Instructors: Dr. Barbara A. Greene, Course Coordinator
   310 Collings Hall, 325-1534, Email is bgreene@ou.edu

Office Hours--Monday 2:00 to 4:00 Thursday 3:00 to 4:00, and by appointment

   Bill Stewart Graduate Assistant
   303 Collings Hall, 325-2175, Email is wstewart@ou.edu
   Office HoursóTuesday and Thursday 12:00 to 1:00, and by appointment

Texts:  Woolfolk, A. E. (2004). Educational Psychology. 9th Edition
   Course materials on Blackboard--lots of good stuff!
 

Professional Sequence for Teacher Education

  This course is part of what is called the "professional studies for teacher education." What this means is that the teacher education faculty across the different departments talk to one another about what future teachers need to know and how that knowledge can be provided in different classes. This class is one of the series of courses that are coordinated such that the content builds on previous courses and feeds into future courses.  The two educational psychology classes (this course and the developmental psychology class) are intended to be taken after the course that introduces you to schooling in society (EDFN 3003). The Educational Psychology courses provide more specific information on the different types of students you will encounter as a teacher in U. S. society.  In these classes you will be presented with the general principles of learning and development, and how those principles relate to instruction. Both classes deal with the learner from a psychological perspective, but this class (EIPT 3483) focuses on students as learners in classrooms, while the development class (EIPT 3473) focuses more broadly on children developing in society.  The courses that follow the two educational psychology classes should build on the ideas you encounter in these classes.  In your future education classes you can expect to be held accountable for the ideas presented this semester. You can also expect to encounter some redundancy as the professional sequence faculty decided that certain key concepts should be presented in complimentary ways in different classes. This "planned" redundancy is important for the development of a rich knowledge base--which is what we want to help you build.

  In addition to your coursework, your professional education will involve fieldwork that is designed to augment your classroom experiences at the university. These field experiences allow you to see how your coursework maps onto the real world of teaching. These experiences also allow students to reflect on the type of setting in which they would be happy and successful teaching.  The purpose of Level 2 field experience, which is associated with this class, is for students to have hands-on experience in a classroom setting in which they assist the teacher with instructional tasks for 30 hours that should be spread out approximately in weekly increments throughout the semester. This 30- hour commitment during this semester is a requirement of the TE PLUS program, not the class. Importantly, the expectation is that you will have significant interactions with students either working one on one while students are engaged in learning activities or through facilitating small group work. You will essentially function as a teacher's assistant for classroom activities.  The project that you complete for the course (described in detail elsewhere) is just one component of the experience that should be done along with whatever you and the teacher decide is appropriate.  You will be evaluated separately by the teacher in your field experience, for the work you do in his/her classroom, and by your course instructor (me), for the course project related to the placement.

 Course Content

 The course will examine our current understanding of various psychological phenomena and their relevance to teaching and learning in school settings. The content of the course will be divided into three units. In the first unit you will learn about the psychological processes that underlie learning. We will examine the theories and findings from cognitive psychology that help explain how we construct, store, retrieve and use knowledge. You will also learn about the implications of these theories for understanding problem solving and for planning instruction. Application of these ideas will be developed through examination of an approach to instructional planning that is guided by the learning outcomes you hope to foster in your students.  Finally, we will study how individual differences in cognition impact learning and teaching.
  In the second unit you will have the opportunity to learn about motivation and classroom management. The motivation portion of the unit will be organized around Martin Maehr's theory of Personal Investment. We will cover such topics as self-efficacy, attribution theory, and goal orientation.  We will also discuss the importance of motivation to student learning and several approaches to increasing student motivation when there are problems.  At the end of this portion of the unit we will discuss the socio-cultural factors that influence learning and teaching.  Following motivation, we will examine different approaches to classroom management.  The major goal of this portion of the unit is to help you develop management strategies that keep students engaged in learning and prevent problems from occurring.   In addition, you will learn about tactics for dealing with classroom management problems should they occur.
 The final unit of the course will be concerned with assessment and evaluation in education. You will learn about the fundamental concepts in assessment, such as reliability, validity, and the differences between norm and criterion-referenced assessment, and summative and formative assessments. You will learn procedures for evaluating both students and instruction, and for developing assessments of your studentsí learning. You will also learn how to interpret standardized achievement test scores.

Course Requirements and Grading

Evaluation will be based on points earned on the following course requirements:  2 unit exams; a final exam; one field experience paper/project; 3 application projects; research activities; and class participation. An explanation of each requirement follows.

