good habits by the child.

10. Learning by Doing
The child is active by nature. This ought to be satisfied through the use of activity method which
advocates learning by doing.

11. Use of the Play-Way

Play is natural to the child. Let him play and learn. This will make learning easier and acceptable
to the child.

12. Sensory Training

There are five senses of the child. These should be properly developed at this stage. This
sensory training was also emphasized by Madam Montessori.

13. Use of Stories and Pictures

Children at this stage are interested in stories and multi-coloured pictures. They should be
made to learn by using story telling method and with the help of multi-coloured pictures and
charts.
 Name: Elaine H. Campita Professor: Ms. Susana Caler
EDPSYC130 A44 MW 2:30-4

Summary:

A teacher acts as a philosopher and a guide to the students. He must know the growth and
development of the child and his requirements at different levels. Educational psychology helps the
teacher to study the ability, interests, intelligence, needs and adopt different techniques of teaching for
effective communication.

Educational psychology contributes a lot for increasing the teaching efficiency of the teacher in different
areas mentioned below:

 Individual difference

A teacher has to deal carefully with a group of students in class room situation. As there, are wide
variations in different abilities among the students. Therefore it is very essential to understand the
individual difference of students regarding their ability, interests, attitudes & need at different levels of
growth and development.

 To know the classroom teaching-learning process

A well developed theory of class room teaching and learning is helpful for transacting the content to the
students effectively, which includes class-room climate and the teaching competence which are required
for effective communication and presentation of content. A teacher must know the appropriate
principles of teaching-learning, different approaches to teaching for better result of teaching-learning
process.

 Awareness of effective methods of teaching

The method of teaching is based on the developmental characteristic of the students. For example
History is taught effectively to small children with the help of story telling method because small
children like stories. So the classroom teaching depends on the teachers’ knowledge about the interest
of students and methods of teaching for the students of different age-groups.

 To study mental health of students

In the process of teaching & learning activities in the classroom, mental health of the teacher and the
taught plays significant role. As the mental condition influence directly the achievement of students. The
mental health of teacher and students must be normal or healthy. There are different causes of mental
illness of the teacher and the taught. It should be known to the teachers to regulate teaching - learning
process.

 Guidance to the students

A teacher has to play different roles in school as guide, philosopher, and leader. Guidance is a type of
assistance to the students to solve their problems by themselves. The knowledge of psychology enables
the teacher to provide necessary educational and vocational guidance to the students of different age
groups.

 Measuring learning outcomes

Teacher has to perform two important activities in classroom such as teaching and testing. The testing
activities help in measuring learning outcomes of the students to judge their improvement and
effectiveness of teaching-learning process.
Reflection:

There are many scenarios that will come up in the classroom where it will certainly be beneficial
for a teacher to have a basic understanding of child development. Children are not "little adults." Their
emotional, physical, mental, and intellectual foundations are still forming. The disciplinary approach that
a teacher takes for kindergartners should differ from that of 5th graders. In my opinion, parents and
educators should be concerned at least with helping students to develop individual capacities, acquire
personal virtues, and provide service to others.  Developing capacities involves first identifying possible
domains of performance and then providing students opportunities to successfully develop their
capacities (develop competence.) The acquisition of virtues is generally concerned with moral character,
dealing with issues of the direction and quality of life and doing the right thing (verses competence
which is concerned with doing the thing right).  Providing service to others acknowledges that
individuals grow and develop within a social context and need to be concerned with positively
interacting with that context.  All of these concern the development of a vision of who the person is as a
human being, the individual's expectations about what is possible, and more specifically, the individual
dreams, goals, and desires that one has for his or her life. However, the other major influences on the
child or youth may not be providing appropriate opportunities.  Therefore, educators must be very
efficient when developing the specific goals and objectives that will be addressed in schools.

Educational psychology provides important background knowledge that educators can use as
the foundation for professional practice.  In combination with information on human growth and
development and specific content knowledge, information on theories of learning and pedagogy provide
the foundation for classroom and school methods.  What we will study in educational psychology is
applicable to a wide variety of content- and age-specific teaching activities.