Re: [tips] History & Systems class ideas

[Christopher Green]

Ken, 

I haven't taught History of Psych at the undergrad level for a long time, but I 
regularly teach a (mostly) first-year grad version of the course, so there are 
a lot of similarities with teaching it as a small capstone UG course. 

Names and dates are boring, but necessary (they are where history begins, but 
not where it ends). They are only a struggle for students if they think they 
are going to have to memorize them them for a test. Either don't have in-class 
tests (they can look them up while writing papers, etc.) or give them a 
name/date list with the test (just like you might give a formula sheet with a 
stats test). 

Problems like students trying to memorize the ages of Freud's stages come, I 
think, from their experience with other psych course, and from their not really 
understanding what the point of a history course is. One mistake that a lot of 
psychologists make about history is thinking that it more or less equivalent to 
a review of past literature. Of course, knowing when major theoretical turns 
took place, and what influential studies prompted them, are important to know, 
but the aim of history is to place psychology in a broader context (what impact 
did wars, immigration, political movements, economic upheaval, and social 
trends have on the dev't of psych?), not just to list one darn theory after 
another. 

In my grad course, I start them term giving a couple of informal lectures (with 
a lot of discussion) to "set the stage" -- Descartes to Kant, roughly. After 
that, I mostly turn it over to teams of students to teach most of the rest of 
the course -- generating seminar-like presentations on topics assigned to them, 
instructing them to go well beyond the textbook and other readings in their 
presentations (not just summarize what everyone else has already read), and to 
end with question that are likely to generate discussion (a colleague of mine 
puts it as asking why and how questions, rather than what and when questions). 

As for evaluation, I got tired of in-class tests and term papers a long while 
ago. I have two alternatives: 1) for several years I set up a wiki and had the 
students write a digital biographical dictionary for psychology over the course 
of the term. Every few of weeks I assigned an important individual from 
psychology's past to each student and had them post 500 words to the wiki. On 
other weeks, I would "shuffle the deck" of individuals already written about, 
assigning each student to expand and edit the entry that had been started by 
someone else the week before. 2) Instead of term papers, I set aside the last 
week or two of class to hold an in-house conference at which each student 
presents on a topic developed by him or her (in consultation with me). The 
presentations are short -- 10-15 min each -- but enough to know whether they 
have done their work. I sometimes invite other faculty or senior 
history-of-psych grad student to keep the presenters on their toes. 

Best,
Chris
...
Christopher D Green
Department of Psychology
York University
Toronto, ON   M3J 1P3

chri...@yorku.ca
http://www.yorku.ca/christo

> On Jan 8, 2015, at 1:53 PM, Ken Steele  wrote:
> 
> This is my 3rd post of the day so I won't be able to reply publicly in the 
> near future.
> 
> The class is supposed to be a senior capstone course and the enrollment is 
> capped at 20 students.  The class size is one reason I thought I could get 
> away from the lecture format.
> 
> One observation from last semester about students taking a History of Psych 
> course.  My students seemed to focus on almost irrelevant details, like birth 
> and death dates, and seemed to miss the big picture, like why Piaget or Hull 
> think this approach is the important way to think about issues.  Freud was a 
> complete disaster, with students wanting to memorize the age ranges of 
> psychosexual stages.
> 
> A public thanks to all that have replied (or may reply in the near future).
> 
> Ken
> 
> PS - two short teaching tales for the non HoP people:
> 
> 1.  My second course in psychology as an undergrad was the senior-level H&S 
> course.  (Obviously, I never met with an advisor.) My instructor didn't know 
> what was going on until I went to meet with him to discuss my paper project 
> and then it was past the drop date. I loved H&S because it was all about big 
> ideas, and their historical interrelationships. This carried over to the rest 
> of my education. I could see why there was a separate "cognition" and 
> "learning" course, and what this might mean about psychology.
> 
> 2.  Small courses invite different approaches.  I remember an instructor who 
> was used to teach, by lecture, classes of 25-30 students.  One semester, for 
> some reason, this instructor had about 5 registered students.  Only 2 to 3 
> students would actually show up for an individual class.  I would see him 
> "lecturing" to 2 or 3 students in a 70-seat room.
> 
> 
>> On 1/8/2015 12:40 PM, Paul C Be

