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Promoting Partnerships: STP Partnerships Small Grant Program
Annual Call for Proposals
Deadline: November 1 of the current year for funding in the next calendar year
Instructions on how to apply for this program (requires login).
If you have questions, contact the Chair of the Partnerships Small Grants Committee at partnerships@teachpsych.org.
View a list of past recipientsThe Society for The Teaching of Psychology (Division 2 of APA) is pleased to announce a program of small grants to promote communication and collaboration between psychology teachers from different institutions. Consistent with our Mission Statement and the Statement on Addressing Systemic Racism and Inequity in STP (located in the STP Policies and Procedures Manual), we encourage applications from colleagues who are from underrepresented groups and have diverse backgrounds and experiences.
Specifically, this program is intended to bring together individuals to engage in planned activities to promote the teaching of psychology or who desire to work together to think about the ways in which the teaching of psychology can be improved. Proposed activities could take the form of conferences or small meetings devoted to teaching-related topics, or could take the form of collaborative activities between specific individuals from different institutions that are intended to improve the teaching of psychology in some way (e.g., bringing together high school and college psychology students for an interactive or experiential program, development of programs devoted to mentoring future psychology teachers, programs to bring together and utilize specialized teaching resources from different institutions).
Grant funds can be used to defray the costs of the collaborative activities or the meetings involving representatives from different institutions (e.g., materials, equipment, fees, travel, food). Activities funded by this program may result in peer-reviewed publications, but do not necessarily have to have this goal. Research collaborations that focus on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) are no longer eligible for funding through this grant program; those interested in obtaining funding to support SoTL should apply to STP's "Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Research Grant" program. Non-SoTL research collaborations that include a significant teaching component can be submitted for consideration; proposals for research collaborations that will have no impact on teaching or include no teaching-related activities are also not appropriate for this program.
This grant program is open to members of the Society for the Teaching Psychology who teach psychology at 4-year colleges and universities, 2-year colleges, or high schools. We have a total of $6000 to award. The maximum award per project cannot exceed $2,500. Funds will likely be divided among several outstanding proposals, so it is possible that awardees may only receive partial funding for their projects. Since tracking began in 2012, 38% of submissions have been partially or completely funded. The funded projects must be completed during the calendar year designated for the grant. Policies regarding STP grant programs can be found on the STP website (http://teachpsych.org/members/policies.php).
Instructions on how to apply for this program (requires login)
Past recipients organized by year of funding:
2024 Recipients
Jamie Borchardt
Exposure to Psychology Conference-PABC-Psi Alpha, Beta, Chi
Aneesh Kumar
International Perspectives on Psychology Learning and Teaching, ASIA-PLAT Conference 2024
Rachelle E. Tannenbaum
MAESTRO Psych (Mid-Atlantic Educators of Intro Psych) Conference
2023 Recipients
Melissa Beers
Mission Imposter- Reducing burnout and enhancing well-being through strengths-based awareness
Stephen Chew
Psych Friday
David Kreiner
"Show Me" Teaching of Psychology Conference
Janet Peters
The 9th Annual Northwest Conference for Teaching Introductory Psychology
Carolyn Shivers
Abnormal No More: A DARN Conference
Alexander Swan
ILLOWA Undergraduate Psychology Conference
2022 Recipients
Melissa Maffeo (Wake Forest University),
Christina Ragan (Georgia Institute of Technology),
Anna Kate Lack (Wake Forest University), and
Claudia Jorgensen (Utah Valley University
Neuroscience Teaching Conference
Louise Chim (University of Victoria)
The 8th Annual Northwest Conference for Teaching Introductory Psychology
2021 Recipients
Alexander Swan (Eureka College)
CinemaPsych Podcast
It seems like there’s a podcast available for any subject. Adoption of podcast episodes in college courses also appears to be gaining traction. One niche topic that seemed ripe for exploration was the intersection of popular fictional films and psychology. There are several repositories and lists that indicate various psychological phenomena and concepts present in films; as most are about people, it is no surprise that psychology and all of its subdisciplines are featured explicitly or implicitly in themes and plots. This Small Partnerships project, in the form of a podcast called CinemaPsych Podcast, attempts to brings together psychology researchers and instructors to discuss various psychological concepts across fictional films. The discussion in each episode speaks directly to novice psychology students and lay individuals. It acts as another avenue to drive home points of conceptual and practical importance. Furthermore, for those films with less accurate portrayals, it gives us an opportunity to dispel myths. I plan to measure the impact in two ways. First, the main way will be interactions with the digital version of the podcast, mainly through downloads and other metrics of remote listening. Another way to gauge consumption will be the use of an informal survey measure.
