Editing Educational psychology (section)

===Developmental===
{{Main|Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development}}
[[Developmental psychology]], and especially the psychology of cognitive development, opens a special perspective for educational psychology. This is so because education and the psychology of cognitive development converge on a number of crucial assumptions. First, the psychology of cognitive development defines human cognitive competence at successive phases of development. Education aims to help students acquire knowledge and develop skills that are compatible with their understanding and problem-solving capabilities at different ages. Thus, knowing the students' level on a developmental sequence provides information on the kind and level of knowledge they can assimilate, which, in turn, can be used as a frame for organizing the subject matter to be taught at different school grades. This is the reason why [[Piaget's theory of cognitive development]] was so influential for education, especially mathematics and science education.<ref>Furth, H.G. & Wachs, H. (1975). ''Thinking goes to school: Piaget's theory in practice''. Oxford: Oxford University Press</ref> In the same direction, the [[neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development]] suggest that in addition to the concerns above, sequencing of concepts and skills in teaching must take account of the processing and [[working memory]] capacities that characterize successive age levels.<ref>Demetriou, A. & Valanides, N. (1998). A three-level theory of the developing mind: Basic principles and implications for instruction and assessment. In R.J. Sternberg & W.M. Williams (Eds.), ''Intelligence, instruction, and assessment'' (pp. 149–99). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.</ref><ref name="Demetriou, A. 2010">Demetriou, A.; Spanoudis, G. & Mouyi, A. (2010). A Three-level Model of the Developing Mind: Functional and Neuronal Substantiation. In M. Ferrari and L. Vuletic (Eds.), ''The Developmental Relations between Mind, Brain, and Education: Essays in Honor of Robbie Case''. New York: Springer.</ref>

Second, the psychology of [[cognitive development]] involves understanding how [[cognitive]] change takes place and recognizing the factors and processes which enable cognitive competence to develop. [[Education]] also capitalizes on [[cognitive]] change, because the construction of knowledge presupposes effective teaching methods that would move the student from a lower to a higher level of understanding. Mechanisms such as reflection on actual or [[Mind|mental]] actions vis-à-vis alternative solutions to problems, tagging new concepts or solutions to symbols that help one recall and mentally manipulate them are just a few examples of how mechanisms of cognitive development may be used to facilitate learning.<ref name="Demetriou, A. 2010"/><ref>Case, R. (1985). ''Intellectual development: Birth to adulthood.'' New York: Academic Press.</ref>

Finally, the psychology of cognitive development is concerned with individual differences in the organization of cognitive processes and abilities, in their rate of change, and in their mechanisms of change. The principles underlying intra- and inter-individual differences could be educationally useful, because knowing how students differ in regard to the various dimensions of cognitive development, such as processing and representational capacity, self-understanding and self-regulation, and the various domains of understanding, such as mathematical, scientific, or verbal abilities, would enable the teacher to cater for the needs of the different students so that no one is left behind.<ref name="Demetriou, A. 2010"/><ref>Case, R. (1992). The role of central conceptual structures in the development of children's mathematical and scientific thought. In A. Demetriou, M. Shayer, & A. Efklides (Eds.), ''Neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development: Implications and applications to education'' (pp. 52–65). London: Routledge.</ref>