Fall 2004
◆
Volume 14
◆
Issue 3
Welcome Back
Debra Park
West Deptford High School
Westville, NJ
Inside:
Internet
Resources.....................2
Mini- Research
Projects........................3
Institutional Review
Boards..........................6
Student A wards:
TOPSS...........................5
PT@CC..........................8
Activities:
Using Internet Scavenger
Hunts to Teach
about Women in
Psychology......................9
Assembling an
Introduction......................13
Book Review................15
Announcements:
Funding.......................16
Teaching A ward
Nominations................17
As I sit at my
computer on this
beautiful August
morning, I am
lamenting that I
only have 3 weeks
left to enjoy my “summer vacation.” I
have so much I want to do before school
starts, at home and for school. Then it
dawned on me - most of my friends and
fellow psychology teachers will be
preparing to go back to school this week
or next week!!!
I hope that your time off was restful
and rejuvenating. With family and work
commitments, we all need to take some
time for ourselves. As you read this, the
school year is in full swing and you are
all back in your classrooms doing what
you do with so much energy and devotion.
You actually missed your students, didn’t
you?
Maybe you are looking for some new
information or a new activity to add to
your already fun-filled repertoire! The
PTN is a great place to start and of course
check out the TOPSS homepage every
now and then - http://www.apa.org/ed/
topss/homepage.html.
There are some excellent opportunities
for you to attend workshops for your own
professional development in many areas
of the country. Visit the website for news
about conferences and workshops
h t t p : / / w w w. a p a . o r g / e d / t o p s s /
conf_wkshop04.html. I want to tell you
about one that will be taking place soon.
Last year I met hundreds of
psychology teachers at the annual
convention of the National Council for the
Social Studies (NCSS) in Chicago. This
year’s NCSS convention will be held
in Baltimore, Maryland, from Friday,
November 19 th through Sunday,
November 21 st and will have several
workshops and sessions that you may
want to attend! The NCSS website, http:/
/www.ncss.org/, is updated daily with
information on the convention activities,
as well as hotel and travel information.
Here is a list of some of the sessions for
psychology teachers being offered:
Friday November 19, 2004
Psychology: Understanding Diversity of
Individuals and Society
Positive Psychology: The Other Side of the
Coin
Activities & Strategies that Work in
Psychology!
AP Psychology Information Session
Saturday November 20, 2004
Brain Science in the Psychology Classroom
Teaching Motivation and Emotion: Activities
You Can Use
Sunday November 21, 2004
Psychology and Diversity in the 21st
Century
“Families” in Psychology
As you can see, there are a variety of
sessions that will provide you with
information you can use in your
classrooms. It is also a great opportunity
to meet other teachers, to share ideas and
make new friends. If you have never been
to Baltimore, you would love it! There are
great things to do all within a short
distance of the convention center.
Welcome Back continues on page 2
1
Welcome Back continued from page 1
Internet Resources for
Teaching Methods in
Psychology
TOPSS Invited Addresses at the APA National
Convention in Hawaii this summer featured
speakers addressing international and diversity
issues as they relate to education. Dr. Harold
Takooshian from Fordham University discussed
the need to internationalize the psychology
curriculum and spoke about how little we know
about non-Western psychology. Dr. Lynn H.
Collins from La Salle University discussed gender
and power issues and the interrelatedness of the two
factors. Dr. Marie L. Miville of Teachers College,
Columbia University, who received a Presidential
citation at the APA Convention, discussed mental
health issues that were pertinent to Latinos. Dr.
Doug McDonald from the University of North
Dakota gave an interesting talk on the dearth of
psychology education and training among Native
American populations. Educators from Hong Kong,
Australia and Canada were among the audience
attendees to these sessions and added the
international flavor to this convention. TOPSS
extends its sincere appreciation to these invited
speakers. We hope to see more psychology educators
at the APA convention in Washington, D.C. in 2005.
TOPSS member Rob McEntarffer was honored at the
convention as the recipient of the Moffet Memorial
Teaching Award.
by
Maureen A. McCarthy
American Psychological Association
Research Methods: This compendium is a particularly
informative site that may help students if they wish
to have an additional online resource. http://
trochim.human.cornell.edu/kb/
Reference Materials for Ethics: The American
Psychological Association provides links to resources
for conducting ethical research. http://www.apa.org/
science/research.html
The Council on Undergraduate Research offers a
topical website addressing ethics of undergraduate
research. The papers from the Undergraduate
Research Responsibility Symposium are a faculty
resource available at the following website. http://
www.cur.org/conferences/responsibility/
ResRespons.html
The following demonstrations require online
access:
Animated examples of power: Animated examples of
power are particularly useful because they provide
realistic demonstrations that illustrate the factors
affecting power. Applets at the following websites
offer clear examples of changes in sample size,
standard deviation, power, and effect size.
http://www.stat.sc.edu/~ogden/javahtml/power/
power.html and
http://www.stat.uiowa.edu/~rlenth/Power/
Psychology Matters
PsychologyMatters.org — an APA web-based
compendium of psychological research that
demonstrates the application and value of
psychological science in our everyday lives — was
officially launched this Summer and welcomes ideas
for new entries.
Within 19 content areas, individual and
interrelated studies, all of which found statistically
significant effects and that have had important
applications in society, are described. Some of the
studies reported on started out as basic research and
led to unexpected results and valuable applications.
All of the studies demonstrate the important role that
psychology and psychological research play in
addressing societal and human needs. For
information about how to contribute, please go to
http://www.psychologymatters.org/submit.html.
Psychology Teacher Network
Examples of regression animation: This interactive
applet offers additional clarity regarding regression
because it allows the student to interactively change
data points and immediately see the effect. This is a
particularly useful demonstration for explaining the
effect of outliers.
http://www.stat.sc.edu/~west/javahtml/
Regression.html
Virtual laboratory for demonstrating probability and
statistics: This site provides multiple interactive
examples of probability along with examples that
illustrate hypothesis testing. http://
www.math.uah.edu/stat/
Fall 2004
2
Incorporating Mini-Research
Projects into an Introductory Psychology
Course
Allyson Weseley, Ed.D.
Roslyn High School, Roslyn, NY
conformity expressed in a number)?
One of the more
difficult topics for
my students to
master is research
methods. Many of
my students enroll in psychology
instead of taking
a “science.” One of the best ways I have found to help
students with this topic is to assign them miniresearch projects. Each quarter, I ask students to work
in groups of four to design, execute, and present a
simple project.
Instead of giving students topics to research,
I use the assignment to allow students to pursue topics
that have piqued their interest. I require only that
they can link their research question to something
we have learned. Examples of topics they have
researched in the past include:
One important point that this assignment
drives home is the difference between what one
would like to be able to do and what one can do. For
instance, we spend a lot of time in class talking about
the importance of random samples and diverse
populations. In their own research, students learn
that obtaining such a sample is virtually impossible
and that more important is to understand how one’s
sample impacts one’s ability to generalize about one’s
results.
I usually give students about a month during
which to work on the project, and the vast majority
of the work takes place outside of class. I assign the
first project while teaching the social psychology unit,
which I present immediately after the introductory
unit. I find that it is relatively easy for students to
come up with research questions associated with
social psychology.