Xin Zhao (Salt Lake Community College)
Curating inclusive multi-modal introductory psychology OER content: Interviewing historically underrepresented experts
Most of the introductory psychology content used today is predominately provided by white men, which does not reflect the demographics of psychology student population. To increase student engagement and success, this project will tap into networks of psychology experts (instructors and researchers) from historically underrepresented groups (e.g. gender, ethnicity, first-gen status) to create a video library of their perspectives based on the content in the introductory psychology textbook OpenStax’ Psychology 2nd edition.
2020 Recipients
Adam Brewer & Stephanie Kuhn (Western Connecticut State University)
1st Annual Online Teaching of Psychology Conference: Evaluating the Effects of Presentations Enhanced with Active Responding on Distance and In-Person Learning Outcomes
Demand for effective higher education in behavioral psychology is growing due to an increased need for behavior-analytic practitioners. Board certification in applied behavior analysis requires that students pass university-based coursework. Currently, online programs offer such coursework, but instructors typically do not receive training in online teaching. Attending conferences on this topic may address this void, but online-teaching conferences in behavioral psychology are limited and learning objectives are rarely assessed at these conferences. In addition, the ineffectiveness of online over in-person teaching is a prevalent stigma. This conference offers: dissemination of innovative and effective online teaching methods in behavior analysis, assessments of learning objectives, and comparisons between online and in-person instruction. To assess the effects of online and in-person active responding on learning outcomes, an online survey to assess pre-and post-test responding will be used. Active responding opportunities included in presentations are predicted to be effective. To asses learning objectives, pre/post-test responses will be analyzed using paired t-tests. To evaluate whether teaching online or in-person is more effective at facilitating learning outcomes, performance will be analyzed using a two-way ANOVA. No significant difference between teaching modality is expected, minimizing the stigma that online teaching is ineffective.
Anissa Moody & Joseph Culkin (Queensborough Community College, City University of New York)
Circling the Wagons: Establishing a Regional Network of High School Instructors of Psychology to Increase the Enrollment and Retention of Ethnic and Linguistic Minority Students in an A.S. Degree in Psychology Program
The overall goal of the PsychPrep (Psychology Preparation) initiative is to increase the enrollment and retention of ethnic and linguistic minorities in a new Associate in Science (A.S.) degree program in Psychology in the Department of Social Sciences at Queensborough Community College, City University of New York (CUNY). This goal will be achieved by the establishment of a regional psychology network comprised of local high schools linked to the A.S. Degree Program. Several synergistic activities will be employed: 1) High-quality workshops and networking events to educate and advocate for psychology as a science. These bi-annual workshops will be offered to high school instructors of psychology and other gatekeepers at regional high schools, and 2) Hosting a student research conference for undergraduates and high school students with interest in psychology. In addition to increasing enrollment through vertical articulations, this initiative will situate the A.S. Degree program as an incubator for psychological scientists by increasing attention and interest in psychology at the pre-college and 2-year level. Further, this pipeline will serve as a referral source for high school teachers seeking mentorship, academic guidance, or vocational resources for students, as well as provide opportunities to strengthen their professional identities as psychology teachers.2019 Recipients
Jason Eggerman (Spokane Community College)
The 5th Annual Northwest Conference for Teaching Introductory Psychology
The fifth annual Northwest Conference on the Teaching of Introductory Psychology (TIP Northwest) will be held at Highline College in Des Moines, Washington (a suburb of Seattle). The theme for this year’s conference will be: Refreshing our practice: A(nother) day of practical pedagogy. The objective of this one-day conference is to create a professional development opportunity where instructors from regional high schools, 2-year, and 4-year colleges will engage in activities related to teaching introductory psychology. More specifically, we expect that attendees will leave our conference being able to:
- Create formative assessments that aid students in metacognition
- Implement one more new teaching activities in their classrooms
- Appraise current teaching practices in introductory psychology
- Engage with other instructors to build sustainable professional networks
Melody Barger (Parkway North High School), Tracy Gregroc (Northwest High School), Jennifer Flores (Francis Howell High School), and Diana Jacobs (Lindenwood University-Belleville
StLATOP (St. Louis Area Teachers of Psychology): Growing a Relational and Impactful Network of St. Louis Regional Area Psychology Teachers
In an effort to grow and stabilize the St. Louis Area Psychology Teachers (StLATOP) network (a vertical network of high school and undergraduate psychology teachers), we will employ aspects of the impactful field of Positive Psychology to promote membership, professional development, and relationship among its members. Our strategy is threefold as we will: 1) Invite a seminal speaker in the area of Positive Psychology as a jumpstart for attracting new members, 2) Support bi-annual reading groups on recent Positive Psychology texts to provide opportunity for connection and professional development, and 3) Offer member-led workshops to bolster the exchange of ideas and best practices of Positive Psychology with students as well as to strengthen relationships among colleagues who are too often isolated. We will assess the success of these endeavors by tracking not only attendance numbers but also by recording variability in school and school district representation. Additionally, post-program evaluations will provide feedback about each of these avenues as means for growth of this remarkable network of passionate teachers of psychology.
