Laboratory for Undergraduate Instruction and Research in Psychology

University Of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

Psychology - Cognitive (73) An undergraduate laboratory for instruction and research is providing undergraduate psychology students with the foundation in scientific methodology and information technology that will enable them to use and interpret research in their subsequent careers. Such skills are becoming increasingly important in all sectors of our society. The lab serves approximately 500 students, well over half of whom are female, at the University of Pittsburgh, an institution that has been recognized for its recruitment and retention of African Americans. The newly developed E-Prime software is being adapted for use in the laboratory. E-Prime provides the basis for far more effective teaching of research principles by enabling students in normal laboratory courses to develop, design, conduct, and analyze their own experiments. Students can generate and perform novelexperiments as well as gain experience using a wide range of methodologies, including the collection of behavioral and physiological measures, the re-analysis of brain imaging data, and the coding of digitized facial expressions. Lab activities, involving the use of E-Prime, are being adapted for a general course in Experimental Methods that is required of all majors, as well as two substantive upper level courses: a) Learning and Motivation and b) Human Cognition and Learning. The lab is also available to students doing Directed Individual Research and Honors Theses, both of which involve conducting empirical research. With NSF support, we are having a major impact on the way information technology is utilized in the teaching of research methodology for undergraduate students of psychology, one of the largest undergraduate majors in the country. This project has the opportunity to affect science education on a national scale through the development and testing of experiments that are distributed through our industrial partner, Psychology Software Tools. Ultimately, the experiments and related instructional materials are likely to be used by tens of thousands of undergraduates annually.