> We're going through similar ruminations (and have been for 20+ years). > One > thing that always stops a 2 semester intro psych courses dead in its > tracks > is the fact that intro is a service course for Nursing, Education and > several other majors. Their accrediting agencies often need the one > semester course and those same agencies require so many courses that > these > other majors could not easily add yet another required course (i.e., a > 2nd > semester of intro psych). Of course. a 2 semester intro course for > "majors > only" is appealing. > > On a related issue: we're getting some pressure from within the > department > to offer a 200 level course in some area of exptl. psych. Currently, > our > students need to take 3 of the following 5: physiol. psych, motivation, > animal behavior, learning, cognitive. We also offer S&P but in another > category. But these are all 300 or 400 level courses and there's > some > sentiment that we should get students introduced to exptl. areas earlier > by > offering a (new) 200 level course or by downgrading the course number & > content of one of the above. I'm of 2 minds. On the one hand, I could > easily envision a 200 level physiol. course,, perhaps with an applied > focus > (e.g., drugs, neuropsych rehab, biol. basis of disorders, etc.). We'd > still > keep the 400 level course for those who wanted it. On the other hand, I > > really dislike the idea that I'm being forced to consider developing a > course just because someone thinks that a 200 level exptl. course is a > good > idea. It seems like the cart leading the horse. You should develop a > new > course because you think the COURSE is a good idea, and then you should > decide on the number/level of the course. You shouldn't develop a new > course because you like the number and then try to develop a course to > fit > the number!!!!! > > Another possibility might be a more general 200 level exptl. course. One > > question I have is that for those who offer intro psych in 2 semesters, > and > the 1st semester is "psych as social science" and the 2nd semester is > "Psych > as a natural science", how much of a difference is there between the 2nd > > semester of intro vs a 200 level "general exptl. course." > > FWIW, our student take a stats course (PSY245) and research methods > course > (PSY246). Another idea that I was considering was to make animal > behavior a > 200 level course (it's now 335). There are 2 problems with that: 1)some > > faculty think animal behavior is "too narrow." Personally, I think > they're > nuts. Animal behavior deals with evolution, learning, cognition, > physiol. > psych, S&P, motivation, etc. It's the broadest of courses with the > exception of intro. But another problem is that we have an optional lab > > with animal behavior and that really can't be a 200 level course because > the > students should have had the (PSY246) research methods course before > taking > the animal behavior lab. > > Any thoughts? > Ed > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, > West Chester Univ. of PA, West Chester, PA 19383 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, herpetoculturist and > bluegrass fiddler > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >
