The January NITOP conference is usually fully enrolled by October 15 each year, but because recent tragic events have caused some of our colleagues to delay making their travel plans, registration is still open for the 24th Annual National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology, January 3-6, 2002, at the TradeWinds Island Grant Hotel in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. The deadline for proposals for posters and participant idea exchanges has been extended to November 15, and we expect registration to be open until that time as well.
Further, we have added a new session to the program: "Post-Disaster Teaching: Responding to Our Students in the Wake of Terrorism and Tragedy," to be presented by Ann Weber, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Asheville.
Airfares are expected to remain inexpensive for the coming months, so we hope you will come to Florida, not only to enjoy and benefit from what NITOP has to offer, but to join your colleagues in pursuing your professional activities in spite of the actions of those who would try to disrupt them.
The full program, along with details about travel, The TradeWinds Island Grand, and poster/PIE submission procedures are available at the NITOP website: http://www.nitop.org/. You can print a registration form from the webpage and submit it by Fax or mail to:
NITOPQuestions may be directed to the Conference Coordinator, Joanne Fetzner, at 217-398-6969 or by email to jfetzner@uiuc.edu. Come on down!
The Society for the Teaching of Psychology (APA Division 2) announces the availability of five $1500 Instructional Resource Awards, and issues a call for funding proposals. Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis for projects to develop instructional resources that support the teaching of psychology. Two of the awards are earmarked for proposals relating to this year's presidential theme of "Building Partnerships: Alliances and Collaborations."
For information about the Instructional Resource Award program, visit the Society's web site at http://www.lemoyne.edu/OTRP/index.html or contact:
Dr. Tara KutherThis teaching session is co-sponsored by the Council of Teachers of Undergraduate Psychology (CTUP), APA's education Directorate and the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP).
CTUP-MPA Region invites you to submit a proposal for THE CREATIVE CLASSROOM, a CTUP/STP sponsored poster and demonstration session. THE CREATIVE CLASSROOM is an opportunity for teaching psychologists to learn and to demonstrate successful teaching techniques and methods that enhance teaching and learning in college psychology courses.
The CTUP conference is held simultaneous with the Midwestern Psychological Association conference which will be held on May 2-4, 2002 in Chicago, Illinois.
The Society for teaching of Psychology has announced that the best poster in this session will be awarded automatic acceptance at APA, and the author will receive $500.00 toward travel.
Submit research on teaching effectiveness or a technique for THE CREATIVE CLASSROOM using instructions listed below.
Submit to:
Donna Dahlgren
Associate Professor of Psychology
Indiana
University Southeast
4201 Grant Line Road
New Albany, Indiana
47150.
Email submissions are encouraged and welcomed at ddahlgre@ius.edu.
1. Title of
technique, method or teaching research
2. Author, affiliation, address,
phone, and e-mail address
3. A 100 to 200 word description of technique's or
research's purpose and use.
4. An indication of the type of course and
intended audience for which you use the technique or a description of the
students used as participants.
5. Evidence (quantitative or qualitative) of
the technique's effectiveness
6. Constraints on using the technique (e.g.,
class size, materials, time); constraints on doing a demonstration at the
convention (e.g., space, projectors); and availability of handouts that describe
your technique. If a research project, a discussion of your results.
7. For
the CTUP program listing, please include on a separate sheet your title,
author(s) and affiliation, and a 50-word summary.
Demonstrations will be
selected from poster application. Space allocation may limit the number of
proposals that can be accepted for presentation.
The ninth annual Southwestern Conference on Teaching Psychology will be held on Friday and Saturday, November 9-10, 2001 at the University of Houston-Downtown. Anyone who's interested in improving the teaching and learning of psychology, from high school through grad school, will enjoy this conference. In addition, a special effort is being made to include sessions that will be of value to teachers in other disciplines besides psychology.
