“Everyone is aware of people who intentionally act out in oppressive ways. But there is less attention given to the millions of people who know inequities exist and want to be part of the solution. Removing what silenc-es them and stands in their way can tap an enormous potential for energy and change.”

— Allan Johnson, 2006, p. 125

Psychologists are rightfully concerned about the ineq-uities and injustices that result from the oppression of social groups, and great strides have been made

in understanding the biases and motivations that result in this oppression. Without question, this attention will and

should continue as much work remains. Yet, echoing John-son’s point, the authors of the updated APA Guidelines for the Undergraduate Major: Version 2.0 (2013) draw atten-tion to the costs of focusing too heavily on the oppression side of the equation in our classrooms and call for a bal-anced coverage that also frames diversity issues as problems that can and should be overcome.

How can we achieve that balance? To begin, it is important to realize that the millennials are squarely among the millions of people who embrace diversity and that they envision a future where true equality among racial groups is achieved. A recent MTV Strategic Insights Survey (2014), for example, found that 89 percent of millennials believe everyone should

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FEBRUARY 2015 VOL. 25, NO. 1

MULTICULTURAL COMPETENCEMARY E. KITE, PHD Ball State University

2

FEATURED STORY

Multicultural Competence ........................................................................... 1

ARTICLES

APA establishes a new Committee on Associate and Baccalaureate Education .............................................................................. 6

Shifting responsibility .................................................................................. 9

NEWS FROM TOPSS AND PT@CC

New TOPSS unit lesson plan: Personality .................................................... 8

OTHER NEWS

APF professional development awards for high school psychology teachers .................................................................................... 11

APA/Clark University Workshop for High School Teachers ....................... 13

APF high school psychology teacher network grants .................................. 14

Reminders! TOPSS members are reminded of these upcoming deadlines in March ..................................................................................... 15

Call for International Baccalaureate Examiners .......................................... 16

Call for National Conference Site Proposals ............................................... 16

BOOK REVIEW

“Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, and the Crime that Changed America” .............................................................................. 12

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

Fun and quick ideas .................................................................................... 15

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Northwest Conference on Teaching Introductory Psychology .................... 14

Annual conferences of the Regional Psychological Associations .................. 14

PTN FEB 2015 VOL. 25, NO. 1

PSYCHOLOGY TEACHER NETWORK is published quarterly by the Education Directorate of the American Psychological Association (APA).

ADDRESS EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE TO:

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Address inquiries regarding

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COEDITORSMartha Boenau, MS mboenau@apa.org

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Robin Hailstorks, PhD rhailstorks@apa.org

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSCABE To be named

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be treated the same, no matter their race. Similarly, Howe and Strauss (2003) found that millennial college students see racial diversity as a very important and appealing part of the college experience. The value students place on racial diversity is supported by research on the benefits of studying diversity. These include an increased store of scientifically valid knowledge about human behavior (Trimble, Stevenson, & Worrell, 2003), sharpened critical thinking skills, and an overall improvement in both personal and cognitive development (see Dunn, Gurung, Naufel, & Wilson, 2013; Gurin, Dey, Gurin, & Huratado, 2003; Kite & Littleford, 2014, for reviews).

It is heartening to know that our students are eager to address diversity issues, but a closer look at how the millennials responded to other questions on the MTV survey reveals that students are less knowledgeable about the complexities of diversity than it seems at first glance. Consider, for example, that although 81 percent express support for embracing and celebrating diversity, 73 percent believe never considering race would improve society, and 70 percent support a “colorblind” approach to race. That our students fail to see the disconnect between celebrating diversity while ignoring color suggests we have our work cut out for us.

It is also telling that European American students and millennials of color see this picture differently; 65 percent of students of color believe White people have more opportunities today than do members of racial minority groups, whereas only 39 percent of Whites endorse this belief, a finding consistent with other data on disparities between minority and majority group members’ views of prejudice (see Whitley & Kite, 2010, for a review). Many White students (48%) believe discrimination against White people is a problem equal to discrimination against racial minority groups, whereas only 27 percent of millennials of color hold this view. These data are consistent with Prieto’s (2009) point that many of our students are not sufficiently prepared to address difficult topics such as the experience of being marginalized or how our society perpetuates prejudice and discrimination.

