Online Psychology Degrees : An overview

This article would form a base for your Online Psychology Degree . The field of educational psychology traces its roots to some of the major figures in psychology at the turn of the past century. William James at Harvard University is often associated with the founding of psychology in the United States with his influential books of the late 1800s. Other major theorists and thinkers that figure in the early history of the field of educational psychology include G. Stanley Hall, John Dewey, and Edward L. Thorndike. Hall, cofounder of the American Psychological Association and its first president, was a student of James. Dewey at the University of Chicago was one of Hall’s students and introduced major educational reforms in the United States. Thorndike, whom we often associate with theories of intelligence and learning, was also one of James’s students and went on to start the Journal of Educational Psychology in 1910. Similarly, the impact of Lewis Terman (Terman & Childs, 1912) on the field of educational psychology and the assessment of intelligence (as well as related areas such as educational tracking) was monumental at that time and throughout much of the twentieth century. Other influences on educational psychology, and its impact on the field of education, have been linked to European philosophers of the mid- and late nineteenth century. For example, the impact of Herbart on educational reforms and teacher preparation in the United States has been described by Hilgard (1996)in his history of educational psychology. Largely ignored by Western psychologists until the 1980s, the work of Russian psychologists in the early twentieth century—in particular the work of Lev Vygotsky (1978, 1926/ 1997)—also contributed to the field of educational psychology.