Scenario:
The following scenario will be used in discussions over the next 2 weeks.
- You are working with two colleagues on a revision of your institution's introductory psychology sequence. The courses in question are two 16-week, 3-credit-hour introductory psychology courses designed for non-psychology majors. First-year students typically take these courses to fulfill a general education requirement, one in the fall term and one in the spring.
- The psychology department wants to make the courses more relevant to this audience so that students gain a better understanding of the role of social science and psychology in understanding and addressing social issues, such as the impact of advertising and media on behavior; marriage, divorce, and family issues; and prejudice and racial or gender discrimination. It is also important for the courses to address the institution's newly adopted general education learning outcomes, based on the Association of American Colleges and Universities' Essential Learning Outcomes.
- One colleague, Robert, argues strongly for a completely new approach to the courses. He believes the goal of these courses should be to improve students' ability to think critically about social issues and make decisions based on evidence. He suggests beginning this investigation of issues right from the start, and introducing psychology concepts and terms as needed to understand the issues.
- Your other colleague, Maria, agrees that these are wonderful goals but that they are too advanced for a first-year course. She argues that students in this introductory course need to get a solid foundation of knowledge and concepts, and perhaps would be ready to research and evaluate issues for their final project of the second semester course.
This weeks question:
For this Discussion, continue with the scenario of the two psychology faculty with whom you are working on a new introductory psychology course.
Maria has decided to try adding an issue-oriented unit at the end of her current introductory psychology course. She develops some lectures on current issues, organizing them around news articles and popular media. She assigns a project in which students will research an issue of their choosing, and also adds questions on current issues and the role of psychology in society to the final exam. She keeps the final exam questions that test knowledge of concepts and terms, which has been the focus for previous quizzes and exams.
Her students seem excited about the project but have many questions. Her office hours are packed, and she receives many e-mails, but the same questions are repeated over and over. When the students turn in their projects, the quality seems very uneven. As she is grading, she struggles with where to take off points-she knows she can't expect these students to incorporate the same knowledge and depth of thinking as students in her advanced courses, but she feels like they should at least be able to write coherently and follow the instructions given for the project.
Additionally, although students were very engaged during Maria's issue-oriented lectures, the results of the exam are not good, with most students doing poorly on the new questions about the role of psychology in society. Some students complain that she hadn't covered what was on the exam and that they had no idea how to study for it.
Maria concludes that her students are just not ready for this level of work and decides to go back to the strategies she has always used for the course.