Addressing that deficiency can appear daunting but, fortunately, much has been written about how we can better prepare our students for a diverse world (see Dunn et al., 2013; Gurung & Prieto, 2009; Kite & Littleford, 2014 for reviews). A good starting point is to think about diversity as a skill that can be taught; our role as instructors, then, is to provide students with the tools they need to learn those skills. Mio, Barker-Hackett and Tumambing’s (2012) definition of multicultural competence outlines what these skills should encompass, including (a) developing an awareness of one’s own cultural values and biases, (b) learning to value others’ worldviews and (c) developing a set of culturally appropriate interpersonal skills.

Turning again to evidence from the MTV survey, we can see that many of our students lack this multicultural competence: only 30 percent of White respondents reported that their families talked about race, and this percentage rises only to 46 percent among millennials of color. I see this reflected in my students’ self-reports about their fears and concerns about discussing diversity. Results from one recent class are typical: 60 percent reported worrying about offending someone, and 28 percent worried about the potential for disagreement. Addressing such concerns can go a long way toward allaying students’ worries and establishing a safe place for students to talk about cultural diversity (Gurung & Prieto, 2009).

In my limited space here, I want to focus specifically on the terminology that is integral to discussing diversity. In my courses, I present a taxonomy of terminology that has three parts: ethnophaulisms, or ethnic slurs; outdated terms, which in today’s language are considered offensive but the speaker is likely unaware of this; and preferred terms, which reflect the language social group members choose to label their own group, such as Asian American, blind person, or gay. Most students readily recognize which terms are ethnic slurs and, generally, it is sufficient to acknowledge that these terms are unlikely to be used in the classroom. Indeed, when these terms are discussed in academic and many other settings, they are often referred to by their capitalized first letter because of the discomfort many have about using the full term in any context.

Addressing the use of outdated terms is also generally straightforward. There are many examples of such terms, such as the use of “Orientals” to refer to Asians, “mentally retarded” to refer to the intellectually impaired or “tranny” to describe a transgender person. As Solomon (2012) notes, “[t]he general population doesn’t know that midget is an insult, and most people who use the word do so without ill intent” (p. 126). I assure my students that if they happen to use an outdated term, I will recognize that they likely meant no offense and that I will also provide them with an updated term. Of course, it is also useful to provide a list of outdated terms and their replacements.

Addressing preferred terms is more complex, in part because understanding when and why specific terms are used is part of a larger, academic discussion that can be both nuanced and confusing even for scholars. Consider this statement, posted

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That our students fail to see the disconnect between celebrating diversity while ignoring color suggests we have our work cut out for us.

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on the website the Grammarist: “The term African American … today it is often perceived as carrying a self-conscious political correctness that is unnecessary in informal contexts. In informal speech and writing, black is often preferred and is rarely considered offensive” (African American versus Black, 2014). This statement perhaps raises more questions than it answers (e.g., is the classroom an informal context?) and has a pejorative tone. Moreover, as Rosenblum and Travis (2012) note, “[d]eciding what name to use for a category of people is not easy. It is unlikely that all members of the category use the same name [and] the name members use for one another may not be acceptable for outsiders to use” (p. 7). As another example, some individuals within the disabled community advocate for “people first” language because terms such as “people with disabilities” focuses on the person rather than the disability. Yet, as Oliver (2012) notes, some disabled people believe that their disability is inseparable from their self and eschew people first language. Addressing such complexities is well beyond the scope of most undergraduate diversity courses, but a conversation about the basis for such discussions can go a long way toward helping students understand the issues. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association Fifth Edition (2001) provides a brief but informative discussion of these issues (see pp. 61-76). For example, Blacks who are not from Africa reasonably object to being labeled African Americans, and not all Africans are Black (so, in the U.S., we probably would not refer to a White South African immigrant as African American). Similarly, the use of broad categories such as “Asian” and “Hispanic” merges people from very different cultures into one. I find it helpful to point out that, in U.S. culture, we easily recognize the distinctions between the British, the French and the Germans and do not refer to their citizens collectively as “Europeans.” U.S. students are less well educated about the differences among people from Cuba, Mexico or Guatemala, but to citizens of those cultures, the distinctions are certainly meaningful. If instructors have strong preferences about preferred terminology, they should make students aware of them. However, instructors should also emphasize that educated people disagree about preferred terminology, both within and across disciplines; the overarching issue in such discussions is avoiding bias.

Over the course of several semesters, I have found that explicitly discussing terminology puts my students more at ease for engaging in conversations about diversity. It also gives me a chance to talk about my own learning process. For example, I, myself, only recently learned that “midget” was offensive and have worked to delete the term from my vocabulary. Letting students know this highlights that learning is a process in which we all engage. Although a discussion of terminology is only a beginning, it is one straightforward way to set the stage for engaging in the difficult dialogues that are inherent in teaching about diversity. For more on developing students’ multicultural competence, I invite you to visit my website, breakingprejudice.org, which includes ready-to-use teaching activities, public service announcements and videos categorized by diversity-related topic.

