This pilot study included a content analysis of the Wall of Remembrance (also known as the Childrens Tile Wall) on display at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, D.C. This artwork is composed of 3,324 six-inch square tiles depicting the impressions of children, adolescents and a few adults regarding the Holocaust. The following dominant visual images were found in this work of art: Jewish Star of David, Christian cross, Taoist yin-yang, Islamic crescent, Totemism...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Art Expression, Art Therapy, Children, Content Analysis, Herman, William E.
This paper is designed to assist undergraduate and graduate students as they study the field of psychology. As a course supplement, it intends to guide students in their learning throughout the semester and beyond the scope of the present semester in the form of lifelong learning. This learning tool will help students in organizing psychological terms, concepts, and ideas as well as connecting psychological constructs to existing schemas from previous academic courses. A contextual approach...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Psychology, Intellectual Disciplines, Philosophy, Humanities, Social Sciences,...
This study asked college students to report their current institutional grade point average (GPA) and grant permission for the researcher to examine the official records with the understanding that some had questioned the accuracy of such self-reported GPA. The relationship between self-report and actual GPA was moderately powerful, but considerable unexplained variance also existed (69%). Unexplained variance in actual GPA prediction was approximately cut in half when transfer status and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Students, Grade Point Average, Higher Education, Knowledge Level, Self...
The organization of knowledge has been identified as a crucial element for the facilitation of learning based on theories of teaching for understanding, information processing, schemata development, and constructivism. This study reports on the validation of a teaching and learning tool through an investigation in which 44 college students attempted to list the names of 21 psychological theories and 52 conceptual terms covered in a psychology course on a grid chart that included these...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Students, Course Content, Higher Education, Knowledge Level, Organization,...
This paper describes the theoretical rationale and the practical application of a teaching strategy that helps students organize psychological knowledge according to four perspectives: psychoanalytic, behavioristic, humanistic, and cognitive. The strategy is a simple flow chart which requires students to appropriately fill in boxes with names of theorists/researchers and terms and concepts associated with each of the four perspectives. A variation on the strategy is to give students a list of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Students, Flow Charts, Higher Education, Learning Strategies, Organization,...
Marks made by students on test item booklets were analyzed as a clue to better understanding of the metacognitive strategies employed during the completion of a 100-question multiple-choice final examination. Test item booklets of 56 undergraduates were scrutinized for the frequency of the following item markings; (1) no markings at all; (2) elaborations, which consisted of definitions, examples, etc.; (3) use of a "?" next to items; and (4) option elimination techniques involving...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Metacognition, Multiple Choice Tests, Responses, Test Items, Test...
Consider the following important questions: Should values be transmitted or developed? As children grow up, what, if anything, should change in values acquisition? How important are locus of control issues in moral development? and Why might process versus product elements be crucial in the development of values? One key element missing in the values literature is a model that integrates major theoretical viewpoints and has the potential to guide teachers, parents, and others who work with...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Socialization, Locus of Control, Moral Development, Moral Values, Cognitive...
This study explored how college students, enrolled in an educational psychology course, perceived effort, ability, and success/failure outcomes. Students completed a set of open-ended questions that explored their thoughts about effort, ability, and success/failure. The initial classroom examination, taken during the third week of the semester, served as the criterion variable. Researchers analyzed the open-ended questions based on word count, content analysis, and four developmental levels of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Ability, Academic Achievement, College Students, High Achievement, Higher...
This paper is designed to accompany an appearance by the author as a panelist during a session on science fiction and teaching methods at the I-CON 28 Science Fiction Convention held April 3-5, 2009, on Long Island (near New York City). The author describes how he employs social science fiction in an honors course at the university level to promote the deeper understanding of how psychological theory, research findings, and scientific ideas can be applied to better understand human behavior....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Science Fiction, Teaching Methods, Higher Education, Conferences (Gatherings), Social...
This study explores the value-oriented behaviors associated with membership in prominent youth organizations in the Soviet Union and the United States of America during the Cold War. The archetypal heroic ideals and values of the Soviet Octoberists and Pioneers and the U.S. Boy Scout and Girl Scout organizations were examined. Key political, religious, and psychological differences were found in the Soviet and U.S. youth organizations. Somewhat surprising were the many similarities that were...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Comparative Analysis, Cross Cultural Studies, Cultural Context, Foreign Countries,...
