Almost 2 million students enroll in introductory psychology each year in the United States, making it the second most popular undergraduate course in the nation. Introductory psychology not only serves as a prerequisite for other courses in the discipline but for some students this course provides their only exposure to psychological science.…

Describes the Modern Studies Curriculum (MSC) at the University of Kentucky, which integrates psychology with various disciplines and cultural perspectives in 8 courses during the first two years of college. Provides two examples of MSC courses. (CMK)

We investigated whether students in psychology-based learning communities (LCs; i.e., cohorts who took introductory psychology and English together) performed better on psychology tests than those in standard classes. There were two types of LC; in one (connected LC), we created links between English and psychology by using English class readings…

Although students' final course grade expectations have been the focus of several studies, none have looked systematically at students' expectations for grade distributions for the whole class across institutional types, student year in school, and course levels. This study examined such differences as a function of gender, course level,…

The authors describe a demonstration of stereotype use in everyday language that focuses on common phrases reflecting stereotypic beliefs about ethnic groups or nationalities. The exercise encourages students' discussion of stereotype use. Students read 13 common phrases from the English language and stated whether they had used each phrase and…

Summarizes major challenges facing undergraduate psychology programs in the 1980s. Educators will teach more two-year college students, and cope with greater diversity in student knowledge, needs and interests. Problems arising from societal expectations, rapid social change, inadequate funding, and the need for innovative teaching are discussed.…

A 16-item lifelong learning scale (LLS), appropriate for college students and others, was evaluated using a sample of 575 college students. The scale demonstrated excellent reliability and was correlated with college grade point average (GPA), agreeableness, conscientiousness, and intellect/imagination. Scores were higher for those who had studied…

We "employed the Teacher Behavior Checklist" (TBC) to investigate Chinese college students' perceptions of excellent teachers' qualities and then compared the results to those from previously collected data from American and Japanese students. Chinese students tended to favor additional structure both in the classroom and in…

This study examined extended influences of peer helping courses on graduates' self-reported experiences of interpersonal relationships, communication skills, and ongoing engagement with the training. The 109 participants included 49 college graduates who completed a peer counseling theory course, 47 graduated psychology concentrators who took…

The present study reports on the development and evaluation of a classroom module to train scientific thinking skills. The module was implemented in two of four parallel sections of introductory psychology. To assess learning, a passage-based question set from the medical college admissions test (MCAT[superscript 2015]) preview guide was included…

The use of student management teams (SMTs) is a relatively new teaching technique designed to increase the quality of college courses and student performance and engagement within those courses. However, to date, little systematic, empirical research has validated the effectiveness of using SMTs. To test the effectiveness of this technique, the…

University career courses have become a more standard offering at many colleges and universities over the past few decades. Similarly, there has been an increase in the number of psychology departments offering a careers course for psychology majors or an introduction to the psychology major course. This study examines the outcomes of a course…

This study examined the influence of participation in a positive psychology course on undergraduates' well-being. Twenty-three students from a small liberal arts college in the Northeastern United States participated in this study. As hypothesized, students reported gains in hope, self-actualization, well-being, agency, and pathway…

As class sizes increase due to stagnating budgets, and as colleges and universities around the nation increase enrollment, more faculty (especially those without graduate students) are turning to undergraduate teaching assistants (UTA) to meet the increasing demands on academia. We surveyed 142 students enrolled in courses that utilized UTAs to…

Evaluates effectiveness of a college level career development course for psychology majors. A total of 148 students participated in experimental and control groups. Results indicate that the experimental group demonstrated superior increases in self-knowledge, job opportunities, and skills. Several approaches to career education in psychology are…