.Active learning takes into account, and indicates the choices writers must make, in relation to persuasion, ethos, audience analysis, applied knowledge, rhetorical situation, ethics, and format.

Example:

Book

You will write a 2-page chapter on a topic related to cognitive psychology. It should be interesting and well-written, and it should be geared toward an average adult reader. The chapter should include at least one graphic.  The 2-page chapter should be printed on both sides of a single sheet of paper.  The font should be Times Roman.  The title should be in 25 pt font, centered on the top.  Your name should appear directly underneath the title, in 16 pt font.  All other print should be in 12 pt.  Besides these constraints, the format and content will be left up to you.  Be creative!

We will collate the chapters into a book, which you will receive a copy.  On the designated day, you will bring several copies of your chapter to class. The number will equal the number of students in the class, and myself.  I will collate them into a book, and pass them out the following week.  Therefore, no matter what you do, see to it that I receive your copies on or before the designated day.  Otherwise, you chapter will not be included in the book, and it will not be graded leading to an F.

Because I don’t want 20 chapters on the same topic, there is a list of sample topics listed below.  I will post this on my office door - room 320 - and you will sign your name beside a topic.  No more than 2 can sign up for a particular topic.  If you want to do a topic which does not appear on the list, you will need my explicit approval.  E-mail me or see me after class.

I will be grading your chapter on clarity, informativeness, and creativity.  In addition, your classmates will grade your chapter on the final test day.  Your project grade will be a combination of these two scores.

NOTE: This book project led to the Museum of the Mind project.
.

Sample Topics for Projects (And also a good study guide for the optional final):
  • priming 
  • procedural memory 
  • flashbulb memory 
  • working memory 
  • priming 
  • schema 
  • controlled and automatic processing 
  • Beiderman's model of pattern recognition 
  • mental imagery 
  • levels of processing 
  • amnesia
  • forgetting
  • encoding specificity 
  • measuring the mind (methods) 
  • attentional resources (capacity models) 
  • symbolic architectures 
  • connectionist architecture 
  • bottom-up and top-down processing 
  • mnemonic devices 
  • cognitive maps 
  • episodic memory 
  • semantic memory 
  • malleability of memory 
  • implicit memory 
  • word recognition 
  • mental models in reading 
  • levels of representation in reading 
  • pragmatics 
  • stages of problem-solving 
  • algorithms vs heuristics 
  • speech perception 
  • functional fixedness/mental sets 
  • ill vs well-defined problems 
  • deductive reasoning 
  • inductive reasoning 
  • biases in reasoning or decision making 
  • confirmation bias 
  • concepts 
  • incubation 
  • dyslexia 
  • spreading activation
.
.
.

History Website (LINK)

Your group will produce a website that will contain at least one webpage about a topic relevant to the history of psychology. Each person in your group is responsible for at least one webpage (i.e., one html file). I should be able to know exactly what material a member of your group is doing.

In your website, you should have at least 2 links to other websites in the class. It should have at least two graphics (pictures, graphs, illustration), unless it is okayed by me. For a minimal amount of continuity among the webpages, the font for all text should be arial.

Exactly how the work should be distributed among members of your group will be up to you. However, make sure that you both do an equal amount of work. At the end of the semester, I will ask you to grade each member of your group. You should keep a list of what you did for your group. I will use these information, along with my assessment of your work, in assigning you a grade for the project.

This will be exciting if we all do our part and follow the time-line below:

9/24 The names of your group and a short description of your topic and how this relates to the class (1 - 2 paragraphs) is due. It should include a short title for your website (e.g., the Mind/Body Problem; Behaviorism; The Impact of John Dewey). In addition, I will need to know how you plan to divide the work among group members. Everything should be typed.

10/22 The text, pictures and graphics of your website is due. This should be typed up and layed out in the way that you envision it on pieces of paper. The graphics can be rough - just enough so you convey what your plan will be. You will present it to the class so that other members of the class know the topics that you are covering. Also print out a list of "content" words for each group - these will help other groups know whether they should provide a link to your webpage(s). The purpose of this deadline is to give the class a serious outline where they can give you feedback.

11/5 Show your webpage to class. Work on problems. Get additional feedback.

11/19 Final webpages are due on a disk. Name your webpages (html files) appropriately - "dewey.htm" not "homework1.htm." Also, you will give me two multiple choice questions based on your webpage. These should be typed with the correct answer identified. At the end of the semester, you will take a test with all the questions.

Note: Do not be late. I will record late responses. These will have an impact on your final grade.

(home)