Continuities and discontinuities: Future directions for research in educational psychology

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to suggest future directions for research in educational psychology as we enter our second hundred years of psychology in America. The basic theme is that there are both continuities and discontinuities in our development from the early days of Hall, Thorndike, James, and Dewey to the current multiplicity of perspectives represented in educational psychology. Eight issues are presented that will guide future research directions. They include. (a) specifying basic constructs; (b) developing integrative models and linkages between constructs; (c) returning to the problems of acquisition, learning, and transfer; (d) applying models from the sciences and mathematics; (e) dealing with the discontinuity of contextual and cultural models; (0 including content and disciplinary perspectives; (g) adapting to diversity; and (h) developing multiple perspectives an the unit of analysis issue. The article concludes with a call for the allowance of multiple perspectives and multiple possible selves for educational psychologists while maintaining a commitment to psychological models and the improvement of education.