Exposure to the Fields of Psychology: Evaluation of an Introductory Psychology Project

Abstract

We evaluated a project designed to expose introductory psychology students to the fields of psychology. We created this project to foster student learning about the various fields of psychology, careers that psychologists have, the psychology program on their campus, and courses available at their home institution. Evaluative data included knowledge of the definitions of the fields, measured at 3 time points, as well as students' self-reported reactions. Results indicated that students found the project interesting and would recommend it for future classes. More important, knowledge tests revealed significant increases in knowledge that persisted over a 4-week period.