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The Role of Educational Psychology in Teaching

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The Role of Educational Psychology in Teaching

Aundrea Riley

PSY 6631: Psychological Foundations of Education

March 9, 2012

Dabney Hunter McKenzie, Ph.D.

Introduction There are many who have wondered about the place of educational psychology in teaching and learning. However, a closer look at the nature and scope of learning and teaching and the essence of educational psychology clearly shows a relationship that can be best described as mutually integral. This means that there can never be effective educational programs outside educational psychology. This paper therefore seeks to establish the lucidity of the interconnection between the two.

Background of the Study There have been arguments and counterarguments in favor of, and against the integrating of teaching practices with educational psychology. While proponents of this integration cite the gains that are to be realized from this fusion, opponents maintain that the cost of integrating the two is too high. These opponents maintain that inserting educational psychology disciplines into teaching college education is costly and makes this tertiary level of education laborious. The same group maintains that integrating educational psychology into teaching exercises is a peripheral undertaking and only makes teaching laborious and inundating.

Literature review As many experts on education maintain, there are several roles that educational psychology play in training and teaching. Accordingly, other experts maintain that so inextricably integral is educational psychology to training and teaching that it is impossible to talk about effective training without educational training. The veracity behind this standpoint is underscored by the fact that, educational teaching plays a pivotal role in the dispensation of teaching and other educational tasks or

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