2023 Program
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2023 Abstracts
Wednesday December 13th, 2023
10:00a -10:15a PST || 1:00p -1:15p EST
10:15a -11:15a PST || 1:15p - 2:15p EST
Keynote Address: Main Room
Can a Psychology Research Methods Course Improve Critical Thinking?
Morton Ann Gernsbacher University of Wisconsin-Madison Developing students’ critical thinking has long been the pursuit of higher education, dating from John Dewey’s (1910) classic "How We Think" through the Educational Policies Commission’s whitepaper, "The Central Purpose of American Education". In the current day, scholars and laypeople alike believe the need for higher education to improve students’ critical thinking is even more pressing. Unfortunately, few college courses have been empirically documented to succeed at this goal. In this presentation, I will describe my Psychology Research Methods course, which is based on the following pedagogical principles: distributed (rather than massed) practice; active (rather than passive) learning; collaborative (rather than competitive) peer-engagement; daily interaction between each student and the instructor or a TA; universal design (rather than by request) accessibility; and open-access (rather than proprietary) materials. I will also present data demonstrating that this course succeeded in improving students’ critical thinking.
Main Room
Welcome - PsychTerms Organizing Committee
11:20a - 11:40a PST 2:20p - 2:40p EST
Breakout Room A
Amplifying Diverse Voices in Introductory Statistics Courses
Christian L. L. Strauss Vanderbilt University In this presentation, I will discuss how teaching statistics offers instructors unique opportunities to showcase the work of diverse scholars, addressing EDI issues in a way that promotes opportunities for students to “see themselves” in the science of psychology and broader social sciences. This will be situated within the historical context of statistics and psychometrics, and discussed as a means of addressing past (and current) homogeneity in the field. Resources on implementation will be shared, followed by a series of brief teaching demonstrations designed for use in an undergraduate introductory statistics course.
Breakout Room B
Teaching Students to Be Proficient Consumers of Research Through Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis Projects
Lucy Cui Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Traditional research methods courses may not provide students the hands-on opportunities to see scientific inquiry as a dynamic process and to develop the skills for navigating and interpreting the scientific literature. In my Research Methods and Statistics course, I address these limitations through series of tutorials for a literature review project. I do live demonstrations of keyword selection, citation management, inclusion/exclusion criteria filtering, and statistics extraction and discuss the differences between literature reviews and meta-analyses in their contribution to the field, open science practices, PRISMA guidelines and forest plots for visualization. Survey responses reveal the project’s effectiveness in engagement and skill development. Student questions reveal that students noticed the variation in dependent variable measurement even for the same research question.
Breakout Room C
Approaches to Research Question Development in Asynchronous and Face-to-Face Modalities
Acacia Overono, Trevor Morris Utah Valley University In research methods, students often encounter challenges when generating research ideas that are both suitable for psychology and ethically sound. Even so, engaging in activities around creating a research question enculturates students into psychological research practices. We approach this portion of the class under the framework of cognitive apprenticeship, in which learners develop cognitive tools within their domain of study through authentic activities and social interactions. In our online and face-to-face classes, students complete activities that scaffold their development of research ideas with resources, interaction, and instructor expertise, but these activities are implemented in unique ways based on the priorities of each modality. In our presentation, we will share materials, strategies, and perspectives on this approach to undergraduate project development.
15-minute Break
11:55a - 12:15p PST || 2:55p - 3:15p EST
Breakout Room A
Positive Programming: Effective Course Design and Assignments for Accessible Programming Courses
Ethan Hurwitz University of California, San Diego Students often struggle to learn programming, especially in the context of research and statistics. However, undergraduates are increasingly expected to have a greater familiarity and competency with quantitative and computational methodologies. I designed an introduction to R programming course to try and address this, aiming to maximize accessibility to learners of all skill levels and backgrounds. In this presentation, I will highlight a course design and example assignments that students find approachable, rewarding, and allows them to achieve desired learning outcomes.
