module specification

This module recounts the relations between systematic studies of the mind or brain, from the close of the 19th century, and educational theory and practice.

In the first part of the module, the history of psychological theories from William James to Howard Gardner are studied, for the purpose of assessing their capacity to guide learning in the classroom.

In the second half of the module, the birth of contemporary neuroscience from the cognitive revolution of the 1950s is recounted, in order to assess the extent to which contemporary theories of language acquisition, reading, writing and arithmetic can resolve difficulties associated with teaching and learning in these areas.

The module aims to enable students to:

• Acquire knowledge and understanding of theories of the mind and brain from the late nineteenth-century to the present.
• Understand the relation between these theories of the mind and prominent learning theories.
• Critically assess the extent to which theoretical models of the mind are useful guides for the planning of teaching and learning in the classroom.
• Develop their professional capacity for reflection through appreciating the importance of mediating judgement when applying a theoretical model to practice.

No specific pre-requisites. Available for Study Abroad as SS5020A (first semester, 15 credit) or SS5020B (second semester, 15 credit).

The module is divided into parts, covered into the two semesters of its duration.

Part 1.

In the first semester, the rise of scientific psychology in the late nineteenth-century and its development into a variety of influential learning paradigms is studied: including Connectionism, Behaviourism, Humanism, Cognitive Constructivism, Socio-Constructivism and Multiple Intelligences (LO1). In this part of the module, students will learn and understand how psychology has sought to explain mental procedures such as perception and conception; cognitive growth across different life-stages, as well as behavioural factors such as motivation in learning (LO1). The emphasis throughout is on the extent to which these theoretical investigations can assist teachers in stimulating classroom learning (LO3). 

Part 2.

In the second semester of the module, the appearance of contemporary neuroscience from developments in linguistics, evolutionary psychology and scientific studies of the brain will be covered (LO2). The capacity of neuroscience, although still in its infancy, to provide a fully-formed science of learning in the future will be assessed in relation to its current ability to explain the acquisition of basic skills such as speaking, reading, writing and the manipulation of numbers in arithmetic (LO3).

Scheduled learning and teaching activities on the module include lectures, seminars, small group work, and individual tutorials on draft assignments at the end of the semester, in preparation for submission.

Outside these scheduled hours, students are expected to read the primary texts for each week (available through the module reading-list). These readings form the basis for seminar exercises, in which learning activities will be designed to ensure that students have understood what the model under consideration understands by the mind and how it learns, before assessing its capacity to guide learning in the classroom.

On completion of the module students will be able to:

1. Recount the historical development of psychological theories of the mind and learning from the late nineteenth-century to the present.
2. Recount the variable sources from which contemporary neuroscience emerged and its key principles.
3. Assess the extent to which theoretical models of the mind and learning can be translated into concrete classroom conditions.
4. Write cogently on psychological theories, assessing their practical strengths and weaknesses in clear prose.
5. Reflect on one’s priorities as a developing educator and classroom practitioner.

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