Stephen Chew (Samford University), Amy Fineburg (Jefferson County Schools), and Trudy Loop, (formerly the Altamount School)
Psych Friday 2019
Psych Friday is a one-day conference aimed at high school students taking advanced placement (AP) Psychology and their teachers. The conference is also open to the general public. The conference is a partnership between psychology faculty and students at Samford University, high school AP psychology teachers, and the Hoover Public Library.
The objectives and benefits of the conference are:
1) To provide a high quality, engaging educational experience for high school AP psychology students, especially as they prepare for the AP psychology exam.
2) To provide continuing education and professional development experiences to high school psychology teachers. promoting greater understanding of curriculum content and best practices for the teaching of psychology.
3) To promote collaboration both among AP Psychology teachers and between Samford psychology faculty and AP Psychology teachers with the goal of improving the teaching of psychology at the secondary and undergraduate level.
4) To provide an educational experience for Samford Psychology majors who plan and present psychology activities for the students.
5) To promote psychological science to the general public.
2018 Recipients
Stephen Chew (Samford University), Amy Fineburg (Jefferson County Schools), & Trudy Loop, (The Altamont School)
Psych Friday 2018
Psych Friday is an annual one‐day psychology conference for high school AP Psychology students and their teachers in Alabama. The conference is hosted by the Department of Psychology of Samford University and brings together high school and college students and faculty in a day of presentations, activities, and games. The purpose of the conference is to promote collaboration and support among college and high school faculty, to provide an enhanced educational experience for college and high school psychology students, and to allow area high school students to meet and socialize with students from other schools taking AP psychology. Special consideration is given to helping prepare students for the AP Psychology exam, although the overall all goal is the dissemination of the methods and findings of psychological science. High school teachers earn continuing education credit for participating. The conference is held at a city library and is open to the general public. Psych Friday consists of a keynote address, concurrent mini‐sessions on special topics given by faculty and students, hands‐on activities run by faculty or students, and then a group quiz over psychological knowledge. Impact is assessed through surveys of both students and teachers.
Karla Lassonde & Emily Stark (Minnesota State University)
Engaging Psychology Instructors with the Science of Psychology: Developing an Annual Workshop for Minnesota State University Psychology Faculty and Secondary Teachers of Psychology in the state of Minnesota
This annual, state‐wide workshop aims to facilitate collaboration between MSU, Mankato Concurrent Enrollment Partners already teaching Psychology and secondary teachers of psychology in the state of Minnesota so that we can encourage a broad understanding of the Science of Psychology/Communicating Psychological Science among psychology educators. The workshop will focus on teaching participants activities and frameworks to use in class that emphasize the human brain. Participants will interact with kits containing brain‐based activities and demonstrations. Several kits will be purchased so that participants can take materials back to their schools to use with students. Faculty facilitators and a keynote will provide hands‐on content that encourages and teaches instructors how to better engage students in topic areas such as memory, sensation and perception, emotion, and brain anatomy. We hope that participants will learn more about the emphasis on the science of psychology as well as the need to better communicate this science to the general population. Demonstrations will assist high school teachers in creating revelatory learning experiences for explaining difficult concepts.
