Introducing a novel research based tool in teaching psychology in the A levels

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PsyToolkit is a professional software package used in psychological research. The software is used for designing, programming, and running psychological experiments typical in experimental cognitive psychology (e.g., the study of memory, perception, attention). The main applicant has designed and developed this software as part of a research project which received funding from various organisations (e.g., from the Experimental Psychology Society). Now, we aim to use this software in teaching psychology at A-level. Currently, A-level teachers have little access to software with the functionality of PsyToolkit, so there is a real gap in the market. We aim to reach the potential audience of about 150,000 post-16 psychology students in the UK alone, as well as their teachers, and this project is likely to have international appeal as well. We will set up a web server providing an on-line version of the software PsyToolkit which students and teachers will be able to use free of cost, as well as an on-line forum and help desk, workshops, booklets, and on-line video documentation ("vodcasts"). After the grant is over, the service will continue (likely for many years to come) on-line with the support of the University of Leeds and the National Science Learning Centre. As part of this, we will also explore user feedback to improve the service over time.