Psychology of Learning

Module 14: Educational Psychology

Key Terms

Academic Learning Time: The portion of engaged time during which students are working on tasks at an appropriate level of difficulty & experiencing high success rates. Represents the most refined measure of instructional time, combining time-on-task with task appropriateness.

Achievement Gap: Persistent differences in academic performance between demographic groups, particularly between students from different socioeconomic, racial, or ethnic backgrounds. Research examines both the gap itself & factors contributing to differential outcomes.

Action Research: A form of descriptive research conducted by practitioners (typically teachers) in their own settings to solve practical problems & improve practice. Involves cycles of planning, acting, observing, & reflecting.

Allocated Time: The total amount of time officially scheduled for instruction in a subject area. Represents the maximum possible instructional time before accounting for interruptions, transitions, & off-task behavior.

Analytic Rubrics: Scoring guides that evaluate multiple dimensions of performance separately, providing specific feedback on distinct criteria such as content, organization, evidence, & mechanics. Contrast with holistic rubrics.

Antecedent: Events, conditions, or stimuli that precede & may trigger a behavior. In functional assessment, identifying antecedents helps understand what prompts problem behaviors & informs intervention design.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA): The systematic application of behavioral principles to improve socially significant behaviors. Uses functional assessment to identify behavior functions & designs interventions based on reinforcement, extinction, & other operant principles.

Assessment: The process of gathering information about student learning through various methods including tests, observations, projects, & performances. Serves formative, summative, placement, & diagnostic purposes.

Behavior: In learning objectives, the observable action that demonstrates learning. Effective behavioral objectives use action verbs (identify, compare, calculate) rather than vague terms (understand, appreciate) that resist measurement.

Bloom’s Taxonomy: A hierarchical framework for classifying educational objectives by cognitive complexity. The revised taxonomy (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001) includes six levels: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, & creating.

Classroom Management: The actions teachers take to create an environment that supports academic & social-emotional learning. Includes establishing procedures, organizing physical space, managing time, & responding to behavior. Meta-analyses show effect sizes around d = 0.44.

Collectivism: A cultural orientation emphasizing group harmony, interdependence, & collective goals over individual achievement. Influences learning preferences, classroom participation patterns, & responses to competition versus cooperation. Contrast with individualism.

Conditions: In learning objectives, the circumstances under which performance occurs, including available resources, constraints, & contexts (e.g., ‘given a calculator,’ ‘without notes,’ ‘working collaboratively’).

Consequences: In classroom management, the outcomes that follow rule compliance or violation. Effective consequences are consistent, immediate, proportionate, & logical. In behavioral analysis, consequences that follow behavior & affect its future probability.

Correlation Coefficient: A statistical measure (typically Pearson’s r) indicating the strength & direction of relationship between two variables, ranging from -1.0 to +1.0. Used extensively in correlational research to quantify associations.

Correlational Research: Research examining relationships between variables without manipulating them. Cannot establish causation but identifies associations & enables prediction. Common in educational research where experimental manipulation is impractical.

Criterion: In learning objectives, the standard specifying acceptable performance levels (e.g., ‘with 80% accuracy,’ ‘completing four of five steps correctly’). Establishes how well students must perform to demonstrate mastery.

Criterion-Referenced Evaluation: Assessment comparing student performance to established standards rather than to other students. Students either meet criteria or not, regardless of peer performance. Aligns with mastery learning philosophy.

Cultural Capital: The knowledge, behaviors, & skills that confer social advantages, often aligned with dominant cultural norms. Students whose home culture matches school culture may have advantages in navigating educational expectations.

Culturally Responsive Teaching: Instruction that recognizes the importance of including students’ cultural references in all aspects of learning. Builds bridges between home & school cultures while maintaining high expectations for all students.

Dependent Variable: In experimental research, the outcome measure that researchers observe for changes resulting from manipulation of the independent variable. In educational experiments, typically measures of learning, achievement, or behavior.

Descriptive Research: Research methods that describe phenomena without manipulating variables, including observations, surveys, case studies, & ethnographic research. Provides rich detail about educational contexts & practices.

Diagnostic Assessment: Assessment designed to identify specific learning difficulties, misconceptions, or skill deficits requiring targeted intervention. Provides detailed information about what students know & where they struggle.

Differential Reinforcement: Procedures that reinforce desired behaviors while withholding reinforcement for undesired behaviors. Includes DRA (reinforcing alternative behaviors), DRO (reinforcing other behaviors), & DRI (reinforcing incompatible behaviors).

Distractors: In multiple-choice items, the incorrect response options designed to be plausible to students who lack complete understanding. Effective distractors represent common misconceptions or errors.