Raechel Soicher (Oregon State University), Garth Neufeld (Cascadia College), Jason Eggerman (Spokane Community College), & Louise Chim (University of Victoria)
The 4th Annual Northwest Conference for Teaching Introductory Psychology (TIP Northwest)
The fourth annual TIP Northwest will be held at Highline College in Des Moines, Washington. The theme for this year’s conference is: Refreshing our practice: A day of practical pedagogy. The aim of this one‐day conference is to bring together instructors from regional high schools, 2‐year, and 4‐year colleges to engage in active learning activities related to teaching introductory psychology. More specifically, we expect that attendees will leave our conference being able to:
Use evidence‐based practices to create or update course syllabi
Implement one or more new teaching activities in their classrooms
Appraise current teaching practices in introductory psychology
Engage with other instructors to build sustainable professional networks
2017 Recipients
Shari Miles-Cohen (American Psychological Association), Shari Berga (Prince George’s County Public Schools), Cathy Faye (University of Akron), & Alexandra Rutherford (York University) I Am Psyched! Digital Curricula for Diversifying High School Psychology
Despite the increasing racial and ethnic diversity of psychology and the increase in women's participation, the material that students encounter early in their psychology education is still dominated by the contributions of white men. Introductory AP psychology and college texts also largely ignore cultural psychology or cultural diversity as distinct modules. These omissions represent a missed opportunity to portray the range, relevance, and diversity of the discipline to students as we attempt to expand the pipeline of future psychologists. This project builds on our recent efforts to foreground the contributions of women of color to psychological science, practice, and social change by producing AP psychology curricula that incorporate and highlight their contributions. We will bring together high school psychology teachers and members of the I Am Psyched! Girls Advisory group with the planning team to help us design curricula that are consistent with Common Core and APA standards for AP psychology. This collaboration, planned over three meetings plus a follow-up, will facilitate the sharing of information, experiences, and needs among teachers themselves, and will allow us to develop materials to meet these needs. Our goal is to enable educators to incorporate more racial/ethnic and gender diversity into their teaching and to encourage more students to “see themselves” in psychology.
Angela M. Legg (Pace University), Jordan D. Troisi (Sewanee: The University of the South), Ho Phi Huynh (Armstrong State University), and Bonnie M. Perdue (Agnes Scott College) The Teaching-Focused Job Market: A Workshop for Graduate Students and Early Career Psychologists Applying to Teaching-Focused Institutions
Given that many job applicants graduate from research-intensive universities, applicants may receive little to no advice about seeking teaching-focused employment. To provide this much-needed advice, we will launch a teaching-focused job market workshop that offers professional development for graduate students and early career psychologists who want to work at teaching-focused institutions. The workshop, which will be offered at the 2017 Annual Conference for Teaching, will provide one-on-one mentorship, mock interview opportunities, and topical presentations. Each of the five mentors, selected because of their recent experience on the job market or as search committee members, will meet with and provide feedback on application documents for their mentees. Additionally, we hope to develop an E-book inspired by the workshop that will offer job market advice for teaching-focused applicants. We anticipate that workshop attendees and readers of the E-book will improve their job market preparation, reduce job-market-related stress, improve interview skills, and, optimally, receive better or more job offers. Optimally, “graduates” of this workshop will return to serve as mentors themselves or become involved in other STP initiatives.
Diane Finley (Prince George’s Community College Mid-Atlantic Teaching of Psychology Conference
The Nineteenth Annual Mid-Atlantic Teaching of Psychology conference (MATOP) will be held October 6, 2017 at Prince George's Community College in Largo MD. MATOP is co-sponsored by Prince George's Community College and Argosy University. The MATOP Committee includes a local secondary teacher, community college faculty and four-year university faculty. It is a small, collegial, regional teaching conference that draws participants mostly from the mid-Atlantic area although in recent years participants from California, Mississippi, and Ohio have attended and presented. Nine to twelve peer-reviewed content sessions are offered each year in addition to a keynote address by a nationally known speaker. Breakfast and lunch provide additional times for networking with colleagues. The day ends with coffee and snacks giving participants additional time for sharing teaching tips. Each year focuses on a particular theme and includes at least one session with practical suggestions for teaching Introduction to Psychology as well as at least one session focused on Advanced Placement Psychology. This year's conference will focus on Revisiting Assessment: How Do We Know Our Students Are Learning? Dr. Jane Halonen from the University of West Florida will present the keynote address. Dr. Halonen is a nationally recognized expert on assessment.