REFERENCESAmerican Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual for the

American Psychological Association (5thed.). Washington, DC: Ameri-can Psychological Association.

American Psychological Association. (2013). APA guidelines for the un-dergraduate psychology major: Version 2.0. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/about/psymajor-guidelines.pdf

Dunn, D. S., Gurung, R. A. R., Naufel, K. Z., & Wilson, J. H. (2013). Teaching about controversial issues: An introduction. In D. S. Dunn, R. A. R. Gurung, K. Z. Naufel, & J. H. Wilson (Eds.), Controversy in the psychology classroom: Using hot topics to foster critical thinking (pp. 3-10). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi: 10.1037/14038-001

The Grammarist. (2014). African American vs. black (2014). Retrieved from grammarist.com/usage/African-American-black/

Gurin, P. Y., Dey, E. L., Gurin, G., & Hurtado, S. (2003). How does racial/ethnic diversity promote education? The Western Journal of Black Studies, 27, 20-29.

Gurung, R. A. R. (2009). Got culture? Incorporating culture into the cur-riculum. In R. A. R. Gurung, & Prieto, L. R. (Eds.), Getting culture: Incorporating diversity across the curriculum (pp. 11-22). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

Howe, N., & Strauss, W. (2007). Millennials go to college: Strategies for a new generation on campus (2nd ed.). Great Falls, VA: Lifecourse Associates.

Johnson, A. G. (2006). Privilege, power, and difference (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

Kite, M. E., & Littleford, L. N. (2014). Teaching about diversity across the undergraduate psychology curriculum. In D. S. Dunn (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of undergraduate psychology education. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxford-hb/9780199933815.013.012

Mio, J. S., Barker-Hackett, L., & Tumambing, J. (2012). Multicultural psychology: Understanding our diverse communities (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

MTV Strategic Insights (2014).Executive summary. Retrieved from http://cdn.lookdifferent.org/content/studies/000/000/001/DBR_MTV_Bias_Survey_Executive_Summary.pdf?1398858309

Oliver, M. (2013). What is disability? In K. E. Rosenblum & T.-M. Travis (Eds.), The meaning of difference (6th ed., pp. 167-171). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

Prieto, L. R. (2009). Teaching about diversity. In R. A. R. Gurung & L. R. Prieto (Eds.), Getting culture: Incorporating diversity across the cur-riculum (pp. 23-39). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

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Although a discussion of terminology is only a beginning, it is one straight-forward way to set the stage for engag-ing in the difficult dialogues that are inherent in teaching about diversity.

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Rosenblum, K. E., & Travis, T.M. (2012). The meaning of difference (6th edition). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

Solomon, A. (2012). Far from the tree: Parents, children, and the search for identity. New York, NY: Scribner.

Trimble, J. E., Stevenson, M. R., & Worrell, J. P. (2003). Toward an inclu-sive psychology:

Infusing the introductory psychology textbook with diversity content. Wash-ington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Whitley, B. E., Jr., & Kite, M. E. (2010). The psychology of prejudice and

discrimination (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth. PTN

Mary Kite is professor of psychological science and director of Un-dergraduate Studies at Ball State University. Strongly committed to psychology education at all levels, she is past-president of The Soci-ety for the Teaching of Psychology (STP, APA Division 2); she has held a number of other leadership roles for STP. She also has been a leader of the Midwestern Psychological Association, including president. A fellow of APA Divisions 2, 9, 35 & 44, she maintains an active research program in the area of stereotyping and prejudice, including co-authoring The Psychology of Prejudice and Discrimination, with Bernard Whitley, Jr.; Whitley and Kite also co-authored Prin-ciples of Research in Behavioral Science. She received the APF Charles L. Brewer Award for Distinguished Teaching in Psychology in 2014 and a Presidential Citation from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology in 2011. Other honors include being named a Minority Access National Role Model and being recognized as a G. Stanley Hall Lecturer for the American Psychological Association. She was a Virginia Ball Center Fellow for Ball State in 2013. The resulting immersive learning project was awarded Honorable Mention in the Social Psychological Network’s Action Teaching Award competition in 2014 (see breakingprejudice.org).

