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Kies de Nederlandse taal
Course module: UCSSCPSY28
UCSSCPSY28
The Psychology of Learning and Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice
Course info
Course codeUCSSCPSY28
EC7.5
Course goals
After completing this course students are able to:
Better understand learners:
  • Use state-of-the-art knowledge about the psychology of learning to reflect on their own and others’ learning process;
Develop themselves as teachers (or, more generally, communicators of information):
  • Apply knowledge of learner and teacher to develop a lesson plan, to give feedback, or to convey information more effectively and attractively;
  • Use state-of-the-art knowledge of educational research to reflect on the practice of teaching in educational and other settings;
  • Develop instructional strategies;
Critically reflect on the practice of education:
  • Identify the major contemporary questions of educational policy;
  • Identify the major contemporary questions regarding instructional technology.
Content
Education, and improving education, is one of societies’ most important issues. If you read the newspaper you know that higher education is hotly debated right now, and not only in the Netherlands. This course is for students who are interested in learning about pedagogical or curricular traditions, and in the psychological and educational research findings that can be applied to educational practice. These are important questions for anyone interested in helping people learn, such as teachers, journalists, museum employees, policy makers, managers, and parents.
 
This course will provide students with a firm basis in learning research and its applications. We will study different theories of learning (e.g. behaviorist, cognitive, social, and constructivist), the architecture of the brain, developmental aspects, as well as research into interest, motivation, and self-regulation. Approximately half of the course will be devoted to this: the psychology of the learner.
 
But learning does not occur in a vacuum. Educators know that good teaching requires more than just knowledge about the learner (who to teach), but about teaching (how to teach) and about subject matter (what to teach) as well. See figure. Moreover, the broader societal context is of relevance too. Not only is teaching in schools and at universities affected by educational policy, it is also the case that a learner’s home environment and social background affects their attitude towards learning.
 
In this course students learn how (applied) psychological and educational research informs teaching. Students will be tested in exams and individual assignments. In addition, each student will work on an individual or small group project in which their knowledge is applied to a topic of their choice in an academic discipline that is the focus of their curriculum. The outcome of this project can be a lesson plan for a school: for example, a math student might develop a way to teach a topic in high-school math. Alternatively, it can be a project concerning a non-educational topic: for example, a museum studies student can study which type of display more effectively communicates information. Or a journalism student might study the difference in information processing involved in reading a newspaper on-line versus on paper.

Format
There will be individual writing assignments (including one on peer feedback) and a final project in which the knowledge is applied.
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Kies de Nederlandse taal