Pedagogical psychology: beyond the 21st century

Citation: Reevy GM and Bursten SN (2015) Pedagogical psychology: beyond the 21st century. Front. Psychol. 6:280. The need of a society to educate its young in order to help them become valuable members of that society was likely recognized even before historical records began accumulating. The classic philosophers recognized this need even as they thought about other issues (Tweed and Lehman, 2002). However, it appears that pedagogical theory has remained relatively stagnant, focusing on the teaching-by-lecture model until well into the 20th century (Landrum, 2009; Berrett, 2014). As governments and citizenry began realizing that older methods of education were not optimally preparing students to become productive and self-fulfilling members of society, societies began examining older approaches to education and new, hopefully more effective methods have been developed. This special topic in Frontiers in Educational Psychology presents papers that exemplify only a few of the emerging theoretical and applied approaches toward pedagogy that aim to produce the competent graduates society expects from its learning institutions. Rather than focusing on pedagogical issues directly relevant to classic classroom content (e.g., basic skills, foundations of chemistry or history), the articles presented here focus on ideas which can form a basis for emerging and future applications. Thus, instead of bringing together articles which share an easily identifiable common theme, the articles in this issue are connected by an overarching goal—presenting new and sometimes untried approaches. Several papers in this issue discuss the use of virtual agents or virtual reality in teaching. Macedo-nia, Groher, and Roithmayr show that second language instruction, particularly of vocabulary, can be more efficient through utilizing an intelligent virtual agent (IVA) than through using a human as the instructor. In an opinion piece, Repetto agrees with Macedonia et al. that IVAs are a promising vehicle for teaching second languages, and that the teaching and investigation of second language learning could be further enhanced through utilizing virtual reality. As Repetto describes, using virtual reality means that the learner is engaged in physical movement while learning, which bolsters memory. In a third paper Macedonia reviews research on use of gestures while learning the vocabulary of a second language, presenting evidence of the positive effects of movement while learning language. Although the articles focus on language learning, the principles described by these authors could apply to learning in other areas. Schmaltz and Lilienfeld discuss an engaging way to teach critical thinking. They suggest presenting pseudoscience …