MARY KITE

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FROM DECEMBER 2014 PTNThe article “Augmented reality in the classroom: Aurasma” incorrectly listed the authors’ affiliations. Jill Compher (jill.compher@gcisd.net) is currently an AP Psychology teacher at Colleyville Heritage High School, Colleyville, TX. She teaches AP Psychology and is a College Board consultant. She is an AP Psychology reader for the College Board and was a 2010 semifinalist for the O’Donnell Texas AP Teacher Award.

Charles Cooper (ccooper@esc11.net) is now a digital learning consultant at the Education Service Center, Region 11 in Ft. Worth, TX. He teaches college government and was awarded the 2012 Humanities Texas Teacher of the Year Award.

CORRECTION...

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During the 2014 APA Convention in Washington, DC, the APA Council of Representatives reaffirmed APA’s commitment to undergraduate education in psychol-

ogy by establishing a new APA Committee on Associate and Baccalaureate Education (CABE). This action was made possible by expanding the mission of the existing APA Committee on Psychology Teachers at Community Colleges (PT@CC).

Although APA had a Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUE) until the late 1980s, this committee, along with several others, was discontinued during a reorganization in APA. Through the reorganization, APA also formed the directorates for Science, Education, Practice and Public Interest. Within the Education Directorate, the Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) was created, including a BEA Panel on Precollege and Undergraduate Education.

During the past 25 years, APA and BEA have addressed a number of priorities related to undergraduate education. Initiatives included the 1991 APA National Conference on Enhancing the Quality of Undergraduate Education in Psychology, the Psychology Partnerships Project (P3), the 1999 National Forum on Psychology Partnerships and the

2008 National Conference on Undergraduate Education in Psychology. BEA also continued its annual support of precollege and undergraduate teaching conferences through its BEA grants programs that have distributed between $5,000-10,000 per year for the last 15 years to enhance the teaching of psychology at national, regional and local conferences.

At the same time, important policy documents such as the Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major (2006, 2013) and the “Principles for Quality Undergraduate Education in Psychology” (2011) were created. APA also published the “Assessment Cyberguide” (2009) and a book on

APA ESTABLISHES A NEW COMMITTEE ON ASSOCIATE AND BACCALAUREATE EDUCATION

MARTHA BOENAU, MS APA Education Directorate

This action was made possible by expanding the mission of the existing APA Committee on Psychology Teachers at Community Colleges (PT@CC).

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“Undergraduate Education in Psychology: A Blueprint for the Future of the Discipline” (Halpern, 2010), which contributed much to our understanding about undergraduate psychology. The Office of Precollege and Undergraduate Education continued to publish quarterly issues of the Psychology Teacher Network and began an online newsletter for psychology undergraduates called the Psychology Student Network. In 2014, a national survey on undergraduate study in psychology was completed, which has provided important data about the undergraduate curriculum and student outcomes. In 2015, APA will begin publishing a new journal on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. These major initiatives were made possible through the work of the BEA, BEA task forces, working groups and steering committees over the past decade and the APA members who served on these groups.

Thus while APA has made important contributions to undergraduate education, much of this work occurred through the creation of ad hoc committees since a committee dedicated to the breadth of undergraduate education was not in place within the APA governance structure.

WHAT IS CABE?BEA received consistent feedback over the years that the needs and concerns of baccalaureate psychology programs were not sufficiently represented by either the PT@CC Committee or the BEA Panel on Precollege and Undergraduate Education. Thus, through a series of conversations between these two groups, the PT@CC and BEA Panel leaders recommended that APA consider creating a single, larger committee with a broader, more coordinated mission representing both associate and baccalaureate education in psychology.

As approved by Council last August, the new APA Committee on Associate and Baccalaureate Education (CABE) consists of four members representing faculty at associate degree institutions/community colleges and four members representing faculty at institutions granting baccalaureate degrees. Council voted to have members of the PT@CC Committee complete their terms of office on CABE, and four new members were appointed by BEA last fall. Under the leadership of co-chairs, the members of CABE are:

• Jane Halonen, PhD, University of West Florida, Co-Chair (2015-2016)

• Patricia Puccio, EdD, DePaul University, Co-Chair (2015)• Regan Gurung, PhD, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

(2015-2017)• Kris Leppien-Christensen, PhD, Saddleback College

(2015-2016)• Helen Taylor, PhD, Bellevue College (2015-2016)• Linda Petroff, PhD, Bellevue University (2015)• Jennifer Lynn Wagner Thompson, PhD, University of

Maryland (2015)• Jason Young, PhD, Hunter College (2015-2017)

A call for nominations will be circulated in 2015 to fill three vacancies on CABE for 2016.

