3.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CURRICULUM

Psychological foundation:

A course or courses providing a foundation for understanding the psychology of individual perception and behavior.

Psychology has made great contribution for the development of school curriculum. Psychology played a leading role in giving shape to schools and has been responsible to a great extent what happens in classrooms.

Educational psychology

is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations.

Educational psychology

is the study of how people learn in educational environment, the effectiveness of education, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology. Educational psychology is interested how students learn and develop.

Educational psychology can be understood through its relations with other disciplines. It is informed by psychology, being closely related to that discipline.

Educational psychology informs a range of specialties, including;

• Instructional design,
• Curriculum development,
• Organizational learning,
• Special education and
• Classroom management.

Educational psychology draws from cognitive science and the learning sciences. The psychology of education covers contemporary psychological knowledge applied to education. This branch of science covers:

• The nature of learning,
• Techniques of assessment,
• Recent findings on the differences in individual students'and teachers'
• Ways of involving and motivating,
• The importance of social disadvantage, and cultural differences of ethnicity and gender, in determining attainment,
• literacy development and the relationship between them,
• Behavioral problems and how to deal with them.
• Teachers should evaluate alternative approaches in educational policies and develop their own teaching methods.

There is a great deal of work about ways of learning or learning styles. Some scientists concentrated on identifying stimuli that may influence learning and recommended various teaching approaches.

Based on the works of Jung, the scientists focused on understanding how people's personality affects the way they interact personally, and how this affects the way individuals respond to each other in the learning environment. It is now popular to divide education into different learning approaches.

Learning modalities that are the most common

• Kinesthetic: learning based on hand work and activities.
• Visual: learning based on observation of what is learned.
• Auditory: learning based on listening to information.

Depending on preferred learning modality, different teaching techniques have different levels of effectiveness. The effective teaching is represented by a variety of methods which cover three learning modalities so that different students have equal opportunities to learn in a way that is effective for them.

Teachers must understand a subject well enough to explain its essence to students.

The purpose is to establish a knowledge base for students. The passing of knowledge allows students to become useful members of society. Good teachers can translate information, experience and wisdom into knowledge that students can understand, retain and pass to others.

It focuses on learning outcomes and positive student attitudes towards schooling. Some principles are rooted in the logic of instructional design In addition; attention is given to modern theories of teaching and learning and to the standards statements circulated by organizations representing the major subjects. The principles rest on fundamental assumptions about optimizing curriculum and instruction.

Educational psychology is concerned with how students learn and develop, often focusing on subgroups such as gifted children and those subject to specific disabilities.

Educational psychology has always been a part of teacher preparation, moving from a centerpiece in many programs to current concepts about its role in the reforming of education and teaching. Today, psychology knowledge is used to reform teaching and schooling, particularly the teaching for understanding.

Current standards for teachers and suggestions for reforms in teacher education assume that teachers have a deep understanding of learning, development, motivation, and individual differences.