Approximately two weeks after explaining
the assignment, I have students submit a “Research
Proposal.” The proposal includes their hypothesis, a
description of their participants and how they plan
to select them, a draft of any instruments they plan
to use, and a description of the procedures. I grade
the proposal but weight it far less than the end
product. I return it with detailed comments and
suggestions. I expect that my students will make a
number of errors on the proposal and that they will
correct them when they carry out the project. In
extreme cases, I ask groups to resubmit the proposal
after correcting the errors and/or meet with me. After
receiving their corrected proposals, I give students
approximately two weeks to gather and analyze their
data and organize their presentation.
• Does the framing of a diet advertisement impact
the desire to go on the diet?
• Do new and experienced readers perform the
same on the Stroop test?
• Do boys and girls dream about different things?
To simplify the data analysis process, I limit students
to three types of designs:
A) Examine the correlation (relationship)
between two continuous variables. For
instance, is there a relationship between the
number of children in a family and their IQ?
Between height and running speed? Between
weight and happiness?
B) Examine the relationship between two
nominal (categorical) variables. For example:
Who is more likely to help someone in need,
men or women
(variables = help/not help and men/
women)?
Ethical Considerations
It is important to have the study reviewed
by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) prior to
letting the student conduct the study. An IRB is, of
course, the ideal, but if you teach at an institution
without an IRB, you can ask an administrator or
colleague with expertise in this area to review the
study. It is important that someone unconnected with
the study review it for potential risks overlooked by
the student and faculty sponsor.
C) Examine the difference between two
groups on a continuous variable. For
example, do teenagers conform more
than younger children (variables =
adults/adolescents and amount of
Incorporating Mini-Research Projects continues on page 4
3
Group Research Project
Assessment
It is also essential to monitor students’ plans
closely. I only permit projects that involve minimal
risk; that is, projects in which the activities present
no more risk than the participant is likely to
encounter in daily life. Despite the low level of risk,
I mandate that students use consent forms. I give
them a standard form, and they add a description of
their project and a way to contact the primary
investigator and faculty sponsor. To ensure that
students have taken this step, I require them to
submit completed copies of the consent forms.
Content – Each category is worth up to 5 points
for a maximum of 80 points
___Is the topic interesting and creative?
___Is the hypothesis reasonably grounded in a theory
related to something we studied?
Data Analysis
___Is the hypothesis clear and in the proper form?
Most of my students do not have access to
statistical packages such as SPSS so I provide
instructions on how to analyze their data using
Microsoft Excel. Given the limitations on the types
of designs they may employ, their data can be
analyzed using one of three simple tests. If they
select option A, they run a Pearson product
movement correlation; if they select option B, they
run a chi square test, and if they select option C,
they run a t-test.
___Do you clearly name and describe your research
design?
___Are the variables appropriately and clearly
operationalized?
___Is the method of sample selection and assignment
clearly described and appropriate?
___Do you foresee and take steps to minimize
potential ethical concerns?
Evaluation
___Is the procedure clearly described and an
appropriate test of the hypothesis?
I primarily evaluate the groups on the
presentation of their research. When I give them the
assignment, I provide a rubric. Additionally, before
the group’s presentation, they turn in a selfevaluation – a copy of the rubric on which they have
evaluated their own performance. While I
occasionally have groups whose evaluations vary
from my own, more often students seem cognizant
of which aspects of their project are strong and which
are weak.
The groups also turn in a signed, detailed
list of each member’s contributions to the group. I
skim these and speak with students who seem to
have carried either too great or too small a portion
of the work.
As long as the groups stay with the plan
presented in the proposal and make the suggested
changes, the projects are generally quite good. Some
have been extraordinarily innovative and
interesting, and several have served as springboards
for students to continue work on their own and enter
the end product in science fairs. More important is
the role that weaker projects play in clearing up
student misconceptions. Students rarely commit the
same kind of error a second time, and the quality of
the projects improves as the year progresses.
___Do you control for potential confounds?
___Do you correctly use the proper statistics to
analyze your data?
___Are the results presented clearly and accurately?
___Do you make clear to whom the results can be
generalized?
___Do you recognize and explain the limitations of
your design and findings?
___Do you discuss multiple, potential explanations
for your findings?
___Do you identify interesting, logical ways to extend
your research?
___Do you draw appropriate conclusions given your
data?
Incorporating Mini-Research Projects continues on page 5
Psychology Teacher Network
Fall 2004
4
Presentation – Each category is worth up to 5
points for a maximum of 20 points
Lucrecia Cecilia Teran - Colegio Pablo Apostol
Yerbe Buena, Tucuman, Argentina
___Does the whole group participate?
Michael Jason Sloyer - Roslyn High School, Roslyn,
NY
___Is the work clearly and well presented (i.e.,
rehearsed)?
William Patrick Jagoe - A.R. Johnson, Health,
Augusta, GA
___Are the visuals clear, attractive, and appropriate?
Ashley Lauren Foster - Evans High School, Evans,
GA
___Is the group able to answer the class’questions?
The sixth annual APF/TOPSS Scholars
Competition engages high school students in
completing a critical analysis and synthesis of
empirical research, designing an original program,
and generating a quality research proposal to
empirically test its effectiveness. This year’s essay
question focused on APA President Dr. Diane
Halpern’s interest surrounding international
psychology. Three winners were selected by a panel
of high school, college, and university level
psychology faculty. Each of these three winners
received $1,000 in scholarship money,
generously contributed by the American
Psychological Foundation. The 2004 winners
included:
Total (Out of 100) = _______
Recognizing Excellence in
Student Research
The APA Education Directorate, the American
Psychological Foundation (APF), and the APA
Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS)
are pleased to announce the winners of three
competitions recognizing the outstanding work of high
school students in the area of psychology.
The Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair (ISEF) was held May 9-14 at the
Portland, Oregon Convention Center. The fair is
highly competitive: 3 million to 5 million students
submit projects at local and regional fairs each year,
and roughly 1,200 of those students make it to ISEF
in one of 15 categories, such as behavioral science,
biochemistry, computer science, earth and space
sciences, engineering, gerontology, mathematics,
medicine and health, and microbiology. APA is one of
several scientific organizations that recognize
students competing in the behavioral and social
sciences category. The effort is funded and organized
through the Education Directorate. This year’s
winners included:
Jennifer Ledon, Michael Krop Senior High School,
Miami, FL (Test Anxiety)
Erik Paulson, Sun Prairie High School, Sun Prairie,
WI (The Effects of Acculturation Within the ParentChild Relationship)
Linda Bravman, Walt Whitman High School, Bethesda,
MD (Culture and Emotions).
The APF/TOPSS Excellence in High School
Student Research Awards recognizes outstanding
high school student research projects. The 2004
winners are:
First Place Award $1,500
Anuraag Suhrid Parikh, Roslyn High School, Roslyn,
NY (Effect of Price Level and Price Type)
First Award of $1,000 and a certificate
Henny Admoni - John L. Miller-Great Neck North
High School, Great Neck, NY
Second Place Award $1,000
Michael Sloyer, Roslyn High School, Roslyn, NY
(Gender Differences in Students Confidence Level)
Second Award of $500 and a certificate
Kristen Elaine Fenska - Miami High School, Miami,
OK
Third Place Award $500
Samuel Neill, Roslyn High School, Roslyn, NY (Impact
of Target Music Preference)
Third Award of $250 and a certificate
Russel Thomas Burrows - Health Careers High
School, San Antonio, TX
Fourth Place Award $250
Allyson M. Goldberg, Croton-Harmon High School,
Croton-on-Hudson, NY (Manipulating Body Core
Temperature).