2016 Recipients
Tiffany Artime and Jeremy Newton (both from Saint Martin’s University)
Northwest Summit for Teaching of Senior Capstone
This STP Partnership Grant will fund the Northwest Summit for Teaching of Senior Capstone, a gathering of faculty from four-year institutions in the U.S. to discuss best practices in capstone requirements. The Summit will include one invited speakers who will present empirical findings on capstone outcomes and who will acquaint attendees with capstone resources. Ample time will be allotted to collaborative break-out sessions focused on sharing successes and challenges in teaching capstone courses at attendee institutions, identifying areas for improvement, and making connections to facilitate opportunities for collaboration between students and faculty from different institutions. Special focus will be placed on examining the effectiveness and feasibility of capstone research projects and brainstorming solutions to barriers to senior students conducting semi-independent research. Program evaluation data will be collected from participants to determine the usefulness of the Summit. A compendium of capstone requirements/offerings and successful solutions to challenges will be created from the sessions during the Summit and will be submitted for inclusion on the STP Capstone Resource Page.
Jane Halonen (University of West Florida) & Pat Puccio (College of DuPage)
The APA Summiton National Assessment in Psychology
The Summit on National Assessment in Psychology is the first national project being planned by the American Psychological Association's new advocacy committee for undergraduate psychology, the Council on Associate and Baccalaureate Education (CABE). The Council is responding to ongoing national concerns regarding psychology program's progress in developing mature assessment plans. Currently many programs have responded to required assessment mandates but still haven't quite made the transition to the more ideal development of a "culture of assessment." This invited conference will host 30 participants chosen for their creative and evidence-based strategies for continuous improvement at both the community college and baccalaureate levels. The conference is scheduled to take place in June at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Conference participants will be working both on specific strategies to help various contexts measure learning in psychology as well as dissemination strategies that will improve the national profile of undergraduate psychology assessment. CABE is most grateful to STP for their generous support of this important initiative.
Garth Neufeld (Highline College)
Teaching Introductory Psychology (TIP) Northwest 2016. Conference Theme: “Applying the Science of Learning to Teaching Introductory Psychology”
The second annual Northwest Conference on the Teaching of Introductory Psychology (TIP Northwest) will be held at Highline College on April 22, 2016. This one-day conference will focus on equipping teachers to use the Introductory Psychology course to help students develop skills in areas like learning, collaboration, and critical thinking, while also conveying general psychology content. TIP Northwest was founded as the only psychology teaching conference that serves Washington State, Oregon, and British Columbia. Our keynote speakers this year are Dr. Susan Nolan and Dr. Regan Gurung, each leaders in the scholarship of teaching and learning in psychology. We hope to continue to recruit a diversity of registrants, including full-time and part-time college and university instructors, as well as high school teachers. Conference registrants will be provided the opportunity to engage with presenters and peers in an effort to create a collaborative, supportive, and enriching environment. Our aim for TIP Northwest 2016 is to offer a high quality, accessible, applicable conference experience for all who attend. Our conference theme this year is, “Applying the Science of Learning to Teaching Introductory Psychology”.
Maria Wong (Stevenson University), Colleen line (Community College of Baltimore County), and Jennifer Pemberton (Community College of Baltimore County)
Supporting Psychology Majors to Become Better Writers: The First Conference for Teaching Writing in Psychology in the Baltimore Area
The quality of the writing skills of undergraduate students has long been a concern of many educators since the late 1970s (e.g., Calhoun & Selby, 1979; Costin, 1982). Without a doubt, the importance of developing excellent writing skills is recognized in higher education. Within the field of Psychology, the American Psychological Association (APA) has listed Communication as one of the major learning goals for the undergraduate curriculum. The goal of this project is to host a conference in Baltimore to connect Psychology instructors who are teaching writing courses or writing-intensive courses in Psychology. This conference will provide opportunities for networking as well as exchanging ideas about the best practices related to the teaching of writing in Psychology. Activities may include, but are not limited to: keynote presentations, workshops, round-table discussions, and networking opportunities. Through this conference, attendees will develop and exchange new ideas that they can incorporate into their own teaching of writing in Psychology and improve ongoing working and collaborative relationships with other fellow instructors of Psychology in the Baltimore area.