WHAT ABOUT PT@CC?Based on recommendations from the 1991 St. Mary’s Conference on Enhancing the Quality of Undergraduate Education in Psychology, BEA established a Community College Working Group (CCWG). This group met for several years and subsequently developed a proposal for a membership group and a governance group known as the APA Psychology Teachers at Community Colleges (PT@CC) and the PT@CC Committee, respectively. In 2001, the Council of Representatives approved the establishment of the PT@CC Committee.

For more than a decade, the PT@CC Committee thrived under the direction of its six governance members. The PT@CC Committee worked to support the needs of psychology teachers at community colleges through the development of teaching resources and the creation of opportunities for professional development, leadership and networking. Through these efforts, APA has seen steady growth in the membership of the APA Community College Teacher Affiliates, who belong to the professional membership group known as the APA Psychology Teachers at Community Colleges (PT@CC).

While the PT@CC Committee has been merged into CABE, fully half of CABE members will continue to represent community colleges. Moreover, the APA Community College Teacher Affiliates will continue as the members of PT@CC.

WHAT’S NEXT?CABE will meet for the first time in Washington, DC, on March 27-29, 2015. This will be an opportunity for the committee to establish its priorities moving forward. With an estimated 1.2–1.6 million students taking introductory psychology and more than 100,000 students graduating with bachelor’s degrees in psychology each year, CABE will have an important role in developing programs and initiatives that promote psychology as a STEM science and as a discipline that prepares students for the workforce and graduate study in psychology.

CABE will have an important role in developing programs and initiatives that promote psychology as a STEM science and as a discipline that prepares students for the workforce and graduate study in psychology.

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REFERENCESAmerican Psychological Association. (2013). APA guidelines for the under-

graduate psychology major: Version 2.0. Washington, DC: Author.American Psychological Association. (2011). Principles for quality under-

graduate education in psychology. American Psychologist, 66, 850-856. doi:10.1037/a0025181

Halpern, D. F. (Ed.). (2010). Undergraduate education in psychology: A blueprint for the future of the discipline. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Pusateri, T., Halonen, J. S., Hill, B., & McCarthy, M. (2009). The assess-ment cyberguide for learning goals and outcomes (2nd ed.). Retrieved from www.apa.org/ed/governance/bea/assessment-cyberguide-v2.

pdf PTN

Martha Boenau is the associate director for Precollege and Undergraduate Education in the APA Education Directorate.

MARTHA BOENAU

NEW TOPSS UNIT LESSON PLAN: PERSONALITY

The APA Education Directorate and the TOPSS Committee are pleased to announce a new TOPSS unit lesson plan on “Personality.” Written by Simine Vazire, PhD, of Washington University St. Louis, and reviewed by TOPSS members R. Scott Reed and Wendy Hart, the unit plan includes a content outline, classroom activities, critical thinking and discussion questions, references and suggested readings and two appen-dixes. The six lessons cover An Introduction to Personality; Assessment of Personality; Psychodynamic Theories of Per-sonality; Trait and Social-Cognitive Theories of Personality; Humanistic Theories of Personality; and Personality: Cul-ture, Work, and Health. The lesson plan is available to APA teacher affiliates at http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/topss/lessons/index.aspx.

NEWS FROM TOPSS & PT@CC

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Simine Vazire, PhD Washington University in St. Louis

Teacher Reviewers Wendy Hart, MEd, Brentwood High School, Brentwood, TN, and R. Scott Reed, MEd, Hamilton High School, Chandler, AZ

Developed and Produced by the Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) of the American Psychological Association, December 2014

PERSONALITYA Six-Day Unit Lesson Plan for High School Psychology Teachers

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One day in early 2014 I woke up frustrated with my general psychology students. It occurred to me that I was working harder on the course than they ap-

peared to be. I was reading the textbook; my students were not. I was trying to find good examples of concepts covered in the textbook; my students were not. I was scoring per-fectly on the exams; my students were not.

As psychological scientists, we know what students need to do to learn. Students need to have deep processing of the material; they need to engage with the material. That is why rereading, writing summaries and highlighting are ineffective study strategies; they require only shallow processing. We know that deep processing combined with repeated testing spaced out over time works (Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan, & Willingham, 2013). Sure, I shared that information with my students and encouraged them to do what works and stop doing what doesn’t work. Just like your health care team tells you to reduce the amount of unhealthy foods you eat and increase the amount of exercise you get. We also know that there’s a difference between what we know we should do and what we actually do. The formula isn’t difficult. If we want to eat better and exercise more, we have to restructure our lives. It was time to restructure my course.