Breakout Room B
Developing a Hypothetical Research Study Through Scaffolding: An Approach Used in a Graduate Clinical Mental Health Counseling Research Course
Tracy N. Baker Lynn University Conducting research at any level can be daunting, especially for students interested in pursuing helping professions, and have no desire to conduct research professionally. The goal of this redefined research assignment was two-fold: 1) address AI concerns experienced in higher education and, 2) mentor students in the development of a hypothetical research study. Students are encouraged to select participants and variables of interest within the first two weeks of the course. Scaffolded throughout the semester, students submit weekly assignments on their progress, including annotated bibliographies of relevant literature, descriptions of the selected variables and populations, and their proposed methodology: which culminates in a final research poster. Weekly feedback and group discussion facilitates the development of this proposed hypothetical research study.
Breakout Room C
Flipping Statistics for Students Who Think They Are “Bad at Math”
Clara Michelle Cheng Carlow University One of the most frequently heard comments by psychology students taking introductory statistics, especially adult learners and those from less privileged backgrounds, is “I’m bad at math.” In this presentation, I will describe how a flipped classroom model, which has shown success in improving learning outcomes (Farmus, Cribble, & Rotondi, 2020), along with insights from learning and memory research (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014), can help even the most “math-anxious” students learn and enjoy statistics. While my experience has been with small classes with a large percentage of low-income and first generation students, I will also discuss potential ways to scale up the flipped method for large classes.
12:20p - 12:40p PST || 3:20p - 3:40p EST
Breakout Room A
Using the APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major 3.0 and the International Undergraduate Foundational Psychology Competences to Develop Statistics and Research Methods Courses
Susan A. Nolan, Victoria Cross, David S. Kreiner, Aaron Richmond, Vanessa Woods, Jacquelyn Cranney Seton Hall University; University of California, Davis; University of Central Missouri; Metropolitan State University of Denver; University of California, Santa Barbara; University of New South Wales In August 2023 the APA released new Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major, version 3.0: Empowering People to Make a Difference in Their Lives and Communities. In October 2023 the International Collaboration on Undergraduate Psychology Outcomes (ICUPO) released the Beta version: International Undergraduate Foundational Psychology Competences. These documents outline “optimal expectations” (APA) and “foundational competences” (ICUPO) for undergraduate psychology, including in categories related directly to statistics and research methods and in categories related indirectly (e.g., communication, values/ethics, cultural responsiveness). We will describe how statistics and research methods instructors might use these frameworks to develop courses, pedagogy, and assessments; situate these courses in an overall curriculum; and build communication across institutions and countries.
Breakout Room B
How to Boost Students’ Self-Efficacy in Introduction to Statistics
Daniel Storage University of Denver Studies report that as many as 80% of undergraduates experience statistics anxiety (Onwuegbuzie & Wilson, 2003). This anxiety is compounded for members of social groups whose intellectual or mathematical abilities are negatively stereotyped (Storage et al., 2016, 2020) and can harm students’ confidence in their ability to complete tasks and accomplish goals (“self-efficacy,” Bandura, 1977, 1982, 1986a). Self-efficacy was measured before and after a 15-minute lesson on the harmful effects of having a “fixed mindset” (“I’m not a math person”) and the benefits of having a “growth mindset” (“I can improve with effort or new strategies”) about one’s abilities (Dweck, 1986). This brief, easily shareable intervention was effective in improving students’ perceived self-efficacy, t(254) = 7.24, p
Breakout Room C
Scaffolding Manuscript Writing Skills Prior to Research Methods
Jana McCurdy, Heather Schoenherr College of Western Idaho Reading, writing, and collaboration skills are key to students successfully navigating their psychology coursework and are often part of the hidden curriculum. To ensure students deliberately learn these skills, we teach a lower-division manuscript writing class for social sciences. Students generate a research question, summarize, and synthesize research, and write, edit, and revise a paper collaboratively. Assignments and reflection encourage students to think intentionally about the social process, and group and writing skills. In their exit survey, students frequently list this foundational class as one of the most helpful and enjoyable courses in their associate degree. We will share our initial survey, assessment surveys, and class activities focused on developing reading, writing, and collaboration skills.