Educational Psychology: The scientific study of learning & teaching processes, applying psychological principles to educational practice. Encompasses research on cognition, motivation, development, assessment, & instructional design.

Engaged Time (Time-on-Task): The portion of instructional time during which students are actively attending to learning tasks. Strongly predicts achievement but represents only a fraction of allocated time after accounting for transitions & off-task behavior.

Essay Questions: Assessment items requiring students to organize & express ideas in extended written form. Assess synthesis, evaluation, & argumentation skills but require substantial scoring time & introduce scorer subjectivity.

Ethnographic Research: A form of descriptive research involving extended observation & participation in natural settings to understand cultural patterns & meanings. Provides deep insight into classroom dynamics & student experiences.

Extinction Burst: A temporary increase in the frequency or intensity of a behavior when reinforcement is first withheld. Teachers implementing extinction must anticipate & persist through this initial escalation.

Feedback: Information provided to students about their performance relative to learning goals or standards. Meta-analyses show medium effects (d = 0.48) on learning, with effectiveness varying by content, timing, & specificity. Core mechanism of formative assessment.

Formative Assessment: Assessment occurring during instruction to provide feedback guiding teaching & learning. Purpose is improvement rather than evaluation. Includes quick checks, questioning, observations, & practice with feedback.

Functional Assessment: Systematic process of gathering information to understand why problem behaviors occur by identifying their antecedents, consequences, & functions (attention, escape, tangible, sensory). Guides development of function-based interventions.

Group Focus: A classroom management skill involving maintaining attention & engagement of all students, not just those currently responding. Techniques include group alerting, accountability, & high participation formats.

Holistic Rubrics: Scoring guides that assign a single overall score based on general quality rather than scoring multiple dimensions separately. Faster to use than analytic rubrics but provide less specific feedback.

Independent Variable: In experimental research, the factor manipulated by researchers to observe its effect on the dependent variable. In educational experiments, typically the instructional method, intervention, or treatment being tested.

Individualism: A cultural orientation emphasizing personal autonomy, independence, & individual achievement. Influences preferences for competition, individual recognition, & self-expression. Contrast with collectivism.

Instructional Time: The time remaining for teaching after subtracting non-instructional activities (announcements, transitions, interruptions) from allocated time. Represents actual teaching time available.

Learning Objective (LO): A statement specifying what students should know or be able to do after instruction. Effective objectives include three components: behavior (observable action), conditions (circumstances), & criterion (performance standard).

Learning Styles: The discredited hypothesis that students learn better when instruction matches their preferred modality (visual, auditory, kinesthetic). Meta-analyses consistently find no evidence supporting matching instruction to supposed learning styles (d = 0.04).

Mastery Learning: An instructional philosophy holding that most students can master most objectives given sufficient time & appropriate instruction. Emphasizes criterion-referenced evaluation & allowing multiple attempts to demonstrate proficiency.

Matching: An objective test format presenting two columns (premises & responses) for students to associate. Effective items include more responses than premises & maintain homogeneous content within sets.

Movement Management: A classroom management skill involving pacing lessons appropriately, maintaining momentum, & managing transitions smoothly. Includes avoiding slowdowns, fragmentation, & overdwelling on minor issues.

Multiple Baseline Design: A single-case experimental design demonstrating experimental control by introducing an intervention sequentially across different behaviors, settings, or participants. Strengthens causal inference without reversal.

Multiple-Choice: The most versatile objective test format, including a stem (question or incomplete statement), one correct answer, & several distractors. Can assess knowledge through application levels when well-constructed.

Norm-Referenced Evaluation: Assessment comparing students’ performance to each other rather than to fixed standards. Yields percentile ranks & relative standings but provides no information about absolute achievement levels. Grading on a curve exemplifies this approach.

Overlapping: A classroom management skill involving the ability to attend to multiple events simultaneously without losing focus on instruction. Effective teachers handle interruptions while maintaining lesson momentum.

Peer Assessment: Students evaluating each other’s work, providing feedback & sometimes grades. Meta-analyses show small-medium effects (g = 0.31) on academic performance, particularly effective as formative feedback.

Percentile Ranks: Norm-referenced scores indicating what percentage of a comparison group scored below a particular score. A student at the 75th percentile scored higher than 75% of the norming group.

Performance-Based Assessment: Evaluation through demonstrations, products, or extended projects rather than traditional tests. Assesses authentic, complex skills (laboratory techniques, presentations, artistic performances) in realistic contexts.

Placement Assessment: Assessment determining appropriate instructional levels, course placements, or program assignments. Matches students with instruction suited to their current knowledge & skill levels.

Planned Ignoring: A classroom management technique of deliberately withholding attention from minor misbehaviors that are maintained by attention-seeking. Effective when combined with positive attention for appropriate behavior.

