This research paper provides a detailed and informative insight into the area of psychology and psychology in education. Specifically targeting the psychological process of learning and memory and their influence on learning, learning abilities, educational performance and how to help improve students that are lagging in their studies. Covered in the paper is the definition of psychology, an expansive definition and explanation on what correctly learning are, what it entails and how educators teachers and other personnel actively involved in the learning process can use the psychological tools to their advantage and better student performance. It also looks at the memory as a topic and as a mental process that is aimed at improving the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. Strategies for efficient memory storage and memory recall are mentioned and used to give pointers on how to maximize academic performance not only in younger kids but across the board.
Learning and Memory and Their Impact on Education
Learning and memory are two among three of the most common psychological processes that are detrimental to the development of individuals, the other being language and thought. These three factors combined contribute to the all-round development of individuals and lead to the nurturing of desirable behavior in society. The psychological theories outlined also impact significantly on the cognitive development and cognitive abilities of a person from birth to adulthood and are therefore crucial in the formation of behavior and social interactions with other people and the immediate environment as a whole. The role of these two processes in education can also not be undermined. They form an integral part in determining and shaping one's future regarding education and subsequent career development and later success in life as we shall see in detail during this research piece. Learning in this context does not necessarily refer to how well one handles the classroom environment, and memory is not limited to how adept one is at recollecting facts. These two processes are in reality a much wider sphere that umbrellas a variety of many other intricate sub-processes and functions.
This research essay sought to discuss at length the two main psychological concepts namely Learning and Memory. Further, discuss what they are, what they mean, give an in-depth analysis of the various types of both learning and memory, delve into the stages of memory and memory retrieval and lastly further explore the impact of learning and memory on education, the learning process, studying and the overall educational development process.
Psychology and Learning
Numerous scholars and academicians have offered varied and complex definitions of psychology. But a spot checks into all their arguments and points of viewpoint to one conclusion; that psychology is the study of the mind and behavior about critical aspects of interaction and human development. Psychology encompasses vital elements of life such as sports, health and nutrition, development, cognitive functioning, intelligence, education, business and religions and beliefs (Gross, 2015).
Learning
Learning is a lasting change in an individual's comportment and conduct brought about by previous events and incidents (Cherry, 2018). Therefore, it progresses from a state of no prior experience to a state of information acquisition, gaining knowledge as developing and improving skill sets. Learning is a vast, varied and complex phenomena that are not restricted to the classroom setting but rather is more of an ever-evolving process that is bound to continue throughout an individual's lifetime and perhaps beyond.
The fundamental example of learning is when a child touches a burning candle and will never play with fire again. Thus, it is the purest form of conditional learning. Learning firmly implants itself in the child’s mind that fire causes undesirable pain and the will always steer clear of the looming danger. Our minds, child or adult work much the same way when it comes to learning. Humans are genetically hard-wired to learn from the environment and to seek environments that allow us comfort and pleasure while running away from or avoiding those that hurt us and cause discomfort. These are the basis upon which associative learning is built as we shall soon find out.
There are two major groups of learning; associative learning and observational learning. And three major types of learning behavior namely observational learning, classical conditioning and operant conditioning with the last two being forms of associative learning.
Classical conditioning
This concept was pioneered proved and implemented by Ivan Pavlov (a Russian Physiologist) argues that learning can be influenced by the introduction of natural and associative stimuli. Pavlov performed extensive trials with dogs and discovered that a pre-existing stimulus or condition could be used to together with a relatively new or unknown stimulus to elicit a similar response to that of the original stimuli. For instance, he made the dogs salivate by merely presenting food and then he gradually conditioned them to salivate at the sound of a bell alone. Classical conditioning is therefore said to occur when a particular response to a stimulus becomes manipulated to respond to another associated stimulus (McLeod, 2014).
Operant conditioning
The other type of associative learning is operant conditioning. This concept was initially suggested by Edward Thorndike through his work on the law of effect. His theory was later taken up, emphasized and popularized by B.F. Skinner, an American physiologist, author, and philosopher. Skinner argued and successfully proved time without number that reinforcement was a crucial motivation in the learning process. In his experiment with a caged rat, he was able to demonstrate how the rat learned to push a lever that had been provided because it yielded reward in the form of food. But even when the food was no longer available, the rat kept pushing the lever. Operant conditioning is, therefore, the learning process by which behavior is emphasized through reinforcement (Gazzaniga et al., 2015).
