I am casting about for research collaborators from other states on two
projects. If you are interested, please respond. Both of these research
proposals will be made to NSF.
Proposal 1: Using Discovery-Based Learning Techniques to Teach
Undergraduate Psychology
Some of you will remember our discussion of FILMS FOR PSYCHOLOGY. My
proposal to NSF asks for funding to equip a lab with computers that are
capable of video capture. The lab is designed to flexibly accommodate large
group discussions and computer applications. The computers includes DVD
drives, screen grab cards, VCR's, scanners, jaz drives, and CD burners. The
idea is to create web pages for a database on topics in psychology that
include video or sound clips to illustrate psychologial concepts. Students
will employ discovery-based learning techniques to construct the pages,
then, the database itself becomes a discovery-based learning tool for other
students to explore. On this listserv, TIPS, we have already listed over
200 films from which we could draw 2- to 3-minute video clips relevant to
psychological themes. Wedding & Boyd's book Movies in Psychology rates
over 650 motion pictures on a scale of 1 to 5 on usefulness to psychology.
Over 400 movies scored 3 or above. Whereas Movies in Psychology focuses
primarily on psychopathologies, we will extend the use of film clips to
include every area of psychology. To observe fair use procedures, access
to the database would be limited to passwords issued to educators. As part
of the proposal, I want to host a workshop for Psychology professors and
teachers of Psychology at the secondary level, after the lab is installed,
to learn how to do the process and to set up prototypes for the database.
Eventually, I would like to establish collaboration to construct
discovery-based learning modules for psychology. The video clips may come
from motion pictures or from original videos that students create. We need
to brainstorm on various formats that could be used for discovery-based
learning that include industrial/organizational, physiological, social,
gender, forensic, cognitive, neuro-, developmental, experimental
psychological concepts. We may want to include other software and
activities that lend themselves easily to creative experimentation.
I want to add that video clips and sound bites, combined with a written
description of the phenomenon and hotlinks to other resources, should
appeal to students with diverse learning styles. I thought that if we
collaborated, then later, got our students involved, the combined database
could be quite extensive, networked, useful, and interesting. Students'
projects would not automatically become part of the database; professors
would screen the pages for accuracy before they were added to the index and
to the network. We could share in the editing, shaping of the criteria for
inclusion, and selection. That would assure us that our database
information was of high quality and useful for instruction.
Proposal 2: Pre-Adolescent(or Middle Childhood) Perception of Risks in
Gambling and Smoking
Our research has shown that the average age of onset of smoking and
gambling is about age 11. That translates into about 5th grade. The choice
to participate in a risky activity is not based on the actual risk of the
activity, but on the risk as PERCEIVED by the youngster. (Amen? amen).
Research in alcohol and drug use has shown that perception of risk and
accessibility influence participation. However, an instrument has not been
developed to assess perceived risk of gambling activity, or accessibility
of gambling opportunities, in children (or adolescents, or adults, or
mature adults...). The first two phases of my project develop the survey
instrument and test its reliability and validity. We have already collected
pilot data with adolescents. See
<http://www.centenary.edu/~jjohnson/risk.htm>.
An important element of this project is that I live in Louisiana. [pause
for reflection] We have licensed gambling and a state lottery. I am looking
for collaborators who have access to control group populations (and who are
interested in, but not limited to, risk behavior, decision making, social
development, deviant behavior, or clinical applications). For the third
phase of my project, I need collaborators in states that have either NO
legalized gambling AT ALL, or JUST a state lottery, or licensed gambling
but NO state lottery. Why? Recent research has indicated that presence of
a state lottery increases risk behavior. Hmmm. I want to ask the research
question, "What affect does the degree of presence of legalized gambling
have on perception of risk in, and accessibility to, gambling activities in
children.
Why tobacco AND gambling? b/c research has shown these two risk activities
to be "gateway" activities; that is, these two seem to have the earliest
average ages of onset. Do not interpret that to mean that I have chosen the
gateway model over the adolescent problem behavior cluster/syndrome model.
I am not taking a vote, I'm just posing a simple research question about
how perception these activities affect early onset. What is my target
population? 3rd to 6th grades. I want to know how these children are
perceiving the risks of participation, how they are accessing
opportunities, and what contributes to their choices, when they first begin
experimentation behavior.
There is another aspect of this research that may also hold appeal to some
folks out there in TIPSDOM. We want to ask how they- the children- feel
while they are using or playing: Are they seeking excitement or escape? Do
they lose track of time? Do they feel like a different person? Do they "get
lost as if they were in a daydream"? There is research to indicate that
"addicts" fall into two camps, those who are seeking sensation and those
who are escaping reality. That research also indicates that they make
different choices of risk activities based on their need for
stimulation/arousal, or need for numbing/escape. We want to see if that
hypothesis is supported in early decision making regarding risky behaviors.
I invite your comments or suggestions on either of these research topics.
I hope our humble server can handle your cascade of creative, CONSTRUCTIVE
email replies. I hereby copyright my ideas...witness...thank you...and hope
that I find some good colleagues to help shape this proposal and mine
(mind) the treasures of these data.
Joyce Johnson
Dr. Joyce Johnson
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Developmental/ Experimental
Centenary College of Louisiana
PO Box 41188
2911 Centenary Blvd.
Shreveport, LA 71134-1188
<http://www.centenary.edu/~jjohnson>
office 318 869 5253
FAX 318 869 5004