Poster Session (gather.town)
12:45p - 2:00p PST || 3:45p - 5:00p EST
PLUMS: Psychological Literacy for Undergraduate Method and Statistics Students
Alexis Grosofsky, Jordan Wagge, Jared Branch Beloit College, Avila University, University of Utah We believe students learn best by doing. Students often struggle to understand the concepts covered in research methods/statistics courses. By actively engaging with empirical articles, students learn and understand different methods for conducting and analyzing research. We have updated past efforts at this by curating relatively recent articles, categorizing them multiple ways (e.g., by psychological subfield, by methodology, etc.), and writing factual and discussion-based questions to help students better read and comprehend empirical articles and understand research methods, statistics, or content courses of psychology
Teaching as a Graduate Student: Tips and Tricks for Creating an Efficacious Learning Environment
Melissa C. Rothstein, Sabrina M. Todaro, Amy L. Stamates University of Rhode Island Psychology graduate students often rely on Teaching Assistantships (TA) for funding support and for many, this is their first time teaching a college level course. Engaging undergraduate students in an effective and efficient learning environment is crucial in supporting critical thinking skills, which is often emphasized in teaching research methods. Various tactics including peer review, mapping different methods, and effective grading techniques (e.g., scaffolding, tiered grading, Pomodoro method) are efficacious in both reducing burden on graduate students and creating an inclusive and beneficial learning environment for undergraduate students. The current project shares impactful tips for teaching research methods while simultaneously managing graduate degree requirements.
Is Consistency the Antithesis of Nuance? Building Standardized Rubrics that Embrace Nuance
Sydney Y Wood, Karli R. Chudeau University of California, Davis We have all had students who claim that grading is “subjective” on assessments that require nuanced responses, but when does nuance become subjectivity? Our poster examines the challenges of evaluating students' ability to write critical evaluations of research and the difficulty of standardizing feedback for questions requiring nuanced answers. We weigh the pros and cons of assessments that have a single correct answer (Multiple Choice Questions) and assessments that can be answered in many different ways (Written Response Questions), especially as it relates to equity and accessibility. We present standardized rubrics for scaffolded written assignments that we developed to guide students' ability to synthesize and articulate critiques of research using consistent process-level feedback combined with prompt specific examples.
Using jamovi to Support Equitable Access and Learning in Undergraduate Statistics Courses
Alyssa Counsell, Laura Bandi, Johanna Loock, Monique Herbert, Jodi Martin Toronto Metropolitan University, York University The Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE, 2016) recommend incorporating statistical software in undergraduate courses. The choice of software continues to be a contentious topic amongst instructors. In this presentation, we discuss our experience using jamovi in large, required undergraduate statistics courses. jamovi represents an SPSS-like free alternative that also has the capacity for advanced functions and syntax because it runs off of the open-source software, R. This presentation will present instructor, teaching assistant, and student experiences using jamovi in introductory level undergraduate statistics courses in psychology. Specifically, we will detail how jamovi is an equitable software choice for all learners based on access and experience level.
Show Me Your Worst (and Best): A Data Visualization Activity
Amanda Mae Woodward University of Minnesota Presenting examples of good graphs can help students learn critical principles of data visualization. However, examples of bad graphs can highlight why we need good data visualization practices. In this activity, I present a twist on a classic: students were asked to create the best and worst graphs that they could. In this poster, I discuss how this activity can be used to help students learn how to use the ggplot2 library in R and the elements of good and bad data visualization. Further, we will discuss how this activity can be used to highlight aspects of open science, such as using available data and interpreting others’ code, in an engaging way.
Empowering Students and Communities: Integrating Community-Based Participatory Research Into Research Methods Curricula
Rose Bern, Mallet Reid Michigan State University, University if Michigan This project addresses the absence of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) across research methods curricula. We advocate for its integration into curricula to hone student knowledge of equitable methods that empower marginalized communities as equal research partners. The proposed teaching framework introduces CBPR principles through evidenced-based pedagogy, such as case studies, discussions, and reflections. Real-life cases bridge theory and practice, encouraging students to examine how CBPR interrogates supremacist scientific paradigms. Reflective activities prompt students to explore CBPR's role in repairing scientist-community relationships. Although empirically untested, this project aims to shift curricula towards alternative, community-centric methods. By weaving CBPR into methods courses, we can enrich students’ understanding of inclusive research practices.