Unit Examinations -90 points total

There will be two examinations, one for each of the first two units. The exams will be based on instructional objectives for each unit that will be distributed prior to each exam. Exams will be a mixture of objective (i.e., multiple choice and matching), short answer, and essay items. Each unit exam will be worth 45 points.  There will be a practice exam for unit 3 on the last day of class. The practice exam will prepare you for the types of questions from unit 3 that will appear on the final examination.

Final Examination-90 points

 The final exam will be cumulative, in that all four units will be represented.  It will be based on the same instructional objectives as the unit exams. Because you will be doing substantial writing throughout the semester, the final exam will be all objective (i.e., multiple choice and matching).
 Field Observation Project-50 points
 There will be a paper/project that will relate the student's field experience to the course content.  For this course you are required to have a 30-hour field experience that will be arranged through the Office of Field Experiences.  Explicit instructions and an example are provided in the Blackboard materials under the Course Documents section.  The paper should be between 5 and 10 pages.

Application Projects-3 @ 15, 15, and 15 points (45 total)
 In order for students to apply and synthesize the concepts they are learning in the course, there will be three application projects.  For the first project students will identify a lesson plan and evaluate how the lesson meshes with what we know about learning from the cognitive psychology perspective (unit 1).  For the second project, students will critique and revise the lesson from the first application project from using ideas from motivation theory on enhancing adaptive motivation (unit 2).  For the third project, students will describe (in about 3 pages) how they will plan for the first days of a new school year, how they will organize their classrooms, and any specific management issues that need to be addressed for the lesson they critiqued in the first 2 paper. Detailed instructions for each project will be available in the materials on Blackboard.
 The application projects will be graded on a pass-fail basis.  Projects judged to meet the criteria will receive all the points. Projects that fail to meet the criteria may be revised and resubmitted once.  If the revised project meets the criteria the full points will be given.  If revised projects fail to meet the criteria, they will receive 0-10 points based on the instructor's judgment of the quality of the work and the effort devoted to the project.

Research Activities-10 points
 Students have a choice of two types of research activities for this requirement. Students can participate in up to TWO studies that are taking place in the College of Education (5 points for each) or  students can summarize two related research articles.  The instructor needs to approve your choice of articles. Think about what you might like to do and then tell your instructor your plan you begin. You will earn up to 10 points for this requirement.
 

Class Participation--15 points
 This class has been designed with the intention that a lot of the learning will go on during class time.  Therefore, attendance and active involvement are expected.  Additionally, you are now in a professional education program and so you are expected to demonstrate the demeanor of a professional.  By professional demeanor we mean coming to class prepared (which means keeping up on the reading!), participating in the activities and discussions, and treating others with respect in the classroom.  We know that students cannot always attend class, however it is your responsibility to contact us when you are unable to attend.  Making arrangements prior to absences is preferred; however we recognize that emergencies do occur.  Prompt notification following an emergency is expected.  Extended absences (i.e., more than two classes) without documented cause and/or habitual inappropriate behavior in class will result in zero points.  Clearly, some subjectivity goes into the assignment of these points--that is intentional.  Our expectation is that most students will get most of these points.

Missing Quizzes and Late Papers
 Students are expected to take exams on the scheduled date and turn in all work on time.  If something comes up that precludes attendance on an exam date or meeting a deadline, students must let the instructor know in advance of that class period and we will attempt to work out an arrangement. Unexcused absences from exams will result in zero (0) points for that exam.

 Issues Related to Academic Dishonesty

 Acts of academic dishonesty such as cheating and plagiarism will result in a zero on the assignment and a letter to the Dean detailing the incident (see the OU student handbook pp. 52-55 for more details).  According to The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition to plagiarize is "to steal and use the ideas or writings of another as one's own" (p. 946).  Please see your instructor if you are unclear about this definition.

Assignment of Grades will be based on points earned

Requirement                      Points:
Two Unit exams @ 45           90
*Application project 1            15
*Application project 2            15
*Application project 3            15
*1 Field experience project    50
1 Final exam                           90
Research Activities                 10
Attendance/Participation          15
                                                  ____
                                             300 pts

*These are the materials from this class that should be included in your teacher preparation portfolio -- which is now required of all preservice teachers in Oklahoma

Grades in the course will be assigned on the following basis. A student who has earned 90% of the total possible will get an A.  A student who has earned 80% of the 300 possible will get a B. A student who has earned 70% of that total will get a C. A student who has earned 60% of that total will get a D. And, a student who has earned less than 60% of the total will get an F.

  A = 270-300  C = 210-228  F = below 209
  B = 240-269  D = 180-209