Identifies an integral problem in most undergraduate psychology classes covering testing and ethical principles. The American Psychological Association's ethical code, rules, and test standards seem obtuse and irrelevant to many students. Recommends teaching the Test Takers' Bill of Rights. Includes a copy of this document. (MJP)

Maintains that having students estimate the size and width of a class waste paper can (placed on a desk) is a simple and effective way of illustrating perceptual distortion. Tests show that people will consistently overestimate the height of the can, allowing for a useful discussion on sensory distortion. (MJP)

Reports on three separate studies conducted to determine a consensus list of psychology's great books. Describes the 3 studies, including 1 of 39 college-level psychology departments, another of 186 psychologists, and a third study of 83 leaders of the American Psychological Association. (CFR)

Reports on a study of peer teaching through small group instruction in a college level psychology program. Describes how upper level undergraduate students designed, implemented, and evaluated projects to teach psychology to introductory students. Finds that both the introductory and advanced students enjoyed the experience and recommended that…

Contends that infusing black psychology into an introductory psychology course can help students learn about the impact of social, economic, and cultural factors on psychological development. Provides a rationale, lecture outline, and resource list to assist teachers in incorporating black psychology in their courses. Reports that African-American…

Includes materials on: (1) abnormal and clinical psychology, and personality; (2) career issues; (3) cognition and learning; (4) educational technology; (5) faculty evaluation; (6) graduate education; (7) high school instruction; (8) history of psychology; (9) introductory psychology; (10) perception, and physiological and comparative psychology;…

Discusses the commonality of administrative issues facing undergraduate psychology departments and how consultants respond to these issues. Analyzes 20 department evaluations done by consultants. Most issues and recommendations fall into three categories: requirements for the major, physical and financial resources, and curriculum objectives. (MJP)

Identifies hindsight bias as the tendency to exaggerate one's ability to have foreseen the outcome of an event after learning the outcome. Describes a class project where students predicted the verdict of the O. J. Simpson trial one week before the verdict and hypothesized a jury response a month later. (MJP)

Describes an undergraduate teaching assistant (TA) program in which the undergraduates engage in the complementary activities of course preparation, course instruction, and one-on-one tutorial assistance. Both students enrolled in an introductory methodology course and the undergraduates serving as TAs indicated that they viewed the experience…

Presents the results of a study that examined the effectiveness of assignments from the Web site "Psychology Place." Focuses on its use in an introductory psychology course," Psychology as a Natural Science" with undergraduate students (n=94). (CMK)

Describes the course content, student response, and instructional effectiveness of an undergraduate psychology and law course built around a series of active learning projects. Students chose either to attend a jury trial or to interview three people involved in the legal system. These formed the basis for papers and presentations. (MJP)

Describes a non-graded, one-class-period activity that can help undergraduates understand and explore fundamental psychological concepts. Groups of three or four students perform short skits illustrating basic concepts (moral development, defense mechanisms, identity status) and the class tries to guess the concept. (MJP)

Describes an undergraduate course project where students helped mentally alert senior citizens write their life stories. By assisting senior citizens to organize memories and interpret life decisions, the students experienced stages they had not yet lived through. Students evaluated the course project as a positive learning and personal growth…

Describes a survey of psychology department chairpersons at private four-year undergraduate colleges with enrollments between 200 and 2500, concerning the nature and impact of activities that psychologists perform for professional advancement. Implications for employment in a small college and teacher burnout in that environment are discussed. (KO)

Discusses the use of holistic scoring in the introductory college psychology course. Presents data showing the reliability, validity, and efficiency of the holistic scoring of students' written work by teaching assistants. Argues that holistic scoring is a high quality, low cost approach to scoring written work in large classes. (SG)