Diagramming the Structure of Variables in Experimental Studies
Amy Rae Fox MIT Data visualizations facilitate knowledge construction about data, both in the classroom and research practice. But we lack similarly powerful tools for representing the conceptual structure of the studies that generate these data. In this poster I present my adaptation of a diagrammatic notation first developed for software systems [IDEF0]. Through examples, I demonstrate how this new diagram makes explicit an empirical study’s: central theoretical construct, variables that are systematically varied, structurally or statistically controlled, left uncontrolled, or measured, and how each variable is operationalized. I further demonstrate how the diagram can be used as an instructional aid or formative assessment in methods and content courses when teaching students how to read and interpret experimental research.
Replacement of Textbooks With Multi-Media Learning Tools in a Research Methods Class
Karyn Tappe Rowan University After struggling to find an adequate textbook for our first-gen students, I created a psychology research methods curriculum built from many different learning resources. In this flipped class structure, carefully curated and created web-based materials provide a variety of multi-media teaching tools for a valuable learning experience. Tutorials, blogs, OER chapters, and my own lecture videos provide students with varied ways to learn and apply material. Structured, guided notes also help them navigate and understand the material and ensure adequate preparation for class activities. I will present data from semi-structured student assessments of this new modality.
Setting the Stage for Statistics Learning
V.N. Vimal Rao University of Illinois Why should students learn statistics? In undergraduate introductory level courses, many students take statistics simply because they are required to by their institution. Many researchers have studied ways to support student engagement and motivation, as these are important factors underlying students' learning. Recommendations include using real-world contexts and active learning pedagogies such as problem-based inquiry. In this talk I present a pedagogical design inspired by the structure of the BhagavadGita. On Day 1, I set the stage for students' learning by presenting to them problems that they could relate to, but to which they would be confused about in their decision making. Creating confusion in the minds of students sets the stage for student learning. I present the BhagavadGita as a framework, my design, and some evidence of the impact this has had on students.
How Do Students Use Learning Material During Exam Preparation? A Logfile Analysis
Rainer Scheuchenpflug, Alexander Hörnlein University of Wuerzburg, Germany Students in my statistics courses can use an electronic system containing 25 exams from previous semesters to prepare for their exam. Logfile data from winter term 2021 (for Statistics 1) and summer term 2022 (Statistics 2) showed that learners tend to use newer exams more often than older ones, use the material rather shortly before the exam, and do not complete individual exams. We separated the existing exams into different subproblems, added metadata like topic, difficulty, competencies tested, and provided an interface for individual selection of problems. A first cohort of students could use this new system in July 2023; we will talk about preliminary results of logfile analyses of learning behavior under the new system.
How to Modify a Statistics Course to Assist in Student Learning and Application of Research
Rachel T. Walker University of the Incarnate Word In the past, I taught a statistics course with a separate lab. The course was based on concepts and hand calculations while the lab was a semester-long project that utilized SPSS for analysis and interpretation. At my current university, we only offer a statistics course. During the process of considering how to insert a statistics lab into the course, I had additional questions on how I could modify the course. I created a variety of tactics to alter the statistics course such as removing course material and hand calculations, providing journal article examples of the result section, embedding material related to real-world applications, and applying poll everywhere within the lectures. Based on this approach, I proceeded with revisions as needed.
Gratitude Intervention to Reduce Research Anxiety and Increase Student Motivation and Engagement
Candalyn Rade Meredith College A majority of social science students have “research anxiety” (e.g., Siew et al., 2018; Einbinder, 2014), entering research methods and statistics courses already anticipating poor outcomes. For many students, their anxiety hinders class engagement and overall academic performance. To help reduce student research anxiety and increase class engagement, I began implementing a daily gratitude intervention in my Research Methods & Statistics courses. We spend the first three minutes of each class responding to a gratitude prompt through private written response. Preliminary findings are consistent with prior research (e.g., Chiu & Diehl, 2021; Valdez et al., 2022), indicating positive impacts of gratitude on student outcomes. The gratitude intervention has positively impacted students’ mood, preparation for and engagement in class.