Honorable Mentions
Jennifer Alicia Ledon - Dr. Michael M. Krop High
School, Miami, FL
Psychology Teacher Network
5
Fall 2004
The Institutional Review Board:
History and Purpose
Loreto R. Prieto, Ph.D.
University of Akron
After all the
reading and literature
searches, all
the
wrestling with refining
research questions, all
the machinations to get
use of a local subject pool, all the trouble to recruit
help with collecting data, why am I required to fill
out this Institutional Review Board (IRB) application?
This is not an unusual complaint. Many
psychology teachers engage in research, some to meet
tenure standards, some in the pursuit of grants, some
for curriculum evaluation, and some who assign
research projects for their students.
Many of these projects will need to pass
through and receive approval from an IRB before they
can actually be carried out.
Psychology teachers’ reactions to the need for
IRB approval vary. Some see it as an unnecessary
check on their work and imposition on their time.
Others regard the IRB approval process as an
important safeguard for research participants,
researchers, and institutions alike.
Regardless of one’s perspective, IRBs are probably
here to stay, as they are mandated by federal
regulations (with oversight from the Office of Human
Research Protections, or OHRP). Knowing a little
about the genesis and purpose of IRBs can be one
step toward understanding and appreciating their
role.
Although the overwhelming majority of social
science and allied health investigators are quite
ethical in their practice of conducting research
projects, medical and behavioral research has been,
and still is, conducted absent the best interests of
research subjects in mind.
Many infamous projects, like the Tuskegee
Syphilis Study (circa 1932-1972), demonstrate the
extent to which researchers can horribly lose sight of
the primary need to protect the welfare of research
participants, and also, knowingly elect to cause
terrible (and unnecessary) pain, suffering and even
death to persons under their care in order to obtain
scientific information.
Incidences like these understandably shake
public trust, destroy the credibility of scientific work,
and bring into question the true motivations of
investigators in the allied health professions
(including psychology). In fact, so grievous an example
of bad science was the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, that,
in 1997, President Clinton made a formal, national
apology on behalf of the US government, the US Public
Health Service, and its associated agencies involved in
the Tuskegee project. President Clinton issued a frank
and moving apology for the inhumane treatment of the
nearly 400 African American men from whom curative
medical treatment for syphilis was withheld. So
consequential were the actions of the investigators in
the Tuskegee study that less than a dozen of the original
hundreds of research subjects in that project actually
survived to hear President Clinton’s apology. As well,
many of the research subjects’ wives and children were
stricken with syphilis or syphilis-related illnesses.
Projects like the Tuskegee study are not rare; US history
is replete with such violations of trust; from the
treatment and sterilization of mentally retarded
citizens during the US eugenics movement in the early
1900s through latter day concerns over research on, or
clinical use of, experimental medical treatments or
procedures. Available texts relay information on some
of these historical scientific offenses (see Rothman,
1991).
It is also extremely important to note that such
grievous offenses are not a thing of the past; within the
past five years alone, several institutions of higher
learning in the US have come under severe sanction
from OHRP for failing to observe basic human subjects
rights. And, many of these violations did not involve
bio-medical specific procedures; rather, they were
failings that concerned basic human subjects rights
such as obtaining informed consent, providing full
disclosure of research intent, using appropriate
recruitment procedures, and misusing subjects from
vulnerable populations (Oakes, 2002).
Historically, the medical atrocities committed
by the Nazis against their concentration camp
prisoners, in the name of scientific research, have been
recognized as the impetus behind world-wide
realization of the need for uniform codes of ethical and
procedural conduct to protect human subjects in
research. The Institutional Review Board Guidebook
(DHHS, 1993) provides a tidy historical summary of
the most well known of these ethics/procedural codes,
including the Nuremberg Code (1947); The Helsinki
Code (1964/1989); the Belmont Report (1979); and of
course, the APA Code of Ethics (1992/2002). These codes
have outlined the aforementioned basic ethical
principles we know today as mainstays in research
protocols; concepts of informed consent, risk/benefit
Institutional Review Board continues on page 7
6
to human research subjects. Categories of research
(e.g., survey, interview, invasive bio-medical) and
levels of approvals/actions (e.g., exempt, expedited,
full board/continuing review) exist to help IRBs
efficiently manage their task, as well as serve
researchers and potential research participants well.
Typically, these categories of research and available
range of actions help IRBs to assess whether a more
brief or more extensive review is necessary; again,
the populations under research, the interventions
or data collection methods used, and the potential
risk/benefit ratio to research participants and society
are among the many factors that an IRB uses to
evaluate research protocols.
The purpose of an IRB is not to obstruct or
make conducting research more difficult for
investigators, despite the extra paperwork and effort
that can be involved to demonstrate compliance with
regulations. In fact, as a researcher, I view
compliance with an IRB and relevant regulatory
statutes as a way in which all persons involved
(participants, university, and me) can feel a real
measure of confidence that any approved project I
conduct has had several sets of eyes on it, all working
toward ensuring safeguards for the people who will
participate in my research. And, although sometimes
a hassle, ultimately, waiting a few weeks to receive
IRB approval is not very much of a practical hold up
to my work. Much like any other form of professional
consultation, I am happy to have my perspective and
plan for research assessed, verified (or corrected, if
necessary) and supported.
I am also a member of my institution’s IRB.
Having seen things from both sides of the table, I
sincerely hope that our community of teachers,
scientists and researchers in psychology share my
positive perspective on the necessity and benefit of
IRBs and our strengthened concerns about human
subjects’ protection. After all, we need to remember
that the IRB and regulations concerning human
subjects’ rights did not arise out of a vacuum. The
system was put in place specifically because of the
highly perilous and offensive situations in which
some investigators were historically willing to place
human subjects (in the name of research) before any
such oversight was required.
As a scientific community, we all shoulder a
continuing legacy, foisted upon us by those who are
not trustworthy and who have, and still, perpetrate
wrongs against innocents — in the name of research
— wrongs against those who are politically,
economically, socially, psychologically or physically
vulnerable. As such, we can consider the small
inconveniences and extra work brought to us by
compliance with current standards and IRB
procedures as a small price to pay. Many unfortunate
analyses of research projects, and the primacy of
participant well-being and protection.
On the basis of these earlier codes, as well
as other key events and political forces, in the late
60s and 70s, the US government and many of its
associated research-oriented branches began to issue
regulatory statutes concerning the protection of
human subjects in research (DHHS, 1993). These
legislative actions included such landmark
guidelines as the 1966/1974 NIH Policies for the
Protection of Human Subjects, the 1974 National
Research Act, and 1991 revised Federal Policy for
Protection of Human Subjects. This latter Policy
governs research conducted at sixteen different
federal agencies and the institutions that receive
funding from those agencies. Later updates and
supplements to these regulations came about that
addressed the use of pregnant women, fetuses, in
vitro fertilization/embryos, prisoners, and children
as research subjects.
