Ken, I haven't taught History of Psych at the undergrad level for a long time, but I regularly teach a (mostly) first-year grad version of the course, so there are a lot of similarities with teaching it as a small capstone UG course.
Names and dates are boring, but necessary (they are where history begins, but not where it ends). They are only a struggle for students if they think they are going to have to memorize them them for a test. Either don't have in-class tests (they can look them up while writing papers, etc.) or give them a name/date list with the test (just like you might give a formula sheet with a stats test). Problems like students trying to memorize the ages of Freud's stages come, I think, from their experience with other psych course, and from their not really understanding what the point of a history course is. One mistake that a lot of psychologists make about history is thinking that it more or less equivalent to a review of past literature. Of course, knowing when major theoretical turns took place, and what influential studies prompted them, are important to know, but the aim of history is to place psychology in a broader context (what impact did wars, immigration, political movements, economic upheaval, and social trends have on the dev't of psych?), not just to list one darn theory after another. In my grad course, I start them term giving a couple of informal lectures (with a lot of discussion) to "set the stage" -- Descartes to Kant, roughly. After that, I mostly turn it over to teams of students to teach most of the rest of the course -- generating seminar-like presentations on topics assigned to them, instructing them to go well beyond the textbook and other readings in their presentations (not just summarize what everyone else has already read), and to end with question that are likely to generate discussion (a colleague of mine puts it as asking why and how questions, rather than what and when questions). As for evaluation, I got tired of in-class tests and term papers a long while ago. I have two alternatives: 1) for several years I set up a wiki and had the students write a digital biographical dictionary for psychology over the course of the term. Every few of weeks I assigned an important individual from psychology's past to each student and had them post 500 words to the wiki. On other weeks, I would "shuffle the deck" of individuals already written about, assigning each student to expand and edit the entry that had been started by someone else the week before. 2) Instead of term papers, I set aside the last week or two of class to hold an in-house conference at which each student presents on a topic developed by him or her (in consultation with me). The presentations are short -- 10-15 min each -- but enough to know whether they have done their work. I sometimes invite other faculty or senior history-of-psych grad student to keep the presenters on their toes. Best, Chris ....... Christopher D Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 [email protected] http://www.yorku.ca/christo > On Jan 8, 2015, at 1:53 PM, Ken Steele <[email protected]> wrote: > > This is my 3rd post of the day so I won't be able to reply publicly in the > near future. > > The class is supposed to be a senior capstone course and the enrollment is > capped at 20 students. The class size is one reason I thought I could get > away from the lecture format. > > One observation from last semester about students taking a History of Psych > course. My students seemed to focus on almost irrelevant details, like birth > and death dates, and seemed to miss the big picture, like why Piaget or Hull > think this approach is the important way to think about issues. Freud was a > complete disaster, with students wanting to memorize the age ranges of > psychosexual stages. > > A public thanks to all that have replied (or may reply in the near future). > > Ken > > PS - two short teaching tales for the non HoP people: > > 1. My second course in psychology as an undergrad was the senior-level H&S > course. (Obviously, I never met with an advisor.) My instructor didn't know > what was going on until I went to meet with him to discuss my paper project > and then it was past the drop date. I loved H&S because it was all about big > ideas, and their historical interrelationships. This carried over to the rest > of my education. I could see why there was a separate "cognition" and > "learning" course, and what this might mean about psychology. > > 2. Small courses invite different approaches. I remember an instructor who > was used to teach, by lecture, classes of 25-30 students. One semester, for > some reason, this instructor had about 5 registered students. Only 2 to 3 > students would actually show up for an individual class. I would see him > "lecturing" to 2 or 3 students in a 70-seat room. > > >> On 1/8/2015 12:40 PM, Paul C Bernhardt wrote: >> >> >> >> You don’t indicate the level of the class. I have been teaching >> it as one of our capstone courses for seniors. Therefore, YMMV. >> >> I do a strict discussion format. No lecture at all. I treat it as >> if all students have read before coming into the room and I raise >> questions about various historical turns, outside historical >> issues that may have influenced psychology, ask students to >> compare and contrast, etc. Students are graded daily for >> participation (though I’ll probably go for a weekly grade in the >> future to reduce my evaluation load and their stress). I am >> fortunate that the class is generally small (about 15 students). > > -- > --------------------------------------------------------------- > Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [email protected] > Professor > Department of Psychology http://www.psych.appstate.edu > Appalachian State University > Boone, NC 28608 > USA > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=430248.781165b5ef80a3cd2b14721caf62bd92&n=T&l=tips&o=41445 > or send a blank email to > leave-41445-430248.781165b5ef80a3cd2b14721caf62b...@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=41449 or send a blank email to leave-41449-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