This preliminary research report offers readers an example of pedagogical research within the context of an educational psychology course. The research questions dealt with: (1) the effectiveness of a course pre-requisite, (2) the value of a class attendance policy, and (3) early indicators in the course of success or failure. Previous psychological knowledge (pre-course knowledge) as measured by a quiz at the first class session was found to be significantly correlated to exam performance (11%...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Effectiveness, Educational Psychology, Academic Achievement, Attendance,...
This paper outlines the constructivist approach to teaching and learning and reviews some of the literature to establish a linkage between constructivist theories of learning and humanistic psychology. In particular, the paper recognizes the work of Carl Rogers and suggests that his contributions to the professional literature on teaching and learning might promote the advancement of constructivism. The insights provided by the linkage between the humanistic view and the constructivist view in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cognitive Structures, Constructivism (Learning), Educational Philosophy, Educational...
Research suggests that students who fear failure are likely to utilize cognitive strategies such as self-handicapping that serve to perpetuate failure. Such devastating motivational dispositions clearly limit academic success. The present study examined negative emotional responses to scenarios involving academic failure among a sample of university students (N = 48). Additionally, among those high in fear of failure, we examined differences in emotional responses involving the self-conscious...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Emotional Response, Academic Failure, Fear, College Students, Negative Attitudes,...
This paper reviews the historical antecedents and theoretical foundation for a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. One neglected characteristic of constructivism apparent in the professional literature is the need to better understand that human relationships in the classroom are often pivotal in helping students construct knowledge. This paper employs the crucial connection between humanistic psychology (counseling and psychotherapy) and cognitive psychology (construction of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cognitive Psychology, Communication Skills, Constructivism (Learning), Elementary...
The variables of class attendance and the institution-wide Early Alert Grading System were employed to predict academic success at the end of the semester. Classroom attendance was found to be statistically and significantly related to final average and accounted for 14-16% of the variance in academic performance. Class attendance was found to decline over the semester. The new system of Early Alerts that warned students earning the grade of 2.0 and below during the 6th week of the semester was...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Psychology, Academic Achievement, Attendance, Grading, Predictor...
Varsity student-athletes (SAs) in National Collegiate Athletic Association member institutions encounter obstacles to their academic achievement that non-athletes do not, such as time for physical training and practice, and travel away from campus for games. A program is described that provides support for SAs. The Student-Athlete Academic Support Program (SAASP) originated in 1994 and is based on a single goal: that all of the institution's SAs "graduate prepared." The program...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Athletes, Athletic Coaches, Career Counseling, College...
This study investigated how the adoption of a constructivist model of teaching and learning and simple item analysis techniques can be used to explore the instructor's pedagogical content knowledge in teaching elementary statistics. Descriptive data (percent of students responding to multiple-choice test options) are provided that support the case for specific student statistical learning problems on the following topics: calculation and interpretation of measures of central tendency and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Instruction, Constructivism (Learning), Content Analysis, Educational...
This study compared college student reported grade point averages (GPA) with actual GPA as recorded at the Registrar's Office to determine the accuracy of student reported GPA. Results indicated that, on average, students reported slightly higher GPA than their actual GPA. Additionally, females were virtually as accurate as males and students with high GPAs were more accurate than students with lower GPAs. Since 17% of unexplained variance in actual GPA was found based upon student GPA...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Grade Point Average, Research Problems, Statistical Bias, True Scores, Comparative...
This paper employed a psychological-historical framework for an analytical examination of the Russian identity during the Soviet period through the fall of the Soviet Union and the transitional period that led to an establishment of the Russian Federation. A theoretical model is provided for the analysis of Russian identity that can be generalized to any country and any historical time. The psychological lens of Erik Erikson's identity formation at the micro-level of personality development...
Topics: ERIC Archive, European History, Social Change, Foreign Countries, Values, Personality Development,...
This paper outlines a qualitative research tool designed to explore personal identity formation as described by Erik Erikson and offers self-reflective and anonymous evaluative comments made by college students after completing this task. Subjects compiled a list of 200 myths, customs, fables, rituals, and beliefs from their family of origin and then reflected upon the relevance and meaning of such items. The research and instructional tool described in the paper should be of considerable...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Research Tools, Qualitative Research, Research Methodology, Identification...
Nearly 100 students were given a Pre-Test in psychology on the first day of class without warning in order to assess their knowledge of basic course content derived from the prerequisites of the course (PSYC-100 Introduction to Psychology or PSYC-220 Child Development) and other life experiences. This was intended as a low-stakes testing situation, since students were assured that the results were to be used only for curricular/instructional decision making and the results would have no impact...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Students, Introductory Courses, Psychology, Memory, Pretesting, Item...
