The introductory psychology (Intro Psych) course is the bedrock of the psychology major and the front face of our discipline. The class not only provides a foundation for students in the major but also provides a comprehensive portrait of the discipline for nonmajors. Despite a sizable body of research focused on pedagogy related to the…

This article is concerned with the recent debate about the identity of psychology's lost boy-Little Albert, the infant subject in Watson and Rayner's classic experiment on fear conditioning. For decades, psychologists and psychology students have been intrigued by the mystery of Albert's fate. Now two evidentiary-based solutions to…

Theories of learning styles suggest that individuals think and learn best in different ways. These are not differences of ability but rather preferences for processing certain types of information or for processing information in certain types of way. If accurate, learning styles theories could have important implications for instruction because…

College students have been increasingly demanding warnings and accommodations in relation to course topics they believe will elicit strong, negative emotions. These "trigger warnings" are highly relevant to Abnormal Psychology because of the sensitive topics covered in the course (e.g., suicide, trauma, sex). A survey of Abnormal…

Discussing socioeconomic status in college classes can be challenging. Both teachers and students feel uncomfortable, yet social class matters more than ever. This is especially true, given increased income inequality in the United States and indications that higher education does not reduce this inequality as much as many people hope. Resources…

Classroom demonstrations of empirically supported learning and memory strategies have the potential to boost students' knowledge about their own memory and convince them to change the way they approach memory tasks in and beyond the classroom. Students in a "Human Learning and Memory" course learned about the "Method of Loci"…

Using a surplus of older laboratory instruments, 48 students in a learning and behavior course completed an assignment designed to provide an introduction to the history and use of some instruments in psychology. Students worked in pairs, were assigned one instrument, and created labels in which they identified several keys characteristics of an…

A capstone experience serves as a culminating exercise for students to assimilate the information learned in a course and to realize how to use the material and skills in different contexts. Both majors and nonmajors benefit from having the material in the introductory course consolidated in such a way, for later study in the field and to more…

We developed a two-semester series of intensive (six-contact hours per week) behavioral research methods courses with an integrated statistics curriculum. Our approach includes the use of team-based learning, authentic projects, and Excel and SPSS. We assessed the effectiveness of our approach by examining our students' content area scores on the…

During the past decades, little research has investigated the effects of immersion scheduling on the psychology classroom. Therefore, we sought to compare academic performance of students in 2-week immersion psychology courses to that of students in traditional 16-week courses. In Study 1, students who received instruction in a 2-week immersion…

Group projects are often used in psychology courses to prepare students for future collaborative work. However, psychology alumni report that their education did not adequately prepare them for collaborative work. To better understand these perceptions, this study examined how instructor contributions (involvement and evaluation techniques)…

Describes a college level history of psychology course designed to use art and music as a means of aiding students in recognizing the relationship between their present research and service interests and psychology's past. The course approached history in a less abstract fashion and stressed the interrelationship between the development of…

Describes the classroom experiences of three individuals who team taught a college level psychology course. Student and teacher reaction to the team teaching experiment was generally favorable. Information is presented on methods, results, and effects of team teaching experiences on participating faculty members. (Author/DB)

Uses a meta-analysis approach of findings on instructional technology in college teaching. Data are derived from more than 300 studies reported since 1955. The technique of meta-analysis refers to a set of methods for statistically analyzing a large collection of results from individual studies for the purpose of integrating findings. (Author/DB)

Discusses a study undertaken by faculty members in a university psychology department to help students bridge what is learned in psychology courses with possible job requirements. The study defined the environment of the psychology major, identified marketable skills learned in various psychology courses, matched specific skills and job…