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New ToPIX Content: 1/9/2014

This update includes additions to the Grading Rubrics, Therapy Video, and Statistics in the Classroom pages.

Joanne Zinger graciously made a peer evaluation form she has used for student presentations available via the PSYCHTEACHER listserv (12/23/13). See the Grading Rubrics page for this form, as well as the original article from which it was adapted (i.e., Mitchell & Bakewell, 1995).

Kate Wolfe provided a link to a PBS Newshour video “What DSM-5 Means for Diagnosing Mental Health Patients.” This short video and nearly 40 other videos from Psychiatry.org’s video series could be useful for Introductory Psychology and Abnormal Psychology (via the STP Facebook Group, 1/7/14) Therapy Video page.

Leigh Harrell Williams shared The Journal of Statistics Education and CAUSEweb.org statistics resources (via the STP Facebook Group, 1/8/14). Check out the Statistics in the Classroom page for a treasure trove of activities, stories, and data sets.

Thanks again to Joanne, Kate, and Leigh for their contributions to ToPIX!

If you have found that ToPIX has helped your teaching, please consider contributing! You are welcome to update the wiki yourself or just send me an email with suggestions: (TOPIX@TeachPsych.org). 

New for 2014: The ToPIX SOAR Library

Posted on behalf of Carrie Lloyd, ToPIX Assistant Editor

ToPIX SOAR Library (Student Online Academic Research Library)

New to ToPIX is the SOAR Library (Student Online Academic Research Library) -- a page where college students can post their own empirical research studies. 

I have taught undergraduate research classes for several years and am now teaching a graduate-level research course, and although students get experience conducting their own studies with our student population, it obviously limits them by only having access to one 'type' of participant. Most instructors are, undoubtedly, in this same dilemma. Even with extremely well-conducted research and written products, our students are limited in their chance to get published. My hope is that with this tool, students will be able to increase their ‘N’, and have access to a more representative sample. With this more representative sample, their conclusions will be more generalizable, and thus can increase their chances of getting their work published. On this ToPIX page, students can solicit others to be subjects in their own primary studies.

We also hope that instructors will help promote this site by referring their students to this page as participants. Instructors can give extra credit for participation in addition to requiring students to post their study. Either way, this is a great experience for all the students involved. (What student doesn’t need more research experience??)

Please see the new ToPIX page for more details and instructions on how to get your students’ research posted. SOAR inclusion criteria can be found here.

Thank you!

~Dr. Carrie A. Lloyd

New ToPIX Content: 12/26/13

This update includes additions to the Development in the Classroom, Gender & Sexuality in the Classroom, Development Video, Statistics Video, Perception Video, I/O Video, Careers Video, Psychological Disorders in the News, Psychology Humor pages.

Will you be teaching Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development? If so, check out the Development in the Classroom page. Michael Britt posted a link to an episode of the The Psych Files podcast with a number of effective mnemonics to help students memorize the order and key ideas in each of Kohlberg's Stages.

A tip of the hat goes to Christie Cathey (via STP Facebook Group 11/19/13) for reminding us of the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory. Assignment ideas, instructor resources, and an online version of the ASI available were posted here on ToPIX. Visit the Gender & Sexuality in the Classroom page for more.

Big thanks go to Michael Britt for the following posts to video pages. First, if you need some mnemonic imagery to memorize Freud’s stages of psychosexual development, check out the Development Video page. Two new videos for Statistics and Research Methods instructors were posted to the Statistics Video page. See the videos on experiments and factorial design. If you are teaching depth perception in Intro or Sensation & Perception, check out the Perception video page for a 12 minute podcast. Lastly, Michael shared an podcast that could be used in Intro, I/O Psych, or an Intro to the Psych Major course. The podcast helps dispel myths about what I/O psychologists do. Check it out on the I/O Videos page.

Continuing with the career theme is Kit Nast’s post to the Career Videos page. There you will find interviews with people of various occupations: Case Manager, Clinical Psychologist, School Psychologist, and University Professor. You may even see some familiar faces!

Jessica Hartnett posted links to an NPR story on the problems faced by dishonorably discharged veterans when they attempt to seek health care (including mental health care) following dishonorable discharge from the military. Read more on the Psychological Disorders in the News page.

