Tasha: Three ideas that come to mind for labs are class projects that revolve around clinical interviewing, research studies, or program development. If you wanted to teach clinical interviewing, you could arrange for guests of different ages to come to class for interactions with students to teach them clinical interviewing skills. I tend to get a lot of education and counseling majors in my lifespan classes and they would benefit from a lab focusing on clinical skills. You could teach specific active listening skills, but also more specific skills for interacting with children, adolescents, older adults, and special populations of adults. You could set that up in a way that is similar to an introduction to counseling lab but adapted for lifespan development.
If you wanted to teach research skills, perhaps you could use the lab time to have the class develop a research project (or more than one research project if the class is too big). The class could design and conduct the research and then present the research to the rest of the class. This might not be too different from an Research Methods class, but the focus would be on developmental research. If this were done, I would also try to make the research high enough quality so that it could be submitted for presentation and ideally publication. You might also arrange for students to develop posters that could be presented on the campus, maybe in a dining hall or some other place where students congregate. Along similar lines, you might also invite children, adolescents, or adults to the lab so you could "replicate" (in a general sense) some of the studies they had read about in the text, such as conservation, some of the more object permanence studies, etc. I usually invite guests to my regular development classes to demonstrate these kinds of things, but you might be able to be more elaborate in your demonstrations if you have a separate lab time to do it. If you wanted to teach program development, you could use the lab time to help students develop service programs to meet the specific needs of particular populations. This might involve conducting a literature review to identify the needs of a particular population, visiting local service agencies that meet the needs of people from birth to older age, developing a program, and developing a plan for program evaluation. You might also be able to work with a local agency and see if they have specific needs that your students could address through program development. Along these lines, maybe you could have students design a program or workshop to present to middle or high school students on drugs, relationships, peer pressure, health issues, etc. Or maybe students could develop a program to present to older adults at nursing homes or retirement centers. This would involve your students conducting a literature search to see what has been done and what has been shown to be effective, designing their own program, and then actually conducting the program. Just some ideas. I think it is great anytime you can provide an opportunity for students to engage in original and creative thinking, to develop teamwork and communication skills, AND to develop some sort of useful or interesting project or hands-on skill. When I teach lifespan development in the fall, I'm going to arrange for volunteer placements at various agencies in the community to supplement what they are learning in class. Let me know if any of these ideas are at all helpful in stimulating your own ideas. Good luck! Rod Hetzel ______________________________________________ Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. Department of Psychology LeTourneau University Post Office Box 7001 2100 South Mobberly Avenue Longview, Texas 75607-7001 Office: Heath-Hardwick Hall 115 Phone: 903-233-3312 Fax: 903-233-3476 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel -----Original Message----- From: tasha howe [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2002 3:36 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: lifespan lab ideas Tipsters: I will be teaching a lifespan developmental lab course, which I have never taught before. Can you give me any ideas of how you run the lab, what you do, ideas for activities and assignments, or even syllabi? The lab is in conjunction with a regular lifespan course, which I have taught a million times, so that part is ok. Thanks. -- *********** Tasha R. Howe, Ph.D Assistant Professor of Psychology (Developmental) Transylvania University 300 N. Broadway Lexington, KY 40508 Phone: (859) 233-8144 FAX: (859) 281-3507 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: http://www.transy.edu/homepages/thowe/ftpdpages/index2.html Another website I created: http://www.scbwi-midsouth.com/ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.325 / Virus Database: 182 - Release Date: 2/19/2002 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.325 / Virus Database: 182 - Release Date: 2/19/2002 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