Thursday December 14th, 2023
10:00a -10:15a PST || 1:00p -1:15p EST
10:15a -11:15a PST || 1:15p - 2:15p EST
Keynote Address: Main Room
Passion-Driven Statistics: A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE)
Lisa Dierker Wesleyan University Passion-Driven Statistics is a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) that has been implemented as a statistics course, a research methods course, a data science course, a capstone experience, and a summer research boot camp with students from a wide variety of academic settings. Liberal arts colleges, large state universities, regional colleges/universities, medical schools, community colleges, and high schools have all successfully implemented the model. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the curriculum engages students in authentic projects with large, real-world data sets from the very first day! We focus on welcoming and empowering students to ask and answer questions they care about. Is exposure to a drug use prevention curriculum associated with lower rates of experimentation with diverse substances? Are religious adolescents less likely to be depressed? What factors predict ‘safe sex’ practices? As students engage in productive struggle in the context of their own original research, the instructor and peer mentors support each student individually through ample one-on-one mentoring. Together, we take students completely out of their comfort zone, and at the same time “love them through it” by creating an inviting classroom culture and an experience that gives them a safe and supportive space to “get it wrong before they get it right”, no matter their educational background or experience. https://passiondrivenstatistics.com/.
Main Room
Welcome - PsychTerms Organizing Committee
11:20a - 11:40a PST || 2:20p - 2:40p EST
Breakout Room A
osRMss: Open Source Research Methods for the Social Sciences
Ben Rottman University of Pittsburgh There are only a few fully open source courses for research methods. Recently I have developed a class called Open Source Research Methods for the Social Sciences (osRMss) https://canvas.pitt.edu/courses/124970; other instructors are welcome to use or adapt any parts of the course as they like. I will first introduce the course as a whole and summarize some of the unique aspects of the course such focusing on relations between research methods and society. Then I will talk about one major theme in the course – the relation between causality and statistics - and preview some of the active-learning activities I have created to help students understand what ‘controlling for variables’ means and when vs. when not to control for third variables.
Breakout Room B
Empowering Success: Integrating Study Skills into a Statistics Class
Shannon Claxton Morningside University In introductory statistics classes, many students are underclassmen who are new to the college environment and who often rely on ineffective study strategies. To address this issue, I incorporated in-class examples to illustrate the benefits of using more effective study methods, such as distributed practice and practice testing. For example, when discussing independent samples t-tests, students evaluated data simulating the results of a study on massed versus distributed practice on retention (Bloom & Shuell, 1981). Students were then encouraged to apply these findings to their own study habits in our course. By the end of the semester, 76.2% of students ‘Agreed’ or ‘Strongly Agreed’ that “As a result of this class, I improved my study strategies.”
Breakout Room C
Embracing Compassion and Technology in Statistics Pedagogy
Alisa Beyer Chandler-Gilbert Community College Post-pandemic, I've embraced more compassion, flexibility, and UDL principles in my Introduction to Statistics course. Shifting to a hybrid format and using Google Slides, tablet/pen teaching, and remote logins has amplified these principles. As a result, student pass rates consistently reach 80% or higher, including traditionally underserved racial and ethnic groups with pass rates of 66% or higher. I also shared my course changes to the Canvas Commons for other instructors. This session encourages reflection on course design and leveraging open sources and AI to enhance the Introduction to Statistics course further.
15-minute Break
11:55a - 12:15p PST 2:55p - 3:15p EST
Breakout Room A
Does Method Matter? Examining Student Learning and Perceptions of Different Calculation Methods
Amanda Mae Woodward University of Minnesota Statistics is an important, yet challenging, course. Teaching statistics with R programming could be a cost-effective alternative to hand calculations that allows students to gain transferable skills. However, it is unclear if R is an effective teaching method. We examined whether student learning of statistics differed when taught with R or hand calculations in a partially flipped classroom. Half of the students watched a 10-minute video introducing the statistic with R and half were introduced via hand calculations. We examined student learning of definitions, application, calculation, and interpretation. After students completed both conditions, we asked them to reflect on the benefits and costs of each approach and their perceptions of learning.
