Chelsea Romney
Brigham Young University

While attending a teaching seminar at my university on the importance of experiential learning,(1,2) I found myself experiencing academic discipline FOMO (fear of missing out). A dance professor explained, “Instead of having students learn the steps of the cha-cha from their textbook, we use our classroom time to actually dance the cha-cha.” I thought to myself, if only I were in a discipline that lent itself so well to experiential learning. How could I possibly demonstrate concepts like bias, group dynamics, or social cognition in my upcoming social psychology course? Surely, such erudite concepts weren’t meant for experiential learning methods. 

Later, as I was preparing a lecture on the “Psychology of Law” chapter of the course textbook, I realized that I might have discovered my own version of the cha-cha. I began developing a plan for students to view live courtroom proceedings to see how social psychology influences the practice of law. I knew that court was a public place that could be visited by civilians, and that all arraignments and trials were public records. However, we know from community-based participatory research (CBPR) that groups, especially academic groups, should take care when visiting or studying community organizations to respect the functioning of the organization. Proper CBPR involves an equitable approach where both the academic group and the community stakeholders both benefit from the interactions. (3) 

I met with the local city justice court judge to determine how they might benefit from having students observe court. Fortunately, the judge was enthusiastic about having students in the court and was particularly motivated by the idea of collecting data to determine how the court was functioning. Specifically, the judge had already used a validated national court survey(4) to assess the accessibility and fairness of the court from the customers’ perspective and was enthusiastic at the idea of students from the local university assisting in the collection of a new batch of these surveys. Since another learning outcome of the course was to increase the students’ understanding of the research process, collecting data for the court created an additional opportunity for experiential learning in my class. 

The judge and I worked together to determine a series of interactions, assignments, and specific statistical associations we wanted to assess in the outcomes of the validated survey to mutually benefit our organizations. The course courtroom assignment followed this timeline: 

1. The judge visited our classroom, provided a guest lecture related to course material, described the purpose of the validated court survey, and provided information about proper conduct while visiting the court.

2. 25 students visited the courtroom in pairs of two to collect data throughout the semester. During their court visit, they also completed a courtroom observation assignment where they identified at least three social psychological phenomena occurring in the court in a 2-page paper. This encouraged them to think critically about course concepts and gave their visit structure when they weren’t collecting data.

3. With instruction, students completed data analyses with the data collected from the validated survey and wrote brief research papers on their findings for course credit.

4. The Judge visited the classroom again for the students to deliver their findings in the form of oral presentations that were graded as part of the course.

Students reported how observing court in person and engaging with court customers and employees improved their understanding of course concepts. One student wrote,

“I was able to understand the social psychology vocabulary much better because I could see at the court different concepts like emotional intelligence, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the court customers, receptivity, yielding (William McGuire’s model of persuasion), and stigma.”

Another student made sense of course concepts through observing the Judge,

“The biggest social psychological principle that I was able to see while watching the Judge’s court was his high emotional intelligence. The book breaks up emotional intelligence into four different parts. The first was the ability to perceive your emotions and the emotions of those around you. This was definitely something that was practiced by the Judge as he was able to recognize the way that others felt and how his emotions were influencing his judgements. To have awareness of how others feel is a great quality to have in the court system because how people feel influences the way that people perceive fairness and furthermore their actions after the court hearing. The second type of emotional intelligence is facilitating thought which is described as the ability to generate an emotion and then regulate that emotion. The third is understanding emotion which explains that a person is able to acknowledge an emotion and recognize when that emotion switches from a simple emotion to a complex emotion. The last type of emotional regulation is called managing emotions which explains that an individual is open to theirs and others emotions and they are able to understand them, along with being able to grow and develop because of them. I saw the Judge demonstrate each portion of emotional intelligence in his courtroom and that is one of the reasons why so many court customers perceive him as fair.”

Due to the experiential nature of the courtroom project, students also gained additional insights beyond the course assignments. One student shared their initial apprehension about the court environment, stating,

“I had a lot of preconceived notions about court even though I had never been to a court before in real life. I thought the layout made it easy for people to learn observationally because they are seated in the courtroom until it is their turn to speak. I liked this composition because I feel like it helped them know what to say.”

Another student noted,

“While spending time at the court, I was surprised that the people who worked there were normal people. They even laughed and talked and joked around with each other. I wished that other people got to see the human side of the judge, the cops, and the staff who work in the court and not as people who want to give you the harshest sentence that they can.”

And lastly, students learned about human nature and increased their awareness of the  complexity of human behavior. One student reflected,

“While at court, I saw a case where a son was trying to protect his mother from a violent ex-boyfriend by hitting the man with a skateboard. He was charged with very heavy charges. Through previous meetings and litigation between the Judge and the attorney, they ended up dropping the charges and allowed him to pay a fine of $100 and he got his bail money back. I saw the family hugging and crying in the parking lot. I was very touched by this experience that sometimes people may commit crimes to protect others.”

Since the courtroom assignment, I have applied the principles of community-based participatory research as a base for experiential learning assignments for other courses. Recently, I taught a Health Psychology course with an emphasis on the health benefits of social inclusion. I targeted on campus clubs as an effective venue to study student social engagement. I followed the lead of the stakeholder, the overall campus clubs staff coordinator, to design an assignment that would benefit both the students and the campus clubs. Like the judge, the clubs coordinator was also interested in data to understand how the clubs were functioning. Students selected clubs and administered surveys to assess the effect of club attendance on outcomes like well-being, happiness, and belonging. The assignments followed a similar pattern as the courtroom study with a guest lecture from the clubs coordinator, instruction on research methods, data collection, and a final presentation to the stakeholder. I believe this format could be applied to courses that cover other types of content and I plan to implement a similar project in my Psychological Statistics course.

In conclusion, incorporating community or campus engagement into the classroom provides invaluable experiential learning opportunities for students, fostering a deeper understanding of academic concepts through real-world application. By engaging with community stakeholders, such as local courts or campus clubs, students not only gain practical experience but also contribute to the community, creating a mutually beneficial relationship. These experiences challenge students' preconceived notions, enhance their critical thinking, and provide them with a nuanced perspective on human behavior and social dynamics. Ultimately, integrating experiential learning through community or campus engagement enriches the educational experience, promoting both academic growth and social responsibility, and you don’t even have to dance the cha-cha in front of your students.  

References

1 Kuh, G. D. (2012). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Peer Review, 14(3), 29-30.

2 Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

3 Fontaine, S. (2006). Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 11(2), 45.

4 https://www.ncsc.org/courtools/trial-court-performance-measures