Introduction: Psychology instructors face decisions about adopting new approaches to lectures, readings, and assessment in their courses. Statement of the Problem: These choices about course structure can be both intimidating and confusing in terms of the costs and benefits for different options. Literature Review: As framed by anecdotal and…

Background: Instructors often use a point-based system for grading students (e.g., 100 or 1000 total points). This system can impact student outcomes. Objective: The purpose of this research was to examine the implications of different point value courses for student emotions, perceptions of courses, and classroom performance. Method: The…

Background: Persuasion Wars are exercises for teaching social influence that have not been directly assessed with the use of students' knowledge gain as an indicator. Objective: This study aimed to establish the extent to which these exercises led to students' knowledge increase in comparison to traditional teaching method. Method: In a between…

Background: Psychology courses provide a good opportunity for instructors to teach students effective learning strategies integrated with content. Objective: This replication and extension study explored changes in students' self-reported use of learning strategies before and after a term paper assignment and examined the relationships between…

Introduction: This paper explores what praxis is and its importance for catalyzing social justice. Statement of the Problem: At times, psychologists have articulated the importance of bridging the researcher-activist divide via praxis, but progress in creating these bridges has been slow. Literature Review: We examine how praxis can be rooted in…

Introduction: We propose a visionary working model to normalize the pursuit of social justice praxis in educational psychology courses. Using our undergraduate course as an example, we discuss our roles as instructors, curriculum, and pedagogical strategies for forward progress. Statement of the Problem: Despite stated commitments to diversity,…

Introduction: As higher education continues to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), cognitive/behavioral neuroscience and other physiologically based psychology courses may face challenges incorporating DEI issues into the curriculum relative to other subfields of psychology. Statement of the Problem: Instructors of these courses may…

Background: Since its integration into the European Higher Education Area, the Spanish educational system has evolved, introducing innovations into university teaching methodologies. This new approach entails the development of capacities, competencies, and skills that enable students to develop their critical thinking. Objective: This work aims…

Introduction: Individuals in various career fields will interact with people who have experienced trauma while engaging in their work responsibilities, and many have limited, if any, trauma training. Therefore, there is a need to provide trauma training within undergraduate degree programs. Statement of Problem: Online learning is a viable method…

Background: Critical thinking is an important student learning outcome in all psychology courses and included in the American Psychological Association's (APA's) goals for the undergraduate major. Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of integrating a general model of critical thinking into the instruction,…

Background: Incorporating professional development into undergraduate psychology coursework is an ongoing area of improvement for educators. Objective: We present a novel activity encouraging students to explore various professional skills and roles for which their psychology major prepares them through application to real-world issues. Method:…

Belief in psychological misconceptions has potential repercussions for both students and potentially society as a whole. We present a creative and engaging myth refutation assignment that uses an infographic format to promote the refutation of psychological misconceptions. A total of 166 students completed the myth refutation assignment, along…

Identifying effective and time-efficient approaches to teaching students how to write from scholarly sources benefits students and instructors. Students in a general psychology course learned a concrete method to improve this type of synthesis writing. The intervention was brief, consisting of viewing an online tutorial outside of class and…

Objective: How do learning communities influence academic performance in Introductory Psychology? Method: The present research examines the relationship between participation in first-year students learning communities and academic performance across a variety of course requirements (midterms, finals, papers, and class participation) in…

Background: Research shows distributed practice enhances learning and skill development, but less is known about the effect on perceptions and attitudes toward the material being learned. Objective: This study examined whether distributed practice could improve performance and attitudes in statistics, a subject that students report finding…