How We Teach Psychology: A National Survey Of Empirically Supported Teaching Techniques In Undergraduate Instruction

Research from a wide range of psychological disciplines has focused on understanding the teaching methods that most effectively promote learning. Despite a wealth of literature demonstrating the effectiveness of various teaching methods, the prevalence of these methods in contemporary college psychology courses has not yet been examined. To fill this gap, the current study surveyed undergraduate psychology instructors on methods implemented in their classrooms. Distributed to 448 institutions of higher learning, this online survey sought to provide a preliminary picture of the modern teaching landscape. In order to provide the most objective standard of comparison among these different institutions, frequency of testing was the primary item of interest for statistical analyses. It was predicted that testing opportunities would be most frequent at colleges in which teaching was the primary responsibility for instructors. Results suggest that this prediction has some merit, as instructors from associate's colleges indicated testing significantly more frequently than instructors at other types of institutions. These findings, as well as the other descriptive results, are discussed, and future directions for similar research are suggested.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A. in Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Fulwiler, Joshua C.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Thomas W. Lombardo
• Karen K. Kellum
• Todd A. Smitherman

• Introductory Psychology
• Pedagogy
• Teaching Techniques
• Testing Frequency
• Undergraduate Psychology
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/795

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:egrove.olemiss.edu:etd-1794