Abstract
Volume 28, No. 1, 2022
Pivoting in a pandemic: Promoting socially critical learning in virtual delivery of a large introductory social psychology module
CLIODHNA O‘CONNOR
Psychology Teaching Review, 28(1), 5–14
Restrictions on in-person teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic severely challenged higher education practices worldwide. While didactic delivery of course content is easily achievable with virtual teaching technologies, promoting critical engagement with this material can be more difficult, particularly with classes of larger size and lower experience. Yet despite these practical challenges, for teachers of social psychology the pandemic context offered an unprecedented pedagogical opportunity to highlight both the relevance and limitations of social psychological research for tackling societal challenges. This paper outlines a strategy developed to sustain socially critical learning objectives within remote delivery of a large introductory social psychology module. This revolved around establishing asynchronous, peer-led online discussion forums wherein students independently considered how the concepts they encountered in weekly pre-recorded lectures could be applied to understand societal responses to the pandemic. The present article describes the structure of this pedagogical activity and the benefits it offered to students, teaching staff and the wider community.
Covid-19, pandemic, virtual learning, remote learning, critical engagement, social psychology
Psychology education in the post-Covid world
STEPHEN E. NEWSTEAD, ANDREW J. HOLLIMAN, AND DANIEL WALDECK
Psychology Teaching Review, 28(1), 15–20
A major aim of psychology education is to train students in psychological literacy – the ability to apply psychological knowledge to everyday activities. In this paper we explore how well this has been achieved in recent years. As a result of Covid-19 the focus of teaching in recent months has inevitably been on developing online methods of teaching and attempts to develop psychological literacy have of necessity received less attention. However, we argue that the developments enforced by Covid-19 actually open up a range of new possibilities and that psychological literacy can benefit from these changes. In particular, we suggest that much of the transmission of psychological knowledge can continue to take place online and that universities should become places where the focus is on the application of that knowledge.
Psychological literacy, Covid-19, undergraduate education
Queering the Curriculum. Reflections on LGBT+ inclusivity in Higher Education
NUNO NODIN
Psychology Teaching Review, 28(1), 21–30
Higher education (HE) is fairly accommodating of sexual diversity in many countries. However, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and other sexual minority (LGBT+) students and staff still face many challenges regarding acceptance and integration which may impact learning and teaching experiences. This article discusses the relevance of LGBT+ inclusivity in pedagogy and the ways by which it can be incorporated into HE with examples from teaching in Psychology. It also discusses some of the advantages and risks associated with ‘coming out’ for LGBT+ academics to broaden visibility at university. Queer pedagogical perspectives, which question the use of identity-based LGBT+ representations in education and propose alternative ways of queering the curriculum, are also reviewed. The article concludes by attempting to bridge identity-based and critical perspectives to positively contribute to LGBT+ inclusivity in HE, and by affirming the importance of joint work from universities’ senior leadership and academics to achieve that aim.
LGBT, pedagogy, inclusivity, higher education, psychology
A small group project for undergraduate social psychology students: Demonstrating the identifiable victim effect
GARY F. COULTON
Psychology Teaching Review, 28(1), 31–35
There is considerable evidence that ‘active learning’ strategies are more efficacious than traditional ‘passive learning’ methods (e.g. lecture). Presented here is a small group active learning project developed for undergraduate social psychology students. The activity involves carrying out and reporting the results of a structured demonstration of the identifiable victim effect. The project provides students with the opportunity to write a research proposal, collect data, perform a basic analysis and interpretation of the data, and report their findings in written form. Student feedback on the project has been positive overall. The project seems to be particularly beneficial in helping students to understand and appreciate the research process.
Active learning, group project, identifiable victim effect, social psychology
Facilitating teaching and learning of teratogens: Using alcohol and drug neonate simulators in further and higher education
HUMAIRA KHAN AND PAMELA POURZANJANI
Psychology Teaching Review, 28(1), 36–46
Drug and alcohol neonate simulators were used to highlight the effects of substance misuse on prenatal development within lifespan development modules to 61 Psychology undergraduates and 12 sixth-form Health and Social Care students. A mixed method approach was used considering both knowledge development and perceptions of experiential hands-on learning. Student knowledge of the effects of drugs and alcohol on prenatal development was assessed before and after an interactive session on teratogenesis utilising neonate simulators demonstrating these effects. With this experiential learning approach, the statistical analysis combining both groups showed increased knowledge after the interactive session, and the students perceived this enhanced understanding to be a direct result of hands-on interaction with the neonate simulators. The researchers encourage the use of neonate simulators as good practice that can be effectively incorporated into the psychology and other health-related teaching contexts to facilitate knowledge on teratogenesis.
Creative pedagogy, lifespan development, health education, neonate simulators, teratogens
‘If I do well I feel on top of the world’: Investigating the impact of psychology students’ academic achievement on self-esteem
GILLIAN HENDRY, CLAIRE WILSON, AND EMMA GILMOUR
Psychology Teaching Review, 28(1), 47–58
Academic achievement can be thought of as the extent to which learning has been accomplished. Previous work suggests that students’ self-esteem is impacted by academic achievement, though it is not entirely clear why this is. The current study therefore explored this through interviewing eight psychology students from a Scottish university, before using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six stage reflexive thematic analysis to analyse the resultant data. Two themes of Grades and feedback and Peer comparison were identified, highlighting two important conclusions. Firstly, self-esteem is positively impacted by strong performance, and negatively impacted by poor performance but that crucially, this is mediated by others’ poor performance. That is to say, good grades and feedback make students feel good, and poor grades and feedback make students feel bad, but such ‘badness’ is appeased if peers perform equally poorly, which has potential consequences for peer relationships. Secondly, students value feedback in order to increase their chances of academic achievement, noting the negative impact on self-esteem when feedback is not constructive, just critical. This highlights the importance of ‘mindful marking’ in terms of taking care to provide useful feedback to students to improve their work; something that is reported to be hugely appreciated. Implications, limitations and future research suggestions are detailed.
Academic achievement, self-esteem, students, higher education, feedback, peer comparison
Book reviews
VARIOUS
Psychology Teaching Review, 28(1), 59–81
No Abstracts
Note. The full articles are published in Psychology Teaching Review, Volume 28, No. 1, which can be downloaded from: https://shop.bps.org.uk/psychology-teaching-review-vol-28-no-1-2022