2015 Recipients
Mara Bentley (Los Angeles Trade Technical College), Sky Chafin (Grossmont College), Jerry Rudmann (Irvine Valley College), & Amira Wegenek (Saddleback College)
Southern California Teaching of Psychology Conference
The Los Angeles Community College District is the largest community college district in the United States and is one of the largest in the world. The LACCD consists of nine colleges and covers an area of more than 882 square miles. Our nine colleges offer educational opportunities to students in 40 cities and communities. A primary objective of this conference will be to address student success along multiple dimensions, including non-cognitive factors that influence student success and maximizing the usefulness of student learning outcome assessment. Conference programming will include a distinguished keynote speaker on research-based strategies for enhancing the academic success of today’s high school and college students, followed by a variety of panel presentations on meaningful assessment of student learning, engaging students in psychological research and service learning, retention strategies, and fostering professional competence and career readiness in students of psychology. Moreover the conference will provide opportunities for teachers to both network and exchange effective teaching strategies.
Paige Fisher (Seton Hall University), Janine Buckner (Seton Hall University), & Crystal Izquierdo (Seton Hall University)
Engaging Creative Thinkers: Collaborative Partnerships among High School and University Psychology Courses
This project focuses on incorporating critical thinking skills into high school and college psychology courses and developing partnerships amongst the participating faculty. Through multiple sessions during a one-day workshop, participants will discuss infusing critical thinking into the classroom, improving teaching and enhancing student engagement. Topics addressed in workshop sessions will include: a general discussion of pedagogy and methodological practices, critical thinking and the scientific method, increasing information literacy, evaluating students’ written work to enhance critical thinking, and utilizing technology to increase critical thinking. We also aim to stimulate an interactive, collegial network amongst participants for gaining additional resources, feedback, and support. The efficacy and generalizability of this workshop will be assessed at three different time points for comparison (Pre conference, several weeks before the event and at Post-Conference, two months later). Our hope is to find changes in awareness, activity, and confidence in instructors’ incorporation of critical-thinking into their coursework and curricula. This project is the preliminary step in the development of an ongoing collaboration between faculty from area high schools and colleges, with later components to include high school and college students as participants.
Rose Danek (Columbus State University) & Jennifer Daniels (Lyon College)
Collaborative Virtual Student Research Conference
The purpose of this project is to create a Virtual Research Conference to pilot test between two schools, with the ultimate goal being a virtual conference that is low- or no-cost to attend where students from many different institutions can present work. Using webcams and specialized software, students across our two institutions will collaborate to evaluate each other’s work at key points in the research process: topic choices, research design, and write-up and presentation. This procedure will allow students to get feedback from a source other than their classmates, as well as practice in justifying the procedural and statistical choices they make. Ultimately, we will hold a virtual conference in which students will give live research poster and paper presentations. Assessment rubrics will be used to evaluate the quality of the papers and talks created for the class. Rubrics will also be used to assess the quality of the feedback given to the student being assessed, and the application of the feedback to the final product. Finally, we will collect indirect assessments of students’ self-reported anxiety levels, students’ feelings about the project, and perceived quality of the peer-review process.
Amy Fineburg (Alabaster City Schools)
Steering Committee Meeting for a National Conference on High School Education in Psychology
This project will bring together 10 psychologists and high school teachers to plan an international summit on high school psychology. The steering committee meeting, which will take place in June of 2015, will identify a place to hold the summit, criteria for selecting participants, and topics for discussion during the summit. The summit, to be held in June or July of 2016, will provide a framework for addressing curricular, instructional, and administrative issues particular to high school psychology. The resulting framework will give policymakers, teachers, and administrators guidance for developing, offering, and teaching high school psychology.
