Critique on Education

Firstly, it should be noted that Educational Psychology is essentially the study of the interaction of teaching and learning. Glover and Ronning (1987, p. 14) suggested that educational psychology includes topics that span human development, individual differences, measurement, learning, and motivation and is both a data-driven and a theory-driven discipline. During my search for articles relating to this subject, I found two in particular that piqued my interest: Trends in Peer Learning and Learning & Teaching Styles in Engineering Education.

According to Topping (2005, p 635), “the research evidence is clear that both peer tutoring and cooperative learning can yield significant gains in academic achievement in the targeted curriculum area”. This article was particularly interesting to me because I have never considered peer tutoring to be an educational “tool”. Nonetheless, it cannot be denied that many students learn better from their peers mainly because some teachers are not good at relaying information to students. Topping notes that when students are engaged in peer learning, all students involved benefit – “helping each other to learn and learning themselves by doing so” (2005, p 631). Although this approach works, it should be well thought out in order to ensure that it is organized and implemented well. It is imperative that students engaging in peer learning are empowered rather than more confused.

As an educator, it is important that we know and understand the learning styles of students so that we can alter our teaching styles (as much as possible) for optimal impact. According to Felder & Silverman (1988, p 674) how much a given student learns in a class is governed in part by that student's native ability and prior preparation but also by the compatibility of his or her learning style and the teacher's teaching style. Many teachers become frustrated with students that seem not to catch on to techniques as quickly as others not realizing...