Course

An Introduction to Educational Psychology

Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Psychology
Course Code
PSYC 2207
Credits
3.00
Semester Length
15
Max Class Size
35
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Online
Hybrid
Typically Offered
To be determined

Overview

Course Description
This course provides an introduction to concepts, theories, and research in educational psychology. The topics covered include cognitive, social and physical development during the school years, learning theories, instructional approaches, motivation, assessment, and individual differences. This course is recommended for students who are interested in teaching or coaching school-aged children.
Course Content
  1. Foundations of educational psychology
    • What is educational psychology?
    • Goals of educational psychology
    • Research methods
  2. Development during the school years
    • Physical and cognitive
    • Social and emotional
  3. Diversity
    • Individual variations
    • Socio-cultural diversity
    • Exceptional learners
  4. Learning theories
    • Behavioural and social cognitive
    • Cognitive Information processing
    • Social constructivist
  5. Teaching approaches
    • Motivation
    • Classroom management
  6. Educational Assessment and learning
    • Standardized tests
    • Current trends in assessment
    • Alternative assessments
Learning Activities

Lectures will be the primary method of instruction, but the course will also involve other methods of instruction such as small group activities, group discussions, laboratory demonstrations, field trips, computer simulations, video/DVDs, and guest lectures.  

Means of Assessment

Evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy.  Evaluation will be based on course objectives and include some of the following:

  1. multiple choice, short answer, or essay exams
  2. term paper, research project, or written assignments
  3. oral presentation or teaching demonstration

The instructor will provide a written course outline with specific evaluation criteria at the beginning of semester.

Students may conduct research with human participants as part of their coursework in this class.  Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving human subjects.

An example of a possible evaluation scheme is as follows:

Research paper - 20%
Exams (3 X 20% each) - 60%
Presentation - 20%
Total - 100%

 

 

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

  1. Define educational psychology and give examples of the different topics educational psychologists study.
  2. Identify the research methods and aims of educational psychology.
  3. Describe the developmental issues faced by school age children.
  4. Explain how individual variations and cultural diversity affect thinking and learning.
  5. Describe the challenges presented by learning disabilities.
  6. Describe the challenges presented by students with exceptional skills.
  7. Explain and apply behavioural, socio-cultural, and cognitive learning theories.
  8. Explain the role of motivation on learning and classroom behavior.
  9. Describe classroom management techniques.
  10. Identify commonly used standardized tests, their strengths and limitations, and use in school settings. 
  11. Outline current trends in traditional and alternative assessments. 

 

Textbook Materials

Textbook(s) such as the following, the list to be updated periodically:

Woolfolk, Anita E., Winne, Philip H. and Perry, Nancy E. (2019) Educational Psychology. (7th Canadian ed.). Toronto: Pearson Education. 

 

Requisites

Prerequisites

PSYC 1100

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer Details for PSYC 2207
Capilano University (CAPU) CAPU PSYC 2XX (3)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU PSYC 2XXX (3)
Langara College (LANG) LANG PSYC 2XXX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU EDUC 220 (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU SSEL 2XXX (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) TWU PSYC 214 (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) UBCO PSYO_O 1st (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV ELEV_V 2nd (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC PSYC 2XX (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV EDUC 200 (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC ED-D 300 (1.5)

Course Offerings

Winter 2025

CRN Days Instructor Status
Maximum Seats
35
Currently Enrolled
27
Remaining Seats:
8
On Waitlist
0
Building
New Westminster - North Bldg.
Room
N3408
Times:
Start Time
8:30
-
End Time
11:20