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…

The movement to prepare graduate students to teach is relatively new in the history of the academy. During the past several decades, many graduate departments of psychology, like many academic departments, have gone from providing essentially no training to graduate students to teach to developing extensive training programs consisting of course…

The perceived relation between assigned student grades and instructor evaluations of teaching has been the subject of much debate, though few laboratory studies have been conducted with adequate controls. Marsh and Roche suggested that experimental field studies may be a particularly promising avenue for further analyses of this relation. The…

Keeley, Smith, and Buskist (2006) investigated the psychometric properties of the Teacher Behavior Checklist (TBC), but did not provide evidence that the measure could differentiate among teachers. This study required students at 2 schools to rate their best professor, worst professor, and most recent professor on the TBC. We found highly similar…

Stephen F. Davis is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Emporia State University. He served as the 2002-2003 Knapp Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences at the University of San Diego. Currently, he is Distinguished Guest Professor at Morningside College and Visiting Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Texas Wesleyan University. Since…

This article provides ideas for engaging in the scholarship of teaching in psychology. Topics covered include contributing to the Society for the Teaching of Psychology's Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology and "Teaching of Psychology". Writing and editing books also constitute scholarly work. Finally, teaching with intentionality and…

We surveyed the editorial board of "Teaching of Psychology" regarding their perspectives on the distinction between the scholarships of teaching and pedagogy. Respondents provided wide-ranging and divergent answers to our queries, suggesting that scholarship, its attendant activities, and distinctions among related terms are complex issues in need…

We examined job advertisements published in the September and October 2006 issues of the APA Monitor and APS Observer for courses that psychology departments requested successful applicants for assistant professor openings to teach. We found that 4 courses accounted for 45% of all courses so listed: research methods, introductory psychology,…

We converted the Teacher Behaviors Checklist (TBC; Buskist, Sikorski, Buckley, & Saville, 2002) to an evaluative instrument to assess teaching by adding specific instructions and a Likert-type scale. Factor analysis of the modified TBC produced 2 subscales: caring and supportive and professional competency and communication skills. Further…

The Society for the Teaching of Psychology formed a task force in 2000 on Uniting Scholarship and Teaching to develop suggestions for how the Society might facilitate Boyer's (1990) and Halpern et al.'s (1998) expanded views of traditional scholarship with respect to the teaching of psychology. This article represents a partial fulfillment of that…

I surveyed Division Two's teaching award winners in the 2-year college and 4-year college and university categories to discover the qualities and attributes that make these individuals effective teachers. I found that (a) most awardees did not receive formal training in teaching; (b) many awardees believed that observations of others' effective…

Presents the results of a survey to determine the prevalence and content of courses on teaching of psychology for graduate teaching assistants. Finds that 67 percent of psychology departments have a formal course on the teaching of psychology. (CMK)

Presents an interview with Peter Harzem, the Hudson Professor of Psychology at Auburn University (Alabama). Addresses such issues as teaching students about behavior analysis, the differences between classical and operant conditioning, reinforcement and behaviorism, and how one can become a better teacher. (CMK)

Describes ten common technical mistakes most graduate teaching assistants make while teaching, such as projecting a weak presence, relying too heavily on their notes, posing vague questions, and not reinforcing student participation. Offers suggestions for correcting the mistakes. States that faculty might want to monitor their own teaching…

Offers an example of determining what the experts of psychology deem as essential concepts in their subfield by investigating the current principles in operant conditioning through surveys of the board of editors of the "Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior." Recommends concepts that are appropriate for up-to-date coverage of operant…