Abstract
European Society for Psychology Learning and Teaching (ESPLAT)
Good news regarding our newly founded society: the European Society for Psychology Learning and Teaching (ESPLAT) now has over 100 members. If you are not yet a member, please consider joining us! On the website, you find all the information regarding the society, its aims and scope (https://esplatorg.weebly.com). One benefit for ESPLAT members will be reduced fees for the upcoming ESPLAT conference, which will be held in Heidelberg in 2021. More information about this will be available soon. Keep in touch with us!
The Current Issue
The current issue of PLAT contains three research articles, two reports and one book review. Moreover, you will find the abstracts of the current issues of Teaching of Psychology.
Psychology is a very popular subject, both in high schools and in tertiary education. Jacobsen and Diseth examined reasons for choosing psychology as well as the degree of satisfaction with their choice in a sample of Norwegian high school students. Whereas interest in the subject was the most frequent reason for students’ choice (“sexy subject hypothesis”), a substantial minority also reported personal reasons for choosing psychology (“therapy hypothesis”). Only few students agreed to the notion of psychology as an easy subject (“rigor hypothesis”). Satisfaction with the choice was generally high.
A tricky issue in psychology education is the correct interpretation of empirical results. Thompson, Garry, Taylor, and Radell let college psychology students estimate the probability that the results of one study held true in the population, giving varying information on the results of prior studies. These authors found that information on prior studies did not change students’ probability estimates, thus overestimating the meaning of one single study.
Psychology does not only play a central role in psychology study programs, but is also an important element of teacher education. The third article investigates how pre-service teachers’ intentions, beliefs, and attitudes can be changed via inducing emotions. Egloff and Souvignier compared lesson videos or argumentation-based video formats regarding their potential to evoke emotional reactions. Although watching lesson videos led to higher emotional arousal, which, in turn, was related to more positive change in beliefs, change of teaching beliefs, attitudes, and intentions were the same in both groups.
Nevid, Gordon, Terjesen, and Hicks report experiences with Integrated Learning Systems, that is, online learning opportunities that enrich students’ learning with textbooks. Specifically, these authors incentivized the use of online quizzing and concept-building exercises by giving course credit partially relying on students’ online performance. Results were in favour of these additional learning opportunities.
Reacting to the fact that students find experimental psychology difficult to learn, Rumain and Geliebter designed modules for experimental psychology classes using the method of Process-Oriented Guided-Inquiry Learning (POGIL). Initial evaluations showed that students using the POGIL materials performed significantly better on achievement tests than students not using them.
Moreover, you will find a review by Masland of the book An Evidence-Based Guide to College and University Teaching by Richmond, Boysen, and Gurung. The review comes to the conclusion that this book is exactly what teaching should be. I hope this makes you curious!
Please also pay attention to the abstracts from Teaching of Psychology (ToP47(1, 2)) that are also included in this issue.
I hope you enjoy reading this issue of PLAT!