Instructional Resource Grants

Next award deadline:  February 1, 2025

View Previous Instructional Resource Grant Recipients

2024 Recipients Announced

The recipients of this year's Instructional Resource Grants are:

• Nur Cayirdag, Ph.D. (Texas Christian University)
  Innovative Horizons: Bridging Creativity and Research Methods in Psychology

• Christina Costa, Ph.D. (Wayne State University)
  Integrating AI into Psychology Education: Successful Strategies, Ideas, and Tools

• Manda J. Williamson, Ph.D. and Chelsea Witt, Ph.D. (The University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
  Improving Belongingness-Building Interventions to Improve Minoritized Student Success in Psychology Courses

A. PURPOSE

The purpose of the Instructional Resource Grant is twofold: (1) to stimulate the development of teaching resource materials, and (2) to encourage instructional research relevant to the teaching of psychology at the university, college, community college, or high school level, either of which can be subsequently posted as a Teaching Resource on the STP website for interested teachers of psychology, or published in Teaching of Psychology or a similar SoTL journal. Consistent with our Mission Statement and the Statement on Addressing Systemic Racism and Inequity in STP, we encourage applications from colleagues who are from underrepresented groups and have diverse backgrounds and experiences.

B. DESCRIPTION

Up to five grants of $1,500 each will be presented annually to enable recipients to complete substantive instructional resource projects related to the teaching of psychology suitable for posting on the STP website as a teaching resource; or if the project is an empirical study, for publication in Teaching of Psychology or another SoTL journal. Proposals may be general in focus or specific to a particular psychology course or student population. Research may be empirical (e.g., an investigation to determine which strategies are most successful in preventing cheating), experiential (e.g., a critical summary and evaluation of time-tested methods of assessing learning in child development courses), or reviews of the literature on new topics in psychology (e.g., producing an annotated bibliography of readings or internet resources in cross-cultural psychology). Proposals to create internet sites will not be funded unless the posted resource captures the same information in a print-friendly file (.doc, .pdf, .rtf); given its mission to provide readers with high quality, peer-reviewed materials, teaching resources should not link to outside internet sources because they cannot be monitored continuously. The average IRG funding rate in the last 5 years is 57%.

C. ELIGIBILITY

Any member of APA Division 2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology is eligible to apply for an STP Instructional Resource Grant. Current members of the Society’s Executive Committee and the IRG Committee are ineligible to apply.

D. PROCEDURE

All proposals must be submitted electronically by February 1; click here (requires login) for instructions on how to submit a proposal.  Proposals will be reviewed by the IRG Committee members. Proposals are scored on the following seven qualities: Pedagogical Value, Potential Value, Originality, Feasibility, Generalizability, Alignment with STP's Mission Statement and the Statement on Addressing Systemic Racism and Inequity in STP, and Adherence to Guidelines. Decisions will be announced by March 31, and projects may commence immediately thereafter. Each grant will comprise one $1500 check from the Society, payable to the principal investigator (or nonprofit foundation designated by the principal investigator), who is responsible for all expenses of the project. By July 15 of the same year, the authors will provide the IRG Chair with a mid-progress report. By December 31 of the same year, the authors will provide the IRG Chair with a final progress report, and if deemed an appropriate outlet, the authors will also submit the completed teaching resource suitable for duplication and distribution by STP.

If IRG recipients submit their teaching resource for publication by STP, it will undergo the peer-preview process.  If the resource is accepted for publication, the authors will be asked to sign a publication agreement that grants authors the copyright and STP a license to distribute authors’ documents in both paper and electronic versions for four years. After four years, STP, at its discretion, can distribute and post the resource unless the authors request that the resource be withdrawn.

E.  PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

Submit a proposal that includes:

1. A brief cover letter with name and contact information
2. A summary of the proposed project (up to 200 words)
3. A statement of the project purposes and the specific procedures to be used (up to two pages)
4. The relevance, general or course-specific, of the project to the teaching of psychology (up to one page)
5. A statement of how the project aligns with STP's Mission Statement and the Statement on Addressing Systemic Racism and Inequity in STP (up to one page)
   
6. A description of the teaching resource that will be produced at the conclusion of the project (one page)
7. A resume of the principal investigator (one page), including information about any accomplishments relevant to instructional research

The entire proposal should be approximately seven double-spaced, typed pages.

Click here (requires login) for instructions on how to submit a proposal.

If you have any questions or need further clarification, contact the IRG Committee Chair at irg@teachpsych.org.