Comparative Psychology as an Effective Supplement to Undergraduate Core Psychology Courses

Abstract

This article describes the design and implementation of a 1-credit-hour seminar in comparative psychology as a supplement to an introductory biopsychology course. The purpose of the course was to introduce students to the ecological and evolutionary aspects of animal behavior by building on topics that are introduced in many biopsychology courses. This article provides suggestions for course assignments and course reading materials. The current approach of introducing undergraduate students to comparative psychology by attaching a seminar to an existing course offers a framework that could possibly be used with many other undergraduate psychology courses.

Crossing the line: Building value with 1-credit experiential courses

“…A review of any university course catalog will reveal courses ranging from 1-4-credits, or more depending on the field. Four-credit courses are more common with the additional hour used to supplement laboratory, language, or research skills (Thomas 2009;Walker 2014). Some institutions are even leveraging the 1-credit model to convey core concepts online, so students are prepared for the content in a 3-credit course (Klemm 2017).…”