The conference web page (http://academic.dt.uh.edu/~williams/SCTP) is being updated constantly as the program and other details are rounding into shape. Take a look, and then come back often to check on the latest developments.
The weather in Houston is great in November! We hope to see you then.
For the last five years I have attended the WPA regional conventions held annually. Most of you probably know that the various sections of the country have these regional conventions. (For example, in the East, it is the Eastern Psychological Association (EPA), Rocky Mountain states RMPA, etc.). The conventions are a wonderful opportunity to keep current on the latest research, meet some of the giants in the field, and develop psychology networks.
This past week I attended WPA in Maui (and actually stayed in some sessions until late at night without ever getting to the beach). The Convention was truly special as Pres. of WPA, Phil Zimbardo, brought many of his colleagues from Stanford to make presentations. In addition, the Convention was special because the organizers agreed to add a high school section to the program next year in Irvine. If you are interested in becoming involved either as a presenter or to bring high school students, please contact me. Some of my students will be presenting a multimedia project which they developed parodying the research of Stanford professors and which they will be presenting next weekend at the first Stanford Undergraduate Psychology Conference. Sean Bruich, who will be a senior at University of San Diego High School, will be presenting a sleep study that he did with fifth graders which showed that later start times led to better test scores. We also hope to have a teacher exchange in which teachers present short lessons and the attendees provide immediate feedback.
The following is a summary of some of the events I attended this year. If you want more details about a particular session or presenter contact me.
Psychology According to Shakespeare (Bob Johnson- co-author of one of the Zimbardo intro texts). Talked about the fact that Shakespeare anticipated many psych. themes and where in his writings those themes cropped up... nature/nurture, first author to bring char. with personality (depth), sleep and sleep disorders. Suggests this would make for a good interdisciplinary class.
Cheryl Spinweber and William Dement - Sleep (main focus of research here has to do with effects of sleep deprivation). Note that Dr. Dement has a research grant to provide materials free to a limited number of high school teachers, including slides. You must agree to include a sleep deprivation component in your intro class. I do not have contact info for Dr. Dement, but I'm sure he can be reached through Stanford University School of Medicine.
Jim Dabbs from Georgia State talked about some research he is doing on the effects of testoterone on males and females. I missed a good part of the talk but thought the research was pretty cool- he's having girls rub testosterone on their bellies (I think) and reporting increased aggressiveness.
Elaine Hatfield and Richard Rapson- Love in the Afternoon- Collaborators on several books about love and sex... she's a best selling author in the emotions field; he's an historian. As a history teacher I was particularly intrigued by his central thesis that people were more emotionally distant in the past, say 500 years ago, than they are now. Also he pointed out that we know little of the everyday person from the past since history is really about much less than 1% of the people. His evidence of emotional detachment... people knew they would die young, no domestic privacy, arranged marriages discouraged love, subordination of women, children were fostered out hence lack of mother figures. Conclusion... people became suspicious, prone to violence, and unable to establish strong emotional ties.
James Stigler from UCLA spoke about his research on teaching. He videotaped 100 teacher lessons in Japan, Germany, and the United States, and then compared the teaching techniques. Found the teachers were fairly homogeneous within each country, in other words though we think we are doing something very different than the teacher down the hall, we're probably a lot more similar than if compared to a teacher from one of the other cultures. Another conclusion: teaching is a complex system- no feature always indicates quality and professional judgment is always required. teaching is private. (We lack a common vocabulary about what we are doing). suggestions for improvement... improve methods and respect cultural nature of teaching. Teachers are in the best position to do the work. One example from Japan- a lesson study in which the group working on the problem focused on building knowledge for solving problems-not emphasizing the problem itself.
Diane Halpern and Robert Sternberg gave talks as part of the "last lecture series"...what you would say in your last lecture... Halpern emphasized that we haven't gotten the scientific, empirical message of our discipline out very well (witness the proliferation of Venus/Mars psychobabble). Sternberg talked about each of us leaving our own legacy (his has been to research whatever was giving him trouble at a particular point in his life= IQ when he did lousy on an IQ test at an early stage, Love when his relationship was in trouble, etc.). He also said that nothing that we do as teachers will be around in fifty years so it's real important that we inspire our students to do the next bit of work.
