A project was developed to introduce the core principles of repeated-measures designs. Using the levels of processing approach to memory, students are prompted to engage in either shallow, moderate, or deep processing of 54 common nouns. An unexpected recall task then measures the number of words remembered in each condition. Data from 293…

Flipped classrooms are gaining popularity, especially in psychology statistics courses. However, not all courses lend themselves to a fully flipped design, and some instructors might not want to commit to flipping every class. We tested the effectiveness of flipping just one component (a module on junk science) of a large methods course. We…

Research has shown that plagiarism is on the increase in higher education. Some state that this is due to poor knowledge rather than intentional cheating. Other researchers explain that plagiarism is on the rise due to increased competitiveness in college and easy access to work that has already been completed. In this study, we show how a 2-hr…

This study implemented the components of interteaching as a probe to teach American Psychological Association (APA) Style to undergraduate university students in a psychology research methods and statistics course. The interteaching method was compared to the traditional lecture-based approach between two sections of the course with the same…

Hybrid or blended learning (BL) has been shown to be equivalent to or better than face-to-face (FTF) instruction in a broad variety of contexts. We randomly assigned students to either 50/50 BL or 100% FTF versions of a research methods and statistics in psychology course. Students who took the BL version of the course scored significantly lower…

We tested the effectiveness of a course-long intervention in an undergraduate Research Methods course aimed toward reducing students' endorsement of hostile sexism (HS) and benevolent sexism (BS). Reading assignments illustrating diverse research methodologies, lecture examples, and a hands-on research project designed by student teams focused on…

The current investigation tested the effectiveness of an online student research project designed to supplement traditional methods (e.g., lectures, discussions, and assigned readings) of teaching research methods in a large-enrollment Introduction to Psychology course. Over the course of the semester, students completed seven assignments, each…

Previous research demonstrates that psychology courses have the potential to reduce students' biases (e.g., biases against women). In the current research, we hypothesized that taking a seminar-style course on the self (as compared to a research methods course) could reduce students' typically biased views of the self (i.e., unrealistically…

To address the issue of plagiarism, students in two undergraduate Research Methods and Analysis courses conducted, analyzed, and wrote up original research on the topic of plagiarism. Students in an otherwise identical course completed the same assignments but examined a different research topic. At the start and end of the semester, all students…

Undergraduate psychology majors (N = 51) at a mid-sized private university took a statistics examination on the first day of the research methods course, a course for which a grade of "C" or higher in statistics is a prerequisite. Students who had taken a problem-based learning (PBL) section of the statistics course (n = 15) were compared to those…

Developing students who can apply their knowledge of empirical research is a key outcome of the undergraduate psychology major. This learning outcome was assessed in two research methods courses by having students read and analyze a condensed empirical journal article. At the start and end of the semester, students in multiple sections of an…

We assessed changes in paranormal beliefs and general critical thinking skills among students (n = 23) enrolled in an experimental course designed to teach distinguishing science from pseudoscience and a comparison group of students (n = 30) in an advanced research methods course. On average, both courses were successful in reducing paranormal…

To determine whether a classroom experiment improved the learning of experimental method, at the start of the semester 2 introductory psychology classes took a 10-question multiple-choice pretest on experimental method. Two days later, before the instructor covered the relevant material in the course, 1 class took part in a classroom experiment on…

Critical thinking is a valued educational outcome; however, little is known about whether psychology courses, especially ones such as research methods courses that might be expected to promote critical thinking skills, actually improve them. We compared the acquisition of critical thinking skills for analyzing psychological arguments in 3 groups…

Researchers rarely mention statistical power in "Teaching of Psychology" teaching activity studies. Insufficiently powered tests promote uncertainty in the decision to accept or reject the tested null hypothesis and influence the interpretation of results. We analyzed the a priori power of statistical tests from 197 teaching activity effectiveness…