Breakout Room B
Psychological Research Methods and Ethics Outside the Ivory Tower
Danielle Krusemark, Chloe Beck Wingate University Psychological research methods pedagogy frequently focuses on university-originating research (e.g., McBride, 2019; Morling, 2021). Although there is overlap in basic methodology and ethical concerns between university and private-sector psychological research, the private sector has unique opportunities (e.g., non-student samples) and limitations (e.g., company-protective policies). Given that only a limited number of psychologists work as postsecondary teachers (3%; Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021), it is critical to incorporate a greater focus on research concerns in the private sector in psychology research methods courses. In this talk, we will present our case study-focused instructional materials, discuss students’ interest, and argue the case for a greater focus on private sector research in psychology research methods courses.
Breakout Room C
Illustrating Bad Experimental Design... With Trivia!
Jeff Bowen Johns Hopkins University As a field, we are increasingly embracing null findings as important contributions to the relevant research literature. However, distinguishing between different culprits for null findings is important for developing aptitude in experimental design. This in-class demonstration uses three pairs of student volunteers to deliberately illustrate flaws in experimental design that are likely to contribute to null results: weak manipulations, insensitive dependent measures, and ceiling/floor effects. Ultimately, this activity supports learning outcomes connected to critical evaluation of research methodology (including peer review), designing one’s own experiment (through multiple course projects), and recognizing connections between different forms of validity (i.e., construct validity and internal validity).
12:20p - 12:40p PST 3:20p - 3:40p EST
Breakout Room A
A Community-Based Class Research Project to Promote Student Engagement
Chelsea Romney Brigham Young University Students in an Introductory Psychology course conducted a research project in collaboration with the local justice court. We used a validated survey from the national court system to assess aspects of the courtroom experience that were useful to the justice court and related to our course study. While collecting data for this study, students also observed power and authority in the courtroom environment. Students selected specific populations and concepts they wanted to focus on for a small-group project. They wrote a research report and presented their findings to the class, the Judge, and the city council. None of the students in the class had visited a courtroom before this project, and this community-based research increased student engagement in both the classroom and community.
Breakout Room B
Generative Artificial Intelligence: Promises and Pitfalls for Learning
Brian Stone Boise State University Generative AI is here to stay and professors have an opportunity to prepare Psychology majors to graduate digitally adaptable and AI fluent, as well as critical consumers of AI output. I will present data from a large sample analyzing student usage of recent AI, perceptions of peer usage, ethical views on AI, views on career and technology, student worries (about false positives, systemic bias, and inequality), and more. I will also present examples of new instructional activities, demonstrations, and assessments integrating large language models to foster learning and critical thinking, including demonstrating ways it may help students be better consumers of research and statistics, as well as pitfalls where it may lead them astray.
Breakout Room C
Equitable and Inclusive Practices in the Teaching of Statistics: Ways to Reduce Math Anxiety and Promote a Growth Mindset?
Neda Moinolmolki Albertus Magnus College The incorporation of equitable and inclusive practices in the teaching of statistics within Psychology is often overlooked or considered too tedious. This is a shame since students come into these courses with diverse cultural and academic backgrounds, as well as mindsets, insecurities, and skill sets. This presentation will showcase several successful translation (data-driven) practices for incorporation within statistics courses to create a more inclusive and equitable environment for all students (e.g., practices ranging from reflective growth mindset and metacognitive activities to socio-historical educational background and math anxiety-related activities). The value of engaging in these activities early on during the semester will be emphasized, along with evaluative evidence of the effectiveness of such practices.
Poster Session (gather.town)
12:45p - 2:00p PST 3:45p - 5:00p EST
Learning Peer-Review: A New Class Assignment Using PsyArXiv Pre-Prints
Vishal Thakkar University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Graduate students are expected to learn to both write and review manuscripts, but there is seldom adequate instruction given on steps to produce a good review of someone else’s work. This term, I gave an explicit, brief lesson on critiquing study design. Additionally, I developed a new, engaging course assignment for my graduate students, in which they worked individually and reviewed a paper in their area of interest through the PsyArXiv pre-print server, as if they were a peer-reviewer for a scholarly journal. I will present data of student ratings of the assignment as well as student learning outcomes.
