Integrating Psychology Disciplinary Knowledge with Teaching Practice in Psychology

1
Integrating Psychology Disciplinary Knowledge
with Teaching Practice in Psychology

• Lucy Zinkiewicz, Nick Hammond Annie Trapp
• LTSN Psychology, University of York

2
Defining the Domain

• Many sorts of research-led teaching
• Emphases in literature
• Research-teaching relationship
• Teaching through student research
• Focus of current project
• Teaching practice based on theory research
• Infrequent amongst psychology teachers despite
  relevance of discipline

3
Why Use Theory-Based Teaching?

• Accountability pressures
• Utilises build on research expertise
• Models application of theory to students
• Motivates staff if related to their research
• More effective learning teaching

4
Why is it Rare to Use Theory-Based
Teaching?

• Lack of reward for improving teaching
• Teaching culture individualistic, static
• Separation of research teaching cultures
• Lack of knowledge of theory implications for
  teaching
• Ownership of theory/research knowledge
• Uncertainty about how to apply in context

5
Integrating Research into Teaching Practice in
Psychology Project (R2P)

• Funded by LTSN Development Fund for 1 year
• Three parts
• Review of literature on theory research-based
  psychology teaching practice
• Consultation with psychology teachers about main
  problems encountered
• Case studies of UK theory-based psychology
  teaching initiatives

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Consultation with Teachers

• Email sent to LTSN Psychology ILT JISCmail
  lists
• What are the main problems or challenges you've
  faced in teaching psychology?
• Responses sent to l.zinkiewicz_at_psych.york.ac.uk

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Psychology Teaching Problems Preliminary Results

• System-wide issues
• Student nos variety, resources, modularisation
• Teaching specific fields/topics
• Research methods, cognitive psych, factor
  analysis
• Teaching methods
• Lecture structuring/overuse, placements,
  groupwork
• Student understanding, learning motivation
• Symbolic/abstract thinking, nature of scientific
  research analysis, nature of psychological
  theorising models, curiosity open-mindedness

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Psychology Theories/Knowledge with Implications
for Teaching

• Cognitive moral development
• Learning
• Memory
• Individual differences intelligence,
  personality
• Assessment
• Self psychology
• Motivation emotion

• Group processes intergroup relations
• Communication
• Work psychology organisational behaviour
• Therapy counselling
• Cross-cultural psychology
• Positive psychology
• Others?

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Some Applications to Psychology Teaching
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Some Applications to Psychology Teaching
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Case Studies

• UK HE psychology teaching innovations based at
  least partly on theory/research
• Two cases selected to date
• Judgement theory applied to assessment
• Academic reading writing research applied to
  foster reading of journal articles
• Thorough documentation evaluation
• Data collection about to commence

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Discussion

• Need to adapt theories to fit context
• Implications of application for theories
  concerned?
• Facilitators of/impediments to change?
• Necessary to have full knowledge of relevant
  theory/research to apply them?
• How to disseminate project results?