Jordan P. Lippman et al.
196
activities comes from discussion of meaning of the design and results during in-class
discussions.
Another trick involves turning the classroom itself into an occasion for student activity.
Classroom discussions are of course desirable, but not every issue lends itself to discussion,
and students might find it futile to come up with positions on their own for issues where
they know that the instructor has the right answer “hidden up his or her sleeve” already.
Assigning original articles opens up a space for discussion, because students can challenge
the instructor’s interpretation of the conclusions. Precisely because the article is written by
somebody other than the instructor, the latter’s opinion about it need not be normative for
the class, and students can feel free to deviate from the instructor without thereby demon-
strating ignorance or risking their grade. It helps if the topic is interesting in itself and if
the discussion is structured.
Technology enables activities of this sort. The personal response system lets the instruc-
tor take input from the students, which in turn forces them to make up their minds about
the issues at hand. Also, it enables in-class demonstrations of basic effects. Although tech-
nology is a help, it is not a necessity. We have frequently implemented in-class activities
where the students respond by raising their hands, a very cheap and accessible personal
response system.
Activity-based lecture classes require more effort and innovation on the part of the
instructor in the planning and preparation stage. Once designed and fine-tuned, however,
the actual teaching of a course is easier and more relaxed for both students and instructor,
perhaps because less is now riding on the lectures. It also fits the mindset of the current
generation of American students. They are more used to interactive scenarios than sce-
narios requiring sustained but passive attention. These advantages translate into higher
student evaluations, greater quality learning, and enhanced critical thinking. Although we
do not have objective evidence as yet to support this claim, we believe that the critical
thinking skills learned though these activities transfers readily to other areas of students’
academic and personal lives. At the very least, we have created some of the critical
conditions for such transfer to occur.
References
Ashcraft, M. H. (2002). Cognition (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Deese, J. (1959). On the prediction of occurrence of particular verbal instructions in immediate
recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58, 17–22.
Donovan, M. S., Bransford, J., & Pellegrino, J. W. (1999). How people learn: Bridging research and
practice. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Goldstein, E. B. (2005). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Interwrite Learning Personal Response System. (n.d). Retrieved April 24, 2007, from http://www.
interwritelearning.com/products/prs/index.html
Kershaw, T. C., & Lippman, J. P. (under review). Using empirical journal articles as primary reading
material in undergraduate cognitive psychology courses. Teaching of Psychology.
Levine, E. (2001). Reading your way to scientific literacy. Journal of College Science Teaching, 31,
122–125.