It was time to try interteaching (Saville, 2013). In interteaching, the students answer questions about the reading before class, come to class and discuss in pairs or groups of three their answers to those questions and tell the instructor what they need help with; the instructor provides lectures or activities designed to help students with those concepts.

While Saville (2013) writes about how to do this with a 50–60-minute class, my class sessions are 2 to 2.5 hours. The format is the same, what’s different is the amount of advance work students need to do, and, of course, how much class time is devoted to discussion and lecture. I did some tweaking to the technique to fit my student population, style and course goals. While the implementation looks a little different from Saville’s, the underlying structure is the same.

HOW IT WORKS

The prep-guide, short for “class preparation guide”Before the term begins, I write 10 to 15 questions I want students to answer for each assigned reading. The questions are designed to get students thinking about and working with what they are reading, e.g., “The textbook describes four big ideas. For each idea, identify one word that summarizes the idea without using the words your author used in the titles of those headings. Explain why you chose each word”; “What type of parents do/did you have? Authoritarian, authoritative, or permissive? Explain your choice”; “In your brain, knowing how to tie your shoes and knowing that you know how to tie your shoes are processed very differently. Explain how and where in the brain each is processed.”

After answering the questions in the prep-guide, students submit them through our course management system. They are worth 10 points each (more on grading below), due at noon and not accepted late. Class is later in the afternoon. I don’t want students rushing to finish them before class, potentially making students late to class. Some students still rush to answer them before noon, of course, but at least they can still make it to class on time!

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SHIFTING RESPONSIBILITY

SUE FRANTZ, MA Highline College

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DiscussionIn the first 30 to 60 minutes of class, students work in pairs or groups of three to discuss their answers to the questions. Some students print out their answers and bring them; other students access them through some Web-enabled device. If you are like me, you are worried about what happens when students don’t do them. This typically only happens in the first week and a half. After that, peer pressure is too strong. Who wants to be that student in a small group who has nothing to contribute and is just leeching off others? Whatever excuse the student who didn’t do the work has (e.g., had to work extra hours), someone who did the work can trump them (e.g., had to work extra hours, the kid was sick and the power was out).

The goal of the discussion is for students to sort out what they understand from what they don’t understand. Oftentimes what one student doesn’t understand, another student can explain. The discussions are beneficial to all students, but for different reasons. For students who are having a tough time understanding the course content, having another student explain it differently can make it click. For students who are having no trouble understanding the material, having an opportunity to teach it to someone else can lead to strong mastery of the content.

As students discuss, I circulate among the groups. I ask students to tell me what they want me to cover during the lecture portion of the class. The first time I asked my prep-guide questions, I could mostly guess which questions students would find easy or difficult; sometimes I was surprised. Students, for example, understood more about correlations and struggled more with psychological perspectives (neuroscience, behavioral, cognitive, etc.) than I had anticipated. Students can stay in the same group throughout the quarter or mix it up on their own. Every so often I will ask students to work with someone they haven’t worked with before.

LectureAfter I visit with all of the groups at least once, we take a 10-minute break. During this break time, I rearrange presentation slides, if I have any, to customize them for what students want me to cover. Because of their flexibility, I use the whiteboard and document camera more now than I used to. When I have two sections of general psychology and I can’t

get to everything students want covered, I will cover different content in each section, and then encourage interested students to watch the lecture recording for the class they are not in. If I am only teaching one section, I have a couple options. I will either take a few minutes at the beginning of the next class session to cover that content or outside of class I will make a short recording or type up an explanation and make it available to students through our course management system.

Discussion record sheetAt the end of class, students turn in an evaluation form. The form asks students to identify themselves and everyone else in their group and to rate the quality of their own and each person’s discussion using a provided rubric. Students also give a brief explanation for their rating, write a bit about what they found especially difficult in the reading, and, finally, something interesting they learned in that day’s class. If a student participates in a group and turns in a discussion record sheet for that day, the student earns five points. I want students to honestly rate those in their group so I get a sense of who is doing what so the grade is not tied to the rubric rating. Early in the course I read each discussion record sheet and provide comments via the course management system to each student. As the course proceeds, I comment periodically as needed.

Peer reviewAre you wondering about the grading of the prep-guides? Ten to 15 questions. Every class period. For 70 to 80 students. After students submit their prep-guides to the course management system and the due time and date pass, the system automatically assigns each student the prep-guides of four other students to review. The scoring rubric is strictly about effort (Were all of the questions answered completely?), not correctness. If peer reviewers see content that is incorrect, they are encouraged to point it out to the writer, but that will not affect the writer’s grade. After all, the prep-guides were written before students had a strong grasp of the content. All of the content is not expected to be right; students are expected to give their best effort, though.