Phil Zimbardo (Two talks) Transforming good into evil and time perspective (which ran over twenty minutes). Evil talk began with historical/biblical references and moved into an examination of Milgram's work (He, of course, new Milgram intimately since they were classmates in h.s. and at Yale). Cites related studies which demonstrate the "power of the situation." Hooded women give more shocks. Nameless subjects got more shocks (deindividuation). Societal induced deindividuation (abandoned car on street experiment). Translated into social policy- Guiliani's subway chief who ordered police to crack down on graffiti in subways and reduces violent crime. In the prisoner experiment the original group was similar on all psych tests on day1 and different on all the same measures on day 5. Conclusion: Gave some suggestions for turning people into Nazis but I couldn't write fast enough. Time talk dealt with cultural differences in speed.
Hazel Marcus from Stanford- expert on self and well-being. Talks about American culture of well-being and core values and how they vary from region to region and one socio-economic class to another. Essential question? What are the core values that Americans carry around with them? Conclusions: Essential elements of well-being are socio-culturally diverse We have collective representations of how to be ourselves. Well-being involves dynamic attunement to one's socio-cultural context.
Robert Zajonc (Stanford) "mere exposure effect" Cited studies which show such things as the frequency of words and #'s is related to how well we like them. Study showed rats preferred music they had been exposed to rather than novel music.
James Nairne of Purdue had a two part talk that included suggestions about teaching intro using a functionalist approach- set up the problem first and ask how psych answers it. Nairne claims we teach memory wrong- disputes concepts of storage, retrieval, etc. Says to get rid of the concept of capacity. Thinks of memory like a piano. Nothing is stored but it can produce rich melodies under the right circumstances. Says forgetting is not about interference or decay but is functionally attuned to the environment. Human memory may have evolved so that we remember more recent events because there is a greater need- likely to occur again.
Daryl Bem- (Cornell) All I can say about his magic show was if you've seen the segment he does on the Discovering Psych series this one was five times as impressive. He also gave a talk on what causes homosexuality, disputing the wholely biological view and arguing that biology leads to childhood temperament, which leads to either sex typical or atypical preferences which then leads to subsequent erotic attractions. According to Bem if the process is interrupted you will have a different outcome. (Direct model would say biology is destiny). Also says heterosexuality is not hardwired.
Claude Steele (Stanford) how stereotypes shape performance... Talked about why minorities might not trust feedback from a white professor. 1. Whenever we are in a setting we assess whether situation will lead to devaluation 2. Vigilance from social situations. We monitor cues testing hypotheses about our identity 3. You don't want to find evidence that you are being discriminated against. Hinders your progress. 4. But you have to constantly monitor it... becomes exhausting.. so you drop it. Suggests feedback should begin with "I think you can meet the high standards" and proceed from there. Another suggestion- change the setting by putting a lot of minority together.
Elliot Aronson (adjunct at Stanford) Could Columbine have been avoided? Best advice. Read his short book "Nobody Left To Hate". Root cause. Poisonous social climate in jr. hi and high schools. Suggests and documents jigsaw classroom to reduce relentless competition.
Lee Ross (Stanford) Developer of attributional theory. Has a Conflict development Center at Stanford where Palestinian and Israeli parties have met. Has also worked with warring factions in Ireland. Has developed ideas as to ways in which people understand/misunderstand each other.
Dan Gilbert (Harvard) Impact bias People overpredict the impact of events that will happen. Studies of what people think will happen if (for example they don't get tenure in five years). Turns out people's predictions are much worse than reality. Calls it immune neglect- failure to consider that our psychological processes have the ability to heal themselves.