Portfolios: Collections of student work samples over time demonstrating growth, achievement, & reflection. Effective portfolios include student selection of pieces & reflection on what they demonstrate about learning.

Power Distance: A cultural dimension reflecting acceptance of hierarchical authority & unequal power distribution. High power distance cultures may expect more formal teacher-student relationships & teacher-directed instruction.

Procedures: Established routines for accomplishing recurring classroom tasks (distributing materials, transitioning between activities, seeking help). Effective procedures are taught, practiced, & reinforced until automatic.

Proximity Control: A non-verbal classroom management technique involving moving closer to off-task students to redirect behavior without interrupting instruction. Part of a hierarchy of least-intrusive interventions.

Quasi-Experimental Designs: Research designs that compare groups but lack random assignment to conditions. Common in educational research where true randomization is impractical. Require careful attention to potential confounds.

Random Assignment: In true experiments, the process of assigning participants to conditions by chance, ensuring groups are equivalent before treatment. Enables causal inference by controlling for confounding variables.

Reliability: The consistency of assessment results across occasions, scorers, or forms. Unreliable measurements cannot support valid inferences. Types include test-retest, inter-rater, & internal consistency reliability.

Replacement Behavior: In functional assessment, a socially appropriate behavior taught to serve the same function as a problem behavior. Functional communication training teaches communication as a replacement for challenging behaviors.

Response Cost: A punishment procedure involving loss of earned reinforcers (points, tokens, privileges) contingent on undesired behavior. Effective when combined with positive reinforcement for appropriate behavior.

Reversal Design (ABAB): A single-case experimental design demonstrating experimental control by alternating between baseline (A) & intervention (B) phases. Behavior changes with phase changes support causal inference.

Routines: Established patterns of behavior for recurring classroom situations. Well-practiced routines reduce cognitive load, minimize transition time, & create predictable learning environments.

Rubrics: Scoring guides specifying evaluation criteria & performance levels. Reduce subjectivity, clarify expectations, & provide frameworks for feedback. Include analytic rubrics (multiple dimensions) & holistic rubrics (single overall score).

Rules: Explicit statements of expected behavior in the classroom, typically 3-6 positively stated guidelines. Effective rules are taught, posted, consistently enforced, & paired with clear consequences. Distinguished from procedures.

Self-Assessment: Students evaluating their own work against criteria, developing metacognitive awareness & self-regulation skills. Most effective when combined with explicit training on assessment criteria & standards.

Setting Event: Background conditions or events that influence the likelihood of behavior by altering motivation or establishing operations. Examples include illness, fatigue, hunger, or earlier conflicts that affect subsequent behavior.

Socioeconomic Status (SES): A composite measure typically including family income, parental education, & occupation. SES correlates moderately with academic achievement (r = .22-.28), though school-level SES effects are stronger (r = .58).

Standards-Based Grading: A grading approach emphasizing criterion-referenced evaluation against explicit learning standards, reporting proficiency on specific outcomes rather than averaging points. Often includes opportunities for reassessment.

Stem: In multiple-choice items, the question or incomplete statement presenting the problem to be solved. Effective stems present complete, clear problems without requiring students to read all options to understand the question.

Stereotype Threat: The psychological phenomenon where awareness of negative stereotypes about one’s group can impair performance on relevant tasks. Meta-analyses show smaller effects in real testing situations (d = .04) than laboratory studies.

Summative Assessment: Assessment occurring after instruction to evaluate achievement for grading, certification, or accountability purposes. Looks backward at what was accomplished rather than forward at how to improve.

Time-Out: A punishment procedure removing access to reinforcement for a brief period (typically 3-10 minutes) contingent on problem behavior. Most effective when the regular environment is reinforcing & time-out is brief & consistent.

Transitions: Movement between activities, locations, or instructional formats. Efficient transitions minimize lost instructional time; effective teachers establish clear procedures & practice smooth transitions.

True-False: An objective test format requiring students to judge statement accuracy. Efficient but allows 50% guessing success & limits assessment to recognition of factual accuracy.

Uncertainty Avoidance: A cultural dimension reflecting tolerance for ambiguity & unstructured situations. High uncertainty avoidance cultures may prefer explicit instructions, clear rules, & structured learning environments.

Validity: The degree to which evidence & theory support intended interpretations of assessment scores. Contemporary views emphasize that validity concerns the appropriateness of inferences drawn from results rather than properties of the test itself.

Withitness: A classroom management concept (Kounin, 1970) referring to teachers’ awareness of what is happening throughout the classroom. Effective teachers demonstrate they ‘have eyes in the back of their head,’ deterring misbehavior through vigilant monitoring.