Observational Learning
Unlike the above two types which employ the use of certain conditions or stimuli and involves the manipulation of a subject; observational learning does not rely on stimulus instead it is learning through aping other people's behavior. Initiated by Albert Bandura, who observed that learning does not necessarily have to involve any conditioning. He demonstrated through experiments with a Bobo doll that kids imitated the adult’s interaction with the toy and quickly adopted the same behavior (Shimpi et al., 2013).
Memory
There have been numerous attempts by scholars over the years to define and understand what memory entails. Memory, according to McLeod however is the term given to the structures and processes involved in the storage and subsequent retrieval of information (McLeod, 2007). As per the definitions above we can conclude that memory is indeed an important element in the storage of information. It is the faculty of the brain that is tasked with the processing of information, keeping the data and recovery of the same information whenever needed.
The three main types of memory are short-term memory, long-term memory, and sensory memory. Short-term memory is also referred to as working memory, and it is the information we are immediately aware of, and it lasts about a second to the one-minute maximum. It is the type of memory that allows for quick recall. Its capacity is minimal, and short-term information is typically retrieved in sequences (Anderson " Bower, 2014).
Long-term memory is information that we perceive, and it lasts for more than a few minutes. This information can usually be stored for minutes to as long as a lifetime. It also includes elements of both short-term and sensory memory (Anderson " Bower, 2014). Sensory memory is information derived from our five senses touch, smell, hearing, sight, and taste. It typically lasts less than one second and can usually be transferred to short-term memory.
Learning and Memory in Education
This section addresses the learning process, explores differences in intelligence in various individuals, cognitive enhancement, and lastly studies the impact of the psychological processes of learning and memory in education. It is no doubt that when it comes to learning especially in the formal classroom environment, some people seem naturally gifted while others cannot seem to catch a break. The less than average student more often than not feels overwhelmed by the amount of classwork information he has to absorb. A simple algebraic equation might be child's play to kids with a higher IQ while proving to be a challenging task to the less intelligent students.
But that fact in itself raises a crucial question. Is educational performance determined purely by natural ability and intelligence or is there more to it than meets the eye? Snowman and jack in their book educational psychology highlight the fact that there are many aspects related to teaching and education that affect an individual’s performances, and success in the classroom does not purely rely on one’s IQ. Factors such as methods of teaching, the motivation of an individual towards learning, cognitive development, acquired and learned behavior, natural skills, and talents, as well as general interest towards the area of study, influenced how a particular student performs (Ormrod et al., 2016).
Having this in mind teachers, educators, parents and other educational stakeholders can strive to better the performances of students using the learning and memory techniques discussed in this piece. Use of different methods of teaching and customized condition environments might prove useful in establishing a lasting interest in educational areas that students were deemed weak. These methods coupled with consistent condition and emphasis on learning on all aspects as opposed to just getting good grades will go a long way in changing the education sector.
Conclusion
The use of psychological sciences in the education sector proves more beneficial to all the parties involved. The process of exactly how a person learns has been expounded on in detail, allowing educators to take advantage of the sophisticated techniques that will guarantee better learning environments and sharper students with minimal effort and time. It all boils down to understanding the learners' psychology, using motivators and positive reinforcement strategies to ensure that they take a keen interest in the subject matter while cementing better futures and solidifying future success in their careers and lives. The sub-topics discussed in this paper will help both the learners and teachers to at least understand the intricacies of how the human brain works about processing memory and learning as a whole, knowledge which if used effectively will prove vital in determining how quickly they grasp concepts and apply them to real-life situations. The goal is development, not just the attainment of grades to boast over.
References
Anderson J.R., Bower, G.H. (2014). Human associative memory. https://content.taylorfrancis.com
Cherry, K. (2018). The psychology of how people learn. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/what is learning.html
Gazzaniga, M. Heatherton, T. " Halpern, D. (2015). Psychological science. Norton " Co – New York, USA.
Gross, R. (2015). Psychology: the science of mind and behavior. 7th ed. Hodder education.
McLeod S.A. (2007). Stages of memory – encoding storage and retrieval. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/memory.html
McLeod S.A. (2014). Classical conditioning. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/classical-conditioning.html
Ormrod, J.E. Anderman, E.M. Anderman, L. (2016). Educational psychology. Developing learners.
Shimpi, S., Priya, M. et al. (2013). Journal of experimental child psychology.