The following information is probably of most interest to our burgeoning group of high school CTUP members, but others may pick up a few tidbits.
Phil Zimbardo is redoing several programs in the "Discovering Psychology" series. The scheduled release date is Fall 2001. As many of you no doubt know, Phil is President-Elect of APA. As one of his presidential initiatives he has announced that he would like to get APA to endorse a national high school psychology textbook. He is currently assembling a group of teachers to brainstorm ideas for the project. If you have ideas about such a textbook, contact me.
Stanford University is sponsoring its first undergraduate psychology research conference. Stanford professors will meet in roundtable sessions with participants. Proceeds are being donated to a deserving (underfinanced) high school psychology program. The date is Saturday, May, 19, 2001. Plans are for this to become an annual event, with monies raised being used to benefit high school psychology programs in the Bay Area.
Dr. Maureen Hester (former CTUP President) and I are once again coordinating the (now 5th) Annual Northern California High School Psychology Teachers' Workshop. It will be held at Holy Names College in Oakland, Ca. on Saturday, March 31, 2001. The keynote speaker is Professor David Matsumoto, San Francisco State University. He will be speaking about cross-cultural issues in psychology.
TOPSS is sponsoring a one and a half day high school teachers' workshop in conjunction with APA this summer in San Francisco. The dates of the workshop are Wednesday, August 22 from 8:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. and Thursday, August 23 from approximately 8:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. I will be the co-presenter along with an, as yet, undetermined college presenter. This is a particularly good opportunity for newer teachers to get a whole bunch of activities they can use in their classrooms. TOPSS will be mailing out details to members shortly.
The First Annual Summer National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology, co-sponsored by the American Psychological Society, will be held July 8-11, 2001, at the Sirata Beach Resort and Conference Center, in St. Petersburg Beach, Florida. Registration is limited to 120 participants; preregistration before June 15 is recommended. Poster and Participant Idea Exchange proposals should be received by May 8, 2001 to guarantee space in the program, although later submissions from registered participants will be considered if poster space remains available. The conference program includes a preconference lecture-enhancing workshop, a poster session, a participant idea exchange, an optional dinner cruise, book displays, and 10 featured speakers, well-known for their excellence in teaching psychology. The full program and a registration form are online at http://www.nitop.org. The conference fee is $295, which will also include breakfasts, refreshments at coffee breaks and other events, and an evening reception. For more information, contact Joanne Fetzner, National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology, 2208 Harrington Court, Champaign, IL 61821, or by phone at 217/398-6969 or email at jfetzner@uiuc.edu or WWW: http://www.nitop.org/.
THE 24TH ANNUAL NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON THE TEACHING OF PSYCHOLOGY, co-sponsored by the University of South Florida Department of Psychology and the American Psychological Society, will be held January 3-6, 2002, at the TradeWinds Hotel, in St. Petersburg Beach, FL. Registration is limited to 400 participants; early registration (before October 1) is highly recommended. Poster session proposals should be received by October 1, 2001 to guarantee space in the program, although later submissions from registered participants will be considered if poster space remains available. The preliminary conference program includes several preconference workshops, three poster sessions, two participant idea exchanges, a social hour, an optional dinner and conversation on topics submitted by participants, book and software displays, and about 35 featured speakers, well-known for their excellence in teaching psychology. Additional program details will be available after May 1, 2001. The conference fee is $395, which will also include meals (except dinners), refreshments at coffee breaks and poster sessions, and an evening reception. For more information, contact Joanne Fetzner, National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology, 2208 Harrington Court, Champaign, IL 61821, or by phone at 217/398-6969 or email at jfetzner@uiuc.edu or WWW: http://www.nitop.org/.