Because these regulatory statutes are
federally-based, virtually all of the research that is
funded by government grants or monies falls under
the jurisdiction of, and is subject to, review and/or
approval according to these policies. Typically, such
oversight is implemented through an institutionallybased, appropriate IRB board. As well, research
conducted at institutions that receive federal funds
to support their general operations (e.g. universities
and many educational facilities) are also often held
to these same human subjects protection standards.
This is why many psychology teachers are compelled
to check with IRB boards regarding their research.
A typical IRB will be staffed by scienceoriented researchers/scholars from many different
professions and disciplines, who have ties to the
institution or organization over which the IRB has
jurisdiction. As well, individuals who have no ties
to the institution in question and who are nonscientists are also required to be a part of an IRB;
typically these may be community leaders or persons
who hold valuable perspectives. In this way, a
balance of expertise and experience is brought to
the decision-making engaged in by an IRB. Finally,
IRB boards have independence from the institutions
they are affiliated with so that administrative
pressures or interests cannot be brought to bear on
Board decisions, and so that Board members can, as
objectively as possible, evaluate research protocols
that come before them.
An IRB board is charged with ensuring that
research investigators, protocols, and procedures are
in line with all applicable regulations (e.g., federal
and institutional policy). An IRB is also responsible
for carefully reviewing those research ventures that
represent more than minimal risk or potential harm
Institutional Review Board continues on page 8
7
Institutional Review Board continued from page 7
research subjects have paid a much greater price
than the small inconveniences we endure to ensure
the safety of those with whom we conduct research.
US Department of Health & Human Services
(1993). Institutional Review Board Guidebook
(Office for Human Research Protections). Author.
REFERENCES
Authors Note:
I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Phillip
Allen and Dr. Margaret Wineman, current and past
IRB Chairpersons, respectively, at the University of
Akron, for reviewing and suggesting edits on earlier
drafts of this work.
Oakes, J. M. (2002). Risks and wrongs in social
science research: An evaluator’s guide to
the IRB. Evaluation Review, 26, 443-479.
Rothman, D. J. (1991). Strangers at the Bedside: A
History of How Law and Bioethics
Transformed Medical Decision Making. New York:
Basic Books.
PT@CC Electronic Project Contest Winners
Second Place
Dress for Success
by: Jeff Rehak, Aaron Birch, Brittany Blackburn,
Eric Sanger, and Nicole Howard.
PT@CC Sponsor: Maria Chavira
Mesa Community College, Arizona
During the spring, the APA Committee of
Psychology Teachers at Community Colleges
(PT@CC) announced the second annual APA
Electronic Project Contest. Developed as a means
to recognize innovative and high quality electronic
presentations, the contest guidelines invited
submissions in the following two categories:
Third Place
Afraid: A Book for Children “at risk” for Huntington’s
Disease
by Michelle Thompson
PT@CC Sponsor: Ann Ewing
Mesa Community College, Arizona
•
Presentations designed as demonstrations
or teaching modules that illustrate and explain a
psychological concept, theory, or research discovery.
•
Presentations that illustrate and explain a
service-learning experience or other application of
psychology in the community.
Honorable Mentions
Classical Conditioning and Fear
by Aimee White
PT@CC Sponsor: Lawrence Venuk
Naugatuck Valley Community College,Connecticut
The APA Committee of Psychology Teachers at
Community Colleges extends thanks and
appreciation to the APA Education Directorate and
our contest co-sponsor, Allyn & Bacon Publishing,
for support of the Electronic Project Contest. In
addition, special thanks go out to all of the students
who participated in the 2004 competition. Join us
in congratulating this year’s winners and their
PT@CC sponsors:
“Research for Dummies” and Schema Theory
by Kristy Cahoon
PT@CC Sponsor: Kimberley Duff
Cerritos Community College, California
Visit the PT@CC web site to view the winning
electronic projects. Look for details later this year
about the 2005 Electronic Project Contest on the Web
at www.apa.org/ed/pcue/ptatcchome.html.
First Place
Psychology and the Law: Compatibility or Impasse
A Website Presentation by Noel Derecki
PT@CC Sponsor: Kevin Handley, Germanna
Community College, Virginia
Psychology Teacher Network
Fall 2004
8
ACTIVITY
Using Internet Scavenger Hunts to Teach About Women in
Psychology:
Some Thoughts and A Design It Yourself Guide
Carlota Ocampo, Ph.D.
Trinity College
Ethnic Minority Affairs publication Communique
that using technology to teach about diversity in
psychology is a natural (Ocampo, “Diversity,
technology, and the teaching of psychology”, July
2001, 51-56). Teaching about diversity can help the
APA meet two goals: to recruit more psychologists
from under-represented groups and to ensure that
all psychologists are trained to be culturally
competent. Although evidence suggests that
undergraduate populations are increasingly made up
of students different in “age, color, ethnicity, gender,
national origin, physical and mental ability, emotional
ability, race, religion, language, sexual orientation,
socioeconomic background, or unique individual
style”2, their numbers dwindle in graduate school and
beyond. The well-known “feminization of psychology”
has not been followed by other trends in
diversification: in 1993, 24% of undergraduate
students nationally were from minority groups, but
only 16% of those awarded bachelor’s degrees in
psychology were from minority groups (84% were
European American) and only 9% of those receiving
doctorates were from minority groups (January 1997
Final Report of the APA Commission of Ethnic
Minority Recruitment, Retention and Training).
Although these data are now nine years old, they
converge with recent data reported in the Chronicle
of Higher Education regarding bachelor’s and
doctoral degrees awarded in all fields3. One might
assume that rollbacks in affirmative action have
stalled efforts to recruit potential psychologists from
under-represented groups (minority enrollments
plummeted in the University of California system,
for example 4). We need to devise strategies for
catching and keeping the interest of all kinds of
students in psychology.
Using technology to teach about diversity
also meets two goals. It gives our increasingly diverse
undergraduate students practice with technological
skills, helping to bridge the “digital divide.” In
addition, in classes made up of homogeneous students
from homogeneous communities, the Internet can
open up a new world of diversity. Students can visit
websites like Division 45’s Society for the
Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues at
http://www.apa.org/divisions/div45/resources.html, or
the Association of Black Psychologist’s homepage at
Technology in the classroom - revolutionary
wave or time-wasting fad? Many professors have
strong feelings one way or the other, and the new
teaching technologies have clear pros and cons. The
jury is still out as to whether they actually enhance
learning, and they require intense preparation to be
effective. On the other hand, there are good arguments
for their integration into high school and college
classes. The new technologies can enhance multimodal learning and break up the monotony of straight
lecture with attention grabbing graphics, sounds and
video images. Exposure to word processing programs,
presentation software, image composers, spreadsheets,
statistical packages, html editors and other computerbased technologies look good on students’ resumes, and
part of our job is to equip them for “the real world.”
Higher education administrators want technology rich
classrooms and reward teachers who can provide them.
But the best argument for the new technologies is that
they can engage students in “active learning” - yes,
another buzzword, but one that can benefit multimodal learners and help many students reinforce what
they’ve been taught (if only because they stay awake
during the activities!).
The Internet provides good opportunities for
active learning. Seminar classes are very exciting for
students when they search databases for the most
cutting edge research studies - or originals of seminal
works - and pull up full-text on-line for immediate
analysis and discussion. Students in an Experimental
Psychology class were fascinated when they found J.R.
