Thorndike

Thorndike

I read the research by E.L. Thorndike, his article entitled “The Contribution of Psychology to Education." (Thorndike)

1. What are the roles for education and psychology envisioned by E.L. Thorndike?

According to Thorndike psychology makes education clearer and easier to understand.  It allows the importance of human behavior and human nature to come to light.  It is important to use child psychology and development to understand how behaviors and human nature effect a child’s education.  Teachers can take that research and transfer into their work within the classroom.

2. Have these roles changed? What kind of methods did Thorndike recommend for research?

Students were put into a cookie cutter mold and all students were assumed to learn in the same way.  It was assumed that students didn’t understand things quickly and were treated that way.  Now students are taught in a way that utilizes psychology.  Students are now taught in a way so that all students can understand.  Lessons are taught using differentiated instruction and behaviors, environment, social interaction, background, and culture are taken into consideration when children are learning.

Think about your Professional Development Plan. In your 1 page plan, identify:

1. What constitutes scholarly research.

Scholarly research incorporates peer-reviewed articles, books, blogs, and websites created by professionals.  When I look for information and research to use for myself I review work that has in-depth research on the topic I am learning about.

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2. Ways to acquire and interpret scholarly research.

The Mount library gives us access to many different data bases that we can utilize for research such as EBSCO and ProQuest.  You can get articles and research through these databases.  At the end of every article the sources are clearly cited for you to review.

3. Ways to use scholarly research in your future practice.

When using Scholarly Research, it is important to keep in mind where you pull your information from.  Using the databases that I previously mentioned have help you with research topics in the future.  This research can help you to effectively teach your students within the classroom.