Using Introductory Psychology Labs to Provide Early Research Experience to Regular and Transfer Students

心理学-认知学(73)这个项目是在圣凯瑟琳学院早先由国家科学基金会资助的项目的基础上扩展的，圣凯瑟琳学院是一所为女性开设的文理学院(《重塑普通心理学：让女性参与科学问题》，美国国家科学基金会拨款0087926)。早期的项目设计了一个修订的课程，以适应已经开发的材料，将心理学描述为一门寻求重要问题的答案的科学，这些问题可以通过一系列策略和方法来探索。这一扩展项目面向三个不同的学生群体(女性、少数民族和转校生)，并致力于提高这三个学生群体的整体科学素养，特别是那些不是在一所学校开始和结束教育的学生。马里蒙特大学有70%的学生是女性，50%是少数民族，有许多转校生。心理学是一个受欢迎的专业，这个项目是一个很好的机会，可以促进少数民族学生对科学的参与和兴趣，他们中的许多人都是转校生。编写的教材正通过出版物、会议和专门针对该项目的网站向学术界提供。发布在网上的材料将被元标记，以确保被纳入国家科学数字图书馆。该项目的智力价值有七个方面。1.它通过在学生本科生涯早期获得研究工具来培养科学素养和兴趣，以加强学习和对科学的理解。2.促进科学推理和解决问题的技能，特别是对女生、转校生和少数民族学生。3.它增强了学生对自己是科学思考者的认识。4.提高学生对科学和科学过程的整体态度。5.它支持新转学的学生，使他们有机会与其他新学生和他们的实验导师建立关系，从而促进他们融入更大的系和大学社区。6.它确保转学学生与未转学学生同等地接触科学思维和科学素养。7.通过为高年级心理学学生提供指导和辅导其他本科生的机会，培养他们提高研究技能和技巧。该项目的更广泛影响是开发了一种适用于其他学校的模式，特别是对那些少数族裔学生和转校生比例较高的学校。

Psychology - Cognitive (73)This project is expanding on an earlier NSF-supported project at the College of St. Catherine, a liberal arts college for women ("Re-visioning General Psychology: Engaging Women in Scientific Questions," NSF Grant 0087926). The earlier project designed a revised course to adapt materials already developed to describe psychology as a science seeking answers to important questions that can be pursued with an array of strategies and methods. This expansion project is directed at three diverse groups of students (female, minority, and transfer students) and is also working to increase the overall scientific literacy of these three student groups, especially those who do not begin and end their education at one institution. Marymount University has a student population that is 70% female and 50% minority, with many transfer students. Psychology is a popular major and this project is a good opportunity to promote involvement and interest in science by minority students, many of whom are transfer students. The teaching materials developed are being made available to the academic community through publications, conferences, and on a web-site dedicated to the project. Materials posted on the web will be meta-tagged to ensure inclusion in the National Science Digital Library.The intellectual merit of this project has seven facets. 1. It develops scientific literacy and interest through access to research tools early in the students' undergraduate careers to enhance learning and scientific understanding. 2. It promotes scientific reasoning and problem-solving skills, especially for female, transfer and minority students. 3. It enhances students' perceptions of themselves as scientific thinkers. 4. It improves students' overall attitudes towards science and the scientific process. 5. It supports new transfer students by providing the opportunity for them to form relationships with other new students and with their lab instructors, thus facilitating their integration into the larger Departmental and University community. 6. It ensures that transfer students have an equivalent exposure to scientific thinking and scientific literacy to their non-transfer counterparts. 7. It fosters improved research skills and techniques of upper-division psychology students by providing them opportunities to mentor and tutor other undergraduate students. The broader impact of this project is the development of a model suitable for replication by other schools, especially for those schools with high percentages of minority and transfer students.