Comparing Two Collaborative Projects in a Cognitive Psychology Course

Abstract

I compared 2 collaborative class projects in an undergraduate Cognitive Psychology class. One was the Museum of the Mind, in which students created interactive museum-like displays that explained or illustrated a topic within cognitive psychology. The second was the Cognition Book, an edited book about cognition, in which students authored the chapters. Both projects required that students work collaboratively in small groups, in and outside of class. This article presents guidelines for constructing both. The results of a learning outcome measure and students' self-reports indicated that students in the Museum of the Mind class enjoyed aspects of their experiences more than students in the Cognition Book class, but students in the former class learned marginally less than students in the latter.