The "Who's Who" of Educational Psychology
18 Leading Psychologists Who Influenced the Field of Educational Psychology:
- Albert Bandura
- Alfred Binet
- Benjamin Bloom
- Ann Brown
- Jerome Bruner
- Lee Cronbach
- John Dewey
- Nathaniel Gage
- Robert Gagne
- William James: widely considered the 'father' of educational psychology
- Maria Montessori
- Jean Piaget: applied scientific methods to create and check out his emerging theories of cognitive development and learning
- Herbert Simon
- Burrhus Frederic Skinner
- Charles Spearman
- Lewis Terman
- Edward L. Thornfike
- Lev Semenovich Vygotsky
Check out two of the influential educational psychologists below!
Maria Montessori
![Picture](/uploads/4/9/5/3/49536091/1216327.jpg?250)
Maria Montessori is best known for the Montessori method of teaching.
- characterized by personalized teaching and individual learning, children’s self-directed activity, teachers matching children’s learning environments to developmental level, and the role of physical activity in forming concepts and gaining mastery in practical skills
Jean Piaget
![Picture](/uploads/4/9/5/3/49536091/7079674.png?250)
Jean Piaget is notorious for his contributions and influence in educational psychology especially with theories of stages in development to educational contexts. Piaget began studying and developing his theory of development using the scientific method of observation and experimentation and ultimately his findings pertaining to concrete and formal operational thinking are used widely in schools today in the means of learner-centered education. Piaget’s theory is based on constructivism, the view that children construct knowledge, rather than having it ‘poured’ into them.
Using Piaget to determine how one learns and understands knowledge at certain stages of development, curriculum can be created and implemented to best-fit students at their stage of development. When teaching and designing curriculum for a student in elementary of middle-school years, based on Piaget’s theory, it would be counteractive to try and teach them based on a formal operational stage of thinking. At the stage they are currently at developmentally, they would be unable to think abstractly and use more complex systems. However, they would excel at the ability to reason about concrete objects since they are most likely in the concrete operational stage of development.
Now knowing this information, that one learns information different and has different learning capabilities based on where they are at developmentally, being able to effectively understand how to teach a student will increase tremendously. Knowing that developmentally a child should not be expected to understand imaginary numbers until they reach formal operational thinking, will bring a lot of background when it comes to creating and developing new policies and curriculum for schools.
Using Piaget to determine how one learns and understands knowledge at certain stages of development, curriculum can be created and implemented to best-fit students at their stage of development. When teaching and designing curriculum for a student in elementary of middle-school years, based on Piaget’s theory, it would be counteractive to try and teach them based on a formal operational stage of thinking. At the stage they are currently at developmentally, they would be unable to think abstractly and use more complex systems. However, they would excel at the ability to reason about concrete objects since they are most likely in the concrete operational stage of development.
Now knowing this information, that one learns information different and has different learning capabilities based on where they are at developmentally, being able to effectively understand how to teach a student will increase tremendously. Knowing that developmentally a child should not be expected to understand imaginary numbers until they reach formal operational thinking, will bring a lot of background when it comes to creating and developing new policies and curriculum for schools.