And the last update of 2013 is a new page, Psychology Humor. If you are looking for a repository of psychology memes and humor, bookmark this link to a Pinterest Board. Some of the cartoons, memes, and the like could be great for presentations. Hat tip to Carol Furchner via the STP Facebook Group.  

Thanks again to Michael, Christie, Kit, Jessica, and Carol for their contributions to ToPIX!

If you have found that ToPIX has helped your teaching, please consider contributing! You are welcome to update the wiki yourself or just send me an email with suggestions: (TOPIX@TeachPsych.org). 

New ToPIX Content: 11/28/13

This update includes additions to the I/O Psychology in the News, Neuroscience Video, Development Video, Therapy Video, and Gender & Sexuality pages.

Jessica Hartnett posted links to the news story on the Miami Dolphins' Richie Incognito and his harassment of fellow player Jonathan Martin. Coverage of the story touches on workplace harassment and culture. Read more on the I/O Psychology in the News page.

Check out the Neuroscience Video page for a podcast on H.M.'s Brain and the History of Memory (courtesy of Erica Kleinknecht O'Shea via the STP Facebook Group 11/25/13), and video “How Memory Works” (courtesy of Alicia Briganti Causey via the STP Facebook Group 11/25/13). 

If you are teaching Developmental Psychology, see the Development Video page for Howard Gardner’s talk, “The App Generation: Identity, Intimacy, and Imagination in the Digital Era” (Courtesy of Rena Blackwood via the STP Facebook Group 11/20/13).

See the Therapy Video page for a TED Talk on the nature of abnormality, "Strange answers to the psychopath test" (Courtesy of KitKat Harper via the STP Facebook Group 10/31/13). 

Roger Bingham’s video “The Sexual Brain” was posted to the Gender & Sexuality Video page (Courtesy of Ami Rezec Wegenek via the STP Facebook Group 10/23/13). 

Thanks again to Jessica, Erica, Alicia, Rena, KitKat, and Ami for their contributions to ToPIX!

If you have found that ToPIX has helped your teaching, please consider contributing! You are welcome to update the wiki yourself or just send me an email with suggestions: (TOPIX@TeachPsych.org). 

New ToPIX Content: 10/17/13

New ToPIX Content: 10/17/13

This update includes additions to the Grading Rubrics page, Human Factors in the News, Psychological Disorders Video, Social Video, and Cognitive Video pages.

Bill Altman posted a Human Development Portfolio Rubric from Nicole Kras to the Grading Rubrics page. Check out the page here or go directly to the rubric here.

Jessica Hartnett posted a link to an NPR story about human factors issues as they relate to subway map preferences in Boston. Read more on the Human Factors in the News page. 

Doug Maynard posted a link to the “This American Life” radio show, Episode 507: Confessions. Excerpts of the show could be used for topics spanning the areas of Psychological Disorders (obsessive-compulsive disorder), Social Psychology (social influence), or Cognition (as it relates to confirmation bias).

Thanks again to Bill, Jessica, and Doug for their contributions to ToPIX!

If you have found ToPIX useful, please consider contributing your suggestions for content! You are welcome to update the wiki yourself or simply shoot me an email: (TOPIX@TeachPsych.org). 

New ToPIX Content: 9/19/13

This update includes additions to the Song List, Cognition in the Classroom, Learning in the Classroom, Neuroscience in the Classroom, Operant Conditioning in the Classroom, Perception in the Classroom, Social in the Classroom, Classical Conditioning Demos, Taste Demos, Vision Demos, Learning Video, Neuroscience Video, and Statistics Video pages.

Remember the Electric Slide? Julie Carpenter takes us back to 1989 with her contribution to the Song List. Use the Electric Slide for a Neuroscience unit. Check out the YouTube video and lyrics here. 

Demonstrations of the serial position curve, schemas, and priming were posted to the Cognition in the Classroom page. A classical conditioning demo was posted to the Learning in the Classroom page. Both page updates were courtesy of Joseph Swope via the PSYCHTEACHER listserv.

A link to the G2C Brain, the BrainView app, an action potential animation, and the speed of neural impulse demonstration were all posted to the Neuroscience in the Classroom page. A big thanks goes out to Jaclyn Spivey and Martha Boenau (via the STP Facebook Group), and Joseph Swope (via the PSYCHTEACHER listserv).

