Introduction: School psychologists work to support the academic, behavioral, and social-emotional well-being of students in schools. Their roles have become increasingly diverse in recent years due to the implementation of Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) frameworks in schools throughout the United States. Statement of the Problem: Despite a…

Background: The course on cognitive assessment is mandatory for all school psychology programs. However, there have been no published studies that have explored learning objectives for this course. Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine content covered and complexity of learning objectives in the cognitive assessment course. Method:…

Background: More students with a bachelor's degree in psychology are seeking graduate studies, though many lack knowledge about the admission process. Objective: We created a brief educational presentation to increase student knowledge of the application process, positive outcome expectations for obtaining a master's degree in psychology, and…

School psychology is experiencing a personnel shortage crisis, and scholars suggest that a possible contributing factor is its underrepresentation in undergraduate psychology curricula. Most school psychology trainers do not teach at the undergraduate level, thus undergraduate psychology students may not be adequately exposed to school psychology…

Frank J. Vattano is Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Emeritus University Distinguished Teaching Scholar at Colorado State University (CSU), his undergraduate alma mater. He earned his PhD in experimental psychology from The Ohio State University and served as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at the…

This article describes an active learning component of an advanced course in psychology and law. The assignment is to present, in the context of a mock appellate court, the best available psychological data in support of one party in a legal case. Students choose one side of a hypothetical case, locate and review the relevant scientific…

Although American Psychological Association (APA) Ethical Standards make it clear that instructors cannot require students to disclose personal information in class-related activities, an APA learning goal for undergraduate psychology students is that they reflect on their experiences to develop insight into their behavior and mental processes.…

Many psychology majors indicate helping others as a reason for majoring in psychology, yet many enter positions not closely related to the field. This discrepancy may be due to a lack of student knowledge of the applied areas of psychology. The purpose of this study was to investigate the coverage of clinical, counseling,…

Little information is available about how departments might improve undergraduate students' access to research experience. At a midsized psychology department (550 majors, 21 full-time faculty), we identified 5 barriers in our existing program (lack of student awareness, unequal student access, poor curricular timing, lack of publicity, and uneven…

Discipline-based learning communities have become a popular strategy for improving student performance and satisfaction. This article describes the goals and features of a university-based, first-year psychology learning community (PLC) implemented in Fall 2003. We also report the results of a longitudinal assessment of the impact of the PLC on…

Recent articles in "Teaching of Psychology" have endorsed the classroom use of various mnemonic techniques. Yet a degree of mnemonophobia (i.e., fear of using mnemonics) may persist in the minds of some "ToP" readers due to various lingering misconceptions. In this regard, we conducted 3 practical experiments with college students using the…

We examined job advertisements published in the September and October 2006 issues of the APA Monitor and APS Observer for courses that psychology departments requested successful applicants for assistant professor openings to teach. We found that 4 courses accounted for 45% of all courses so listed: research methods, introductory psychology,…

Internal and external validity are key concepts in understanding the scientific method and fostering critical thinking. This article describes a class demonstration of a "botched" experiment to teach validity to undergraduates. Psychology students (N = 75) completed assessments at the beginning of the semester, prior to and immediately following…

This study indicates that introductory psychology textbooks ignore the role of the psychologist in the schools. Out of 84 textbooks, only 26 described the school psychologist. When 12 students analyzed these available descriptions for five skill types, no coherent images of school psychologists emerged. (AM)