Stroop’s 1935 paper, “Studies of interference in serial
verbal reactions”, while doing a Stroop task in an
interactive Internet laboratory. (The paper, originally
published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology,
28,
643-662,
is
available
at
http://
psychclassics.yorku.ca/Stroop/). Obviously, the
Internet can be yoked as a great learning tool and a
means of communication in distance learning or webenabled classes. Internet scavenger hunts involve high
school and first and second year college students in a
wealth of materials. With the Internet, the world in
all its great diversity – at least the virtual version of it
- is at students’ fingertips.1
Diversity is another buzzword in psychology
and across higher education; personally, I find it a
welcome buzz. I recently argued in the APA’s Office of
Activity continues on page 10
9
http://www.abpsi.org/, or they can check out the
cultural links at Social Psychology Network
(http://www.socialpsychology. org/
cultural.htm#nativeamerican). A survey conducted
by the Society for the Teaching of Psychology task
force on diversity found that 73% of respondents
(all teachers of psychology) valued diversity but
only 15% taught a diversity class,5 and the task
force’s recent analysis of diversity literature
published in Teaching of Psychology from its debut
as a journal in 1974 through 2000 found that less
than 10% of articles dealt with teaching about
diversity in a substantive way6. It may be that
teachers want to address diversity in the
classroom, but lack resources or teaching tools.
The Internet can help.
The brass tacks: designing an Internet
Scavenger Hunt on diversity in psychology is a timeconsuming but rewarding task - because it is fun.
Students learn how to use the Internet in a safe and
scholarly way while learning “content.” Below is an
example of a Scavenger Hunt on women in psychology
that I hope readers will enjoy using. I start the
exercise with a tutorial on the Internet and on search
techniques, making sure to discuss the reliability of
different servers (.edu and .gov are more reliable than
.org and .com servers in most cases) and emphasizing
that students should put their websites to the same
rigorous tests they do print sources before accepting
the validity of the information (knowing who the
authors are, their credentials, using referenced
materials, etc.) I point out differences between
materials found through different search engines,
specific databases, or websites with known
reputations (like the APA’s). The tutorial introduces
students to the basics of a successful scholarly
experience on the Internet.
The Scavenger Hunt accomplishes the dual
goals of allowing students to practice these new skills
while teaching them how to “discover psychological
content” for themselves. For the Women in Psychology
Hunt, I thought about some of the things I would like
students to know about the topic, and I tried using
keywords in different search engines or databases to
find sites with the information I wanted them to learn.
In designing the Hunt questions or clues, I used
keywords I “tested for success.” It is important to
test the keywords prior to each use, as the Internet
constantly changes. For example, to help students
find Mamie Phipps Clark, an earlier version of this
Hunt used the keywords “African American woman
psychologist, Brown vs. Board of Education”
(formulated as the instruction: find information about
an African American woman psychologist who
contributed to the Brown vs. Board of Education of
Topeka, Kansas, 1954 desegregation decision) but
Psychology Teacher Network
Fall 2004
10
these keywords no longer retrieve appropriate
documents in search engines. I found that the only
way to direct students to scholarly sites was to use
her name. Another reason to check all of the keywords
first is to ascertain that none of them accidentally
take students into unsafe sites that proliferate on the
Internet!
This exercise usually takes a little over an
hour, depending on students’ skill levels and how
quickly they get through the tutorial. Splitting them
into teams (no more than three to a computer is best)
and having them compete against each other is an
added motivation, and I always keep prizes on hand
(school mugs, water bottles, t-shirts or paraphernalia
left over from other functions work well).
Teaching technologies have been with us since
the first Sumerian picked up a stylus and clay tablet
and began cuneiform writing – yet griots and griottes
(oral historians who memorize and pass on immense
historical works) still persevere (Griots even perform
on the Internet – see http://www.psu.edu/ur/archives/
intercom_2000/ Jan27/griots.html). Technology can
complement our teaching and can be a useful addition
to a teacher’s bag of tricks. But it won’t replace good
course preparation, good teaching, and a passion for
psychology.
Women in Psychology
Internet Scavenger Hunt
Part One: Tutorial
1) First, let’s access the Web. Use your mouse to click
on the Netscape navigator or Internet explorer icon
on your desktop. If there is no icon, move the mouse
to the start button, usually at the bottom left-hand
corner of your screen. Click; a menu will pop up.
Select programs and click. On the program menu,
you should see the program appear; click on it. The
College Homepage will appear on your screen.
2) You are now viewing the Internet with a web
browser. In order to search for information on the
Internet, or “surf the web,” we must access a search
engine or use a specific URL (universal resource
locator, or web address).
3) First, let’s try looking at a specific URL in
psychology: www.apa.org, the website for the
American Psychological Association. In the address
box at the top of your screen you will see the College’s
URL. Type the APA’s URL over it (www.apa.org) and
hit the enter key on your keyboard. The APA
homepage will now appear on your screen.
How should we use this site to find out about
women in psychology? It helps to have a research
question clear in our minds. For example, do we
want to find out about women’s contributions to
psychology, or about research on women in
psychology, or about the prevalence of certain
psychological problems in women? Let’s see what
we can find out about research on women’s mental
health.
On the APA homepage, there are several
“links” - areas where your mouse becomes a pointing
finger - that you can click on to go to other pages
within the website. What happens when we click
on the links? How can we best find information on
women using these links? Try clicking on the
student link. Again, many links to choose from
appear. Scroll down the page by pointing your mouse
on the scroll button on the right side of your screen,
or clicking on the arrow below it. Note the “APA
style helper” - you may want to access this “on-line
writing center” while working on a paper! Now, click
on the link to “PsycINFO Direct”. You will see a
menu that will tell you how to use a psychology
database, “PsycINFO”. To have full access to this
database, your institution must have a site, or you
must register and pay a fee. For now, let’s use the
“DEMO” function. Click on it.
You will see a search window on your screen. Type
in keywords related to your search (let’s try “women’s
mental health”). Press the enter key.
Record here one item on your screen:
Note that if you click on the blue-highlighted
text, you can read the abstracts or full citations for
the studies listed on the page. How can these
abstracts be helpful in learning about psychology,
or doing research? Well, you can order the full text
of the articles over the Internet, or you can find out
if your library (or a consortium library) carries the
journal and access the full text of the article that
way.
You can also find scholarly information
directly on this site. Using the back button on the
top left-hand corner of your screen, go back to the
APA homepage (or click on the American
Psychological Association link at the bottom of the
PsycINFO page). At the top left of the page, you
will see a search window for ALL of APA’s site,
including the links, news releases, etc. and other
documents posted here. Let’s try our keywords and
see what happens.
Whoops - didn’t find anything? Maybe we
need to change our keywords! Try “mental health
and women” instead.
Click on some of the links (blue-highlighted
text) that are listed. Record one fact about research
on women’s mental health you learned from this
search:
Think about the differences in the kinds of
resources you accessed using the general website
and the database. This will be helpful and
timesaving when you surf the web to find material
for your psychology papers.
Another good database for psychological
research is maintained by the National Institutes
of Health at www.nih.gov. You can search the entire
NIH site or specifically go to the National Library
of Medicine through Medline at www.nlm.nih.gov.