While the writers get feedback from their peers, the real value comes from viewing the work of four other students. This provides both comparison information (“Am I writing as much as other students?”) and four more exposures to this particular course content. When I assign a grade for the prep-guide, I skim what the student wrote and consider the rubric scores assigned by the peer reviewers. I do not “correct” the assignment. Often whatever the students got wrong in the prep-guide has already been cleared up by the class discussion or the lecture. I make it clear that the onus is on the peer reviewers to help out their classmates if they see something that’s wrong. At a minimum, reviewers are asked to say something like, “It looks like you missed #5; hopefully the lecture helped you with that.” Peer reviewers often point their

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I want students to honestly rate those in their group so I get a sense of who is doing what so the grade is not tied to the rubric rating.

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fellow students to the relevant chapter pages. About half the points in the course are for effort (prep-guides, peer reviews and discussion), and about half are exams or exam-related.

IMPACTUnfortunately, I changed my textbook and my exams at the same time I switched to interteaching with peer review, so these standard measures of student learning don’t have an appropriate comparison. I can say, however, that student attendance is up, and the number of students who withdraw is down. There is greater cohesiveness among the students in the class; they get to know each other very well.

It was with a little trepidation the first time I opened my course evaluations after this pedagogical switch. When asked if students would recommend this course to a friend, all but a few said yes. The ones who said yes reported that they learned a lot, including a lot that they were using in their day-to-day lives. The few who said maybe or “yes and no” said essentially that the course was a lot of work, and their friends weren’t interested in working.

For me, I finally feel like the responsibility for learning is in my students’ hands, and my role through the course is to help them with that learning, and then, at the end of the course, to assess what they know.

REFERENCESDunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham,

D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. doi:10.1177/1529100612453266

Saville, B. K. (2013). Interteaching: Ten tips for effective implementa-tion. APS Observer, 26(2).Retrieved from http://www.psychological-science.org/index.php/publications/observer/2013/february-13/

interteaching-ten-tips-for-effective-implementation.html PTN

At Highline College near Seattle, Sue Frantz is working on her third decade in the college classroom. Throughout her career, she has been an early adopter of new technologies in which she saw pedagogical potential. She created the first Web page for her students in 1995. By the mid-1990s, she was presenting on (then) cutting-edge technologies such as using email discussion groups to foster student engagement and interaction. In 2009, she founded her blog, Technology for Academics, which had over 120,000 page views in 2014. The blog features both new tech tools and tips for using not-so-new tools effectively. She currently serves as Vice President for Resources for APA Division 2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology. In 2013, she was the inaugural recipient of the APA award for Excellence in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at a Two-Year College or Campus.

SUE FRANTZ

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OTHER NEWS

APF PROFESSIONAL DEVEL-OPMENT AWARDS FOR HIGH SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY TEACHERS

These awards provide up to $500 in support to help psychol-ogy teachers travel to and attend the APA Annual Conven-tion, Aug. 6-9, 2015, Toronto, Canada. Funds can be used to offset costs of travel, conference registration and housing

accommodations. Applicants must provide a budget for conference costs. These grants are made possible through the American Psychological Foundation, thanks to a generous gift from Lee Gurel, PhD. For 2015, $2,500 is available for funding.

Please visit http://www.apa.org/apf/funding/profession-al-topss.aspx for details. The application deadline is April 1, 2015.

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Fifty years ago, a crime was committed in Queens, New York, that reverberated throughout the country and became legendary in psychology classes. Starting with

the classic studies by Latané and Darley, literally hundreds of investigations of the bystander effect and diffusion of re-sponsibility were inspired by the story of the murder of Kitty Genovese. In his book “Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, and the Crime that Changed America,” Kevin Cook takes a detailed look at the actual events of the crime in an attempt to tell the “whole truth” and debunk parts of the prevailing myth still frequently perpetuated in psycholo-gy classes.

Based on dozens of documents and recent interviews, Cook begins his book with a detailed description of the life of Katherine (Kitty) Genovese up to that fateful night in 1964. He then provides details on the convicted perpetrator of the murder, Winston Moseley, and walks the reader through the crime, the news account that framed the crime for the public and the subsequent trial. Cook identifies a number of misconceptions, the most important of which is the notion that 38 people in nearby apartments witnessed the crime and did nothing to help. According to Cook’s research, it is likely that there were actually more witnesses but only a few who actually saw the first attack. According to his interviews, one neighbor did call out his window to interrupt the attack, and another called the police. Cook also points out that Geno-vese was attacked by Moseley with a knife twice (not three times as the story goes) and that she staggered around to the back of the building after the first attack, where she was hidden from all but one of her neighbors.