2014 Recipients
Melissa Birkett (Northern Arizona University) and K. Laurie Dickson (Northern Arizona University) Facilitating International Networking for Community College Faculty at the 6th International Conference on Psychology Education
The American Psychological Association recognizes the importance of embedding international perspectives in the teaching of psychology and enhancing student learning of ethical and social responsibility in a diverse world. Community college faculty play a critical role in meeting these outcomes for the psychology major. Although published resources to promote a diverse and globally inclusive learning experience exist, we believe the opportunity to work closely with international colleagues over an extended period is essential to effectively implementing diverse perspectives in the psychology curriculum. We’ve developed a networking program for community college faculty to partner with international scholars to design and implement learning opportunities in community college courses that facilitate student achievement of these important learning goals. As part of the 6th International Conference on Psychology Education - ICOPE6 (nau.edu/ICOPE) to be held at Northern Arizona University in August 2014, approximately 20 community college instructors and 10-20 international scholars will participate in collaborative partnerships throughout the 2014-2015 academic year.
Jane Noll (University of South Florida), Jennifer Peluso (Florida Atlantic University), Kristin Nichols-Lopez (Florida International University), Barbara Licht (Florida State University), and Jane Halonen (University of West Florida) Florida Council for Undergraduate Psychology Curriculum and Assessment
Florida has recently become a national bell-weather for challenges to undergraduate psychology; criticisms of the goals and achievements of undergraduate psychology majors have been rampant and Florida legislators have questioned whether the major itself should receive state funding (see Halonen, 2011). Additionally, the state has mandated all state system universities to adhere to a prescribed assessment protocol that fosters evaluation of content, critical thinking, and communication. The mandate does not dictate how such achievements should be accomplished, which has encouraged a variety of approaches for both large and small institutions. Along with state mandates, Florida psychology faculty must undergo routine SACS assessment oversight. Finally, the new Undergraduate Learning Goals and Outcomes just approved by the American Psychological Association provide a fresh impetus to do a comprehensive program review. We hope to collaborate in an invitational conference for representatives from each of the Florida State University System institutions in order to describe, create and share strategies that strengthen undergraduate assessment practices across the state and contribute to the development of a state-wide “voice” on undergraduate matters. Tentative plans for the conference include a keynote address, discussion groups, and political strategy sessions to address the ongoing legislative challenges in the state.
Catherine Overson (University of New Hampshire) and Bill Stine (University of New Hampshire) Applying the Science of Learning in the High School Psychology Course
In association with the New Hampshire Psychological Association Annual Student Convention, the University of New Hampshire Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning will offer Applying the Science of Learning in the High School Psychology Course, a two-hour workshop for teachers of psychology at the high school level. High-school psychology teachers from across New Hampshire will be invited to participate in the two-hour workshop and then to spend the rest of the convention connecting with faculty from the universities and colleges in NH as well as the undergraduates who attend the convention. During the two-hour workshop, presenters will demonstrate how teachers can apply cognitively-based principles in their instruction. Some of the principles to be presented are the optimal spacing/interleaving of study, self-explanation, test-enhanced learning, principles of multimedia learning, deep processing, and metacognition. These and other principles, when applied appropriately, have been shown to have positive impacts on student learning. Participants will also receive access to an e-book on applying the science of learning in education (Benassi, Overson, and Hakala, Eds.), as well as an instructional module on assessing and improving students’ study skills (again based on science of learning principles).
Susan Simonian (College of Charleston) and Mark Hurd (College of Charleston) Enhancing Psychological and Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Education
The aim of this grant is two-fold. First, we will further development of partnerships among the College of Charleston (CofC), the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and the Academic Magnet High School (AMHS) of North Charleston, SC. Second, we will enhance interdisciplinary science education and inter-institutional cooperation by facilitating excellence in teaching and research among these institutions. With assistance from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), we developed a Teacher Training Fellow (TTF) Program to enhance neuroscience teaching opportunities for graduate students from MUSC. Our recent APA, Board of Educational Affairs, Interdisciplinary Education and Training in Psychology Award has allowed for multisensory, multimodal education experiences for students in K-4 through high school. We will expand our educational outreach efforts with AMHS offering a one-day workshop to create a dialog with the faculty from CofC and MUSC, MUSC post-doctoral and graduate students and AMHS faculty as well as administrators. We will expand our mentorship of AMHS faculty to further develop their teaching ability of research methods, data collection, management, and analysis. Finally, a research seminar will be presented to sophomore AMHS students to facilitate initiation of research and their “match” with an external research mentor during their junior year.