Education Educational Psychology

Educational Psychology

A practical guide to how learners think, develop, and succeed in classrooms

Quick Course Facts

Self-paced, Online, Lessons

Videos and/or Narrated Presentations

5.4

Approximate Hours of Course Media

About the Educational Psychology Course

Educational Psychology is a practical guide to how learners think, develop, and succeed in classrooms, designed to help you connect theory with everyday teaching decisions. This course shows how Education is shaped by memory, motivation, behaviour, development, and wellbeing so you can better support every learner.

Apply Educational Psychology To Improve Learning Outcomes

Understand the core ideas and scope of Educational Psychology in modern Education
Explore major learning theories and how they influence classroom practice
Learn how development, memory, and motivation affect student progress
Use evidence-based strategies to support behaviour, inclusion, and achievement

A practical guide to how learners think, develop, and succeed in classrooms through evidence-based Educational Psychology.

Throughout the course, you will examine the foundations of Educational Psychology and see how it helps explain what happens when learners engage with new material, respond to feedback, and grow over time. You will study behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism, then connect those theories to teaching strategies that improve retention, engagement, and understanding in real Educational settings.

The course also explores human development, individual differences, intelligence, aptitude, and common misconceptions about learning, giving you a clearer picture of why students progress at different rates. You will build practical insight into classroom behaviour, routines, expectations, and the role of environment, while also learning how assessment and feedback can guide improvement.

In addition, you will discover how spacing, retrieval, and practice support memory-friendly teaching, and how to adapt support for learners with additional needs, including SEND. The course examines language, literacy, social context, culture, wellbeing, and stress so you can better understand the psychological conditions that shape achievement. By the end, you will think more confidently about learner needs and make more informed decisions that strengthen success in classrooms.

Course Lessons

Full lesson breakdown

Lessons are organized by topic area and each includes descriptive copy for search visibility and student clarity.

Foundations and scope

1 lesson

Lesson 1: What Educational Psychology Studies

18 min Preview

Educational psychology studies how people learn, develop, and respond to teaching in real educational settings. In this lesson, learners will see the field as a practical bridge between psychology and…

Behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism

1 lesson

Lesson 2: Theories of Learning in Practice

20 min

This lesson explains three major theories of learning that shape classroom practice: behaviourism , cognitivism , and constructivism . Students will see how each theory answers a different question ab…

Cognitive, social, and emotional development

1 lesson

Lesson 3: Human Development and Learning Stages

20 min

This lesson explains how cognitive, social, and emotional development shape learning across childhood and adolescence. Students will learn what changes are typical at different stages, how those chang…

How learners take in and retain knowledge

1 lesson

Lesson 4: Memory, Attention, and Information Processing

22 min

This lesson explains how learners pay attention , encode information , and retrieve knowledge later. You will see why memory is not a single skill but a chain of processes: noticing information, holdi…

Why learners persist or disengage

1 lesson

Lesson 5: Motivation and Student Engagement

20 min

This lesson explains why learners persist or disengage by looking at motivation as a combination of goals, expectations, value, and classroom conditions. Students stay engaged when they believe effort…

Ability, readiness, and learning variation

1 lesson

Lesson 6: Individual Differences and Learning Profiles

18 min

This lesson explains why learners in the same classroom can respond very differently to the same instruction. You will examine ability , readiness , and common patterns of learning variation so you ca…

What these constructs mean in education

1 lesson

Lesson 7: Intelligence, Aptitude, and Misconceptions

18 min

This lesson clarifies three ideas that are often mixed together in education: intelligence , aptitude , and the misconceptions people form about both. Students do better when teachers and learners und…

Understanding conduct and response patterns

1 lesson

Lesson 8: Behaviour in the Classroom

20 min

This lesson examines behaviour in the classroom as a visible response to learning demands, peer dynamics, and classroom routines. Learners will distinguish between behaviour as communication and behav…

Routines, expectations, and environment

1 lesson

Lesson 9: Classroom Management Through a Psychological Lens

22 min

Classroom management is not just about control; it is about designing conditions that make learning easier to start, sustain, and recover when it gets disrupted. In this lesson, Professor Charles Knig…

Using evidence to support improvement

1 lesson

Lesson 10: Assessment, Feedback, and Learning Progress

20 min

This lesson explains how assessment and feedback can be used to improve learning, not just measure it. You will learn the difference between formative and summative assessment, how to interpret eviden…

Spacing, retrieval, and practice

1 lesson

Lesson 11: Memory-Friendly Teaching Strategies

22 min

This lesson introduces three of the most reliable memory-friendly teaching strategies: spacing , retrieval practice , and distributed practice . Professor Charles Knight shows how these ideas help lea…

Inclusion, SEND, and targeted support

1 lesson

Lesson 12: Supporting Learners with Additional Needs

22 min

This lesson explores how teachers can support learners with additional needs in inclusive classrooms. It focuses on recognising barriers to learning, using targeted adjustments, and building a classro…

Communication as a foundation for achievement

1 lesson

Lesson 13: Language, Literacy, and Learning

18 min

Language is more than a school subject: it is the main tool students use to think, ask questions, show understanding, and participate in learning. In this lesson, you will see how oral language, vocab…

How environment shapes outcomes

1 lesson

Lesson 14: Social Context, Culture, and School Experience

20 min

This lesson explains how social context , culture , and school experience shape learning, behavior, and achievement. Learners do not enter classrooms as blank slates; they bring language, norms, relat…

The psychological conditions for learning

1 lesson

Lesson 15: Wellbeing, Stress, and Emotional Factors

18 min

This lesson explains how wellbeing, stress, and emotions shape learning readiness, attention, memory, and classroom behavior. It focuses on the practical conditions that help students feel safe, regul…

From theory to instructional decisions

1 lesson

Lesson 16: Applying Educational Psychology in Real Classrooms

24 min

This lesson shows how educational psychology moves from theory into everyday teaching choices. You will learn how to translate ideas about motivation, attention, memory, development, and feedback into…

About Your Instructor

Professor Charles Knight

Professor Charles Knight guides this AI-built Virversity course with a clear, practical teaching style.