The development history of educational psychology is the history of combining psychology with pedagogy and gradually forming an independent branch of psychology, which has gone through four periods.
(A) the initial stage (before the 1920s)
Swiss educator Pestalozzi first put forward the idea of "educational teaching psychology". Herbart, a German educator and psychologist, first proposed that the research of teaching theory should be based on science, and this scientific basis is psychology.
From 65438 to 0868, Russian educator ushinski published the book "Man is the Object of Education", which summarized the development achievements of psychology at that time, so he was known as "the founder of Russian educational psychology". 1877, Kapterev, a Russian educator and psychologist, published the book Educational Psychology, which is the first book officially named after Educational Psychology.
From 65438 to 0903, American psychologist Thorndike published Educational Psychology, which is the first book named after educational psychology in the West.
1913 ~1914, which expanded into a three-volume outline of educational psychology, laid the foundation for the development of educational psychology, and the name and system of western educational psychology were established, so Thorndike was called "the father of educational psychology".
Thorndike believes that educational psychology is born out of educational needs, and its research direction is to understand and change human nature, so as to achieve educational goals. His three laws of learning and individual difference theory became an important topic in educational psychology research around the 1920s.
(B) Development period (1920s to the end of 1950s)
In the 1920s and 1930s, western educational psychology absorbed the results of children's psychology and psychological tests, and incorporated discipline psychology into its own content.
In the 1940s, Freud's theory spread widely, and children's personality, social adaptation and physical health also entered the research field of educational psychology. In 1950s, the rise of programmed teaching and teaching machines correspondingly influenced and changed the content of educational psychology.
During this period, learning theory has been the main research field. After the 1920s, behaviorism dominated, emphasizing the objectivity of psychology and attaching importance to experimental research.
Many factions were formed in this period, and the disputes between these theories and factions were also reflected in educational psychology. The research route of educational psychology is fragmented, lacking an independent theoretical system and research on people's advanced psychological activities. The content is very complicated, but the core is basically obvious. It can be said that educational psychology at this time has not yet become a subject with an independent theoretical system.
The first book on educational psychology published in China was Practical Psychology of Education translated by Fang Dongyue in Ogara 1908. From 65438 to 0924, Liao Shicheng compiled the first textbook of educational psychology in China.
In 1950s, Chinese educational psychologists began to learn and introduce the theory and research of educational psychology from the Soviet Union, and made some experimental studies on teaching reform and school-age problems of children, which played a certain role in the development of educational psychology and pedagogy in China.
(3) Maturity (1960s to the end of 1970s)
In the early 1960s, the research of educational psychology turned from behaviorism to cognitive category. The curriculum reform movement initiated by Bruner turned American educational psychology to the discussion on the improvement of educational process, students' psychology, teaching materials, teaching methods and teaching means.
At the same time, American educational psychology began to pay attention to social and psychological factors in teaching. In the 1960s, there was a trend of humanism. Rogers put forward the viewpoint of "student-centered" and thought that teachers are just "people who are convenient for learning". Many educational psychologists began to regard schools and classrooms as social situations.
In 1970s, Ausubel systematically expounded the conditions of meaningful learning from the perspective of cognitive psychology, while Gagne systematically classified human learning. These two learning theories have laid the foundation for the maturity of educational psychology. With the popularization of computers, people pay more and more attention to computer-aided teaching.
During this period, some changes have taken place in the content and system of western educational psychology. The content of educational psychology has become more and more concentrated, and the discipline system of educational psychology has basically taken shape. The differences among behavioral school, cognitive school and humanistic school are narrowing day by day, and discipline research pays more and more attention to the guidance of school education practice.
Perfect period (after 1980s)
Since 1980s, educational psychology has paid more and more attention to the combination with teaching practice, various theoretical factions have absorbed each other, and the system has become increasingly perfect. 1994, American psychologist Bruner summarized the achievements of educational psychology since 1980s:
Initiative research, that is, how to let students actively participate in the process of teaching and learning and control their psychological activities; Reflective research, that is, how to make students understand the meaning of what they have learned from the inside and adjust their learning;
Cooperative research, that is, how to let students share the human resources involved in the process of teaching and learning, and how to organize students to study together under a certain background; Social and cultural research, that is, to study how social and cultural background affects the process and result of learning.