Abstract
Ask for Evidence
The last issue of PLAT was a special issue on evidence-based teaching and learning (Dutke, Bakker, Papageorgi & Taylor, 2017). In times in which science is criticized for providing inconvenient facts and in which universities are no longer unanimously considered to be valuable for society (Pew Research Center, 2017), evidence-based thinking and acting has become more important than ever. Initiatives such as “Ask for Evidence” (http://www.askforevidence.org/index) by the American Association for the Advancement of Science target in the same direction as we do as psychology instructors when we teach critical thinking (Halpern, 2014) and psychological literacy (e.g., Cranney, 2013). Psychology teaching fulfills a goal invaluable for future societies, if our students learn to ask both for the theoretical reasoning and for empirical evidence when confronted with controversial information.
We as instructors can be models for evidence-based thinking and acting in making our choices for the teaching and learning methods we use transparent to our students and discuss with them how they want to learn and why. Strong evidence for evidence-based teaching is at our hand (e.g., Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham, 2013; Dunn, Saville, Baker, & Marek, 2013). We should use it on the one hand to demonstrate state-of-the-art teaching and learning, but on the other hand, and even more importantly, to prepare students for taking responsibility in an increasingly complex environment.
Editorial Team
The editorial team of PLAT has undergone changes in 2017. Regina Jucks, who has been an associate editor for several years, will leave the team by the end of this year. Thank you, Regina, for the time and effort you have dedicated to the improvement of psychology learning and teaching at PLAT! At the same time, two new associate editors have come on board: Stephanie Pieschl from the University of Newcastle, Australia, and Richard Joiner, University of Bath, UK. Thank you for joining the team!
The Current Issue
The current issue of PLAT contains one review, five research articles, three reports and one book review. Moreover, you will find the abstracts of the current issue of Teaching of Psychology.
In their review, Jordan and Thomas identify five concepts specific to developmental and neurobiological psychology that are largely overlooked in current textbooks. These authors provide a background on each of the concepts and address possible ways for textbook authors to incorporate these new topics in future editions.
In their research article, Jucks and Hillbrink investigate the special situation of German PhD students, who have to deal with both teaching and research obligations from the very beginning of their careers. This study investigated how PhD students in Germany perceive research and teaching as well as the relationship of these two. It was shown that the concepts of teaching that PhD students hold are systematically associated with the perception of the relationship of teaching and research in terms of compatibility and valence.
Calma-Birling and Gurung investigated whether a brief mindfulness intervention can impact students’ quiz performance. The authors come to the conclusion that small doses of mindfulness training can enhance knowledge retention.
Goette, Delello, Schmitt, Sullivan, and Rangel compared face-to-face learning with blended modalities with regard to students’ learning outcomes and perceptions. Both teaching formats were associated with almost identical learning outcomes in terms of student evaluations and final exam scores, whereas students perceived differences regarding time, assessment, and overall structure.
Senzaki, Hackathorn, Appleby, and Gurung examined the effectiveness of a flashcard-based study strategy. Results from three studies demonstrate that students who were introduced to the Flashcards-Plus study strategy scored significantly higher on exams following the lecture than students who were not. These findings suggest that this easily implemented teaching strategy can help students achieve deeper levels of processing in a self-directed manner.
Warchal, Ruiz, and You took a look at psychology department mission statements in the US and investigated the extent to which these reflect the APA undergraduate learning goals. Results revealed that few departments had their mission statements online. Among these, almost all included at least one APA learning goal in their mission statements, but only few included all. The authors conclude that these results indicate a need for more explicit mission statements, because these represent the purpose and value of study programs.
In the report section, Griffin und Howard share their experiences with adopting four different teaching approaches targeting student engagement. The designs were lecture, jigsaw method, collaborative in-class presentations and an online discussion forum. Results show that these methods were not associated with different levels of students’ engagement. However, students found that these methods differed with regard to their effectiveness for different aspects of learning.
Joyce used Pinterest, a new social media tool, to encourage active learning in class. Students enjoyed the Pinterest platform and perceived learning more from these assignments.
Goldstein points out that psychological concepts are very relevant to students who are about to study abroad. This author presents a psychology-based pre-departure course and provides suggestions for psychology instructors interested in developing and teaching such courses.
Furthermore, you will find a book review of Andy Field’s An Adventure in Statistics: The Reality Enigma (1st Edition) by Naveen Kashyap.
I hope you enjoy this issue of PLAT! Share your findings about psychology learning and teaching with us to enlarge the knowledge base on evidence-based teaching. We look forward to receiving your recent work!