Try this now; keep clicking on Medline until you get
to a search window and input women’s mental
health.
4) Now let’s try looking for information on women’s
mental health using a commercial search engine.
There are a number of different search engines
available to search the web, such as AltaVista, Lycos,
Yahoo, etc. These engines sift through the entire
web in response to the keywords you enter into the
system. Each engine responds to the keywords using
different sets of programming instructions, so the
different search engines will yield different results.
For demonstration purposes, let’s go to one of my
favorite search engines, www.google.com. Type this
URL in the address window at the top of your screen
and hit the enter key. Or, click on the flashlight in
your navigation toolbar above the address window,
and select Google from the search screen that
appears. The Google search window will appear on
your screen.
Let’s see what we can find out about women’s
mental health in Google. Type in the keywords we
used before. (*Note: some search engines offer
interactive search options - we can limit our search
by directing the engine to return only those sites
that contain all our keywords, or specifying which
time period to search, or to return documents in
English only.) To view the sites, click on the bluehighlighted titles of the sites. Click on the “back”
button at the top left-hand corner of your screen to
return to the Google retrieval list.
Record one fact about women’s mental health
you learned from this search:
** Some things to think about:
What were the differences in the kinds of
information you retrieved using the URL versus the
search engine? Were you overwhelmed by the
amount of material presented? How might you
narrow your search terms to return only those
Activity continues on page 12
11
websites that will be useful in your studies?
her work:
Try narrowing your keywords - let’s input “depression
in women.” Record one fact on women’s depression
here:
Was this approach helpful?
Part Two: Scavenger Hunt
Now let’s play Internet Scavenger Hunt! For our
scavenger hunt, let’s find out about women who
contributed to the field of psychology. Let’s break into
teams - three players each. You may search any way
that you like. Hunt for the following items - whichever
team finishes first wins a prize!
1) Find a website about a woman psychologist who
developed an important theory of color vision:
Record the URL of the site:
Record her name and describe her theory
of color vision:
2) Find a website about the first woman president of
the APA. Who was she? Where did she study? What
was her major career accomplishment?
Record the URL of the site:
Record information about her
accomplishment:
3) Find out about one Neo-Freudian personality
theorist who was a woman. (Hint: She was born in
1885). Some now consider her theories feminist. How
did her theories of personality development differ
from Freud’s?
Record the URL of the site:
Record her name and describe one of her
contributions to psychoanalytic theory:
4) Find a website about Mamie Phipps Clark. Who
was she? Where did she study? What was her major
contribution, via her research in psychology, to
changes in US policy?
Record the URL of the site:
Record information about her contribution:
5) Who wrote Lenses of Gender? Describe one major
psychological contribution of this author.
Record the URL of the site:
Record her name and contribution here:
6) Find information about a woman who has made
discoveries about the sense of taste (perceptual
psychology). Hint: She is a researcher at the Yale
University School of Medicine.
Record the URL of the site:
Record her name and briefly summarize
7) Find a website for a scholarly psychological journal
which focuses on the psychology of women.
Record the URL of the site:
Record the journal’s name and list topics
on which this journal publishes articles:
8) Find a website for an organization in your
community that employs a psychologist who is a
woman:
Record the URL of the site:
Record her name and job description here.
What degree does she have?
9) Find a website with information about grants or
scholarships you may be eligible for to study
psychology!
Record the URL of the site:
Write the name of the scholarship here:
When you finish the search, call out “done!” The first
group to finish will report out their findings to the
rest of the class and win a prize!
Footnotes
1
A brief caveat - In my experience, teaching
psychology with the Internet is best done in a
computer classroom or academic computing center
that can be reserved so that each student (or every
two students) has a computer in front of her. (If
unavailable, students can be assigned the Internet
projects as homework).
2
Hall, C. (1997). Cultural malpractice: The growing
obsolescence of psychology with the changing US
population. American Psychologist, 52, 642-651.
3
The Chronicle of Higher Education (August, 1999)
reported the following: out of 42,705 doctoral degrees
conferred, .5% went to American Indians, 3.8% went
to Hispanics, 4.8% went to African Americans, 10.3%
went to Asians, and 77.8% went to European
Americans. Out of 550,822 full-time college faculty,
.4% were American Indian, 2.3% were Hispanic, 4.9%
were African American, 5% were Asian, and 85% were
European American. Add these figures to James
Jones’ (1997, Prejudice and Racism, published by
McGraw Hill) report that about 53% of Hispanics,
76% of African Americans, and 82% of Whites
graduate from high school, while 9% of Hispanics,
12% of African Americans and 26 % of European
Americans graduate from college.
Activity continues on page 15
12
Assembling an Introduction:
Teaching the Organization of an
APA-style Introduction
John Murray, Ph.D.
Georgia Southern University
up the Introduction to each article. The instructor
will present each group with a shuffled set of index
cards. The group’s task is to assemble the shuffled
cards into the correct order. When the cards are in
the appropriate order they collectively represent a
coherent introduction. When a group of students
believes the cards from one article are in the correct
order, they can call the instructor over to the group
and the instructor can quickly check his or her notes
which should have the correct order of the codes on
the reverse side of each index card. If the group’s
order is incorrect, the instructor can have them try
again. This process can be repeated until the correct
order is presented. Once two groups have
successfully ordered their cards, they can exchange
card sets. If there are as many card sets as there are
groups, then over the course of the lab period each
group will have been given a chance to order all the
articles.
Conveying to students the
organizational scheme of
an APA-style Introduction
can be difficult. Of course,
there is no substitute for
having students just “jump right in” and attempt to
write an introduction and receive specific feedback
later on. However, before they actually write, students
need some knowledge about what is contained in an
Introduction and how those contents are organized.
Over the years I have managed this issue by merely
describing, in a lecture, the contents and structure of
the introduction, using examples from my own work.
I’ve also used the standard “inverted-triangle
metaphor” (The introduction begins broadly by
covering a wide range of studies, then narrows to a
small number of studies that are more relevant to the
present research). These approaches are not
necessarily flawed. But they lack the impact that
characterizes a more experiential approach.
A useful supplement to a standard lecturebased approach for teaching about the structure of an
Introduction is a simple exercise that I came up with
a number of years ago (I should state that I never
found this exercise in any teaching source, although
it is possible that someone else may have come up
with it as well). This approach is appropriate as a lab
activity, and is best implemented after students have
received some general lecture-based content on the
different parts of an APA-manuscript.
The exercise requires that students be broken
up into small groups (consisting of 3 or 4 students). It
also requires the instructor to find a number of
published articles containing relatively short
introductions (A good source for me has been the
“Research Reports” from Psychological Science). You’ll
need as many articles as there are groups in the class,
and they should cover a variety of disciplines. As a
final preparation, the instructor will need to take each
photocopied article and divide the introduction into
“chunks,” usually consisting of one or two paragraphs.
Each individual chunk should be affixed to an index
card. The instructor should make a record of the
correct order of the index cards, and put a code number
or letter on the back of each. (The codes should not be
ordered in an obvious manner, like “1,2,3” or “A, B, C”
on successive cards).
The exercise itself consists of having the
student groups “assemble” the paragraphs that make
What to expect from this exercise?
