I have found that the problem with serial position effect can be when you get a group of students, that no matter how vigourously I emphasize recall the words in any order are so trained to memorize in order that that's what they do and so they loose their recency effect.
Another problem is that almost no individuals show the effect and it is hard to justify as an over-arching phenomenon when no one person shows it -- what does an effect mean when only group data reliably show it. Anyway I picked that one in particular for this list because I was it is quite unusual for it not to work and yet..... BTW i have tried it orally and visually. Same problem. Annette Quoting "Mark A. Casteel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Hi Annette. I was surprised to hear you say that the serial position curve > demo works for you only 50% of the time. For me, it's one of the most > reliable demos that I can do, and I therefore do it in both my intro class > and my cognitive psych class. For me, the one time it didn't work was when > I had a class size smaller than 20. My classes usually range between 40-50 > in intro (although my cognitive class generally is between 15-20). Out of > curiosity, how many words do you use in your list? I use 15. -- Mark > > At 04:44 PM 11/16/2004 -0800, you wrote: > >I have planned in-class demos of "classic" studies that shouldn't go > >wrong, go > >horribly wrong and then the students are REALLY confused about the > underlying > >theoretical mechanisms! For example, I have about a 50% 'hit rate' with > demos > >of serial position effects--this really confuses students and so now I > >tend to > >not do that one in the classroom. But my solution was through experience > >determining that I could not even salvage the demo with discussion of > >methodological issues. > > > >But the gist of my idea here is demos that go counter to expectation and > then > >how to salvage students' understanding of the underlying paradigm.... > > > >Annette > > > >Quoting Retta Poe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > > > > TIPS Colleagues - > > > Another faculty member and I have been invited by the director of > > > our campus' teaching resources center to lead a roundtable discussion > > > entitled, "Murphy's Law 101: When Things Go Wrong in the Classroom." > > > The idea is that we will prime the pump by offering a couple of examples > > > of things going wrong, describe some ways of responding, and then invite > > > participants to share their experiences. Where possible, we hope to > > > facilitate discussion of ways to prevent problems as well as potential > > > solutions. As examples, we're planning to discuss dealing with either > > > the student or the instructor losing composure, responding to creative > > > ways of cheating, and the situation of planning a class discussion but > > > having no students willing to do any discussing. > > > We have a list of other examples of things going wrong, but it > > > occurs to me that some of you might be able to offer even better > > > examples, as well as great ideas for prevention and intervention. > > > Please share if you have experiences that qualify, and if you also can > > > offer solutions, that would be great, too. I am guessing that this > > > topic might be of interest to the whole list. > > > > > > Thanks - > > > Retta > > > > > > -- > > > Retta E. Poe, Ph.D. > > > Associate Dean for Academic Programs > > > College of Education and Behavioral Sciences > > > Professor of Psychology > > > Western Kentucky University > > > 1 Big Red Way > > > Bowling Green, Ky. 42101 > > > > > > (270) 745-4662 FAX: (270) 745-6474 > > > e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > http://edtech.cebs.wku.edu/~rpoe/ > > > > > > > > > --- > > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > >Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. > >Department of Psychology > >University of San Diego > >5998 Alcala Park > >San Diego, CA 92110 > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >--- > >You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > ********************************* > Mark A. Casteel, Ph.D. > Associate Professor of Psychology > Penn State York > 1031 Edgecomb Ave. > York, PA 17403 > (717) 771-4028 > ********************************* > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Department of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
