Educational Psychology

A Century of Contributions: A Project of Division 15 (educational Psychology) of the American Psychological Society

Barry J. Zimmerman, Dale H. Schunk, Barry J. Zimmerman, Dale H. Schunk

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317560418
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Educational Psychology: A Century of Contributions --the first comprehensive book-length treatment of this topic--looks at the historic contributions of 16 leading psychologists, as well as others, who influenced the field of educational psychology from its philosophical moorings in the late 19th century to its current scientific status at the dawn of the 21st. It presents information regarding these individuals' ideas and scientific discoveries, along with a sense of the historical context in which they lived. The book is divided into three sections that correspond to three eras in the history of the discipline:
*the founding period (1880s to 1920);
*the rise to prominence period (1920 to1960); and
*the modern period (1960 to the present).
Each section begins with an overview chapter describing the period in terms of key social, political, and historical events affecting educational theory, research, and practice. In addition, the overview chapters discuss major theoretical, methodological, and instructional contributions of the period and how they changed the course of educational psychology. The biographical chapters describe the scholar's major contribution in terms of theory, research, and practice and his or her legacy and impact. These descriptions portray these individuals as real human beings responding to historical events and social influences of their time in personal and collective ways that changed the nature and direction of the field. Educational Psychology: A Century of Contributions is a cohesive collection appropriate for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in educational psychology.

I The Founding Period: 1890 to 1920

Educational Psychology From 1890 to 1920

Vernon C. Hall Syracuse University

DOI: 10.4324/9781315734255-1

The period between 1890 and 1920 was a golden era in educational psychology. Modern psychology was in its infancy and many of the most prominent psychologists of the time were identified with the area. This included six APA presidents (Cattell, Dewey, Hall, Judd, Seashore, and Thorndike) with several others (e.g., Bryan, James, Munsterberg, Warren, Woodworm, and Yerkes) making contributions. In addition, educational psychologists believed that the science of psychology would revolutionize education and many educators at all levels were willing to give the new science a chance. Before proceeding, it may be useful to be reminded of some of the events during this time that interacted with and affected educational psychology.

Contextual Forces Interacting with Educational Psychology

Immigration

Between 1840 and 1920 37 million people immigrated to the United States. This included 6 million Germans, 4.5 million Irish, 4.75 million Italians, and 4.2 million from England, Scotland, and Wales. These people were either seeking a better life or fleeing from difficulties faced in their native lands. Many of them came through Ellis Island.

This immigration influenced educational psychology in at least two ways. First, these immigrants needed an education. America had always supported the idea of having literate citizens, and the expansion of elementary and secondary education at this time was rapid as many of the states passed compulsory attendance laws with Mississippi being the last in 1918 (Good, 1964, p. 376). For instance, theenrollment of Grades 9–12 in public and nonpublic schools increased from 359,949 in 1890 to 2,500,176 in 1920 (Good, 1964, p. 253). This meant the country needed elementary and secondary school teachers. Such teachers had in the past been prepared by high schools and normal schools. With the passage of the Morrill Acts of 1862 (which provided states with federal land to be used to found land grant colleges) and 1890 (which made additional annual funds available), new universities were founded or existing ones were made into land grant institutions. Although this money was made available to provide agricultural training, between 1890 and 1900 a number of these institutions established departments or schools of education that often included faculty and/or courses in educational psychology. R. B. Boon (cited in Good, p. 331) reported that in 1904, 250 colleges and universities out of 480 offered courses in education (see Charles, 1987 for a description of this development in a number of major universities). In addition, normal schools upgraded their programs to meet the challenge of new universities. One way of upgrading was to add courses in educational psychology. Many young educational psychologists acquired their first job at these normal schools.

The second way in which this immigration influenced educational psychology involved the nation’s concern about having too many undesirable foreigners entering the country. Such concerns led the Immigration and Naturalization Service to begin screening immigrants on Ellis Island. This provided educational psychologists the opportunity to use their new intelligence tests to assess the abilities of the immigrants. The results of this assessment were used by some as additional justification for placing limits on new immigration.

Rapid Expansion of Science and Technology

Between 1890 and 1920 Americans experienced great changes in all aspects of their lives. Popcorn, peanut butter, and tea bags made their first appearance, while hot dogs and hamburgers were first served on buns, and America’s first pizzeria was opened. On a more serious note, the automobile replaced the horse as the chief mode of transportation, airplanes first flew, X-ray photography and zippers were invented, radio signals and phone calls were sent across the Atlantic Ocean and Einstein published his theory of relativity. The world learned what could be accomplished if we placed resources in science and technology.

Science, however, was not automatically welcomed by educators. Immediately after the Civil War universities were concerned with discipline and piety. Science appeared to reduce the place of man in the universe, and some felt it was too easy to be in the curriculum (see Veysey, 1965). At the same time German universities were producing scientists, and Americans acquiring their education there were returning convinced that American universities should do the same. In addition, the fruits of science were difficult to reject and universities were identified as the place for scientific research. Just prior to and during this period, several universities were founded that provided much scientific research in general and psychological research in particular. Cornell in 1869 and Johns Hopkins in 1876 were both founded by wealthy Quakers. Johns Hopkins is often identified as the first research university in America built from the ground up. Clark followed in 1889, Stanford in 1891, and Chicago in 1892. Teachers College became associated with Columbia in 1898. These universities, along with Harvard and Yale, were crucial to the development of educational psychology. They were also where graduate students became the scientist’s helper and thus future scientists. This does not mean that there were huge numbers of graduate students. In 1900 there were only 5,668 graduate students in the United States (Veysey, p. 269). On the other hand, these students were a dedicated group. Virtually all of the present American educational psychologists can trace their academic heritage directly to professors trained during this period.

