Graduate minor in educational psychology: emphasis in psychological foundations of education

Skip to main content

College of Education and Human Development

Department of Educational Psychology

Graduate minor in educational psychology: emphasis in psychological foundations of education

The Department of Educational Psychology offers a minor in educational psychology with an emphasis in psychological foundations of education. The coursework connected to the minor focuses on cognitive and social-emotional development, including high-level cognition and factors shaping and enhancing learning throughout the lifespan, and the development, deployment, and evaluation of educational technologies. Please be aware students’ University transcripts will show the minor in educational psychology was successfully completed, but will not show that the emphasis was in psychological foundations of education.

MA requirements

You must complete at least six credits of educational psychology (EPSY) coursework at the graduate level. All six credits must come from the psychological foundations of education course list below.

PhD requirements

You must complete at least 12 credits of educational psychology (EPSY) coursework at the graduate level. At least nine credits must be at the 8xxx-level, and at least nine credits must come from the psychological foundations of education list below.

General requirements

Students seeking the minor cannot use the S-N grading option for any of their courses. Students must obtain at least a grade of a B in every course. For credits or courses that must come from the psychological foundations of education course list below, no substitutions will be permitted. Also, no courses can be used to satisfy both a requirement for a minor and a requirement for a major.

Course options

Learning / cognition courses

  • EPSY 5101 - Intelligence and Creativity (3 cr)
  • EPSY 5113 - Psychology of Instruction and Technology (3 cr)
  • EPSY 5114 - Psychology of Student Learning (3 cr)
  • EPSY 5119 - Mind, Brain, and Education (3 cr)
  • EPSY 5191 - Education of the Gifted and Talented (3 cr)
  • EPSY 8112 - Mathematical Cognition (3 cr)
  • EPSY 8113 - The Psychology of Scientific Reasoning (3 cr)
  • EPSY 8116 - Reading for Meaning: Cognitive Processes in the Comprehension of Texts (3 cr)
  • EPSY 8118 - Advanced Cognitive Psychology (3 cr)

Social / development courses

  • EPSY 5151 - Cooperative Learning (3 cr)
  • EPSY 5135 - Human Relations Workshop (4 cr)
  • EPSY 5157 - Social Psychology of Education (3 cr)
  • EPSY 8157 - Key Topics and Issues in Applying Social Psychology to Education (3 cr)

Seminars and special topics

  • EPSY 5200 - Special Topics: Psychological Foundations
  • EPSY 8114 - Seminar: Cognition and Learning (3 cr)
  • EPSY 8290 - Special Topics: Seminar in Psychological Foundations (1-6 cr)

General courses

  • EPSY 5122 - Programming Fundamentals for Social Science Research (3 cr)
  • EPSY 5123 - Programming Workflows for Psychological Research (3 cr)
  • EPSY 5216 - Introduction to Research in Educational Psychology and Human Development (3 cr)
  • EPSY 8117 - Writing Empirical Paper and Research/Grant Proposals in Education and Psychology (3 cr)
  • EPSY 8216 - Research Processes in Psychological Foundations of Education (3 cr)
  • EPSY 8905 - History and Systems of Psychology: Landmark Issues in Educational Psychology (3 cr)

Note: EPSY 5001 is intentionally excluded from this list.

Contact

Students interested in a minor in educational psychology with an emphasis in psychological foundations of education should contact epsy-adm@umn.edu for additional information.