Educational psychology helps us understand how students think, process information, and acquire knowledge. Specifically in cognitive learning, it examines mental processes such as attention, memory, problem-solving, and metacognition. This understanding allows educators to design instruction that aligns with how students naturally learn.

Educational psychology provides empirical evidence through experiments, classroom observations, and longitudinal studies. Key findings include: spacing effect, Cognitive load theory and metacognition research.

Educational psychology provides a conceptual framework to interpret learning processes. Key theories include: Information Processing theory, constructivist theory (Piaget,Bruner) and Metacognition (Flavell).

References

Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive–developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34(10), 906–911. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.34.10.906

Piaget, J. (1970). Science of education and the psychology of the child. Orion Press.

Sweller, J., Ayres, P., & Kalyuga, S. (2011). Cognitive load theory. Springer.

Bruner, J. S. (1966). Toward a theory of instruction. Harvard University Press.

Mayer, R. E. (2019). Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (3rd ed., pp. 31–61). Cambridge University Press.

Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354