This article reports results of a research study at a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site focused on psychological research with clear applications to the real world. Two cohorts of undergraduates engaged in rigorous research projects with implications for real-world problems such as driving, homeland…

While driving, dangerous situations can occur quickly, and giving drivers extra time to respond may make the road safer for everyone. Extensive research on attentional cueing in cognitive psychology has shown that targets are detected faster when preceded by a spatially valid cue, and slower when preceded by an invalid cue. However, it is unknown…

Traffic congestion and road tolls are familiar economic concepts for most undergraduates; however, students often have difficulty explaining exactly how theoretical principles like externalities and social welfare are related to their real-world experiences, such as driving. The authors present a classroom exercise to demonstrate how congestion…

The authors conducted a systematic review to examine whether vision-related assessments can predict the driving performance of individuals who have low vision. The results indicate that measures of visual field, contrast sensitivity, cognitive and attention-based tests, and driver screening tools have variable utility for predicting real-world…

A controlled experiment used instrumented vehicles in a real-world driving task to compare D. N. Lee's (1976) tau-dot hypothesis of braking control with an alternative based on the direct estimation and control of ideal deceleration (T. Yates, M. Harris, & P. Rock, 2004). Drivers braked to stop as closely as possible to a visual target from…

While attention has consistently been shown to be biased toward threatening objects in experimental settings, our understanding of how attention is modulated when the observer is in an anxious or aroused state and how this ultimately affects behavior is limited. In real-world environments, automobile drivers can sometimes carry negative…

The number of real-world laboratories (RwLs) as research settings to address sustainability problems by using collaborative and experimental approaches has been growing steadily over the past years. RwLs are widely considered promising settings for the production of action-orientated knowledge in order to contribute solving wicked real-world…

Students need to see the value in the lessons their teacher provide. As students begin to approach driving age, they may start to think about the make, model, color, and features they would want in a car; but do they think about the cost or how that cost depreciates over time? The author used these questions to develop a Desmos activity that would…

In the UK, Latin is often seen as an elitist subject taught largely at fee-paying schools. Over the past generation, however, great strides have been made in opening up the subject to students from all backgrounds. A major hindrance to widening access to Latin at university level is that the language can often prove challenging for students. Data…

The authors propose the idea of threaded cognition, an integrated theory of concurrent multitasking--that is, performing 2 or more tasks at once. Threaded cognition posits that streams of thought can be represented as threads of processing coordinated by a serial procedural resource and executed across other available resources (e.g., perceptual…

We have implemented at the University of Málaga (Spain) a new course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) to involve undergraduate students of Science in a real-world scientific problem. Within the topic "Let's find acetylcholinesterase inhibitors as new drug candidates for the treatment of Alzheimer's", students have been…

Visually-based navigation is a key competence during spatial cognition. Animals avoid obstacles and approach goals in novel cluttered environments using optic flow to compute heading with respect to the environment. Most navigation models try either explain data, or to demonstrate navigational competence in real-world environments without regard…

Important tools that schools need to support a 21st century approach to teaching and learning include the usual suspects: the Internet, pen and paper, cell phones, educational games, tests and quizzes, good teachers, caring communities, educational funding, and loving parents. All of these items and more contribute to a 21st century education, but…

The establishment of the Next Generation Science Standards brought climate science into standards-based education. However, teachers face challenges implementing these standards, including a lack of resources and textbooks, which may not accurately describe climate science or the forces driving those changes. A climate science workshop was…

This paper explores how Engineering students and Work and Welfare students reflect upon their own engagement in a one-week cross-disciplinary project. To develop a better understanding of what unfolds during these activities we collected data through anonymous surveys two consecutive years. Data from these 141 respondents were analysed using a…