Educational Psychology and Pedagogical Expertise: New Findings and New Opportunities for Thinking About Training

Abstract

Studies of the way expert and novice teachers differ yield implications about the substantive and methodological training programs needed for educational psychologists who wish to study teaching. There appears to be a greater need for the next generation of educational psychologists to have knowledge of a subject matter field and to have a developmental perspective. They also need an awareness of the social context of learning. They should have training in the methodologies uniquely associated with cognitive psychology and qualitative research and experience with alternative forms of student and teacher assessment. They will also need to better understand how case and procedural knowledge are acquired and develop.