Revisioning General Psychology: Engaging Women in Scientific Questions

St. Catherine University, Saint Paul MN

Investigators

Abstract

Psychology - Cognitive (73) Like many introductory science courses, Introductory Psychology on our campus has been structured as a collection of findings that have been discovered through research in a variety of specialized areas in psychology. Often missing, however, is the sense that science and doing science is the "glue" that holds the various parts of the discipline of psychology together. This project is engaged in enriching the scientific experience of students enrolled in the Introductory Psychology course at the College of St. Catherine (St. Paul campus), a liberal arts college for women. In the revised course, our primary objective is to adapt materials already developed to present psychology as a science seeking answers to important questions that can be pursued with an array of strategies and methods. The methods we are imbedding into our course include group and single subject experimentation, correlation research, naturalistic observation, reviews of the research literature, and analysis of existing data sets available in archives. The course as modified now contains six laboratory experiences. Each of these is scheduled for two 1-hour sessions. They are providing our students with hands-on learning experiences using modern instrumentation (computer hardware and software, physiological recording equipment, data projectors, and video recording and playback equipment). Laboratory experiences are adapting materials such as computer simulations of operant conditioning. The course is integrating the lecture and laboratory portions of the course, using classic studies in psychology as the bridges between theory and practice. To this end, we are drawing on several classic studies in psychology described in R. Hock's "Forty Studies that Changed Psychology: Explorations into the History of Psychological Research" (Prentice-Hall, 3rd Edition, 1999). Research methods are being investigated by students in the areas of perception, learning and memory, developmental, social and personality, abnormal, and health psychology. In addition to the benefits of these improvements that are being enjoyed by the roughly 250 students who are enrolling in this revised course each year, we are also anticipating a strong ripple effect through the entire department and undergraduate curriculum. For example, each year a group of upper division psychology majors and minors are given the opportunity to be mentored and trained as laboratory instructors. Students taking advanced psychology laboratory courses are also profiting from the availability of enhanced instrumentation. Each member of the department is contributing their unique expertise to the planning of undergraduate laboratories. This collaborative effort is providing faculty development experiences to our small department. The project is contributing to teacher preparation because all K-12 education majors must take introductory psychology. Students majoring in psychology or secondary education - social studies have the opportunity to engage in training to become laboratory instructors once they have completed introductory courses. The project is also serving to significantly improve the use of technology in our department and to foster collaborative faculty development.