My comments are a bit off the original topic and in response to some of the responses to this thread.
Let me defend Nevid to some extent here. First, unlike other textbook writers, Jeff is doing some empirical work to evaluate the value of the very many varied pedagogies out there. I agree, that we can probably find some alternative explanations and it would behoove the rest of us then to run studies and publish them rather than just suggest such alternatives in a more casual way. Second, Jeff has asked people on this list and/or psychteach to collaborate with him. I know this because about 3 years ago I took him up on it and sent him some informal data I collected over a semester of teaching various classes. I had students keep a chapter by chapter journal of which things the text provided for them, that they used, and sent that information on to him. I admit, I did not do so very formally nor was careful that students were careful in their responses. But on the other hand I had no reason to believe that they did not. The bottom line was that students used almost NONE of the built-in pedagogies in the Plotnik or Myers intro texts EXCEPT for the margin concept definitions--not the built in self-tests, not the little critical thinking boxes, not the end of chapter tests, none of the weblinks to review material or concept application exercises etc. once they figured out I wasn't going to 'test' over those things! The point for a textbook writer, I suppose! ! is where to put his energies. Third, as to learning names, I respectfully differ a bit with Ed's take on it. In lower division courses I dont' bother with names. But in upper division cognitive I sure do. And I do it for a few reasons: I expect them to know a name if a research protocol gets named after the person (i.e, the Posner task, the Sternberg task, etc.); I expect them to know the name if the study was landmark (i.e., Atkinson-Shiffrin model; Craik & Lockhard for depth of processing, etc.) AND during lectures I will tell some students they don't need to know the names for my tests but I will definitely point out names that I think coule appear on a future GRE exam and tell those who are planning to take the psych GRE to remember those names, even if I might not test them over it. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 08:22:48 -0400 >From: "Pollak, Edward " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [tips] Tension between enabling understanding and good grades with >requirement for class averages >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]> > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] asked > ".....................My students also frequently > ask for "study guides" for exams, so they know what > to concentrate on." > > > > That's one of my pet peeves. The students are not > really asking about the topics on which they should > concentrate. Rather, they are asking, "which parts > of the text do I NOT have study?" I know I'll get a > lot of flak on this but I consider such "study > guides" to be crutches they learned to use in high > school. Part of becoming a good student is learning > how to study and I do not think that study guides > created by the professor enhance that goal. IMNSHO, > they are sophomoric crutches. > > My standard response to such queries is "I have > already given you a study guide. It is called "your > lecture notes." Material that was stressed & > elaborated upon at length in lecture AND which is > covered in the text is obviously material I consider > exceedingly important. Material that was only in the > text or only in the lecture is also important and > fair game for exam questions but any such material > has a somewhat lower probability of having many > questions asked about it. > > The only thing I'll tell students they don't have to > know would be the names of investigators. Obviously > they need to know the names of the "biggies" who > founded schools of psychology, etc.. But I would > never ask e.g., Who conducted the famous "obedience" > studies? Rather I would ask something like, "What > was the primary conclusion of Milgram's famous > "obedience" studies?" > > > > The only thing I've found which will raise the class > average (on multiple choice tests for large intro > psych sections) is the following: > > > > Go over each question to make sure there are no > ambiguous or misleading distractor items. If there > are, rewrite them or delete that particular > distractor. By removing those distractors you both > make the question easier AND raise the probability > of a correct guess. Not surprisingly, the class > average on a test with only three choices per > question is considerably higher than on a test > with four choices per question. And this is > especially true where the most difficult distractor > has been removed. > > > > If you want to lower the class average, ask more > questions on information from the various "boxes," > "applications," and other sophomoric gimmicks that > the pedagogy experts seem to tell us are important. > Students usually skip over anything that isn't in > the main body of the text, especially when > cramming. We've discussed this issue before along > with other goodies such as the lack of validity > studies supporting the much vaunted SQ3R method. > > > > If you look at that method, itbasically tells the > student to memorize "key phrases." In all fairness, > it claims to ask more than that but "memorize key > phrases" is what students seem to get out of it. > This may help explain the appalling lack of "depth > of understanding" displayed by too many of our > students. > > > > Ed > > > Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. > Department of Psychology > West Chester University of Pennsylvania > West Chester, PA 19383 > Office hours: Mon. 12-2 p.m. & 3-4 p.m.; Tues. & > Thurs. 8- 9:15 a.m. & 12:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. & by > appt. > http://mywebpages.comcast.net/epollak/home.htm > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, > bluegrass fiddler and herpetoculturist...... in > approximate order of importance. > --- > To make changes to your subscription go to: > > http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
