Theory to Practice How Educational Psychology Transforms Modern Teaching Methods in Nursing Education

The Theory to Practice How Educational Psychology Transforms Modern Teaching Methods in Nursing Education. Educational psychology is transforming nursing education by providing theoretical frameworks such as constructivism and social learning theory to guide teaching methods, promote deeper learning, and adapt instruction to the diversity of students.

How Educational Psychology Transforms Modern Teaching Methods in Nursing Education Theory to Practice

This psychology shifts the emphasis from memorization to active participation and conceptual understanding, and promotes the development of critical thinking, professionalism, and patient care skills through strategies such as observational learning, group discussions, and technology-enhanced learning.

This integration results in better-prepared nurses, capable of effectively applying psychological principles in their practice and addressing the complex challenges of healthcare.

Bridging the Gap Between Academic Theory and Real-World Teaching

How many times have we as teachers been confronted with situations in which we really were not sure what to do? We “flew by the seat of our pants,” usually doing with our learners what had been done with us. It would be useful to be able to turn to a set of guiding principles based on evidence, or at least on long term successful experience. Fortunately, a body of theory exists that can inform practice.

An unfortunate gap between academics and practitioners, however, has led to a perception of theory as belonging to an “ivory tower” and not relevant to practice. Yet the adage that “there is nothing more practical than a good theory” still rings true today. This chapter describes several educational theories and guiding principles and then shows how these could be applied to three case studies relating to the “real world.”

Understanding Adult Learning Theory: The Foundation of Effective Education

What is Andragogy? The Science of Teaching Adults

The term “andragogy” to North America, defining it as “the art and science of helping adults learn.” Andragogy is based on five assumptions—about how adults learn and their attitude towards and motivation for learning. Knowles later derived seven principles of andragogy. Most theorists agree that andragogy is not really a theory of adult learning, but they regard

Seven Proven Principles for Teaching Adults Effectively

Knowles’ principles as guidelines on how to teach learners who tend to be at least somewhat independent, and self-directed. His principles can be summarized as follows:

Establish an effective learning climate, where learners feel safe and comfortable expressing themselves
Involve learners in mutual planning of relevant methods and curricular content x Involve learners in diagnosing their own needs will help to trigger internal motivation
Encourage learners to formulate their own learning objectives, this gives them more control of their learning
Encourage learners to identify resources and devise strategies for using the resources to achieve their objectives
Support learners in carrying out their learning plans x Involve learners in evaluating their own learning—this can develop their skills of critical reflection.

The Five Core Assumptions of Adult Learning

Andragogy—five assumptions about adult learning

Adults are independent and self-directing
They have accumulated a great deal of experience, which is a rich resource for learning
They value learning that integrates with the demands of their everyday life
They are more interested in immediate, problem-centered approaches than in subject-centered ones
They are more motivated to learn by internal drives than by external ones

Mastering Self-Directed Learning: Empowering Students to Take Ownership

Two Perspectives on Self-Directed Learning

Self-directed learning can be viewed as a method of organizing teaching and learning in which the learning tasks are largely within the learners’ control (as with the adult learning principles described above). It can also be viewed as a goal towards which learners strive so that they become empowered to accept personal responsibility for their own learning, personal autonomy, and individual choice. Success in the first view would lead to attaining the second.

Essential Traits of Self-Directed Learners

Philip Candy identified in the literature with about 100 traits associated with self-direction, which he synthesized as the ability to be methodical and disciplined; logical and analytical; collaborative and interdependent; curious, open, creative, and motivated; persistent and responsible; confident and competent at learning; and reflective and self-aware.

Developing Self-Direction Skills in Your Students

How do we develop these traits in our learners? Most importantly, learners must have the opportunity to develop and practice skills that directly improve self-directed learning. These skills include asking questions, critically appraising new information, identifying their own knowledge and skill gaps, and reflecting critically on their learning process and outcome.

Self-directed learning

Organizing teaching and learning so that learning is within the learners’ control
A goal towards which learners strive so that they become able to accept responsibility for their own learning

Building Self-Efficacy: The Key to Student Success

Understanding Self-Efficacy Theory

According to Albert Bandura, people’s judgments of their own ability to deal with different situations are central to their actions. These actions include what they choose to do, how much effort they invest in activities, how long they persist in the face of adversity, and whether they approach the tasks anxiously or assuredly. These judgments, called “self-efficacy,” may or may not be accurate, but they arise from four main information sources.

Four Sources of Self-Efficacy Information

In decreasing order of their strength, these sources are performance attainments, observations of other people, verbal persuasion, and physiological state. Successes raise our self-efficacy, while failures lower it. Failures are particularly likely to lower our self-efficacy if they occur early in the learning process and are not due to lack of effort or difficult situations.

Observing other people like us perform successfully can strengthen our beliefs that we can perform similar tasks, especially when the tasks are unfamiliar. Verbal persuasion from a credible source also can help. Finally, we (both teachers and learners) need to re-interpret our anxiety or nervousness in difficult situations such as excitement or anticipation, rather than as an ominous sign of vulnerability.