Abstract
The Replication Corner
The Persistence of Stigma Reduction After Teaching Abnormal Psychology Using Celebrity Narratives
ANNE FERRARI
Teaching of Psychology, 48(3), 191–196
Research shows that stigma toward mental illness prevents a large percentage of college students from seeking help. Finding pedagogies that can be utilized in the classroom to reduce stigma is important. The present study replicated previous research that utilized celebrity case material in the teaching of abnormal psychology for the purpose of reducing public stigma toward mental illness and help seeking. The present study also examined whether stigma reductions would persist beyond the initial posttesting. Data were collected using a pre-post design from 48 (experimental group) and 23 (control group) college undergraduates enrolled in an abnormal psychology course. Compared to the control group, the use of celebrities as narratives to teach about mental illness resulted in reduced public stigma toward mental illness and reduced stigma toward seeking help which persisted over a 6-month time period.
mental health, stigma, celebrities, abnormal psychology, help-seeking
The Proof of Concept Corner
Benefits of Movement-Integrated Learning Activities in Statistics and Research Methods Courses
MICHAEL C. RHOADS, RENA A. KIRKLAND, CRYSTAL A. BAKER, JEREMY T. YEATS AND NELS GREVSTAD
Teaching of Psychology, 48(3), 197–203
brain boosters, classroom engagement, hierarchical-linear modeling, learning, movement-based activities, physical activity
Bringing Meaning to Learning: An Interdisciplinary Project for First-Year Community College Students
BRANDI RIMA AND CRYSTAL C. RODRIGUEZ
Teaching of Psychology, 48(3), 204–208
Interdisciplinary pedagogy can enhance Introduction to Psychology curricula. We developed an interdisciplinary project to make meaning in a learning community (LC) clustering Introduction to Psychology with Introduction to Criminal Justice. Our purpose is to describe the project as a model and report on students’ evaluations of the project and their academic progress. We collected questionnaire data about students’ experiences completing the project. Results were positive with most students valuing make meaning, feeling more connected to psychology and expressing satisfaction. We measured student learning using project grades and final grades in the psychology course. Participants performed satisfactory on the project and outperformed a comparison group in the Introduction to Psychology course. Findings demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary pedagogy in psychology curricula.
interdisciplinary teaching, making meaning, reflective pedagogy, psychology curricula, community college, project-based learning, learning community
The Efficacy of a Classroom Game for Teaching APA Style Citation
DANIEL A. CLARK AND WALTER MURPHY
Teaching of Psychology, 48(3), 209–214
Psychology instructors have reported that it is common for students to not know how to cite sources correctly. Therefore, the authors created a classroom game to help students learn to cite sources in different scenarios. The game involved students submitting names of celebrities and fictitious dates of publication and then using those submissions to practice writing correct citations in teams. Based on pre and post measures, students appeared to improve in knowledge of citing sources accurately after playing the game.
APA style, undergraduate psychology, game-based learning
Information Type Influences Students’ Perceptions of Faculty Self-Disclosures
KATHERINE GRACE HILL, MACY JAYNE MARTISCHEWSKY AND CYNTHIA ANN ERICKSON
Teaching of Psychology, 48(3), 215–220
self-disclosure, teaching, instructor–student rapport, engaging lectures, stigma
The Science of Teaching and Learning Corner
The Effects of a Cross-Cultural Psychology Course on Perceived Intercultural Competence
YAN WEI, JULIE SPENCER-RODGERS, ELISE ANDERSON AND KAIPING PENG
Teaching of Psychology, 48(3), 221–227
Intercultural competence—the ability to successfully interact and communicate sensitively with members of other cultural groups—is an essential skill in multicultural societies and an increasingly globalized world. A quasi-experimental study revealed that completing a cross-cultural international psychology course increased college students’ perceived intercultural competence substantially, relative to students in a control (research methods) course. The curriculum included an extensive 10-week Cultural Immersion Project, conducted on campus and in the local community, and weekly experientially based group projects. The course may be especially effective for college students with less prior intercultural experience.
