A Novel Use of Portable Computers to Expand Research Experiences Beyond the Psychology Classroom

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The project focusses on new ways to enhance the teaching of Research Methods in Psychology. This course develops skills in critical thinking, applied problem solving, and the ability to collect, analyze, and summarize data. Computers facilitate this training by reducing the time required for setting up experiments and testing new hypotheses. A workstation with video projection capabilities will enable the instructor to present classroom demonstrations as well as step-by-step training in the use of software that supports more than 50 different experiments. This project is unusually cost- effective because the university already provides a laptop computer to every student. The software that students learn about in the classroom is installed on their own computers, effectively resulting in a private workstation for each student This enables the students to design experiments that can be conducted in the dormitories, campus centers, or the field.