Engagement Activities: Bridging the Gap Between Research Proposals and Course Content
Brooke O. Breaux University of Louisiana at Lafayette My lower division college students were having difficulty understanding how to apply the information presented in their required readings and course lectures to their research proposal assignment, which is their most heavily weighted summative assessment. To help bridge this gap, I created in-class engagement activity assignments that allow me to target specific skills and concepts related to the development of their research proposal. I try to make these assignments positive formative experiences in which students are given the opportunity to work with their peers to answer difficult questions as well as earn points and receive timely feedback for these efforts.
Assessment of Methods Students’ Paper Draft: Encouraging Engagement in Self-Evaluation and Managing Professor Workload
Jennifer Samson Queens University of Charlotte Anyone else spend too much time grading students’ writing just for them to seemingly ignore all feedback and turn in second and even third drafts with the same errors? This presentation describes my adventures this year re-vamping assessment of methods students’ drafts to increase student feedback use and engagement in self-evaluation/meta-cognitive skills and make providing feedback more efficient, especially in light of an unexpected, extra-large cohort. I’ll discuss the use of self-evaluative reflections, one-on-one feedback meetings, where students score their drafts with me based on the criteria (instead of me providing written feedback), and implementation of professional style “reply to the reviewer” letters submitted with the final paper. Finally, I’ll describe lessons learned – what worked and what still needs work.
Make It a Game! Transforming Familiar Game Paradigms to Fit Your Learning Objectives
Andrea Sell, Nicole Talarico, Marissa Ericson California Lutheran University This presentation will explore transforming familiar games and icebreakers like charades, catchphrase, Pictionary, and snowball fight into spirited, active learning tools for statistics. Games are a form of active learning and, as such, can help reduce time in passive lecture, help students stay engaged, build a learning community, and increase memory retention (e.g., Kumar & Lightner, 2007; Davidson & Katapolis, 2022; Spanjaard et al., 2018; Hogan & Sathy, 2022). However, finding pre-made college-level games for statistics courses can be time-consuming, expensive and may not accurately fit a lesson’s specific learning objectives. In this presentation, we will talk about how to adapt pre-existing game paradigms to individual or course-specific learning objectives to suit the needs of the students.
A Growth Mindset-Based Syllabus Improves Students’ Perceptions of Research Methods
Dina Gohar University of Michigan This experiment (N = 200) investigates whether a syllabus designed to facilitate a growth mindset can improve students’ perceptions of Research Methods, which many psychology majors dread. Compared to a conventional syllabus with the same requirements, students who read a growth-mindset based syllabus that used recursive assessment reported not only more of a growth mindset but also significantly less anxiety about and greater desire to take research methods, which was perceived as less challenging, too, especially for females. Additionally, students predicted significantly higher grades in the growth-mindset course and perceived its instructor to be significantly more qualified, reasonable, and nice. Thus, designing a syllabus to facilitate a growth mindset may be a simple and cost-effective way to improve enrollment in challenging courses like research methods, especially females.
Learning SPSS - An Interactive Tutorial and Game
Robert Kelley MiraCosta College SPSS is an advanced statistical software package. To scaffold student learning, I developed the www.P2L.io website, freely offering online statistics games that are short, focused, and provide immediate feedback. The SPSS games activities use screenshots (with permission) to simulate the use of SPSS and include video tutorials, presentation slides, and practice data sets. In tutorial mode, each step in the analysis is briefly covered and students are shown where to click. In game mode students have a limited number of hints to complete the activity (with some of the instructional scaffolding removed, to support their developing mastery). These activities support equity in the learning process, through a wide variety of instructional resources and scaffolding for students to learn SPSS.
