I meant.....how factors might combine! I am out communing with nature as I write ha.
GPeterson On May 30, 2010, at 1:26 PM, [email protected] wrote: > I like Jim's ideas here. It shouldn't be too hard to create scoring schemes. > One other aspect related to this is recognition of multiple causation (re > Stanovich's ideas) and if they can pick up on how other factors might commune > or interact to produce events. > > > GPeterson > > > On May 30, 2010, at 1:17 PM, "Jim Clark" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi >> >> The second part of the learning outcome ("realize that psychological >> explanations are often complex and tentative") suggests one possible >> approach. Give them a number of findings / observations and ask for >> possible explanations for each. >> >> Some academic disciplines contain a higher percentage of men (or members of >> group A) than women (or members of group B). What explanations are possible >> for this finding? Parenthesized phrasing would make it more abstract? >> Score for sensitivity to biological (innate and environmental) and societal >> influences. >> >> A school of fish is swimming along with one fish ahead of the others. Why >> might that one fish be swimming ahead of the others? Score for internal / >> external explanations (based on some cross-cultural work on attributions). >> >> Infants who are more attached to their mothers grow up to be less aggressive >> than children who had poorer attachment as infants. Why? Score for >> different directions of causality and third factor, coercive cycle, .... >> >> The correlation between IQs is higher for monozygotic twins than for >> dizygotic twins. Why might this be the case? Score for genetic and >> environmental (e.g., intrauterine due to shared placenta / chorion, later >> treatment by others) factors. >> >> A study reported that children who attended preschool tended later in life >> to be more successful in school than children who did not attend preschool. >> How might you explain this finding? Score for benefits of preschool, flaws >> in design (e.g., non-equivalent groups), parental motivation, importance of >> looking at all comparable studies, .... >> >> ... >> >> Should be possible to generate a host of these for diverse psychological >> domains? Might be useful to also ask for student estimates of likelihood of >> each explanation being correct to see if they are indeed "tolerating >> ambiguity" or are simply citing alternatives they have actually discarded >> mentally. >> >> Or one could give such scenarios but with one explanation (e.g., group A is >> genetically better endowed, the fish in front is "leading" the others) and >> ask for alernative explanations, perhaps providing (some) explanations that >> force students to think "against the grain." >> >> e.g., Some people believe that men are more aggressive than women because of >> their upbringing; that is, without socialization to be aggressive and sexist >> societies, men and women would show little or no difference in >> aggressiveness. What possible causes for gender differences in aggression >> might be inconsistent with this model? >> >> Use of multiple items would allow measure of reliability and would also be >> able to determine if trait was unidimensional or not? >> >> One nice thing about this approach is that it does seem to overlap with how >> we might actually evaluate this in a classroom? >> >> Take care >> Jim >> >> >> James M. Clark >> Professor of Psychology >> 204-786-9757 >> 204-774-4134 Fax >> [email protected] >> >>>>> "Frantz, Sue" <[email protected]> 30-May-10 10:25:12 AM >>> >> We've based our student learning outcomes for Intro Psych on the APA >> Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major: >> http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/about/psymajor-guidelines.pdf. >> >> Goal 5, Values in Psychology (pdf page 17) reads, "Value empirical evidence, >> tolerate ambiguity, act ethically, and reflect other values that are the >> underpinnings of psychology as a science." Within this one goal are 7 >> suggested student learning outcomes. The one we want to address is 5.4: >> "Tolerate ambiguity and realize that psychological explanations are often >> complex and tentative." >> >> In our brainstorming, we came up with giving students a scenario and asking >> them to describe the events in the scenario from a number of different >> psychological perspectives, e.g. biological, behavioral, cognitive. To get >> at the ambiguity part, we were looking for some writing prompt that would >> evaluate whether students understood that one perspective isn't the correct >> perspective, but rather all contribute to our understanding. We had a couple >> ideas on how to do that, but none we were happy with, and certainly none >> that led to an obvious grading rubric. >> >> Rather than reinvent the wheel, I was wondering if anyone else has evaluated >> this student learning outcome, and if so, how. To reiterate, we are not at >> all committed to this particular assignment. We're just looking for ideas. >> >> Some people suggested using 'tolerance of ambiguity' scales. This is an >> approach we hadn't considered. I wonder if one Intro Psych course would >> show much movement on such a scale, or if it's even fair to expect such a >> thing. I also wonder if scores on such a scale at the beginning of the >> course (or the end of the course) would correlate with final grade in the >> course. >> >> And then I wonder if it's possible to construct such a scale that's specific >> to psychology, a 'tolerance of ambiguity in psychology' scale. >> >> Sue >> >> >> -- >> Sue Frantz Highline Community College >> Psychology, Coordinator Des Moines, WA >> 206.878.3710 x3404 [email protected] >> >> Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology, Associate Director >> Teaching of Psychology Idea Exchange (ToPIX) >> APA Division 2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology >> >> APA's p...@cc Committee >> >> >> >> >> >> >> --- >> You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe click here: >> http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=2838 >> >> or send a blank email to >> leave-2838-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu >> >> --- >> You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe click here: >> http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13445.e3edca0f6e68bfb76eaf26a8eb6dd94b&n=T&l=tips&o=2839 >> or send a blank email to >> leave-2839-13445.e3edca0f6e68bfb76eaf26a8eb6dd...@fsulist.frostburg.edu >> > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13445.e3edca0f6e68bfb76eaf26a8eb6dd94b&n=T&l=tips&o=2840 > or send a blank email to > leave-2840-13445.e3edca0f6e68bfb76eaf26a8eb6dd...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=2841 or send a blank email to leave-2841-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
