This poster describes a collaboration between college an

1
Developing Psychology Lesson Plans A
Collaboration between High School and College
Students Debra Mashek1, Mike Callahan2,
Shelley DeFord1 1Harvey Mudd College, 2Claremont
High School

• Introduction
• This poster describes a collaboration
  between college and high school psychology
  students to develop lesson plans for use in high
  school psychology courses. To prepare for the
  collaboration, the college students participated
  in three workshops, titled Developing Topics,
  Promoting Critical Thinking, and Developing
  Lesson Plans. Teaching teams comprised of three
  college students then identified a human
  experience worthy of their inquiry. The
  assignment required students to integrate at
  least two major psychological perspectives (e.g.,
  biological, cognitive, learning, sociocultural)
  in such a way as to give rise to a more complete
  understanding of the chosen topic than either
  perspective could give alone. Each lesson plan
  included at least one engaging critical thinking
  exercise, as well as a six-item quiz, where
  each item corresponded with one level of Blooms
  taxonomy. The teaching teams delivered their
  1-hour lessons to small groups of high school
  students. With an eye toward improving the
  lesson for future audiences, the high school
  students provided constructive feedback to the
  college students. This feedback guided
  additional revision of the lesson plan and
  supporting materials. The final lesson plans and
  supporting materials are available to conference
  participants who wish to consider the lessons for
  their own high school psychology classes.
  Assignment materials are available for other
  teachers interested in setting up a similar
  collaboration in their own community.
• Requirements of the Assignment
• Read six primary research articles addressing
  this topic (three from each of two perspectives
  at least four of the articles must be empirical
  investigations).
• Integrate the research articles to develop a
  one-hour lesson plan geared toward high school
  psychology students
• Lesson plan must include substantial content,
  critical thinking exercises, and a quiz.
• Present the lesson plan to a group of high school
  psychology students.
• Modify the lesson plan in response to feedback
  from the high school students.
• Present an excerpt of the lesson to the college
  class.
• Submit a disc with all final materials for
  distribution to other high school psychology
  teachers.
• Workshops to Provide Needed Tools
• Developing Topics

Collaborative Process
Sample Lesson Plan

• Lessons Learned
• The college students needed substantial coaching
  on how to develop a lesson plan they asked many
  great questions and were eager to do a good job.
  They enjoyed pursuing a topic of their own
  choosing and developed some really creative
  strategies for teaching their topics. That said,
  some of the teaching teams expressed concern
  about their ability to present in front of high
  school students.
• The high school students relished the opportunity
  to contribute to the development of lesson plans
  they eagerly engaged in the presentations and
  provided insightful and useful feedback. We are
  looking for ways to involve them earlier in the
  process without impinging on their schedules
  (e.g., asking them to tell us what topics theyd
  like to learn more about).
• Once the semester started, it was difficult for
  the instructors to reach each other. Thus, we
  recommend finalizing the presentation schedule
  prior to the start of the semester.
• The college instructor used just in time
  teaching to provide her students with the tools
  they needed to successfully complete the
  assignment many students asked for more
  information earlier to help them understand the
  process and expected product. Next time, she
  will distribute all materials at the beginning of
  the term.
• Overall, the college and high school students
  exhibit substantial learning through this
  assignment.
• We are looking for additional opportunities to
  bridge the college and the high school (e.g., a
  couple high school students hope to audit a
  college psychology course next semester).