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Advanced Seminars in the Psychology of Education
PinE 308: Advanced Seminars in the Psychology of Education
The optional advanced seminar format runs each year, with different options
offered from year to year. Working in small groups, students will follow
a series of readings and discussion led by the tutor. Topics on offer
include: Child Wellbeing in School; Counselling; Pastoral and Emotional
Support; Improving Memory and Learning; Gender and Psychology; Motivation;
Learning about Number; Identity and Knowing in Learning and Teaching Mathematics.
Assessment involves a single piece of coursework of approximately 5,000
words, the title to be negotiated by each student with the tutor.
Only one or two of these are on offer in any one year depending on tutor availability. Class sizes are usually restricted to a small number.
Example seminars
Child Wellbeing in School: Counselling, Pastoral and Emotional Support
The starting point for this advanced seminar is the increasing interest in child wellbeing. We will cover the following issues and debates:
- The 'wellbeing' agenda represented in self-help literature, popular philosophical and psychological literature on happiness and emotional intelligence, and the growing literature on accessing hildren's own voices
- the impact of policies concerning social and emotional aspects of learning in school
- current practices relating to counselling in schools
- policies and practices of school pastoral systems, especially those concerning the three way relationship between child, parent and teacher
Identity
and Knowing in Learning and Teaching Mathematics
This advanced seminar focuses on how we develop relationships with maths which cause us to love it or hate it, and why many people, particularly those from certain groups, fail at maths. We will look at research which explores;
- issues of gender and culture and how these affect learners' identities and access to maths
- the impact of ability grouping and classroom cultures which focus on speed
- beliefs about mathematical knowledge and 'ways of knowing' - personal epistemologies
- issues in the language of maths
- cross-cultural comparisons and alternative approaches
Gender and Psychology
In this advanced seminar we will explore a variety of questions and topics about gender, psychology and education. For example, we will consider:
- What is gender?
- Is the notion that there are only two genders/sexes a social construction?
- How do intersex people help us to understand the way gender is constructed?
- How is gender 'policed' in society, and especially in schools?
- What motivates certain 'gendered' behaviours, for example being 'laddish' in school, or a 'ladette'?
- What are the implications for girls and boys of gendered notions of the 'ideal' body image?
Learning about Number
In these seminars we'll explore what psychologists and educators know about how people learn about number. Many people have problems with number concepts and skills - some more than others. For some folks, the problems are evident very early, with difficulty mastering basic counting concepts; for others the problems occur later. We will consider how number concepts are taught and how different teaching approaches might exacerbate or alleviate the problems. We will also consider what is meant by dyscalculia and how the diagnosis might be helpful or harmful.
Improving Memory and Learning
This module will investigate memory improvement techniques and study tips. We will look at what is advised by books, teachers and the web and we'll investigate the research supporting their usefulness. Activities will include some data collection, and students will investigate a topic that is relevant to them, pulling together a variety of information sources and developing a fuller understanding of the issues.
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