I used to use Mynatt & Doherty, but it's going the way of the dodo.  I
think most places like the glossy, 700-page tomes.  Mynatt & Doherty was
heavily empirical and spent a lot of time teaching the students how we
answer questions as psychologists.

It was perfect.  But I think I am in a minority in thinking so....

m 


Marc Carter
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Psychology
------
"There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what
it cares about."
--
Margaret Wheatley 

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 11:48 AM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: Re: [tips] Intro Psychology course(s): Request for Info

I am NOT a fan of encyclopedic texts for an intro course. First of all,
as a memory researcher I KNOW that the students will remember very
little if you overwhelm them with information. Secondly, they don't have
the expertise to know what is a core bit if knowledge and what is an
illustration or extension built on the core. I use a very bones book for
$15 (Psych the Easy Way) and supplement to my heart's content, but still
it is much, much less information that an encyclopedic text. You might
want to go to:
http://www.worthpublishers.com/myerspelpreview

>From whence I quote David Myers, without permission but with the
assumption that it is a public website that it's OK to do so: "To avoid
becoming superficial, this has required a careful selection of the most
important and humanly significant topics. (I continually ask myself:
Does an educated person need to know this?)

That captures my philosophy in a nutshell.

You might want to take a look at this book. I have looked at others and
have seen the sample chapter in this one and like it. I have seen others
I don't like as well. 

Annette


Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
619-260-4006
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:50:10 -0400
>From: "Maxwell Gwynn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Re: [tips] Intro Psychology course(s): Request for Info
>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" 
<tips@acsun.frostburg.edu>
>
>   Annette:
>    
>   Thanks for your quick reply! Do you use a text
>   particularly geared towards a one-semester course? I
>   can't imagine our students tackling our 16-chapter
>   700 page-plus Weiten & McCann text in 13 weeks (39
>   hours).
>    
>   -Max G
>    
>   Maxwell Gwynn, PhD
>   Psychology Department
>   Wilfrid Laurier University
>   519-884-0710 ext 3854
>   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>   >>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 9/22/2008 11:37 AM >>>
>   >   1) Is your intro psych course one or two terms
>   in
>   >   length?
>
>   1
>
>   >   
>   >   2a) Do you feel students are adequately prepared
>   to
>   >   handle courses at the next level (i.e., 2nd year
>   or
>   >   200-level courses)?
>
>   Absolutely. But they complain a lot about work load.
>   Then you look on course
>   evals how many hours per week they averaged studying
>   for this class, and it's
>   around 3. Go figure their definition of heavy work
>   load.
>
>   >   2b) How many hours of instruction do students
>   get in
>   >   this course? (e.g., 13 weeks of three hours per
>   >   week)
>
>   15 weeks of 3 hours per week
>   >   
>   >   3) If two terms, is it a single course or
>   divided
>   >   into two?
>
>   N/A
>
>   >   
>   >   4a) If divided into two courses, is one course a
>   >   prerequisite for the second course?
>   >   4b) Are both courses required for any upper-year
>   >   psych courses, or does one (half) intro course
>   serve
>   >   as a prereq for some upper-year courses and the
>   >   other (half) intro course for other upper year
>   >   courses (e.g., PSYC101 is a prereq for upper
>   year
>   >   cognitive/bio/physio courses, while PSYCH102 is
>   a
>   >   prereq for upper year
>   developmental/social/applied
>   >   courses)?
>
>   N/A
>   >   
>   >   5) If divided into two courses, what topics are
>   >   covered in each course? (feel free to provide
>   links
>   >   to your courses' descriptions)
>
>   N/A
>
>   >   6) Are you satisfied with the current structure
>   of
>   >   your intro psych course(s)?
>
>   YES
>
>   Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D.
>   Professor of Psychology
>   University of San Diego
>   5998 Alcala Park
>   San Diego, CA 92110
>   619-260-4006
>   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>   ---
>   To make changes to your subscription contact:
>
>   Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
>
> ---
> To make changes to your subscription contact:
>
> Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])


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