The Graduate Student Teaching Association (GSTA) is kicking off the new year with many new members! We asked the graduate students what their favorite concepts to teach or activities to implement into the classroom were. Stay on the lookout this year for some exciting new updates from the group!

Chair: Alexa Sacchi (they/them), University of Toronto - St.George:

One of my favorite concepts to teach is the replication crisis. I know that may be surprising, but I love going over the history of how psychological research has changed over the years. A lot of students are shocked to learn that some of the popular findings they learned about in PSY100 actually don’t replicate! Rather than thinking science is all doom and gloom, I like talking about how from this “crisis” actually made science better through open science practices. I love introducing students to concepts like pre-registration, and the many large scale replication efforts like the ManyBabies projects!

Mel Ceren (she/her), CUNY Graduate Center:

One of my favorite activities to incorporate as a new semester begins and fresh faces enter the classroom are ice breakers. Icebreakers are commonly used to introduce the classroom atmosphere, but students may be hesitant to start talking about themselves. I would recommend "Draw Your Duck," a humorous icebreaker that is a unique approach to start a session and get everyone interested rather than the standard "tell the class about yourself." In this icebreaker, students get a minute or two to sketch and name a duck, stressing originality and uniqueness above artistic talent. Then, students may share their ducks, which frequently results in laughter and inspires discussions on community-driven solutions to ecological and even climate change. 

Josh Lovett (he/him), University of Illinois Chicago:

One of my favorite teaching techniques is using student-generated data to prompt class discussions. For example, I often use polling software to collect and compile students' responses, which then serve as a foundation for discussion. In my statistics course, I’ve used this approach by displaying students’ answers to specific questions and showing the resulting distribution. This allows students to visually analyze the graph and identify key features like modality and shape, fostering more engagement and excitement about the material! 

Ashmita Mazumder (she/her), University of Toronto - Scarborough:

One of my favorite concepts to teach is metascience- the science of how we do science. This topic dives into questions like: What makes research replicable? How do biases creep into study designs? And how can we improve the transparency and rigor of psychological research? Students are often surprised to learn that science itself is a work in progress, and exploring topics like the replication crisis or open science practices empowers them to think critically about the field. It’s a rewarding experience to see students shift from being passive consumers of research to active evaluators of how science is conducted and communicated.

Sherry Nguyen (she/her), University of Alabama:

One of my favorite activities for teaching is having the students re-enact the concept or act it out as much as possible. This technique not only helps students remember the material but also allows them to engage with the concept on a deeper level. Role-playing and interactive activities make abstract ideas more tangible and relatable.

Lindsey Rutter (she/her), Oregon State University: 

One of my favorite activities is to have students find a recently published article about a topic they feel passionate about. I ask them to summarize the article, write about why this research is interesting (encouraging them to get their classmates interested in the topic, too!), and have them connect it with the course content. I think it is super important to find ways to incorporate contemporary research findings into psychology courses!