EDUC3310A Psychology Applied to Learning and Teaching

2015-2016 First Semester (2 units)

Lecture Hours: Monday and Wednesday 2:30 pm - 4:15 pm (105 min.)
Lecture Room: Hui Yeung Shing Building G05 (Monday) and Esther Lee Building 203 (Wednesday)
Teachers contact details
Instructor: Prof. TSE Chi Shing, Office: 314 Ho Tim Building, Phone: 3943-6751
E-Mail: cstse@cuhk.edu.hk, Office Hours: By appointment
Course description and contents
This course provides a general overview on theories of learning in psychological science and their implications for
teaching. The following topics are introduced:
Psychological theories of learning
Basic cognitive processes: attention and memory
Higher-order cognition and metacognition
Cognition and instruction
Classroom assessments
Classroom management and motivation
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course, you are expected to be able to:
Demonstrate an understanding of major psychological theories of learning
Apply knowledge of basic cognitive processes (attention and memory) to educational settings
Describe higher-order cognition and use metacognitive strategies to improve educational practices
Develop knowledge of assessment strategies and use them to improve classroom learning and teaching
Acquire basic concepts of classroom management and school discipline
Apply effective strategies to foster students motivation
Learning activities: Lecture 50% + Class test 20% + Group project 30%
Through the lectures, instructors introduce the psychological theories of learning and their key findings in
educational psychology.
Through the class tests, students demonstrate how much they have learned regarding the subject matters.
Through the group project, students apply what they have learned in educational settings, such as formulating
effective learning and teaching strategies.

Learning resources for students

Lecture Notes: Preliminary lecture notes will be uploaded to Blackboard website. You need to print out and bring
them to the class.
Textbook: Ormrod, J.E. (2014). Essentials of educational psychology: Big ideas to guide effective teaching (3rd
Ed.Pearson New International Edition). UK: Pearson. ISBN: 978-1-292-02620-6. Some older-edition copies of the
book are on 4-hour reserve in the Chung Chi College Library (http://library.cuhk.edu.hk/record=b4086329~S15). You
may order the book at the University Bookstore.
Here are some suggested reference books in Chinese:

Feedback for evaluation: email exchanges and course-end evaluation

Assessment scheme
Two Class Tests (25% + 35%): You will take the tests in a half-/whole-class period (Sep 30 and Oct 28). Both tests will
be in English. The format will be in multiple-choice and/or short-answer questions, which will test what you have
learned in the course through lecture notes, required readings, and what I talked about in the classes.
Group Project (40%): You should form groups of 4-6 students and send me the name lists no later than the 4th lesson
(Sep 16, Wed). Please contact me if you cannot do that.
1.

Find a topic in learning and teaching that you want to learn more about (see Appendix for the titles of some
former students projectsno direct recycling, please). Bear in mind: it does not have to be something covered
in lectures or textbook, it should be specific enough that you can work on it in some depth, and it may involve
kindergarten students, primary school students, secondary school students, or university students.

2.

Project Proposal (4%): Your group should submit a project proposal to me by Oct 5 (Mon, 6 pm). Word limit =
1000 words. You must save your work in a Word .doc file (i.e., not .docx or .pdf file) and send that to me via
email. You will need to provide at least three references, which will not be included in the word count. I will give
you feedback to make sure that your project topic would be on the right track. You may also make
appointments and discuss with me about your group project - either a group or individual meeting is fine.

3.

Project Essay (36%): Please complete your project essay (20-page max. excluding references) in the format of
the template file (which is posted on the E-Learning website). It can be in Chinese or English. You must save
your work in a Word .doc file (i.e., not .docx or .pdf file) and send that to me via email (see also Academic
honesty and plagiarism part). You may specify the contribution of each group member for the project essay if
you want. Due date: Dec 16 (Wed, 6 pm). Here is the marking scheme:

Focused and thorough literature review and your research hypotheses (10%); Methodology of your study (6%);
Results, Discussion, and Limitations of your study (10%); Implications of your findings on teaching/education
(6%); Organization and Clarity (4%).

