Educational Psychology for Secondary Teachers

Spring 2007

University of Northern Colorado

PSY 349 Sec. 003 3 semester hours MWF 9:05-9:55am McKee Hall 0220 Office Hours: 10-11am; 2-3pm MW

Dr. Kevin Pugh Office: 72 McKee Hall Email: kevin.pugh@unco.edu http://www.unco.edu/cebs/psychology/kevinpugh Phone: 351-2989

Course Purpose

The purpose of this course is to teach you to see the world of education through the lens of student learning and motivation. That means I want to transform the way you look at situations involving teaching and learning. Having been in school for the majority of your life, you of course already know a lot about teaching and learning. I want to teach you new ways of thinking about teaching and learning. For instance, now you may view the cartoon below and simply find it humorous. But when I'm done with you, you will see things you never saw before. You will see explanations for his behavior that you may have missed. You will see qualities of his learning environment that you may have overlooked. And, you will see consequences of his actions that you may have failed to recognize.

Course Description

In the first part of the semester we will primarily focus on learning the prominent theories of how students' learn. Each theory offers unique insights into the nature of learning and the art of teaching. I use the word art deliberately, for teaching truly becomes an art when you learn to craft your own effective practice out of your knowledge of principles of learning and motivation. In this course, we will focus on the insights that each theory provides into the following issues:

· What is the goal of education?

· How is learning defined and how does it take place?

· What roles do experience, prior knowledge, and other people play in learning?

· What instructional methods are effective at achieving different educational goals?

In the second half of the semester, the course will be patterned after scholarly learning communities. Our class will become a learning community that will investigate the issue of motivation.

Course Materials

Text: Educational Psychology: Reflection for Action by O'Donnell, Reeve, & Smith.

Course pack: Available at the university bookstore (I hope).

My PowerPoint slides and other materials will be available on our class website: http://www.unco.edu/cebs/psychology/kevinpugh/349-3 .

Student Evaluation

Participation. Your participation is critical to the success of this class. Without your contribution to class discussion and activities, the class degrades into a lecture-based course. Therefore, I decided to acknowledge the importance of participation by allowing your participation to contribute to your grade. You will be given full credit (26 pts.) for participation if you attend class and participate on a regular basis. You will only lose participation points if you fail to participate (of course) or if you fail to come to class (it's hard to participate if you're home in bed). I'll give you 3 free absences (for sickness and that), but I'll deduct 4 points for each additional absence. Attendance is especially important because there's no way to make-up a discussion or class activity -- and it's the discussions and activities that really make the course worthwhile. If you are unable to attend class due to a serious problem (extended sickness, death in the family, etc.), then come talk with me and we will work something out.

Case Study Analysis. To complete this project, you and two partners (you'll be randomly assigned to groups) will write a paper in which you analyze a case study from the perspective of (1) Behaviorism, (2) Cognitive Learning Theory (i.e., Information Processing and/or Piaget), and (3) Social Constructivism (i.e., Vygotsky). Specifically, you will analyze and evaluate (1) the type of learning the teacher values/focuses on, (2) the methods of instruction, and (3) the methods of assessment. The paper should be about 10-12 pages in length (typed, double-spaced). It will be graded on the accuracy and depth (level of detail) with which you analyze the case study from the particular learning perspectives. Don't just write down your own commons sense ideas. I will look to see if you have acquired a deep understanding of the particular learning perspective and can use it to understand the educational context in ways your couldn't before taking this class. In this class it is very important that you learn the content at a deep enough level to apply it. I design the class this way purposely, because this class is a total waste if the students can't apply the learning theories. The project is worth 100 points.

A guide for doing the project and the evaluation rubric are available on the class website.

Quizzes. I'm sure once you start doing the readings you will find them meaningful, useful, and interesting. J But sometimes you need a little boost to get started – hence, the quizzes. I will give 8 pop quizzes on the assigned readings at the start of class. You can make up a quiz under the following circumstances: (1) you notify me before class (preferably by email) that you will be absent, and (2) you have a valid excuse for being absent. However, you must make up the quiz before the next class period (or before the next class period you are able to attend). Each quiz will be worth 3 points.

Exams. There will be two exams that will require you to apply the learning and motivational theories we study. I don't value memorization a whole lot, so there won't be many questions that merely require you to recall facts. Instead, the exams will consist of application oriented multiple-choice items. To do well on these exams, you must have a deep understanding of the content and be able to apply it.

Motivation Project: For the last part of the semester, our class will engage in problem-based learning. As a community of learners, we will address the problem of why Calvin (from the Calvin and Hobbes cartoons) has troubling motivational patterns. We will address this problem by dividing into research groups and analyzing Calvin's behavior from various motivational perspectives. Each research group will do the following:

1. Research a particular theory of student motivation.
2. Contribute learning aids (e.g., notes, summaries, visual aids) to an existing database of learning resources.
3. Create a website about your theory of motivation (I will teach you how to create a website – it's quite easy). Your website will contain two parts: (1) a general description of your motivational theory and (2) an analysis of Calvin's motivation from the perspective of your motivational theory.
4. Provide a peer review of other groups' websites (at the same time, they will review your web site).
5. Revise your website according to the feedback of your peers.
6. Write a comprehensive plan of action for Calvin's teacher.

Details on all aspects of the project are available at http://www.unco.edu/cebs/psychology/kevinpugh/motivation_project/349-3_spring07 . Please read (for your own good!).

I am having you design a website instead of write a paper for the following reasons:

Ø Websites give you more freedom to be creative and make something interesting.

Ø Websites make it easy for us as a class to share the ideas we are learning.

Ø Website design is a technological skill you should possess, because . . .

Ø There are number of practical uses for this skill in education.

Ø The creation of web pages is a great project to use with your students (students tend to be very motivated on such projects – particularly students who normally are not interested). Even young students and special education students can be very successful at creating websites if given appropriate guidance (in fact, they may teach you how to do it!).

Grade breakdown.

Participation Quizzes Exam 1 Exam 2 Case Study Analysis Motivation Project Website Comprehensive Plan Peer Review Presentation Contribution to learning resources Total Possible

26 pts. 24 pts. (total) 50 pts. 50 pts. 100 pts. 100 pts. (total) 65 pts. 15 pts. 5 pts. 10 pts. 5 pts. 350 pts.

*Students who experience special needs should speak to me early in the semester regarding special arrangements for test taking, note taking, or other considerations that might improve learning.