Psychologists saw scientists in other areas making giant strides, and the applications of their findings were changing the world. They felt they could do the same. The educational system was a natural place where they could contribute, and educational psychology was a vehicle they used. Indeed, there was a strong belief that science would make a real difference in the field of education. The nature and degree to which education can be a science and psychology can make a contribution to education is still being debated.

The Progressive Movement

Beginning in about 1900 a Progressive Movement emerged that influenced all phases of American life. This movement was led by a combination of labor and urban middle class citizens. After the Civil War, Americans supported a minimum of government and counted on the law of competition to let successful and honest men supply the leadership while the socially misfit would sink to the bottom. Unfortunately, this led to domination by the very rich and often dishonest owners of big business. Many city governments were corrupted by politicians like the Tammany machine in New York City. Most of the gas, electricity, and water facilities were privately owned and extremely profitable. This led to large-scale corruption and calls for municipal and state reform. Citizens were made aware of these problems by a group of journalists known as muckrakers.

Results of the Progressive Movement include direct election of senators, labor legislation that included workmen’s compensation, direct primaries for the major political parties, referendums for the recall of elected officials, prohibition, and women’s suffrage. The Progressive Movement did not leave out education, and John Dewey, one of the founders of Progressive Education, was involved in both educational and social reform.

The Great War

The First World War, which began in 1914 and America entered in 1916, led to a rejection of the German language and history in the schools, but the migration of Americans to German institutions of higher education had ceased well before the war. The major influence of the war on educational psychology was the opportunity to develop and administer the Alpha and Beta tests. It is doubtful that this made a big difference in the war effort, but it certainly made testing more acceptable to the public, and copies of these tests left over from the war were made available for distribution to the public schools.

Darwinism

The Theory of Evolution published by Charles Darwin (1809–1882) in 1859 and its acceptance “is considered by many as the greatest scientific achievement of the century” (Boring, 1957, p. 470). While the idea was not new, the amount of new data Darwin presented was persuasive. The theory challenged the account of creation contained in Genesis, which was widely accepted in the western world. Darwin maintained that man was really an animal with considerable intellectual capacities, but in other ways no different from other animals. This led to the study of lower animals as a way to understand human behavior. It has been suggested by Gardner Murphy that “The influence of Darwinism upon psychology during the last quarter of the nineteenth century probably did as much as any single factor to shape the science as it exists today” (Murphy, 1949, p. 116). With regard to educational psychology, all of the prominent players during this period were Darwinian, and the theory had a major influence on the way they viewed the world.

The Areas of Educational Psychology

Psychology is one of the broader fields in science as there are presently more than 50 independent divisions in The American Psychological Association. Educational psychology, as an applied area, has generally been identified with the more basic areas of learning, measurement, and development. This does not mean that these are the only areas in which psychology made contributions to education, but these are the ones that educational psychologists focused on during this period. while these areas were not independent and certainly psychologists were active in more than one area, they do have relatively independent histories as presented in the following.

Learning

Educators. When historians discuss those who have influenced classroom learning, they generally list a number of people who have been influential in both education and psychology. These include Juan Vives (1492–1540) who, among other things, supported the education of women, recommended the study of nature, and advocated induction as a method of study and Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827), who advocated proceeding gradually and cumulatively from the immediate, easy, and concrete to the distant, complex, and abstract. He also developed what became known as “object teaching,” which involved beginning with a concrete object and proceeding from naming the object and its concrete characteristics to more abstract learning such as reading and mathematics. Finally, there is Frederich Froebel (1782–1853) who is credited with being the founding father of the kindergarten movement. There were disciples of each of these men who were involved in American education in the late 1800s. For instance Pestalozzi’s ideas were introduced in the United States by the first commissioner of education, Henry Bernard. Austin Sheldon (1823–1897) who was the leader in founding the public schools and normal school in Oswego, New York, acquired educational materials in Canada that had come from an English Pestalozzian group. Sheldon also hired the son of Pestalozzi’s first assistant to train his teachers.

Francis W. Parker (1837–1902) also borrowed from the ideas of Pestalozzi and Froebel. Parker was a colonel in the Civil War before devoting the remainder of his life to education. After traveling in Europe and becoming familiar with the educational theories of the day, he developed a reputation of positively changing the school system in Quincy, Massachusetts. He then proceeded to found the Cook County Normal School, which trained teachers. He was given money from a McCormick family to found a teacher training facility and a private school. The Francis W. Parker School, which he founded, is still in existence. He encouraged the use of concrete materials and combining several subjects into one lesson. Dewey sent his children to Parker’s school while at the University of Chicago and referred to Parker as the father of Progressive Education.

During the mid and late 1800s schools were changing in ways that would eventually lead to the organization we now have. This included the administrative system of superintendents and principals who answer to elected school boards. One of the most influential educators during this period, who is often included in discussions of educational psychology, is William Torrie Harris (1835–1909). At 33 years of age Harris became the superintendent of schools in St Louis. This was not an easy job as the city had many problems. Many immigrants settled here, including 60,000 Germans who wanted classes conducted in their native tongue.

There was also a large contingent of transients who posed educational difficulties, and tensions still existed in this border city between northerners and southerners stemming from the Civil War.

Harris was a man of tremendous energy, and he had a number of innovative ideas. Although initiated by his predecessor, he continued a policy of flexible promotion. Students were evaluated every 10 weeks and could be promoted as a result of any of these evaluations. He instituted a system of supervision that included all administrators also teaching. He introduced kindergartens and...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• List of Contributors
• PART 1 The Founding Period: 1890 to 1920
• PART 2 The Rise to Prominence: 1920 to 1960
• PART 3 Educational Psychology in the Modern Era: 1960 to Present
• Author Index
• Subject Index