Lateness penalty for all assignments: 10% off per day. You only need to send me soft copies of your assignments.
Citing references: As a general rule of thumb, avoid quoting directly, but to express ideas in your own words instead.
You should put your citations in the References section in an alphabetical order, in the following format, e.g.,
Pu, X., & Tse, C.-S. (2014). The influence of intentional versus incidental retrieval practices on the role of
recollection in test-enhanced learning. Cognitive Processing, 15, 55-64.
Tse, C.-S., & Pu, X. (2012). Testing effects for novel word learning in Chinese-English bilinguals. In J. Altarriba and
L. Isurin (Eds.) Memory and language: Theoretical and applied approaches to bilingualism (pp. 256-290). New
York: Cambridge University Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
For website reference, the format is: [Author/Organization Name] ([Year]). Document Name. Retrieved online at
[URL], e.g., HKCSD (2011). Summary Results of the 2011 Population Census in Hong Kong. Retrieved online at
www.census2011.gov.hk/pdf/summary-results.pdf

If you want to cite my lecture notes in your project essay, please add the following in your reference list: Tse, C.-S.
(2015). Psychology Applied to Learning and Teaching Lecture Notes. Hong Kong: CUHK.
There are journal article online databases (in CUHK library) that may be useful for your literature search.
For English journal articles: PsycINFO (http://library.cuhk.edu.hk/record=b2419509~S15) and ISI Web of
Knowledge (Social Science Citation Index) (http://library.cuhk.edu.hk/record=b1937532~S15)
For Chinese journal articles:
(http://library.cuhk.edu.hk/record=b2269106~S3)
Course schedule
Class
Date
1

Sep 7 (Mon)

Sep 9 (Wed)

Sep 14 (Mon)

Sep 16 (Wed)

Sep 21 (Mon)

Sep 23 (Wed)

Sep 30& (Wed)

Oct 5@ (Mon)

Oct 7 (Wed)

10

Oct 12 (Mon)

11

Oct 14 (Wed)

12

Oct 19 (Mon)

13

Oct 26 (Mon)

14

Oct 28& (Wed)

Topic

Reading

Orientation & General Introduction

Chap. 1

Cognitive Theories of Learning

Chap. 2 & 5

Learning Strategies

Chap. 3

High-Order Cognition

Chap. 4

Instructional Strategies

Chap. 8

Assessment Techniques

Chap. 9

Classroom Management

Chap. 10

Motivation

Chap. 6

Oct 5: Due date for your project proposal. & Sep 30 and Oct 28: Class tests.
Sep 28 and Oct 21: Holiday. Dec 16 (Wed, 6 pm): Due date for your project essay.
Grade descriptors
Grade
Overall Performance
A
Outstanding performance on all six learning outcomes
B
High performance on at least four learning outcomes
C
D
F

Good performance on at least three learning outcomes

Satisfactory performance on at least two learning outcomes
Unsatisfactory performance on most of learning outcomes, or failure to meet specified assessment
requirements

Academic honesty and plagiarism: Attention is drawn to University policy and regulations on honesty in academic
work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details
may be found at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.
Every assignment handed in should be accompanied by a signed declaration as below. All members of the same

group should sign the declaration for your project essay. For assignments in the form of a computer-generated
document that is principally text-based and submitted via Veriguide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be
issued by the system upon students uploading of the soft copy of the assignment. Assignments without the receipt
will not be graded. Only the final version of assignment should be submitted via Veriguide.
1.

A representative of each group must upload before the due date a soft copy of the completed project essay to
the plagiarism detection engine Veriguide, at the URL: http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/veriguide. You do not need to
submit the project proposal through Veriguide.

2.

The system will issue a receipt which also contains a declaration of honesty, which is the same as that in
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/p09.htm. The declaration should be signed and the receipt
should be sent to my mailbox (A2) on the G/F of Ho Tim Building, mailed to me via post, or sent to me via email:
cstse@cuhk.edu.hk before the due date of your project essay.

I declare that the assignment here submitted is original except for source material explicitly acknowledged, the same
or closely related material has not been previously submitted for same or different courses, and that the submitted
soft copy with details listed in the <Submission Details> is identical to the hard copy, if any, which has been
submitted. I also acknowledge that I am aware of University policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and
of the disciplinary guidelines and procedures applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations, as contained in
the website http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.
___________________
Signature

___________________
Date

___________________
Name

___________________
Student ID

__________________
Course code

________________________________________
Course title

Appendix: Titles of some former students projects

Effect of different types of background music and students perception on reading comprehension performance
The effect of extrinsic rewards on students intrinsic motivation

The impact of teachers dressing on students

Academic motivation and learning strategies of students under streaming

Relationships between time-of-day instruction and learning performance of students

Strategies of promoting positive peer relationship among students by teachers
A case study on learned helplessness and its factors among Hong Kong learners in English