Five Educational Books On Psychology You Should Read

Despite being a little-known discipline in everyday society, educational books have great potential. We can learn about this potential by reading the best books on psychology.

Many theorists have contributed to this branch of psychology. The books we are talking about in this article are written in a common framework based on social constructivism. This theoretical perspective is important because it helps us to understand education from its broadest points.

The Unschooled Mind by Howard Gardner, a basic book on psychology

The book’s subtitle is: “How children think and how schools should learn”. This book explains children’s intuitive theories. Above all, it focuses on the importance of breaking away from previous teaching methods in order to achieve true learning.

It is one of the basic educational books on psychology. It shows us that today’s learning methods rarely succeed. Instead, they focus on memorization and superficial learning.

Due to this learning style, students develop a form of “double thinking”. This means that students respond to problems correctly in academic contexts, but they return to their uninformed theories of real-life situations.

This book is especially important because Gardner supports his conclusions with many experiments and studies. In addition, he also introduces us to a comprehensive bibliography that supports his interpretation of the results.

Psychology and Pedagogy by Vygotsky, Luria and Leontiev

Although the book cover bears the names Vygotsky, Luria and Leontiev, this book is in fact a collection of reports from many authors. This book shows us a revolutionary education system that is completely different from what we are used to in today’s society.

These psychologists believe that education should not be motivated by economic forces. The goal of education should not be to create a workforce. For them, education is a tool for developing the individual’s intellectual potential.

Because it helps to break away from dogmas, this is one of the best educational books on psychology. It presents many studies that support the argument: a classroom without hierarchies, where open debate and individual instruction are prioritized, leads to incredible results.

Chomsky on Mis-Education by Noam Chomsky

Some may say that this book is not part of the other educational books on psychology. This is because it is about the political aspects of education. Still, it is a book that can help you understand education in the broadest sense of the word. Noam Chomsky gives us an insight that is definitely worth reading.

In this book, Chomsky explains how the system uses education to stay stable. He tells in detail his thoughts on current mistakes in the education system, which may not be wrong for some people. This is because they allow the system to stay frozen in a stable power structure that holds each person in place.

Chomsky uses the actions of the United States in Latin America as an example. He shares the propaganda that the media helps to distort from the reality of events. Propaganda makes the United States look like a messenger of justice and truth.

The Culture of Education by Jerome Bruner

Bruner is one of the theorists who started a revolution in cognitive psychology. His studies paved the way for leaving extremely mechanical and computational perspectives behind. He promoted a sociocultural view of facts. This author understood that if you want to understand people, you can not separate them from their social environment.

In this book we find a detailed explanation of the social constructivist perspective on education. It shows us how important a cultural framework is, and how it affects different education systems. This is a very interesting perspective, as it helps us understand how these influences affect education.

This is a basic book because it teaches us how culture and education create our reality. It also presents the idea that both culture and form of education are engines of social change.

Experience and Education by John Dewey

John Dewey was one of the fathers of educational psychology. Although his works are around 100 years old, they contain some revolutionary ideas about education.

In experience and education, the author shows us a reconstruction of today’s pedagogical models based on a constructivist paradigm. His pedagogical model focuses on a concept that lies at the heart of his pedagogical thoughts: the continuity of experience. For him, education is only correct when it promotes future pedagogical experience. If education involves stagnation, it is not education.

Experience and Education is one of the best educational psychology books. Despite having a limited selection, it criticizes traditional and progressive educational models.

Why read educational books on psychology?

You should definitely read these books on educational psychology if you want to learn more about it. They will also introduce you to the author’s suggestions for quality training.