Active Learning in a Child Psychology Course: Observing Play Behavior at a Children’s Museum

Abstract

The primary goal of this paper is to describe an innovative active learning experience (i.e., class trip to a children's museum) aimed at expanding child psychology students' knowledge of the developmental benefits of play. A secondary goal is to present preliminary data about the impact of this experience on students' learning by examining scores of a pre /post knowledge assessment for students who went to the museum (N ¼ 30; 27 female) and a comparison group who did not (N ¼ 31; 29 female). Students who visited the museum demonstrated significantly greater improvement on the knowledge assessment relative to the comparison group. In response to an open-ended question, trip group students indicated that the museum experience helped them to better understand the role of play in children's development and ways in which play behavior varies by age. Limitations of the empirical results related to the sample characteristics, scope of the knowledge assessment, and the nature of the museum trip are highlighted, along with a call for more rigorous future research on this topic.

Educational Games in Science Center: Experiences of Pre-Service Science Teachers

“…Games encourage children to try new ideas and help them nurture their innate curiosity (Pellegrini & Smith, 1998;Russ, 2003). Through games, children expand their language/literacy and communication abilities, learn numerical and spatial concepts, use their imagination and creativity, develop problem-solving skills, practice memory skills and the ability to sustain their attention, rehearse social roles, and develop the ability to regulate their behavior and emotions (e.g., Kingery et al, 2018;Wenner, 2009). The games are enjoyable, spontaneous, and optional (Rennie et al, 2003).…”

Introducing In-Class Student Activities in a Community Psychology Course: A Quality Improvement Project

“…Active learning may take many forms (see the website of University of California Berkley & University of Leicester for some examples), but core elements seem to include students "doing" something, often in collaboration with other students (Bernstein, 2018). Active learning has been a focus in the teaching of psychology for some time (e.g, Daniel, 1974;Gorman, Law, & Lindegren, 1981), and is still a topic of active research (Jones, 2019;Kingery et al, 2018;Roberts, 2019). Although the participatory elements of certain student-active learning activities have received criticism for representing barriers for some students (Cohen et al, 2019;Eddy et al, 2015), it is still broadly agreed that active learning approaches promote student learning better than more passive approaches (Bernstein, 2018;Prince, 2004;Shellman & Turan, 2006).…”