Re: [tips] History & Systems class ideas

[Deborah S Briihl]

Here is what I do. Every day, when students come into class, they pick up their 
index card. By picking it up, I know that they have attended class. When 
students participate, I give them a pen (I have a bunch of different colors so 
different colors for different days). They mark down a small bit about what 
they said. Students only get 1 participation per class to make sure everyone 
gets a chance. After a while, I let the pen float around the class. I ask 
questions and students must answer and that is how lecture rolls. I start out 
with points given for both right and wrong answers. The card allows the student 
to see how much they have participate.

I have had students give presentations but I have had several times in which 
wrong information was presented so I moved to this.

Deb
Deborah Briihl
Dept of psych and counseling
Valdosta state university
dbri...@valdosta.edu
 ,Sent from my iPad

> On Jan 8, 2015, at 1:56 PM, Ken Steele  wrote:
> 
> This is my 3rd post of the day so I won't be able to reply publicly in the 
> near future.
> 
> The class is supposed to be a senior capstone course and the enrollment is 
> capped at 20 students.  The class size is one reason I thought I could get 
> away from the lecture format.
> 
> One observation from last semester about students taking a History of Psych 
> course.  My students seemed to focus on almost irrelevant details, like birth 
> and death dates, and seemed to miss the big picture, like why Piaget or Hull 
> think this approach is the important way to think about issues.  Freud was a 
> complete disaster, with students wanting to memorize the age ranges of 
> psychosexual stages.
> 
> A public thanks to all that have replied (or may reply in the near future).
> 
> Ken
> 
> PS - two short teaching tales for the non HoP people:
> 
> 1.  My second course in psychology as an undergrad was the senior-level H&S 
> course.  (Obviously, I never met with an advisor.) My instructor didn't know 
> what was going on until I went to meet with him to discuss my paper project 
> and then it was past the drop date. I loved H&S because it was all about big 
> ideas, and their historical interrelationships. This carried over to the rest 
> of my education. I could see why there was a separate "cognition" and 
> "learning" course, and what this might mean about psychology.
> 
> 2.  Small courses invite different approaches.  I remember an instructor who 
> was used to teach, by lecture, classes of 25-30 students.  One semester, for 
> some reason, this instructor had about 5 registered students.  Only 2 to 3 
> students would actually show up for an individual class.  I would see him 
> "lecturing" to 2 or 3 students in a 70-seat room.
> 
> 
>> On 1/8/2015 12:40 PM, Paul C Bernhardt wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> You don’t indicate the level of the class. I have been teaching
>> it as one of our capstone courses for seniors. Therefore, YMMV.
>> 
>> I do a strict discussion format. No lecture at all. I treat it as
>> if all students have read before coming into the room and I raise
>> questions about various historical turns, outside historical
>> issues that may have influenced psychology, ask students to
>> compare and contrast, etc. Students are graded daily for
>> participation (though I’ll probably go for a weekly grade in the
>> future to reduce my evaluation load and their stress). I am
>> fortunate that the class is generally small (about 15 students).
>> 
> 
> -- 
> ---
> Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D.  steel...@appstate.edu
> Professor
> Department of Psychology  http://www.psych.appstate.edu
> Appalachian State University
> Boone, NC 28608
> USA
> ---
> 
> 
> ---
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Re: [tips] History & Systems class ideas

[Ken Steele]

This is my 3rd post of the day so I won't be able to reply 
publicly in the near future.


The class is supposed to be a senior capstone course and the 
enrollment is capped at 20 students.  The class size is one 
reason I thought I could get away from the lecture format.


