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.

New ToPIX Content: 4/18/13

This update includes additions to the Games in the Classroom, Neuroscience Video, Psychological Disorders Video, Research Methods in the News, Statistics in the News, Neuroscience in the Classroom, and Memory Video pages.

New ToPIX Content

Jamie Davis, Lisa Hager, and Errol Magidson shared some additional links to Jeopardy templates and games, as well as some suggestions for implementation of Jeopardy in the classroom (via the PSYCHTEACHER listserv 3/21- 3/23/ 2013). These updates can be found on the Games in the Classroom page. 

Steve Jones posted a link to a TED Talk on the adolescent brain (via the STP Facebook Group, 3/29/2013), and you can find it on the Neuroscience Video page. 

Another TED Talk was put up by Kara Ayers and Crystal Steltenpohl, who shared a video on Elyn Saks (via the STP Facebook Group 3/19/2013). This was posted to the Psychological Disorders Video page. 

Ali O’Malley gave the Statistics and Research Methods instructors among us another example of causality and validity in the media. Her link to the NY Times article “Does This Ad Make Me Fat?” (shared via the STP Facebook group on 3/16/2013) was posted to the Research Methods in the News page. 

Assistant ToPIX Editor, Jessica Hartnett, offers another way to illustrate correlation, the limitations of archival research, and the dreaded “third variable” problem through a fun example: chocolate consumption. Check it out on the Statistics in the News page. 

ToPIX Editor, Sue Frantz, posted “Neuroscience and the Classroom: Making Connections” to the Neuroscience in the Classroom page. It appears to be a resource for educators, but elements of the course could also be relevant in developing assignments for students.

Stephen Chew recently e-mailed his exam wrapper. This resource was posted to the Memory Video page on ToPIX. It could be used to develop a diagnostic tool for students after an assessment, or used along with Stephen’s Videos on How to Study series. Either way, a Word document is available to get you started.

A big thanks to Stephen, Sue, Jessica, Ali, Crystal, Kara, Steve, Errol, Lisa, and Jamie for their contributions!

If you have any suggestions for a new ToPIX resource, or any resources to share with colleagues, please send them to TOPIX@TeachPsych.org.

New ToPIX Content: 3/14/13

This update includes additions to the Research Methods in the Classroom, Neuroscience in the News, the Change Blindness page, Social in the News, Learning Video, Perception in the News, Perception in the Classroom, Statistics in the Classroom, Learning Video, Psychological Disorders Video, and the Movie List.

New ToPIX Content

Assistant ToPIX Editor, Jessica Hartnett, posted a link to a blog post and Dogbert comic on how NOT to collect phone survey data. This can be found on the Research Methods in the Classroom page.

A BBC News article on brain-to-brain communication in rats, an ABC News article on frontal lobe ablation, and a link to more mapping of Phineas Gage's brain, were posted to the Neuroscience in the News page courtesy of Mike Palij and Stephen Black (via the TIPS listserv), respectively.

The Change Blindness page now includes a recent Transport for London advertisement that can be used as an alternative to the "invisible gorilla" test. Thanks to Stephen Chew for passing this along!

Recent New York Times coverage of priming research and reproducibility was added to the Social in the News page. Thanks again, Mike Palij (via the TIPS listserv).

A news article and YouTube video of Mariska, the lock-picking horse, were both added to the Learning Video page. (Nice find Gary Peterson! -- via the TIPS listserv). This clip could be used to launch discussion or introduce shaping, observational learning, and related concepts.

An audio clip from NPR and article speaks to inattention, and attentional blindness in radiologists. This was added to the Perception in the News page courtesy of Miguel Roig (via the TIPS listserv).

If you are interested in discussing PTC detection and "supertasters," check out the Perception in the Classroom page for a link to the BBC's Supertaster questionnaire.

The Statistics in the Classroom page was reorganized by Jessica Hartnett, and now includes a number of updates: examples from the internet, humor, in-class activities, and statistics in the news. Check them out!

A new TED Education video was posted to the Learning Video page. It can serve as another way to help students differentiate between classical and operant conditioning. Thanks Amy Barth!

And last-- but definitely not least-- are a whole slew of updates to the Psychological Disorders Video page courtesy of Bob DuBois, Jeanie Kent Duncan, Steve Jones, Harry Pitsikalis, and Carol Furchner (via the STP Facebook Group). If you teach topics such as schizophrenia, incarceration of the mentally ill, and treatment for inmates, go ahead and visit this page on ToPIX. The ToPIX Movie List was also updated to reflect some of these additions.

If you have any suggestions for a new ToPIX resource, or any resources to share with colleagues, please send them to TOPIX@TeachPsych.org.

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.