This Old Thing? Using Old Laboratory Equipment to Enhance Student Learning

Abstract

Using a surplus of older laboratory instruments, 48 students in a learning and behavior course completed an assignment designed to provide an introduction to the history and use of some instruments in psychology. Students worked in pairs, were assigned one instrument, and created labels in which they identified several keys characteristics of an instrument. Assessments indicated that students learned from and also enjoyed this assignment. Sixteen of the 48 students presented and demonstrated each instrument to 19 students enrolled in a history and systems class. Pre-and posttest assessments in the history and systems class indicated significant increases in knowledge about these instruments. This is a simple, versatile activity than can be used in a variety of psychology courses.Keywords history of psychology, laboratory instruments, undergraduate psychology course Various scientific organizations encourage educators to incorporate technology instruction in science to allow students to develop the understanding of how technology influences the advancement of scientific inquiry (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 1993; National Research Council [NRC], 1996). The American Psychological Association's (APA, 2007) guidelines for the undergraduate psychology major include the following two goals that, together, address this issue: Goal 1 (Knowledge Base of Psychology) states ''Students will demonstrate familiarity with the major concepts, theoretical perspectives, empirical findings, and historical trends in psychology.'' and Goal 6 (Information and Technological Literacy) states ''Students will demonstrate information competence and the ability to use computers and other technology for many purposes.'' Instrumentation plays a key role in the experimental sciences (Cleary, 1977) including psychology. Apart from the capabilities of measurement, instruments in their own right are considered scientific knowledge (Baird, 2004;Sturm & Ash, 2005). Early instruments in psychology and other related sciences were often designed and built by the researchers themselves and only later did commercialized versions of them become available (Ator, 1991;Lattal, 2004). Thus, we contend that learning about the instruments encompasses learning about the researchers who built them, the theories that informed them, and the prevailing scientific paradigm at the time during which they were developed. An important part of the history of psychology is dedicated to the development of technology to measure psychological variables (Sturm & Ash, 2005). Through the study of laboratory instruments, students can learn much about the history of psychology (Sokal, Davis, & Merzbach, 1976).The literature on using older instrumentation to teach psychology is not extensive. Raphelson (1979) proposed showing students the pictures of older laboratories and equipment in order to better teach history of psychology. Caudle (1979) described bringing replicas of instruments into the classroom, so students can interact with them via demons...