Operant conditioning can be discussed after a demonstration of a token economy. Ideas for a demonstration are courtesy of Joseph Swope (via the PSYCHTEACHER listserv) and available here. 

Joseph Swope also provided an echo location demonstration for the Perception in the classroom page, and his conformity demonstration was posted to the Social in the Classroom page. Thanks again, Joseph!

Jeff Stowell posted a classic demonstration of Classical Conditioning to the Classical Conditioning demos page.

More demonstrations by Joseph Swope were added to the Taste Demos page, and Vision Demos page.

Cookie Monster learns a lesson from Tom Hiddleston in a YouTube video that was posted to the Learning Video page. Thanks again, Jeff!

A TED Talk on chemical reactions and neural impulses was posted to the Neuroscience Video page. This find is courtesy of Steve Jones via the STP Facebook Group.

Lastly, Andy Field explains the Central Limit Theorem through an example that includes a population of 100,000 zombies and a discussion of how many blows to the head will kill a zombie. Check out the Statistics video page if this approach may resonate with your students. A hat tip goes to Jessica Hartnett for this video (via the STP Facebook Group).

New ToPIX Content: 8/22/13

This update includes additions to the Statistics in the News, Statistics Video, History Video, Learning Video, and Plagiarism in the Classroom pages. 


Need to sell the importance of statistics to your Stats or Methods students? Statisticians are being called in to determine whether public policy is ethical. Check out this update to the Statistics in the News page about PA's Voter ID Law. This update was posted by Assistant Editor, Jessica Hartnett, (Not Awful and Boring.Blogspot).

Also see the Statistics Video page (courtesy of Assistant Editor, Jessica Hartnett, via Not Awful and Boring.Blogspot) for problems that arise when the media misinterpret research findings. Gerd Gigernezer argues that these practices are unethical. 

A student-produced video on Phineas Gage was posted to the History Video page (courtesy of Amanda O'Bryan via the STP Facebook Group). 

Two videos that illustrate classical and operant conditioning (the viral Classical Conditioning at BGSU, and the Real Salsa Dancing Dog) were posted to the Learning Video page. Thanks Maya Sen and Sharon Richards, respectively, for contributing via the STP Facebook Group.

A new ToPIX page, Plagiarism in the Classroom, was created to accommodate Sue O'Donnell's recommendation of online plagiarism tutorials (via the STP Facebook Group).

Thanks Jessica, Amanda, Maya, Sharon, and Sue for your contributions to ToPIX!

If you have any ideas or resources to share with colleagues, please send them to TOPIX@TeachPsych.org.

New ToPIX Content: 8/8/13

This update includes additions to the Statistics in the News, I/O in the Classroom, Memory Video, and Neuroscience Video

Topics such as the link between suicide and coffee, health and where you live, and vaccines and autism can be used to spice up Stats and Methods lessons. These materials for lessons on the nature of correlational research can be found on the Statistics in the News page (courtesy of Sue Frantz via Twitter). 

Another look at the Hawthorne Effect was added to the I/O in the Classroom page (also courtesy of Sue Frantz via Twitter).

A TED Talk, "Feats of Memory Anyone Can Do" by Joshua Foer was posted to the Memory Video page (courtesy of Jaclyn Spivey via the STP Facebook Group). 

Video links were updated, and a teaching guide for "Pieces of Mind: The Man with Two Brains" was added to the Neuroscience Video page. 

Thanks Sue, and Jaclyn for your contributions to ToPIX!

If you have any ideas or resources to share with colleagues before the Fall, please send them to TOPIX@TeachPsych.org.

New ToPIX Content: 7/25/13

This update includes additions to the Games in the Classroom, Neuroscience Video, and Social in the Classroom pages.


Since last #ToPIXThursdays, Xin Zhao posted links to a variety of PowerPoint game templates. Intro Psych instructors and game show fans alike should check these out on the Games in the Classroom page.

Another TED Talk (“Exploring the Mind of a Killer”) was added to the Neuroscience Video page courtesy of Catherine Rawn via Twitter. This subject matter is another way to increase student interest in neuroscience.

A link to a short column and video was posted to the Social in the Classroom page. Thanks to Ali O’Malley via Twitter for finding this! A class could be instructed to play “Guess Who?” with the prompts on the video. The second half of the video includes a summary of study results and reference to a recently published article.

