For general psych in the past I used a text by Mynatt & Doherty that is sadly no longer in print. It was excellent pedagogically, well-written, and cheap as hell -- no pretty pictures, but a lot of data and discussion of how we get the data and how we use the data to tell us what to believe. Each chapter was centered around an "empirical generalization" -- only one -- and the chapter consisted of the experiments and data that supported that generalization. It was cool.
It's sad that it went out of print; I have to feel it did so because so many people adopted the giant, 700-page encyclopedic texts that are, to my way of teaching, impossible to get through in a semester, anyway. I wonder if Allyn & Bacon would consider re-issuing that text if enough of us asked for it? m -- Marc Carter, PhD Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychology College of Arts & Sciences Baker University -- > > ________________________________________ > > From: Paul C Bernhardt [pcbernha...@frostburg.edu] > > Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2010 8:23 PM > > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > > Subject: [tips] Warning: Rant: $180!!!!! > > > > Excuse this rant. I know it isn't news, but textbook prices > are out of control. > > > > Out of curiosity, I checked at the bookstore for how much > my students will have to pay for a copy of the text I've > selected for one of my courses. > > > > $180.00 (new) > > > > That's not right. It is also about $50 more than I thought > students would suffer for it (which is still too much). > > > > They can get it for just under $140 on Amazon and > Textbooks.com. I'm still appalled. > > > > Looking at the books for the other classes I'm teaching.. $174.00 > > > > For another class in which I'm using trade paperbacks, $23 > and $17 (two books required, prices for new copies). No issue > with those prices, of course. > > > > But, it puts the textbook prices in sharp contrast: is a > textbook really something that requires between 6 and 10 > times the price? > > > > I think it is (past) time for faculty to assert the control > we have over this process. I am going to pick a new book for > I/O for the Spring. I will make sure that I specify that > students can use previous editions of the book. I know the > publishers try to pull the old editions out of circulation, > but they are still out there and do cost a lot less. > > > > When I teach the class requiring the $174 book next fall > I'm going to allow the previous edition. You may recall my > describing that I was not going to allow the previous edition > for this book a few months back. But, with publishers selling > individual chapters to students, they will spend much less to > buy a new copy of the previous edition and simply buy that > chapter from the publisher for an inflated price. > > > > For the stats class with the $180 book, same thing, but > there is also a possibility to use Wikibooks. A fully > developed stats book sits there. Whether it can be used for a > behavior sciences stats course is another question. > Flatworldknowledge.com is another model by which students can > get free and greatly reduced price textbooks, though no stats > book there, yet. > > > > How many of us check how much students get charged for the > books we require? What solutions are we seeking? What more can we do? > > > > Paul C. Bernhardt > > Department of Psychology > > Frostburg State University > > Frostburg, Maryland > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: pcbernha...@frostburg.edu. > > To unsubscribe click here: > > > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f2630 > > 03&n=T&l=tips&o=4351 or send a blank email to > > > leave-4351-13441.4e79e96ebb5671bdb50111f18f263...@fsulist.frostburg.ed > > u > > > > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: marc.car...@bakeru.edu. > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13029.76c7c563b32ad9d8d09c72 a2d17c90e1&n=T&l=tips&o=4352 > or send a blank email to > leave-4352-13029.76c7c563b32ad9d8d09c72a2d17c9...@fsulist.fros tburg.edu > The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by Baker University ("BU") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify Baker University by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4365 or send a blank email to leave-4365-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