One observation from last semester about students taking a 
History of Psych course.  My students seemed to focus on almost 
irrelevant details, like birth and death dates, and seemed to 
miss the big picture, like why Piaget or Hull think this approach 
is the important way to think about issues.  Freud was a complete 
disaster, with students wanting to memorize the age ranges of 
psychosexual stages.


A public thanks to all that have replied (or may reply in the 
near future).


Ken

PS - two short teaching tales for the non HoP people:

1.  My second course in psychology as an undergrad was the 
senior-level H&S course.  (Obviously, I never met with an 
advisor.) My instructor didn't know what was going on until I 
went to meet with him to discuss my paper project and then it was 
past the drop date. I loved H&S because it was all about big 
ideas, and their historical interrelationships. This carried over 
to the rest of my education. I could see why there was a separate 
"cognition" and "learning" course, and what this might mean about 
psychology.


2.  Small courses invite different approaches.  I remember an 
instructor who was used to teach, by lecture, classes of 25-30 
students.  One semester, for some reason, this instructor had 
about 5 registered students.  Only 2 to 3 students would actually 
show up for an individual class.  I would see him "lecturing" to 
2 or 3 students in a 70-seat room.



On 1/8/2015 12:40 PM, Paul C Bernhardt wrote:




You don’t indicate the level of the class. I have been teaching
it as one of our capstone courses for seniors. Therefore, YMMV.

I do a strict discussion format. No lecture at all. I treat it as
if all students have read before coming into the room and I raise
questions about various historical turns, outside historical
issues that may have influenced psychology, ask students to
compare and contrast, etc. Students are graded daily for
participation (though I’ll probably go for a weekly grade in the
future to reduce my evaluation load and their stress). I am
fortunate that the class is generally small (about 15 students).



--
---
Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D.  steel...@appstate.edu
Professor
Department of Psychology  http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
---


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RE: [tips] History & Systems class ideas

[Manza, Louis]

I've been teaching our capstone level History course since 1995, and like Paul, 
it is completely discussion-based.  Participation is 20% of the grade, and 
evaluated daily.  65% of the final grade comes from 3 analytical papers that 
students submit and another 15% is from a presentation at the end of the 
semester.

I got away from the heavy names-and-dates model some time ago, and the course 
is much better as a result.  Class periods are centered around a variety of 
critical thinking questions on a given topic (using Hergenhahn's text), with 
students first discussing responses within small teams and then all groups 
presenting their ideas to the entire class.

I can go into a lot more detail (e.g., syllabi, sample outlines, etc.) off-list 
if you want; feel free to e-mail me.

Cheers,

Lou

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr. Lou Manza
Professor & Chair of Psychology

Lebanon Valley College
101 N. College Avenue, Annville, PA 17003
Phone: 717.867.6193 | Fax: 717.867.6894 | ma...@lvc.edu | 
www.lvc.edu

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mailto:steel...@appstate.edu>> wrote:
from Ken Steele:
Hi all:

I took over a History and Systems class (Yes, Chris, that is the title) in the 
middle of last semester on an emergency basis. I followed the syllabus of the 
original instructor. It seemed to follow a common format. The initial 3/4 of 
the semester was lecture and the last 1/4 was student presentations of classic 
studies.  I could see that most students hated having to sit through the 
presentations. In addition, the memory load of names and facts was overwhelming 
for many students.

I will need to teach the class again this semester and I have been searching 
for a different approach on the STP and SHoP sites without much luck.  Syllabi 
are either very similar to the one I used or are very individual, having been 
developed over many years.

My idea is that I want students participating from the beginning (whether doing 
presentations or involved in projects) to avoid the 12 weeks of lecture/3 weeks 
of presentations approach.

If you know of such an approach then I would be grateful if you could share it 
with me.

Ken

PS - The assigned textbook is by Schultz and Schultz.


