Educational Psychology: perspectives for the next century

Abstract

With a few months to go for the beginning of the twenty-first century, a retrospective look at the century that is ending suggests it has been rich in technology and poor in human and social development. It is in this context that the role played by the science of Psychology is invoked. Psychology, which from its inception has had its unity questioned, shared the same rationality that illuminated modern science. However, this dominant paradigm is undergoing a process of rupture. A new epistemological confidence is currently arising in research and practice of Psychology whichredefines the role of culture, generates methodological approaches and demands from the educational psychologist a profound understanding of the educational phenomenon.