Catherine Rawn

Ah the dawn of a new term! Living in an academic world means every four months is an opportunity for renewal. January can be an especially tough transition because of the remaining fatigue from Term 1. Thankfully, we also get Spring Break to catch our breaths. I’m very much looking forward to Term 2. I have had a fabulous time with my Intro Psyc (Section 006) students so far and I look forward to teaching and learning with them as we venture into the more “social” side of scientific psychology.

Psyc 208, Section 002, will begin anew on Tuesday. Here is a copy of the syllabus for those of you interested in checking it out early. This is a refreshed version of the course that was featured in UBC Reports last August. Based on feedback from students and my TA Jelena, I have revised the course to focus more on making teamwork work well, alongside personal development of skills such as self-control, goal-setting, and stress management. An open mind and a willingness to actively engage in learning will be assets to any student joining us in this course. Looking forward to meeting you on Tuesday!

Last Friday evening (November 26), 550 Psyc 217 (Research Methods) students showcased their hard work designing and conducting research throughout this term in a poster session. It was a fabulous event with many students reporting a rich learning experience… and that it was fun to see what everyone else had come up with!

Many thanks to Eric Eich, who committed financial support from the department to make this happen, to the Life Sciences Institute for allowing us to book their space, to my fellow 217 instructor and poster session co-coordinator Colleen Brenner, additional 217 instructors Victoria Savalei and Rajiv Jhangiani, and all dozen Teaching Fellows for their support and dedication to making this a success. And, of course, to our hard-working, impressive students! It was a pleasure to see your work!

Last night 37 of my fabulous Intro Psych Section 6 students joined me in an exploration of the brain and body at World of Science’s Body Worlds exhibit. We were able to see in real size many of the structures we’ve been exploring in class, including the structures of the inner ear, and brain parts including the corpus callosum, thalamus, and hippocampus. After looking so often at magnified, stylized, colour-coded versions of these brain strutures it was amazing to be reminded of just how small and unimpressive the structures appear — despite their incredible capacities. There were some great posters on display throughout the exhibit that discussed the neuronal communication process, and what we know about the brain’s influence in creativity, sleep, personality, love… and so on.

Here’s me and some of my students as we were leaving the exhibit area (unfortunately no pics are allowed inside).

What students were saying:

It really helped me visualize everything we were talking about in class.

By being able to see the actual thing [e.g., the cochlea] it is easier to picture. Seeing a diagram is one thing, but the actual structure adds another level.

This field trip helped me to understand more about the thalamus and the neurons.

Food for thought: In my research methods course last year (Psyc 217 Section 8, January 2010), participation points were highly correlated with final grades (excluding participation points or HSP credits, r = .48). In other words, almost a quarter of the variance in my students’ performance on exams and papers was predictable by their participation scores (r squared = .23). Participation was primarily determined by i>clicker scores, as well as verbal classroom participation. One way to interpret this finding is that my learning assessments (writing assignments, exams) rely on much of the same sort of active engagement for success as class participation does. We must be careful not to infer causation, but an interesting finding nonetheless.

What's in the bag?

I’m having a blast with my research methods students as we explore the basics of the scientific inquiry process. Here, in small groups, they’re grappling with the “hypothesis generation — collect data — revise hypothesis — collect more data” process by exploring what’s in the bag without looking inside. Today, we were mucking around in the messy world of experimental design. All teams did a great job taking a first stab at desiging a study. Well done and thanks for your participation!