New ToPIX Content: 2/28/13

This update includes additions to the Change Blindness, Perception in the Classroom, Research Methods Video, Statistics Video, Statistics in the Classroom, Gender and Sexuality Video, and Gender and Sexuality in the Classroom pages.

New ToPIX Content

A couple of videos on change blindness were already on ToPIX. However, an HD version of the “Door” Study (Simons & Levin, 1998) replaced an old clip. A few videos on the nature of change blindness in film are now included because they can provide students another context for the phenomenon. See the clip from Star Wars and “the worst stunt double ever” on the Change Blindness page. A link to a related Psychology Today column on change blindness in Hollywood was also posted. (Thanks to Kyle Heller for these!)

Alexis McCall shared information on phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) strips that can be used for demonstrations on the sense of taste, and a springboard into genetics research, or PTC status and psychological outcomes. A general background, recommended sources, materials, and procedure are also provided on the Perception in the Classroom page. If anyone has used a similar activity, please do e-mail me or add to the ToPIX wiki. (A tip of the hat to Alexis!)

Satire finds its way onto ToPIX yet again on the Research Methods Video page and the Statistics Video page. Links to videos on the Onion News Network could spark students’ interest in research methods concepts and help make statistics even more fun. Continuing with the humor… comic strips relevant to statistics concepts were posted to the Statistics in the Classroom page. All laughs are courtesy of Jessica Hartnett. (Thanks Jessica!)

I should also credit contributors to the PSYCHTEACHER listserv for additions to the Gender and Sexuality Video page. Jeff Platt provided a number of commercials and a video that would all be useful for instructors looking to introduce gender roles and media representations. Justice Morath posted a link to a YouTube video, and related blog post on the Bechdel Test. This could be especially timely given Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony. (Thanks Jeff and Justice via PSYCHTEACHER!).

A link to Marianne Miserandino’s Personality Pedagogy wiki was posted to the ToPIX Gender and Sexuality in the Classroom page. (Thanks to Marianne for the reminder on the PSYCHTEACHER listserv!)

If you have any resources to share with your colleagues, please send them my way: TOPIX@TeachPsych.org.