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.