Correlation between Research and Work of Psychologists - Coursework Example

Name Educational Psychology 21 May 2008 Correlation between Research and Work of Psychologists The influence of achievement goals on the constructive activity of low achievers during collaborative problem solving (Gabriele, 2007) Many a times teachers tag low achievers with high achieving students, in the hope of boosting their performance. The many objectives behind such heterogeneous clubbing is to enhance a low achieving students academic and social potential. However, the research carried out till now indicates that not all learners benefit from the opportunity to work with their bright peers. Research has strongly established that high achieving group members who extend help to their low achieving mates mostly reap positive outcome from such an effort. However, in such a group effort, the low achieving group members do not necessarily learn much from such an experience. One of the purposes of the paper under consideration is to understand how low achievers learn from peer help and thus to augment the positive outcome of such activities. Though a number of factors influence the cognitive achievement of a low achieving student while collaborating with a high achiever, still the two important variables that have attracted the attention of researchers till now are the quality of help that is received by the learner, and the extent to which the learner cognitively processes the help after receiving it. It has been found that high achieving; older students are more likely to alleviate the academic and social potential of a slow achiever as compared to younger average achieving students. This is because the high achieving students use a variety of aiding strategies and offer more conceptually oriented strategies then average achieving students who paired with a low achiever. The second important factor is that how a low achiever deals with the help extended by a high achiever? Weble and Fariver suggest that a slow achiever must engage in constructive activity after receiving an explanation from a high achiever in order for learning to occur (Gabriele, 2007). Constructive activity stands for a range of behavioural as well as internal cognitive activities that a learner engages in. Such activities include self-explanation, elaboration, and summarization, answering and asking questions, explaining to another, drawing diagrams or concept maps. Another purpose of this study is to understand the impact of two achievement goals i.e. is learning and performance goals on the learning potential of a student tagged with a high achiever. Students who affiliate to learning goals intend to understand their work so as to improve their performance and use self-reference standards rather then social comparison to evaluate themselves. On the contrary, students who adhere to performance goals, study with the objective of demonstrating an ability or hiding a lack of an ability. The main purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the importance of constructive activity in determining the ability to learn of a slow achiever after receiving help from of a high achieving peer and (2) to explore other factors that influence a low achieving students engagement in constructive activity. This research intended to establish the extent to which the achievement goals influence the cognitive ability of a slow achiever in a collaborative environment. The results of this study turned out to be in tandem with the previous research. The researcher succeeded in establishing the role of the constructive activity in determining the level of achievement of a low achiever in a collaborative effort. The research scholar also successfully established the correlation between achievement goals and the level of constructive activity of a low achiever. To what extent does the research illustrate the nature of work carried out by psychologists within the educational profession? The history of education is as old as the history of human race. Education is a never ending process of inner growth and development. Infact, education is imperative to the process of individual and social growth. It is through education that one develops ones thinking and reasoning ability, positive sentiments and skills, constructive values and attitude. Practically speaking, education is a continuous and dynamic process. In a broader sense, education is a designed process to promote the harmonious development of a person so as to make one capable of exercising ones responsibilities as a well informed member of the society. When we talk about organized education, we often consider education to be a planned activity. The purpose of such an activity is to achieve certain goals and objectives. The problem is that we live in an imperfect world where all the individuals are born with unique abilities and temperaments. Considering such variegated nature of human psyche, the ability of every individual to teach and learn varies to a great extent. These variations often give way to problems in an academic scenario which call for expert handling and research. Thus institutions and individuals often do feel the need for assistance from some trained specialist or some organized body of science. Such needs establish the relevance of educational psychologists in modern education systems. Educational psychology is the branch of psychology which primarily studies how people learn in an organized educational set up. This involves carrying out research on important cognitive problems and challenges, developing educational materials, programs and techniques that enhance learning. The main objective of educational psychologists is to advance research and practice in the area of problems that arise in an academic scenario. Over the years educational psychologists have made tremendous contribution to the science and practice of education. They tackle the problems faced by learners in educational set ups, which may involve learning difficulties and social and emotional problems. Research is one of the core works of educational psychologists. Infact research is the bulwark on which rests the science of psychology. This stands truer in case of educational psychologists. One of the interest areas of educational psychologists is to develop research methodologies, collect data and to analyse the gathered data. Working within education, educational psychologists are in a key position to conduct research, to evolve an evidence base for aiding practice, policy designing and strategic planning in the field of education. To have a fair idea of the work carried out by psychologists within the educational profession on the basis of research topics only would be grossly unfair and improper. Though research is an important aspect of a psychologists work, the psychologists also contribute many other services and facilities in the field of education. Research works illustrate only some aspects of the work carried out by psychologists in the field of education. Research topics fail to illustrate many other facets of the work carried out by educational psychologists. The role of psychologists in the educational profession has highly evolved with the passage of time. During a brief period of time, educational psychologists have evolved from a medical model to an ecological model of education. This has enhanced the scope of their contribution in the field of education besides and beyond carrying out the research work only. Besides research, educational psychologists do undertake many other responsibilities concerning the mainstream and special skills related to learning, behaviour and development. Analysing the various roles played by psychologists besides research, in the field of education will be quite interesting. One of the important roles played by educational psychologists is in the field of consultation. Psychologists extend a wide range of advisory and consultancy services to individual learners, parents, teachers and institutions and organisations. They support and advice the process of education management for learners with challenged or special abilities and students with additional support needs. Another important area of interest for educational psychologists is assessment. “Assessment is a process that involves the gathering of information from a variety of sources in a range of settings over a period of time (Gabriele, 2007).” It includes within its ambit, data related to and collected from, parents, teachers, carers, students and young people. The objective behind assessment is to aid future intervention related to cognitive, emotional and social factors. The cherished goal of any worthwhile assessment procedure is to remove barriers in the way of learning and teaching. Educational psychologists work in close coordination with guardians, educators and academic and civil authorities to carry out assessment procedures. Educational psychologists offer and support training programs undertaken by a wide range of academic institutions and service providers. This gives an opportunity to the psychologists to tie up theory with practice. The training programs are designed as per the credentials of the concerned psychologist and according to the needs and aspirations of the learners. Training programs are evaluated and realigned on a regular basis to take advantage of the latest research and input. Educational psychologists also offer a broad array of interventional services to institutions and organisations. Such intervention practices conform to existing ethical standards and guidelines. Such interventions are meticulously designed and planned with respect to agreed upon action plans. These interventions intend to be effective and efficient without interfering into the work being done by other specialists. The nature of interventions carried out by psychologists include local authority wide interventions, inputs to complete establishment interventions and working with individuals and small groups. Thus to adhere to the myopic notions pertaining to psychologists in the educational profession on the basis of the contemporary research topics will be immature and counterproductive. Educational psychologists have a broad role to play in all the spheres of learning and teaching and research happens to be just one part of such a holistic endeavour. The role of a psychologist cannot be limited to research in such a mammoth field of service such as education. Works Cited Gabriele, Anthony J.” The influence of achievement goals on the constructive activity of low achievers during collaborative problem solving.” British Journal of Educational Psychology, Volume 77 (March 2007) : 121-141 Read More