When they receive a set of cards, students
will most likely distribute them among the group
members. After reading them, the students will
discuss the contents of each person’s card. Through
their dialogue students will need to make inferences
about which card should be first, second, third, etc.
Of course, students will attempt to use surface cues
related to the specific content of each paragraph to
help them order the cards (e.g., the content words
placed at the end of one paragraph may match up
with content words at the beginning of another
paragraph). However, this strategy will not be
sufficient to successfully order the cards. Students
will need to have knowledge of the nature of the
information that is usually at the beginning of the
introduction and be aware of how that information
is different from the information stated in other parts
of the document. If the students have had the
“inverted triangle” lecture, they are likely to find the
exercise easier than if they have not been exposed to
this information.
With practice ordering a number of card sets,
students will see that the initial paragraphs of the
introduction typically convey information about the
general topic of the paper. Middle paragraphs begin
to hone in on a specific issue, and later paragraphs
usually refer to unanswered questions and/or
Assembling an Introduction continues on page 14
13
Assembling an Intro continued from page 13
hypotheses that the present study is likely to address.
Usually the final paragraphs contain information that
overviews the current methodology and presents
predictions.
What is nice about this exercise is that
students are gleaning important information about
document structure through the use of real articles. I
think most instructors of scientific writing wish that
students could glean more information merely from
reading the content of articles (i.e., the articles that
they need to read for content). I am constantly
reminding students that the most valuable information
that they will receive about writing an APA-style paper
will come not from me, but from the articles that they
read themselves. This exercise provides a vehicle by
which students learn valuable information from real
scientific articles.
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27th Annual National Institute on the
Teaching of Psychology
January 2–5, 2005
TradeWinds Island Grand Hotel
St. Petersburg Beach, Florida
During the spring, the APA Committee of
Psychology Teachers at Community Colleges PT@CC
announced winners of the new APA Teaching Tips
Contest. Developed as a means to recognize and
encourage sharing of high quality instructional
techniques, the contest guidelines invited community
college instructors to submit an original
demonstration, an individual or group class activity,
an interactive teaching/learning module, or other
pedagogy designed to illustrate a psychological
concept or theory. Join us in congratulating this year’s
winners!
First Place
“Chili Day’”
By Professor Lawrence Venuk
Naugatuck Valley Community College, Connecticut
Second Place
“The Peanut Lab or How to Identify Abnormal
Peanuts”
By Professor Abigail Norfleet James
Germanna Community College - Locust Grove
Campus, Virginia
The 27th Annual National Institute on the
Teaching of Psychology is designed for teachers of
psychology at universities, two- and four-year colleges,
and high schools, who wish to explore new ideas that
will enhance and broaden their teaching skills. The
Institute is structured to provide an atmosphere that
supports individual involvement and group
interaction. Presentation formats are diverse and
provide occasions for informal exchange so that you
can select a personal agenda that meets your
professional development needs. Hands-on
workshops, concurrent sessions on topics
relevant to both classroom skills and content
updates, poster sessions, participant idea
exchange sessions, book displays and software
demonstrations, and informal networking
sessions combine to meet the needs of both past
participants and psychology faculty in general.
For registration fees and other information
visit the NITOP website: www.nitop.org, or
Contact the conference office:
National Institute on the Teaching of
Psychology, 2303 Naples Court, Champaign, IL
61822; 217-398-6969 email: jfetzner@uiuc.edu
Psychology Teacher Network
2004 APA Teaching Tips
Contest Winners
Fall 2004
14
Third Place
“The Use of Anguish Languish to Demonstrate Top
Down Processing”
By Professor Fabian Novello
Clark State Community College, Ohio
Honorable Mentions
“Piaget and the Blue Potato Chip”
By Professor Diane Finley
Prince George’s Community College, Maryland
“Learning About Being an Eyewitness”
By Professor James Bell
Howard Community College, Maryland
PT@CC extends thanks and appreciation to the
APA Education Directorate and Worth Publishers for
support of the Teaching Tips Contest. In addition,
special thanks go out to all of the psychology faculty
members who participated in the 2004 competition.
PT@CC is working to make the winning Teaching Tips
available to psychology teachers. Look for details on
the Web at www.apa.org/ed/pcue/ptatcchome.html.
BOOK REVIEW
psychology is not spared by Myers’ investigative
eye. Evidence-based efficacy studies of mental
health practice are juxtaposed with “clinical/
therapeutic intuition” to differentiate suitability for
predicting future academic performance and
criminal or suicidal risk.
For the reader who would like to further
explore topics encompassed in Intuition: Its Powers
and Perils, Myers provides a companion website
with links to several of the studies cited in his book
at http://www.davidmyers.org/intuition.
Intuition: Its Powers and Perils addresses
many of the preconceived beliefs regarding
everyday phenomenon that students bring to the
introductory psychology classroom. Myers
challenges these beliefs with scientific evidence in
a way that is both understandable and accessible
to the general public. His rich and varied use of
examples of “powerful” and “perilous” intuitive
thinking assure that every reader will find
something she can relate to. Teachers can use this
book as a supplement to their text or as a reference
tool to illustrate a myriad of topics discussed in
introductory psychology from cognitive psychology,
to sensation and perception, to social psychology
and statistics. More importantly, Myers’ Intuition:
Its Powers and Perils reinforces the role of scientific
psychology in shedding light on everyday
phenomenon. As teachers of psychology we often
stress the need for evidence based, decision making.
Teaching students to step back and question their
own “taken for granteds” is a desired outcome of
many of our courses. Myers’ book assists in that
endeavor.
Intuition: Its Powers and
Perils
Reviewed by
Patricia Puccio, Ed.D.
College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL
Author: David G. Myers
Publisher: Yale University Press
Copyright: 2002
ISBN: 0-300-09531-7
Length: 322 pages
Price: $24.95(hardcover); $16.00 paper
The ability to apply critical thinking, skeptical
inquiry, and the scientific approach to problem solving
are oft stated learning outcomes of psychology
coursework. In Intuition: Its Powers and Perils, social
psychologist and textbook author David G. Myers
combines his skill as a “communicator of psychological
science” with recent research in cognitive psychology
to illustrate how our unconscious, automatic thinking
– often referred to as intuition –can lead to both
powerful and perilous decision making in everyday
situations.
In his opening chapter, Myers frames his
discussion of intuition with a review of cognitive and
biological psychology research delineating the
function of the post-Freudian unconscious. According
to Myers “thinking without awareness,” or intuition,
is the level at which “most of our everyday thinking,
feeling, and acting” operates. The remainder of Part
1 identifies social intuition, intuitive expertise, and
creativity as “powerful” products of our intuitive
minds.
In Part 2, Myers explores the “perils of
intuition” including memory construction, predicting
everyday behavior, hindsight and self-serving bias,
perception, and problem solving. The fundamental
attribution error, illusory correlation, heuristics, and
false memory syndrome are some of the many
psychological constructs discussed.
Myers applies two basic questions underlying
all psychology-based inquiry: “What do you mean?
And how do you know (what’s your evidence)?” to the
practical application of intuition in Part 3 of his book.