Thanks Xin, Catherine, and Ali for your contributions to ToPIX!

If you have any ideas or resources to share with colleagues before the Fall, please send them to TOPIX@TeachPsych.org.

New ToPIX Content: 7/11/13

This update includes additions to “In the Classroom” pages (Stats, History, and Sensation), “In the News” pages (IO, and Stats), and the Statistics Video page.


New ToPIX Content

This past month, Assistant ToPIX Editor, Jessica Hartnett, posted a treasure trove of Stats resources. Check out the Stats in the Classroom page for a comic strip and blog posts related to topics such as APA formatting for graphs, simple graphs to describe everyday phenomena, and visual comparisons of distributions. In addition, Jessica noted an example of how Bloomberg upset their clients as a way to demonstrate the power of data to Stats students. See this update, and other resources on the Stats in the News page.  Another recent event that upset people-- New England Patriots and NFL fans in particular -- is the Aaron Hernandez scandal. Jessica found a story from the Wall Street Journal on assessment of NFL rookies’ cognitive abilities and personality tendencies. See this on the IO in the News page. A big thanks goes to Jessica for these finds!

Assistant ToPIX Editor, Aaron Richmond, posted a link to Doug Woody’s chapter “Engaging Students in History and Systems of Psychology Courses” on the History in the Classroom page. Woody outlines the use of faculty debates and student role-playing in his chapter. Also, Aaron posted Cindy’s Gibson’s “Sensation and Perception: Activities to Promote Learning and Clarify Student Perceptions” on the Sensation in the Classroom page. Gibson provides helpful suggestions for teaching topics such as eye structure, auditory concepts, and smell identification. Thanks for these, Aaron!

Read Doug Woody and Cindy Gibson’s chapters as well as the many other FREE STP E-Books at http://teachpsych.org/ebooks/index.php#.Ud93UWQ0hls.

Lastly, students interested in the CSI shows and forensic psychology should find this example of the Chi-Square Test of Independence (fingerprint type and sex) clear and enjoyable.  Watch a short clip on the Statistics Video page. A tip of the hat goes to Michael Britt via Twitter for this!

Thanks again to Jessica, Aaron, and Michael for their contributions! And stay tuned throughout the summer for more ToPIX Thursdays. As you are preparing for the Fall, please consider sending along any resources you have found particularly helpful to TOPIX@TeachPsych.org.

New ToPIX Content: 5/30/13

This update includes additions to “In the Classroom” pages (Cognition, Development, Neuroscience, Perception, Research Methods), and the Statistics Video page.

New ToPIX Content

This month, our “In the Classroom” pages received quite a bit of new content. An article on why the jigsaw method may be especially relevant for the Cognitive Psychology course was posted to the Cognition in the Classroom page.

Assistant ToPIX Editor, Aaron Richmond, posted a compendium of activities for child and adolescent psychology to the Development in the Classroom page, and a very helpful article for those teaching Neuro on the Neuroscience in the Classroom page. Students often appreciate mnemonics and strategies to master course content, and so the article on the keyword mnemonic is especially appreciated. Aaron also started a flurry of posts to the Statistics in the Classroom page on “Dance, Dance, Revolution,” application exercises in Stats, and a demo using regular class attenders and slackers. Thanks Aaron!

Also, those of you who teach the Holway-Boring (1941) experiment in Cog or in S&P may want to visit the Perception in the Classroom page for a recently published demonstration of this classic study.

Assistant ToPIX Editor, Jessica Hartnett, offered another way to interest students in research design through real-life examples (e.g., “Packages sealed with “Atheist” tape go missing 10x more often than controls”). See the Research Methods in the Classroom page. As Jessica notes, students could critique the research design and develop their own to test related empirical questions.

Thanks again to Aaron and Jessica for their contributions!

Lastly, this month’s updates included a number of recent Teaching of Psychology articles. If you have published an activity or demonstration in ToP (or any pedagogical journal) please consider sharing your materials with ToPIX for the STP community. An example of a recent ToP article with a video and corresponding article was posted to the Statistics Video page.

If you have are interested in joining the ToPIX team, or can point out any online resources you have found particularly helpful-- please send them to TOPIX@TeachPsych.org.