anch of psychology is concerned with understanding how the instructional environment and the characteristics of the learner interact to produce cognitive growth in the learner. If the educational psychologist simply observes, records, and interprets these interactions, whether or not instructor manipulation is involved, the work of the educational psychologist does not involve the experimental method. Even if instructor manipulation is involved in such a case, it is the instructor who is the experimenter, not the educational psychologist.
If, on the other hand, the educational psychologist is either the instructor accomplishing the manipulation or if the instructor manipulation is being performed at the direction of the educational psychologist, then the educational psychologist is the experimenter. In either of these instances, educational psychology may be viewed as a form of experimental psychology.
Experimental psychology demands the manipulation of the research environment. Manipulation of the research environment may occur in educational psychology, however, such action is not a requirement.
Chaplin, J. P. (1989). Psychology. (4th ed.). New York: Dell Publishing Company.
Mayer, Richard E. (1987). Educational psychology. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
2. Compare and contrast the approaches of Brophy and Slavin to student motivation. How might Bandura's social learning theory inform efforts to apply Brophy's recommendations? How might they apply to efforts to apply Slavin's recommendations?
Brophy (1987, pp. 328 336) contended that improved student motivation should be pursued through a classroom management program in which students become self guiding in the management of instruction. The contention that self guidance on the part of students is best induced through four characteristics of instruction: (1) overlapping, which implies that several different activities ...