Practice What We Teach

Abstract

In traditional research areas within psychology, effective researchers stay up-to-date with the latest advances and new methodologies within a specialty area. Failure to do so limits one’s effectiveness and potential impact on advancing that field of study. In our view, teachers of psychology possess the same responsibilities to stay current and incur the same risks if they fail to do so. Psychology educators should not only employ scientifically validated principles of learning and evidence-based pedagogies but should use the methods of psychological science to test the effectiveness of their teaching practices empirically. We articulate and document these complex issues in this manifesto and urge more psychology educators to become leaders in innovative and effective teaching by leveraging our disciplinary understanding of the fundamentals of teaching and learning. We provide pragmatic steps and resources to aid more faculty, especially early career instructors, in becoming scientist-educators.

Teaching field social psychology: An action orientation to pedagogy of methods and methodologies.

“…We call this “reflective journaling” as opposed to field notes because we additionally ask students to include a small reflection on the experience of being a researcher and on any links to course material. This additional step is formative and helps guide students in making connections between classroom learning and lived social realities (Chew et al, 2018).…”

“…Drawing a further connection to both action research and teaching, students are challenged to provide a critical summary and analysis of the research: How can this be understood as a field experiment, what would it offer beyond a more controlled parallel in the laboratory, what are its implications for the individuals and groups who are being studied, and how could they be informed by, and complemented with, further qualitative inquiry? The assignment thus requires contextualization, and students are challenged to build understandings of the population and social context of the work (Chew et al, 2018). To this end, students can come to understand the value of integration (where possible): Without contextualization through in-depth ethnography and observation, these experiments are “shots in the dark,” lack thick description, and can be limited in their epistemological goals.…”

Utility value interventions: Why and how instructors should use them in college psychology courses.

“…For example, Gurung, Weidert, & Jeske (2010) found that students reported using application behaviors (e.g., creating quiz questions about the material) with a low frequency but reported organizational behaviors (e.g., writing down due dates) with a high frequency. Slow or minimal uptake of evidence-based practices, by instructors and students, has also been noted consistently in the scholarship of teaching and learning literature (e.g., Chew et al, 2018;Daniel & Chew, 2013;Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham, 2013;Dunlosky & Rawson, 2019). What leads a student to engage meaningfully with course materials in a way that supports learning and achievement?…”

Scientific Blogs as a Psychological Literacy Assessment Tool

“…Therefore, blog writing as an assessment may be a useful way of not only embedding psychological literacy into the curriculum but also in helping students to develop the skill of communicating science to a wider audience. This responds to the call for psychology undergraduate providers to identify and embed practical applications psychological literacy within the curriculum (Chew et al, 2018; Hulme et al, 2015). In this article, we have shared our experiences of embedding a blog writing assignment in an undergraduate UK psychology program and have demonstrated that blog writing assignment can be a productive and useful authentic assessment.…”

“…Therefore, the promotion of “authentic assessment” is an important facet of supporting the development of psychological literacy (Mair et al, 2013; McGovern et al, 2010). It is also a feature of an effective psychology education; as Chew et al (2018), (p. 242) note in their “manifesto” for the improvement of teaching and learning in psychology, effective assessment practices involve a matching of “assessment formats to intended measurement goals”.…”