Discusses the commonality of administrative issues facing undergraduate psychology departments and how consultants respond to these issues. Analyzes 20 department evaluations done by consultants. Most issues and recommendations fall into three categories: requirements for the major, physical and financial resources, and curriculum objectives. (MJP)

Describes two new exercises in classical conditioning that use earthworms and houseflies. The animals are available year-round and pose no risk to the students or instructor. The conditioned stimuli are odorants. These elicit a conditioned response of contraction in worms or proboscis extension in flies. (MJP)

Recommends using mnemonics as an introduction to the study of human memory and cognitive processes. Students generally have some familiarity with mnemonics and the device lends itself to a number of interesting games and experiments. Includes suggested activities using mnemonics and the Monopoly board game. (MJP)

Describes a college psychology course activity designed to help students define the parameters of cognitive psychology. Students selected a feature film and a journal article that represented some aspect of cognitive psychology. They then wrote a paper discussing the theoretical and empirical connections between the sources and the topic. (MJP)

Describes a collaborative writing project in which students must identify key variables, search and read relevant literature, and reason through a research idea by working closely with a partner. The end result is a polished laboratory report in the APA style. The class includes a peer review workshop prior to final editing. (MJP)

Recommends using examples from sports and exercise pathology in the undergraduate psychology curriculum. Sports and exercise issues enjoy popularity among many undergraduates and contain many examples applicable to general psychology courses and psychological research. Discusses sports and exercise topics illustrating concepts from developmental…

Describes a multimedia program for teaching analysis of variance (ANOVA) designs. The program uses colorful images, brief animations, interactive tasks, and immediate feedback. It consists of 10 story problems that tests students' understanding of independent groups and repeated measures variables. Provides information about availability. (MJP)

Described is an introductory social psychology course which incorporates motivation arousing elements. Findings indicate that the motivation oriented course was perceived by students as equal or superior to large introductory information oriented courses. (Author/DB)

Discussed are presentations and evaluations of Freud found in psychology textbooks from 1908 to 1975 in terms of the empirical versus the nonempirical views about the proper subject matter of psychology. Findings indicate that psychologists remain divided in their attitudes toward Freud. (Author/DB)

Explores the merits of using a combined cognitive and experiential approach to the teaching of psychology. Findings indicate that expanding a traditional course to include vivid personal experiences integrated with cognitive growth is an effective modification and enhances concept learning. (Author/DB)

Examination of several variables--student attitudes, psychological knowledge, study time, class attendance, and Grade Point Average--indicates that there is no transfer of knowledge from high school psychology courses to college psychology courses. (Author/DB)

Discusses teaching techniques, course content, strategies, and problems of teaching a behavior modification course to university students. Course target areas include subjects such as anxiety control, fear elimination, weight control, smoking reduction, interpersonal interaction, assertiveness, and exercise maintenance. (Author/DB)

Discusses research which explored the hypothesis that students who are fast starters in a personalized system of instruction psychology course would perform better and maintain faster course progress rates than slow starters. Findings indicate that students' starting pace is predictive of course performance and subsequent progress rates.…

Describes the use of autobiographies of famous psychologists as source material in the teaching of psychology. Selected biographical excerpts are presented. (Author/DB)

Described are ways in which behavior measurement techniques can be applied in grading psychology students. Teachers are encouraged to employ the same precision, order, and impartiality in evaluating students that they use in scholarly research. (Author/DB)