Chapter 1 (What Research Methods Are Used in Educational Psychology)

1. Purpose of Activity
   • To introduce students to the concept of intentional teacher, have students role- play the following classroom situation before they read Chapter I and after they read it.
   
   
   
2. Key Concepts
   • Characteristics of an effective teacher.
     • Knows subject matter.
     • Combine research and common sense.
     • Mastered pedagogical skills.
     • Consistent.
     • Enthusiastic.
     • Firm.
     • Fair.
     • Working knowledge of relevant research
     • Reflective, that is determines the effectiveness of present practices and makes changes where necessary.
   
   
   
3. Before the role-playing takes place, please set up the following chart. It would be beneficial to the exercise if you would set up their responses to the questions below using this format for a chart: (the charted approach will allow you to return to the issues raised again after the Chapter I is completed).

   

   • Scenario
     • Please select the age level that is appropriate to your class.
     • Have one student become the teacher and 4/5 students become the members of this imaginary class.
     • The teacher can teach a simple Math lesson (e.g., addition/subtraction) and one student acts-out (e.g., talks to a neighbor, gets up and begins to walk around the room and will not stop).
     • Have the teacher deal with the problem. Give the role-playing several minutes to take place.
     • Upon its conclusion, conduct a discussion using these following questions: (Please utilize the chart above for formatting the responses).
       • What kind of behavior was the student exhibiting.
       • How did the teacher respond?
       • What did you think of how the teacher managed the problem?
   
   
   
4. Students can then research what makes an effective teacher in a one page response paper. At the conclusion of the chapter, repeat the role-playing activity. The teacher should be more effective because of strategies they have just learned from their research, contents of Chapter I and discussions.
   
   
5. After the chart is completed, you can list the characteristics of an effective/ intentional teacher. The list might include:
   • Knows subject matter.
   • Combines research and common sense.
   • Mastered pedagogical skills.
   • Consistent.
   • Enthusiastic.
   • Firm.
   • Fair.
   • Reflective, that is, determines the effectiveness of present practices and makes changes where necessary.
   • Working knowledge of relevant research.
   
   
   
6. Upon conclusion of the above, explain that we have just completed a form of action research. That is, you tried out several strategies to help manage a classroom and you identified some that work and might utilize them in your own teaching. See page 22 for a description of action research.