Using games in a classroom setting to help engagement and learning is becoming popular, but controlled investigations into the benefits of games are few. Games are potentially a way to incorporate retrieval practice into a class and garner subsequent benefits to memory. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether a board game assisted…

It is challenging to teach about racism well. One of the reasons for this difficulty is that the topic of racism is sometimes met with resistance from students. Therefore, it is important for psychology instructors to continue to identify and practice effective ways to teach about racism. I contend that the study abroad experience is a valuable…

This paper describes the implementation of a new and innovative learning activity created to enhance the learning experience of psychology undergraduate dissertation students. The writing retreat is a student-based learning activity which aims to address students' needs over the final stages of the dissertation module. Involving active-learning,…

It is becoming clear that in the 21st century, a focus on skill development in education is necessary to complement the curriculum, particularly with regards to creative problem solving. The emerging Pedagogy of Play seems to provide a framework to facilitate this but is not easily applicable in the mainstream UK due to difficulties in empowering…

Interactive teaching environments help students transition from a 'consumer' of information to a generator of knowledge and help to create an educational setting that inspires and supports student engagement, while developing high-order skills and a deeper level of knowledge and understanding. To develop an interactive teaching condition, the…

There is a wealth of literature that attests to the benefits of retrieval practice in the long term retention of academic material (see Roediger & Butler, 2011 for a review). Unfortunately, there is also evidence indicating that students rarely report using this method of study (e.g. Karpicke, Butler, Roediger, 2009). The authors have piloted…

Field trips can provide an opportunity to take the student to the world, as an alternative to presenting the world to the student in the classroom. Such trips can create a forum for exploring controversial and distressing topics by exposing the students to first-hand experience, rather than second-hand accounts: witnessing the effects of blind…

In this article, Hartley notes the difficulties of using questionnaires to assess the efficiency of new instructional methods and highlights nine issues that researchers must consider. Hartley continues the discussion about the use of questionnaires and suggests that psychology teachers can help improve the teaching of psychology by drawing…

LifeRAFT, a helping skills training model for undergraduate paraprofessionals, addresses training needs for applied psychology skills for undergraduate psychology majors. LifeRAFT draws from three empirically supported psychotherapy treatments to introduce counselling theory and encourage helping skill progression. Trainees learn practical helping…

The shortage of social science graduates with competent quantitative skills jeopardises the competitive UK economy, public policy making effectiveness and the status the UK has as a world leader in higher education and research (British Academy for Humanities and Social Sciences, 2012). There is a growing demand for quantitative skills across all…

Many undergraduate psychology students eventually choose a career providing clinical mental health services. A background in abnormal psychology (psychopathology) is helpful and requisite in these graduate academic and future professional venues. The creativity needed to adequately teach the complex material covered in most abnormal psychology…

The first cohort of a new MSc programme is due to complete the course in August 2014. During the three-year online course students conduct several pieces of action research in their classrooms. There is little research specifically related to classroom practice in the pre-tertiary psychology classroom. The following describes the rationale and…

This paper describes the introduction of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) into a final-year option module in psychology. The background and rationale for the changes introduced are discussed and the experience of PBL is considered from the point of view of tutor and students. The introduction of PBL considerably increased student attainment in the…

Using an experimental study design (N = 41), we examined whether participation in an informal writing assignment, specifically writing a letter to a friend about course content, improved exam scores in an undergraduate child development course. Findings indicated that participating in the writing assignment significantly improved scores on an exam…

Psychology undergraduates need to produce good quality essays in order to succeed at university. Students find the transition to university writing difficult. Using a rubric, a profile of student weakness in psychology essay writing was described. The students were generally poor at the structural organisation of their essays. A pilot intervention…