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[tips] History & Systems class ideas

[Ken Steele]

Hi all:

I took over a History and Systems class (Yes, Chris, that is the 
title) in the middle of last semester on an emergency basis. I 
followed the syllabus of the original instructor. It seemed to 
follow a common format. The initial 3/4 of the semester was 
lecture and the last 1/4 was student presentations of classic 
studies.  I could see that most students hated having to sit 
through the presentations. In addition, the memory load of names 
and facts was overwhelming for many students.


I will need to teach the class again this semester and I have 
been searching for a different approach on the STP and SHoP sites 
without much luck.  Syllabi are either very similar to the one I 
used or are very individual, having been developed over many years.


My idea is that I want students participating from the beginning 
(whether doing presentations or involved in projects) to avoid 
the 12 weeks of lecture/3 weeks of presentations approach.


If you know of such an approach then I would be grateful if you 
could share it with me.


Ken

PS - The assigned textbook is by Schultz and Schultz.

--
---
Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D.  steel...@appstate.edu
Professor
Department of Psychology  http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
---


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Re: [tips] History & Systems class ideas

[Paul C Bernhardt]

You don’t indicate the level of the class. I have been teaching it as one of 
our capstone courses for seniors. Therefore, YMMV.

I do a strict discussion format. No lecture at all. I treat it as if all 
students have read before coming into the room and I raise questions about 
various historical turns, outside historical issues that may have influenced 
psychology, ask students to compare and contrast, etc. Students are graded 
daily for participation (though I’ll probably go for a weekly grade in the 
future to reduce my evaluation load and their stress). I am fortunate that the 
class is generally small (about 15 students).

I use a short and to-the-point text that reduces the ancient history a bit and 
has chapters for material after 1960 when most other texts appear to think the 
history of psychology ended. (A Brief History of Psychology, 5th edition by 
Wertheimer (2012). ISBN 9781848728752). I think this encourages the students to 
actually read (though I see a lot of them cramming in the hallway before class).

In the past I’ve done a ‘history of psychology at our school’ project. But, it 
is played out. I’m considering, but not sure I have the energy to create, a 
“Reacting to the Past” type activity. It is a role play in which the students 
take on personas connected to an event in history and then play their roles as 
the event’s elements unfold. They must know that person well to do a good job 
on it. But, creating that kind of activity is extremely time consuming… 
probably not in the coming semester. (Search Reacting to the Past) to find out 
more about this ingenious program that has been largely used in history 
classes, among others.

The issue you raise with students remembering all the names and dates is very 
problematic. I’m not happy with their scoring on specific points of historical 
note, either. I’m not sure how I want to address it in future semesters. I’d 
love to see other’s ideas.

Paul C Bernhardt
Associate Professor of Psychology
Frostburg State University
pcbernhardt☞frostburg.edu




On Jan 8, 2015, at 12:10 PM, Ken Steele 
mailto:steel...@appstate.edu>> wrote:

Hi all:

I took over a History and Systems class (Yes, Chris, that is the title) in the 
middle of last semester on an emergency basis. I followed the syllabus of the 
original instructor. It seemed to follow a common format. The initial 3/4 of 
the semester was lecture and the last 1/4 was student presentations of classic 
studies.  I could see that most students hated having to sit through the 
presentations. In addition, the memory load of names and facts was overwhelming 
for many students.

I will need to teach the class again this semester and I have been searching 
for a different approach on the STP and SHoP sites without much luck.  Syllabi 
are either very similar to the one I used or are very individual, having been 
developed over many years.

My idea is that I want students participating from the beginning (whether doing 
presentations or involved in projects) to avoid the 12 weeks of lecture/3 weeks 
of presentations approach.

If you know of such an approach then I would be grateful if you could share it 
with me.

Ken

PS - The assigned textbook is by Schultz and Schultz.

--
---
Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D.  
steel...@appstate.edu
Professor
Department of Psychology  http://www.psych.appstate.edu
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
---


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