One area of the learning sciences is productive struggle. As defined by George Reese, a productive struggle is “a match between stairs and crutches”. The stairs aspect represents the coursework or different levels/goals/worksheets that help students solve a given problem. The crutches refer to the instructor doing the thinking for their students, which may lead to frustration or anxiety in the student as a result of being overwhelmed.

Sometimes, instructors may face challenges to create a productive struggle. These challenges are characterized by having a difficult time finding tasks that elicit thought and collaboration in the learners and between the learners and their instructors. By observing the classroom’s social and emotional process along with learning styles, the instructor can come up with tasks that involve teamwork and collaboration, along with promoting critical thinking. As a result of teamwork and collaboration, anxiety and frustration can be reduced while giving way to new ways of problem-solving. This is why educational psychology is essential to classrooms.

Educational psychology is the study of how individuals learn and process information. Educational psychology contributes to our understanding of the learning process and how the social and emotional aspects of the classroom impact learning.

Educational psychology offers evidence in the form of outcomes along with data that shows the number of children who meet the set thresholds and those who don’t. These results can also help us evaluate whether there should be a change in the testing structures depending on the number of children who are passing or getting left behind. This data can also help us determine if policies should be set at state levels or at district levels, as discussed by Dr. Cimpian. Such data can help us determine expected graduation rates throughout the state or district, also giving us an idea of how effective a curriculum might be or if changes need to be implemented.

This gives rise to the theory of smooth transition vs. disruptive transition. A smooth transition is a gradual and planned change that produces a stable outcome while a disruptive transition is an unexpected and sudden change that may result in destabilization. This can be used to evaluate the impacts of a particular school’s settings, as mentioned by Dr. Cimpian. We can see if there is evidence of a smooth transition from one setting to the next step or threshold or if it results in a disruptive transition, resulting in destabilization, which would then garner a deeper investigation into the source of the disconnect. This, in turn, can help policymakers determine their policies and even realign policies that may have been misaligned before. Policymakers can then readjust their policies to address the disconnect.

References:

Reschly, D. J. (1988). Special Education Reform: School Psychology Revolution. School Psychology Review, 17(3), 459–475. https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.1988.12085362

Jason A. Okonofua et al. When policy and psychology meet: Mitigating the consequences of bias in schools.Sci. Adv.6,eaba9479(2020).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aba9479

Woodhead, M. (1988). When psychology informs public policy: The case of early childhood intervention. American Psychologist, 43(6), 443–454. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.43.6.443

Li,C. (2024). A Study of the Application of Educational Psychology to Educational Practice. Communications in Humanities Research,46,7-11.

Walberg, H. J., & Anderson, G. J. (1968). Classroom climate and individual learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 59(6, Pt.1), 414–419. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0026490