Introduction to Education Psychology

Dr. C. Sampson

Office: MPX 8671

Spring Semester 1999

S1N FRASER UNIVERSITY

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S

Tel: ?

291-4303

D01.00

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E-mail: sampson@sfu.ca

PREREQUISITE

None.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Why do some people do better in school than others? Do the ones who do better have more of

something innate called "intelligence" or is it that they have somehow developed better strategies

for learning? Can these strategies be taught to others? Are some people just born creative or can

creativity be taught? Are human beings automata encased in flesh and will we someday be beaten

by a computer not only at chess but at life? Why do some people love the challenge of exams and

others get entrapped in a web of anxiety over them? Can people be taught to control their

emotions and anxieties? This course raises such questions and answers them on the basis of

current theories in educational psychology.

ASSIGNMENTS

Four papers, 4-pages each in length, each worth 25% of total grade. There are no exams in this

course.

1.

Cultural psychology: Human development in other cultures.

2.

Cognitive versus behavioristic models of learning.

3.

Teachers as architectects of the human mind--using cognitive self-instruction techniques in the

classroom.

4. Intelligence--Is it inherited or is it socially constructed?

REQUIRED TEXTBOOK

Woolfolk, Anita E. (1998).

Educational Psychology,

7th ed. Needham, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

ISBN 0-205-26335-6.

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS ON RESERVE IN THE SFU LIBRARY

Howe, Michael J

.

A. (1990).

The Origins

of

Exceptional Abilities.

Oxford, UK: Blackwell. ISBN

0-631-16827-3 Hardback; 0-631-18561-5 Paper. Chapter 3 on "Accelerating the Acquisition of

Abilities. "

Manning, Brenda H. (1991).

Cognitive self-instruction for classroom processes.

Albany: State

Univ. of New York. ISBN 0-7914-0479-X Hardback; 0-7914-0480-3 Paper. Chapter 7 on "Manning

Cognitive Self-Instruction Model."

Shweder, Richard A. (1991).

Thinking Through Cultures.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.

ISBN 0-674-88415-9 Hardback; 0-674-88416-7 Paper. Chapter 2 on "Cultural Psychology: What is It?'

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Faculty of Education

Centre for Distance Educatio

Simon Fraser University

PSYCHOLOGY

This course surveys contemporary research and theories of learning and

motivation as grounds for designing and evaluating instruction.

Major topics addressed are: theories of learning and motivation, cognitive

development, learning and thinking strategies, social factors in learning,

learning in subject areas (reading, writing, mathematics, science), classroom

processes, evaluating learning outcomes, and individual differences.

PREREQUISITE:

None.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

McCormick, C.B., Pressley, M.

(1997).

Educational Psychology: Learning ?

Instruction and Assessment.

Scarborough: HarperCollins Canada.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

There are 12 one-page assignments which are worth 48 out of 100 points in

the course. There is a mid-term and a final examination. Each exam is worth 26

points out of 100 points total.

SUPPLEMENTARY FEES:

Course Materials & Service Fees

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$30

03/11197