What Can Research Wahlberg Do For You?: The Use of Memes as a Statistical Teaching Tool
Amanda Joyce Murray State University Do you have a hard time engaging your students with research-related or statistical content? Why not inject a little levity into your course through the use of memes and humor? This session will explore the ways in which memes, such as those in the Research Wahlberg or Study Ryan Gosling genres, can be used to capture student attention, clarify difficult concepts, and create visual imagery to help students remember tricky concepts. The session will explore how memes and other levity can be included in lectures, course activities, exams, and assignments, as well as how students can be encouraged to create their own humorous content to share with the class.
Gender Inclusive Activities and Datasets for Introductory Level Statistics
V.N. Vimal Rao, Eric Friedlander, Jax Mader University of Illinois; Saint Norbert College; Purdue University Inclusive contexts in a statistics or data science course should reflect current societal maxims and beliefs and move beyond gender measured as a binary variable. We will share three activities developed for an introductory statistics course at the secondary or post-secondary level (one lecture, one lab assignment, and one in-class activity). The activities are based on data sets that include a large number of non-cisgender individuals, with contexts and questions that focus on promoting gender inclusivity. The focus of this poster session will be on demonstrating and discussing how attendees can use these activities to foster inclusivity in their classrooms, along with details about the design and evaluation of these activities.
Personalizing the Research Methods Journey: Engaging Students at an Individualized Authentic Level
Pearl Chang Kennesaw State University One of the ways to increase student engagement in research-related courses is to deconstruct the perpetual fear surrounding this course. My research courses aim to provide students the opportunity to create a personalized, unique relationship through an authentic lens. Additionally, deconstructing fear and shifting students' mentality into embracing their authentic selves increases an internal locus of control. Fostering authenticity in the classroom enhances willingness and motivation to meaningfully engage in the material. It is speculated that students develop a personal meaning to research methodology when students perceive that the instructor role models authenticity. and shows confidence in students’ abilities. The didactic classroom is approached to include increasing students’ authentic selves as well as understanding how the research process impacts each of us at an individual level.
Using an Ungraded Midterm to Support Student Persistence to Learn Research Methods
Jen Dyer-Seymour California State University, Monterey Bay It is when students grapple with all the challenges of designing a study that they can put all the pieces together that they learn in a research methods course. They should not get crushed when their ideas don't quite hit the mark. I want to share my ungraded midterm exam that asks students to design two research studies, one experimental and one correlational.
A Progressive Approach to Research Methods Assignments
Brittney Bishop-Chrzanowski University of Missouri Research suggests that students better understand and remember what they learn if given the opportunity to engage with and think deeply about course material. One way to do this is through making connections and applying what they learn to new situations. This presentation will focus on a sequence of weekly learning activities - where each week's learning activity builds off the previous week's - that provide students with the skills to be producers of research. The nature of these weekly activities varies with the material being covered but includes group discussions and individual assignments.
Weekly Reflection: Supporting Student Learning Strategies in Intro Statistics
Paula Marentette, Yajie Song, Seyma Yildirim-Erbasli University of Alberta—Augustana Campus; McGill University; Concordia University of Edmonton Reflection is an effective pedagogical practice focussed on making sense of one’s experiences (Boud et al., 1985; Kolb, 2014, Yilmaz & Keser, 2016). This presentation explores an online weekly reflection task in an introductory statistics course. Each week, students were given problems that required application of key concepts. After completing the problems, they were provided the solutions and explanations. In order to receive a passing grade, students answered three or four questions that encouraged them to reflect on their learning. Moreover, the instruction and evaluation in the following week can be adjusted based on the identified prevalent misconceptions from students’ reflections. Such practice helps students to identify misconceptions. Students recognized successful comprehension as well as opportunities to improve their learning strategies.
Behavior Modification Projects: Research and Statistics Across the Curriculum
Tifani Fletcher West Liberty University Research methods and statistical thinking are important to integrate throughout the psychology program curriculum. Students benefit from the opportunity to apply, review and revise assignments and projects. In an upper-level course on learning, students can apply information from previous research methods and statistical courses in the form of a scaffolded behavior modification project. Students are guided through a single subject design research project that incorporates a literature review of empirically supported behavior modification treatments, graphing and interpreting baseline and treatment data, and overall evaluation of the project. Students have the option of continuing or revising their behavior modification project beyond the course as an independent study, which typically leads to a professional presentation of their research.