intercultural competence, teaching of psychology, cultural immersion, cross-cultural psychology, cultural competency, college students
Case Study Instruction Experiences in Educational Psychology and Pre-Service Teachers’ Achievement Goals for Learning
ALYSSA R. GONZALEZ-DEHASS, PATRICIA P. WILLEMS AND MARÍA D. VÁSQUEZ-COLINA
Teaching of Psychology, 48(3), 228–235
Case studies have become a popular vehicle for pre-service teachers to be introduced to the challenges of classroom teaching and participate in hypothetical classroom decision-making. Because of the similarity of case study instruction to those classroom structures proven to influence a student's adoption of mastery-approach goals, we expected that case study learning would predict educational psychology students’ adoption of these adaptive goals. However, there is limited empirical research on the impact of case study instruction on student's motivation, particularly for students’ adoption of achievement goals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between students’ perceived experiences in case study instruction and each of four achievement goals identified in the goal literature. Since self-efficacy may be another important influence on students’ achievement goals, we also included it as another predictor variable in our regression analyses. Both online and traditional on-campus students are included in this study. While neither performance goal was significantly related to case study instruction for either class format, perceptions of case study instruction predicted online students’ mastery-approach goals and predicted lower rates of mastery-avoidance goals in traditional students. Self-efficacy predicted greater likelihood of mastery-approach goals for traditional students and lower rates of mastery-avoidance goals in both class formats.
case study instruction, achievement goals, educational psychology, pre-service teachers
Supporting Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness in a Learning-to-Learn Course: College Students’ Insights Into Effective Instruction
LAUREN HENSLEY, ROBIN SAYERS, ANNA BRADY AND JESSICA CUTSHALL
Teaching of Psychology, 48(3), 236–247
Autonomy, competence, and relatedness are psychological needs that may be particularly important for instructors to address in learning-to-learn courses, which are designed to support college students’ personal development and academic success. Guided by self-determination theory, in this qualitative study we focused on the learning-to-learn context to understand psychological need satisfaction from the perspectives of college students and in their own words. We analyzed end-of-semester evaluations in 10 sections of a learning-to-learn course offered through an educational psychology program at a large public university. The findings highlighted how instructional features, intellectual experiences, and teaching practices supported autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The 10 themes emerging from the analysis can be used to understand self-determination theory in practice and guide learner-centered instruction.
college students, teaching practices, learning, motivation, evaluation of teaching
Evaluation of a Lower-Resource-Dependent Tutoring Program Designed to Improve Introductory Psychology Performance
JOHN T. PENNINGTON, TERESA L. DAVIS AND GREG W. SCHMIDT
Teaching of Psychology, 48(3), 248–256
Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a peer tutoring system shown to increase course grades and reduce dropout, particularly for courses with significant failure/dropout rates. Unfortunately, such systems can place significant time and resource demands on faculty, SI personnel, and higher education institutions, all of which pose impediments to their adoption. Given this concern, an assessment of a less resource-taxing version of SI is presented. Across three sections of Introductory Psychology, 30%–42% of enrolled students attended at least one lower-resource group tutorial session. These students performed significantly better on course exams than did non-attendees, by as much as a letter grade. Further, those who attended more sessions earned higher final course grades. These performance differences do not appear to be due to selection bias; session attendance predicted grades on four of the five course exams, even after controlling for students’ academic ability and motivation. Students who did not participate cited time constraints as the primary reason. Those who did participate perceived most session activities as highly beneficial, especially completing a pre-session study guide and reviewing the answers in-session. Thus, the present tutoring program appears to represent an effective, efficient method of achieving desirable academic outcomes that students regard as worthwhile.
supplemental instruction, tutoring, introductory psychology
“SET” for Success: Targeted Instruction in Learning Strategies and Behavior Change in Introductory Psychology
JENNIFER A. MCCABE, DARA G. FRIEDMAN-WHEELER, SAMUEL R. DAVIS AND JULIA PEARCE
Teaching of Psychology, 48(3), 257–268
They completed three assessment surveys to measure outcomes across the semester.
learning strategies, metacognition, intervention, undergraduates, introductory psychology, behavior change
The Scholarly Teacher Corner
Bringing Social Justice into the Statistics Classroom
TAMERA GARLINGTON, VALERIE M. RYAN, CATHERINE NOLTY, HANNAH ILAGAN AND ZACHARY J. KUNICKI
Teaching of Psychology, 48(3), 269–274
Social justice is an American Psychological Association (APA) ethical principal which is often taught in content courses (e.g. social psychology, developmental psychology, introductory psychology) but rarely covered in psychological statistics courses. This is problematic, as psychology students may assume that bias is not an issue when implementing statistical tests and interpreting their results if social justice topics are not incorporated into statistics classrooms. The current study evaluated student's attitudes toward a social justice lecture in a statistics classroom (N = 100 students). Results show students had more favorable attitudes toward social justice and agreed it was important to cover in statistics classrooms. Future research should extend this work by seeking to replicate these findings and evaluating additional pedagogical tools to incorporate social justice into the statistics classroom.
social justice, teaching, statistics, diversity