Catherine Rawn

I spend most of my time teaching learners in credit courses offered by the Psychology Department at UBC. My introduction to psychology and research methods courses present exciting opportunities for me to engage learners in the foundational concepts and methods that make psychology what it is. My section of Psychology 208 offers an additional opportunity for us to focus on the practical applications of social psychology to improve learning now and in the future.

My approach to course design reflects my teaching philosophy. In brief, I believe my role as a teacher is to create a critical learning environment in my courses in which students can connect the material to their lives, think critically about the material, apply the material to new situations. I believe this type of learning is most likely to happen in a supportive, group-oriented environment.

Courses, Winter 2012-2013

Term 1

• Psyc 217, Section 1 (MWF 9-10) and Section 2 (MWF 10-11): Research Methods. See my last year’s Research Methods Syllabus for a good idea of what to expect.
• Psyc 100, Section 2 (MWF 12-1): Intro Psych, Terms 1 and 2. See my last year’s Intro Syllabus for a good idea of what to expect, including assignments and the textbook.

Term 2

• Psyc 508: Teaching of Psychology.
• Psyc 208, Section 2 (TTh 11-12:30): Special topics – How Social Psychology Can Help You Succeed. Here is the last 208 Syllabus for Jan 2012, which is pretty representative of what to expect. Note: The content of Psyc 208 changes depending on the instructor. If you’re interested in my content, please select my section (Section 2) when registering.
• Psyc 100, Section 2 (continued from Term 1)

Past Courses (Instructor)

2011-2012

• Psyc 100, section 2 (MWF 1-2): Intro Psych, Terms 1 and 2. See the syllabus here.
• Psyc 217, sections 1 (MWF 9-10) and 2 (MWF 10-11): Research Methods, Term 1. See the Research Methods Syllabus here.
• Psyc 218, section 4 (MWF 11-12): Analysis of Behavioural Data, Term 2. Here is the syllabus.
• Psyc 208, section 2 (TTh 11-1230): Special topics – How Social Psychology Can Help You Succeed. See the syllabus here.

2009-2010 and earlier

• Psyc 100, section 6 (MWF 1-2): Intro Psych, Terms 1 and 2. See the Syllabus here!
• Psyc 217, sections 1 (MWF 10-11) and 901 (Tuesday 7-10): Research Methods. See the daytime syllabus here, and night class syllabus here.
• Psyc 208, section 2 (TTh 11-12:30): Special topics – How Social Psychology Can Help You Succeed. Scroll down for more info. Note: The content of Psyc 208 changes depending on the instructor. If you’re interested in my content, please select my section (Section 2) when registering
• Psyc 217: Thinking Clearly about Psychology (Research Methods) — Scroll down for more info, or see the Psyc 217 Syllabus.
• Psyc 100: Introduction to Psychology (Part 2 of 2, second half of 6 credit course, January offering, Dr. Peter Graf taught the fall Part 1 of 2). For more info, please see the Syllabus for details about my portion of the course (Psyc 100 Section 4 Syllabus; Psyc 100 Section 5 Syllabus).
• Psyc 208: Psychology in your life: How social psychology can help you succeed (*New course Winter 2009/2010 Term 1! Scroll down for more info, or see the Syllabus.)
• Psyc 101: Introduction to Psychology (Part 1 of 2, 3 credits, Winter 2009/2010 Term 1) — Syllabus.
• Psyc 217: Thinking Clearly about Psychology (Research Methods) — Winter 2008/2009 Terms 1 and 2, Winter 2009/2010 Term 1
• Social Psychology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University
• Personality Psychology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Past Courses (Teaching Fellow)

• Psyc 546B: Graduate level Analysis of Variance
• Psyc 359: Advanced Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences
• Psyc 308: Social Psychology (tutorial section)

Psyc 208: Psychology in your life: How social psychology can help you succeed

Do you want to find out how to be a more effective student? Join us in an exploration about how the psychology of goal setting, self-control, self-knowledge, group dynamics, and related topics can help you succeed in your current classes and in the future.

• Because of the nature of “Special Topics” courses, every instructor selects his or her own content and approach. If you are considering enrolling, carefully select which section you prefer.
• Here is my syllabus for Fall 2009. Based on feedback from learners that semester, and my own personal reflections on the course, I revamped it substantially for January 2011 and made just a few tweaks for January 2012.
• This course has no pre-requisites. I welcome all UBC students from across campus.

Psyc 217: Thinking Clearly about Psychology

The purpose of this course is to help learners understand, remember, and apply the methods and reasoning behind psychological information and research. This is important because this solid foundation will help learners become critical and informed consumers and creators of psychological research. In class, we often engage in class and group activities and demonstrations of key concepts, as well as discussions of the subtle aspects of the research process. Check out the current syllabus here.

Key Learning Assessments

This course is an essential foundation for Psychology majors that will aid in all further work. Because of the critical role this course plays in the curriculum, I design a set of assessments that challenges learners to work deeply with the material.

• Collaborative Research Project. In this semester-long group project, learners apply the techniques and ideas to creating their own research project. Learners collect data on their peers in class, and do some very basic analyses on these data. All tasks mirror the content as it’s covered in the course (in other words, we walk you through all phases of the research process!). This work culminates in an individual written report of the results. Past students report that this project challenges them to understand the material more deeply than they would without it, but that it’s a fair amount of work.
• Literature Critique. In this short paper, learners are asked to read a brief empirical study from the respected journal Psychological Science, summarize the work, evaluate its merits and limits, and discuss its implications. This critique aims to develop the critical consumer in my learners.
• Midterm and Final Exams. Exams are one opportunity for learners to demonstrate a mastery of course concepts, from specific details to  at both detail and broad levels. In order to assess a range of understanding, and both recall and recognition memory, questions include multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blanks, short answer (1-3 sentences), and longer answers (1 page).