Under faculty supervision, a college student enrolled in a "Sensation and Perception" course constructed a light box, which generated some surprising and interesting color effects. (RM)

Discusses a student project for psychology courses in which students collect newspaper clippings that illustrate psychological concepts. Explains that the students record the source and write a brief description of the clipping, explaining how it relates to a psychological concept or theory. Includes results of student evaluations of the…

Describes a psychology course in which magical illusions were used for teaching the principles of sensation and perception. Students read psychological, philosophical, historical, and magical literature on illusion, performed a magical illusion, and analyzed the illusion in terms of the psychological principles involved. (Author/KC)

Describes a research project which demonstrates to college-level psychology students the differences between experimental and correlational research methods. The project consisted of an examination of the relationships between rewards and helping and costs and helping in a nonemergency situation. (Author/KC)

Outlines a research methods course which stresses experiential learning through a variety of projects in which students learn the major aspects of experimentation. An in-class study, research project, proposal, and class analysis are discussed. (KC)

Offers an alternative to traditional term paper assignments in which poster sessions were used to promote collaborative learning, creativity, and develop research and communication skills. Provides guidelines for conducting poster sessions and their various applications. Finds students prefer poster sessions to traditional term papers. (NL)

One difficulty in teaching service courses such as psychology of adolescence is maintaining the interest of nonmajors without sacrificing course-relevant content. Described is a project that overcomes this problem by requiring students to observe some type of media (e.g., television) and determine the extent to which particular themes occur.…

Students ask five individuals what three terms or words come to mind when they hear the term old person. The student prepares an overall list and frequency count of responses. Students present their findings to the class. Each response is discussed and its connotation (e.g., negative, positive, neutral) determined. (RM)

College psychology students were required to make contact with an organization and obtain permission to conduct a job satisfaction survey with its employees, develop questionnaires, collect data, and compile an "Executive Summary" which was given to the organization and then presented in class. (RM)

Reports on a study of 110 students in advanced undergraduate psychology courses to assess their retrospective impressions about their introductory psychology course, current course selections and performance, and future academic plans. Finds that students who had participated in a science fair gave significantly higher ratings. (CFR)

Brief descriptions are offered of activities relevant to teaching the history of psychology. Suggestions range from simple demonstrations requiring no materials to more extensive projects. Reconstruction of early laboratory instruments such as the projection lantern, demonstrations of psychological concepts, and studies of associative processes…

Describes a research project for high school students in which they write to an important figure in psychology to ascertain their contributions to the field. Students sent letters to 113 psychologists and received replies from 72 of them. Reports students were enthusiastic about the project. (NL)

Reports on a classroom project in which college-level psychology students developed a institutionwide course ratings questionnaire. Describes the data gathering, item development, and pilot testing phases of the project. Concludes that the students learned about tests and measurements by doing the project and that the institution benefited from…

The portfolio writing assignment given to students in a life span developmental psychology course required that they complete 10-15 typewritten pages of writing for the course. Students were allowed to choose their own projects; for example, they might write about an interview they had conducted, or discuss an outside reading. (RM)

Weekly projects designed for an introductory psychology telecourse encourage student involvement in psychology. Each project consists of a set of instructions for a psychological study using family, friends, and other telecourse students as subjects, discussion partners, or coresearchers. All collaboration is done over the telephone. Examples of…