Common intuitive beliefs such as winning and losing
streaks, investment intuition, interviewer intuition,
mate selection, gambler’s intuition, and psychic
intuition are pitted against psychological science’s
research findings. Myers’ discussion of risk intuition
is of particular relevance to our post September 11,
2001 worldview. Myers advises his readers to “think
smarter about risk” when making decisions about
such things as whether it is riskier to fly or drive on
their next family vacation. The discipline of
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Activity continued from page 12
4
Cooper, K.J. (2000, April 2). Colleges testing new
diversity initiatives. The Washington Post, A4.
5
Simoni, J.M., Sexton-Radek, K., Yescavage, K.,
Richard, H., & Lundquist, A. (1999). Teaching
diversity: Experiences and recommendations of
American Psychological Association Division 2
members. Teaching of Psychology, 26(2), 89-95.
6
Ocampo, C., Prieto, L., Whittlesey, V., Connor, J.,
Janco-Gidley, J., Mannix, S., and Sare, K. A review of
diversity research in Teaching of Psychology:
Summary and recommendations. Under review at
Teaching of Psychology.
Psychology Teacher Network
15
Fall 2004
Funding Opportunities
Funding For Precollege and Undergraduate Teaching Conferences
To enhance the quality of teaching and learning outcomes, the Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) reviews
proposals for financial support to award $5,000 in BEA Block Grants each year.
Criteria
To be considered for funding, applications must meet the following criteria:
1. the conference must advance the teaching of psychology at the secondary, 2-year, and/or 4-year level;
2. the conference must be directed by an APA member, associate, or affiliate;
3. the grant must be requested by an APA member, associate, or affiliate; and
4. the grant must be used to offset travel expenses of selected conference participants, registration fees
of conference participants, and/or speaker fees.
It is possible that conferences that have received block grants two years in a row may not be funded
or may be funded at lower levels on the third consecutive application to ensure that a variety of
conferences receive grants.
Proposals for block grants will be reviewed and evaluated according to the following criteria:
1. Conference Goals and Activities. Proposals will be rated on the perceived importance and innovativeness
of the conference as well as the clarity and completeness of the description of the conference objectives and
activities. (A conference announcement/ brochure should be submitted with the application.)
2. Composition of Target Audience. Proposals will be rated on the potential impact and suitability of content
for the target audience.
3. Budgetary Information. Proposals will be rated on the clarity and completeness of the description of the
conference budget, anticipated expenses, as well as confirmed and anticipated sources and amounts of
funding.
Following the evaluation of the proposals, the BEA Block Grants Subcommittee will recommend monetary
awards based on the availability of funds and on the quality of the applications. *
*
Applicants may be awarded up to $1,000 during a given year. If fewer than five acceptable applications are
received in a given year, the BEA may award more than one block grant (and more than $1,000) to the
same conference in that year.
Deadline
Funding requests for teaching conferences in 2005 should be postmarked by February 25, 2005.
Please send written requests to:
Martha Boenau
American Psychological Association
Education Directorate
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Email: mboenau@apa.org
Funding for Teaching Initiatives
To support TOPSS in the development of grassroots efforts among psychology teachers, the American
Psychological Foundation (APF) receives proposals and distributes modest grants each year through the
Nationwide Psychology Program. These funds are made available for state-wide initiatives such as
mailings, workshops, and institutes that support the formation of regional networks of psychology
teachers. Send proposals to:
Emily Leary
American Psychological Association
Education Directorate
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
Email: eleary@apa.org
Be sure to include a justification/rationale for how a specific project would build local networks and
enhance high school psychology on a local basis.
Psychology Teacher Network
Fall 2004
16
ANNOUNCEMENTS
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATION
CHARLES L. BREWER
DISTINGUISHED TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY AWARD
The American Psychological Foundation (APF)
invites nominations for the APF 2005 Charles L.
Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award.
•
•
•
•
THE AWARD:
The awardee receives a plaque, a $2,000 check, and a
two-night, three-day, all-expenses- paid trip to the
2005 convention in Washington, DC, where the award
will be presented.
practice in psychology; and/or,
Administrative facilitation of teaching;
Research on teaching;
Training of teachers of psychology;
Evidence of influence as a teacher of
students who become psychologists.
APPLICATION PROCESS:
APF provides nomination forms. Nominations
should include the form, a statement that
illustrates how the nominee fulfills the guidelines
of the award, and the nominee’s current vita and
bibliography. Letters in support of the nomination
are welcome. All materials should be coordinated
and collected by the chief nominator and forwarded
to APF at the same time.
AWARD REQUIREMENTS:
The award recognizes a career contribution to the
teaching of psychology. The APF Teaching
Subcommittee selects a psychologist for the award
who has demonstrated:
• Exemplary performance as a classroom
teacher;
• Development of innovative curricula and
courses;
• Development of effective teaching methods
and/or materials;
• Teaching of advanced research methods and
The deadline for receipt of materials is December
1, 2004. Requests for nomination forms and
completed nomination packets should be mailed to
the Charles L. Brewer Teaching Award
Coordinator, American Psychological
Foundation, 750 First Street, NE, Washington,
DC, 20002-4242. Requests for nomination
forms may also be sent to foundation@apa.org.
Call for STP Teaching Award Nominations
The Society for the Teaching of Psychology (APA Division Two) announces its 2005 program of awards
for outstanding teachers of psychology. Teaching awards of $750 and a plaque are bestowed for outstanding
performance in each of four categories: Four-year Colleges or Universities (Robert S. Daniel Award);
Two-year Colleges; High Schools (Moffet Memorial Teaching Award); and Graduate Student
(McKeachie Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award). The deadline for submission of supporting
materials is January 14, 2005. Renominations and self-nominations are acceptable. Submission of materials,
queries, and requests for nomination criteria may be sent to the Chair of the Teaching Awards Committee:
Elizabeth Yost Hammer
Department of Psychology, Box 194
Loyola University
6363 St. Charles Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70118
E-mail: eyhammer@loyno.edu
Psychology Teacher Network
17
Fall 2004
Psychology Teacher Network is published quarterly by the Education Directorate of the American Psychological Association (APA).
Subscriptions are free to High School and Community College Teacher
Affiliates of APA and APA Members, and $15 a year for all others.
Address editorial correspondence to Psychology Teacher Network, APA
Education Directorate, 750 First St., NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242;
(202) 572-3013. Address inquiries regarding membership or affiliation
to the APA Membership Office, at the same address.
Production Editor...................................Jewel Beamon
jbeamon@apa.org
Co-Editors..............................................Martha Boenau
mboenau@apa.org
Maureen McCarthy, Ph.D.
mmccarthy@apa.org
Emily Leary
eleary@apa.org
Consulting Editors:
TOPSS....................................................Rob Johns
rjohns@westside66.org
WORKSHOPS AND CONFERENCES
National Council for the Social Studies
(NCSS) Annual Conference
November 19-21, 2004
Baltimore Convention Center
Baltimore, Maryland
For more information, please email
eleary@apa.org or visit the TOPSS website
at
http://www.apa.org/ed/topss/
conf_wkshop04.html
PT@CC..................................................Robert Johnson, Ph.D.
bjohnson@rosenet.net
Psychology Teacher Network
Education Directorate
American Psychological Association
750 First Street, NE
W ashington, DC 20002-4242
Psychology Teacher Network
Nonprofit
US Postage Paid
W ashington DC
Permit No. 6348
Fall 2004
18