Psi Beta, the National Honor Society in Psychology for Community and Junior Colleges, will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the 2001 APA annual convention August 24-28 in San Francisco. Dr. Philip Zimbardo, who served as Psi Beta's first distinguished speaker, will return again to provide the Ruth Hubbard Cousins Distinguished Lecture on Friday, August 24, 2001. Other scheduled events include a social hour with Dr. Zimbardo, Psi Beta Chapter Exchange and Awards Program, an Innovative Teaching Methods presentation cosponsored by Division 2 of APA, and a symposium on the history of Psi Beta, which will feature several Psi Beta alumni. All active and alumni Psi Beta members, faculty advisors, two-year college faculty and friends of Psi Beta are invited to all of the sponsored events.
Psi Beta was founded and incorporated on November 5, 1981 with 11 charter chapters. Ms. Carol Tracy has served as Psi Beta's Executive Director since its founding. Also in 1981, Psi Beta began publishing the Psi Beta Newsletter. Psi Beta is an affiliate of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society and in 1994 became the first 2-year organization approved for membership in the Association of College Honor Societies. There are currently over 160 chapters nation-wide and a cumulative total of over 17,000 members.
Many awards and programs have been established for students in the twenty-year history of Psi Beta. Among them are the annual Allyn and Bacon Research Paper Awards, which total $1000 in prizes for the top three research papers submitted by Psi Beta members. In addition, there are the Carol Tracy Community Service Award and the Harcourt Brace Outstanding Chapter Award, both of which carry monetary rewards. Psi Beta also was involved with the origination of the Diversity Project 2000 (DP2K) awards that allow qualified minority members of Psi Beta to apply to receive grants to participate in activities during the annual APA convention. These students get to meet and interact with very talented minority students and psychologists from around the country.
Community colleges now enroll over half of all undergraduate students in higher education across the country. Because of the increasing numbers of students majoring in Psychology, the opportunity to join an honor society at the community college serves several functions. First, students and faculty get to enjoy one-on-one interactions that normally are not available at major research universities and colleges during the first two years. Second, students receive the opportunity to attend and, if they wish, to present their research at local, regional and national conventions. Third, students can begin to establish networks with other students from across the nation who may well become their colleagues in several years. Finally, community college faculty and students alike receive the opportunity to overcome the feelings of isolation from the discipline that are often found in small teaching institutions. tions.
For more complete answers to questions about Psi Beta, or for up to the minute information about the upcoming anniversary celebration in San Francisco, visit the Psi Beta web site at:http://www.psibeta.org/
A joint effort between Missouri Western State College and the National Science Foundation has created the National Undergraduate Research Clearinghouse, an interdisciplinary web site dedicated to the dissemination of undergraduate research. The site, located at http://clearinghouse.mwsc.edu/, allows students to post their research projects as web pages. Easy, automated mechanisms for submission, editing, and review are included. All student manuscripts must have a faculty sponsor, and APS members are encouraged to register as sponsors (instructions are posted on the site).
In addition to using the site to post student research papers, students and faculty may be interested in using the site as a source of examples of undergraduate research. A chat/discussion area is also included.
Contact Information:
Brian C. Cronk, PhD
Associate Professor of
Psychology
Director, National Undergraduate Research
Clearinghouse
Missouri Western State College
St Joseph, MO 64507
Cronk@mwsc.edu
SPSSI has developed a collection of curricular materials for courses addressing issues of prejudice and intergroup relations in order to facilitate the teaching of courses on social issues.
In addition to assignments, activities, and video and reading lists, the collection includes syllabi from such courses as Intergroup Relations, Understanding Disability, Racial Prejudice and Political Intolerance, Lesbian and Gay Psychology, and Stereotyping and Prejudice Across Cultures.
To access the materials, send a blank e-mail message to:
You will receive a list of available materials and directions on how to request specific files. The files you request will be forwarded to you immediately via "e-mail-on-demand."
Contributions, questions, comments, or ideas for future curriculum collections should be addressed to Susan Goldstein, Department of Psychology, University of Redlands, 1200 East Colton Avenue, P.O. Box 3080, Redlands, CA 92373-0999 or e-mail goldstei@uor.edu.