Below is all breakout room activities and most assessments for PSY-101 as designed for Fall 2020.
Breakout Room Activities
History of Psychology
This activity is based on the fact that we still fail at teaching the history of non-cis-hetero-male psychology in our textbooks. The scholars are given a link to learn more about a historical figure, and come back to class to present what they learned to everyone in a jigsaw puzzle fashion.
Research Methods
This activity is centered in the research design portion of class. After reviewing the key terms of research, and explaining in detail what a research paper looks like, we break into groups to try and identify answers to portions of the questions provided. The paper is provided with highlights to further guide their group work.
Biopsychosocial Model
This activity is done after teaching the biopsychosocial model. We use these breakout rooms to try and apply the definitions we used to examples. The trick is to ensure that what is used as examples in class do not mirror the examples provided. If scholars get them wrong or there is disagreement, we use this as a teaching opportunity to talk about the interconnectedness of each.
The Brain & Scanning
This activity tries to gently get scholars to think more again about research methods and how it applies to the brain. While basic in its approach, it aims to get scholars thinking about something they’ve heard before (“left or right brained”) while trying to consider how to create two groups to test.
Erik Erikson & Psychosocial
Erikson’s model of psychosocial development is more engaging than Freud’s psychosexual, so scholars use these examples to try and fill in. If scholars get them wrong or disagree, we use this as a moment to talk about the failures of such theories like these. These examples are hastily borrowed from online and could use an update to avoid copy and paste searching.
Kohlberg’s Moral Development
After walking through Kohlberg’s stages, scholars are tasked with providing how one might justify Heinz to (not) steal the medicine in each of the six stages.
Freud’s Defense Mechanisms
Scholars are tasked with providing two examples of defense mechanisms. I pick the top example from each class to include on the weekly quiz.
Dreams
Much of my class centers around (90s to 2000s) pop culture references to connect to the material. Here, scholars first watch, and then are provided the script to, a dream from Gilmore Girls. They then apply the three main theories of dreams to the dream.
Memory
Having listened to Free Brian Williams and learned about the problems of memory, scholars are given one of three articles from Psychology Today to read about memory and report back to the class about what they read. There are two groups for each article, so they can fill in anything that the other group did not report on.
Assessments
Tweeting About Research
Tying in with the Research Methods breakout activity, scholars are tasked with choosing from one of 11 pre-screened articles (chosen for either simple, clear methods and/or are written by undergraduates and published in Psi Chi). We review in class what Tweeting about articles looks like, and scholars are asked to read one paper, and provide 2 tweets (<281 characters), with one explaining the main research question and one explaining the main result that they find interesting.
Applying Development to (your) Life
Scholars are tasked with applying 4 terms (2 theories, 2 terms each) to their own life, or the life of someone else, including a fictional character. In order to best promote the scholars to display their best ability, they are given the option of presenting via a paper or a recorded presentation.
Group Presentation On Material
Scholars are provided these Instructions. Their deadline is the day prior to my going over the material. This includes a group writing portion, where they must both report the importance of their presentation and also tie in one research article that relates to their presentation. Future versions of this will be clearer on what constitutes a research article (many reviews, which made their own responses to the guided questions hard).
Myth Responses
Scholars are assigned five myths throughout the semester from “50 Myths In Psychology” that relate to what we learned in class the prior week. They are given four questions to answer and are graded on this rubric. Future versions of this assessment will be more clear that myths mean that the stated myth is false, and scholars must be clear that they understand that the myth is false.
Resources Used
THe Psych Show Youtube Channel
Dr. Ali Mattu’s channel has a lot of great content to use. I assigned various short videos throughout the semester to tie in what we were learning to HBO shows and he has a great example of in-the-moment classical conditioning.
Podcasts
We listened to three podcasts throughout the semester to learn class material in a different medium, including The Hidden Brain on The Replication Crisis and Gender Identity, and Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History on memory problems.
Textbooks
Myers & DeWall 12th Edition “Psychology”
50 Great Myths On Popular Psychology
Myth #1: Most People Use Only 10% of Their
Brain PowerMyth #5: Subliminal Messages Can Persuade People to
Purchase ProductsMyth #9: Old Age Is Typically Associated with Increased Dissatisfaction and Senility
Myth #18: Students Learn Best When Teaching Styles Are Matched to Their Learning Styles
Myth #13: Individuals Commonly Repress the Memories of Traumatic Experiences