One of the most interesting sections of the book is Cook’s description of the origin of this “urban legend.” Ten days after the actual event, the New York City Police Commis-sioner was having lunch with A. M. Rosenthal, metropolitan editor of The New York Times. Based on the Commissioner’s comment that the most interesting thing about the crime was the fact that 38 witnesses did nothing to intervene, Rosenthal assigned a reporter, Martin Gansberg, to revive the story, and it was that story that, using today’s parlance, went viral. Cook also includes an interesting collection of rarely seen photos of Genovese, Moseley and the neighbor-hood in the book, as well as a surprise ending to the crime itself.

Cook is a writer, not a psychologist, and he presents the information in the style of a true crime story. Although the content has obviously been well researched, there are few direct references and no citations. On the plus side, Cook provides a fascinating look at Genovese’s life, her relation-ship with her girlfriend in 1960s New York and the cultural practices of the time. On the other hand, the book seems padded at times with excessive detail about tangential events like the top pop songs, local baseball games, and the con-struction of the World’s Fair.

While this book wouldn’t necessarily be appropriate to assign to classes, instructors might find the book useful in terms of updating the inaccurate “legend” still found in a majority of introductory psychology textbooks. Cook is not the only person to provide this information; in the Septem-ber 2007 issue of the American Psychologist, Manning, Levine and Collins argue that the story of Kitty Genovese has be-

BOOK REVIEW

“KITTY GENOVESE: THE MURDER, THE BYSTANDERS, AND THE CRIME THAT CHANGED AMERICA”

Reviewed by HELEN TAYLOR, PHD Bellevue College, Bellevue, WA

Author: Kevin Cook Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Copyright year: 2014 ISBN: 978-0-393-23928-7 Number of Pages: 220

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come a modern parable, not supported by evidence. Another recently published book, “Kitty Genovese: A True Account of a Public Murder and Its Private Consequences,” by Cather-ine Peloner, essentially covers the same territory as the Cook book.

Cook is a good storyteller. I would recommend his version of events to those who enjoy a true crime style of writing and/or are interested in a detailed social history of Queens, N.Y., in the 1960s. Clearly the development of the 9-1-1 system and Good Samaritan laws can be traced back to this event. On this 50th anniversary of Kitty Genovese’s death, you may find this book a nice break from academic writing and an inter-esting look at the woman we all talk about in our classes but barely know.

Kevin Cook is award-winning author of Titanic Thompson and Tommy’s Honor and has written for the NY Times, Daily News, GQ, Men’s Journal Vogue, and many other publications. He has appeared on CNN and Fox TV. He was interviewed on NPR on Mar. 3, 2014.

REFERENCESCook, K. (2014). Kitty Genovese: The murder, the bystanders, the crime that

changed America. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co.Manning, R., Levine, M., & Collins, A. (2007). The Kitty Genovese

murder and the social psychology of helping: The parable of the 38 witnesses. American Psychologist, 62(6), 555-562.

Pelonero, C. (2014). Kitty Genovese: A true account of a public murder and

its private consequences. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing. PTN

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APA/CLARK UNIVERSITY WORKSHOP FOR HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERSThe 11th annual APA/Clark University Workshop will be held July 20-22, 2015, in Worcester, Mass. All interested high school psychology teachers are invited to apply; the workshop will be open to 25 teachers. Workshop presenters will include faculty from the Clark University Psychology Department. Maria Vita of Penn Manor High School (Mill-ersville, PA) and Rob McEntarffer, PhD, of Lincoln Public Schools (Lincoln, NE) will also present. Susan Nolan, PhD, of Seton Hall University will deliver a keynote address on “Really?! The Key Role of Introductory Psychology in Creat-ing Scientific Thinkers.” Please check the TOPSS website this spring for updated information.

Housing in the Clark campus dorms and materials will be provided for all participants. There is no registration fee. Participants will also receive travel stipends of $125. For teachers in need of extra travel support, three travel scholar-ships of $250 each and two travel scholarships of $500 each are available. Teachers with far distances to travel and/or with need for additional travel support are encouraged to apply for these scholarships. Applicants should indicate their need for additional travel support and provide an estimated budget of travel expenses. The maximum amount of financial aid any one participant will receive is either $250 or $500.

For details and an application form, please visit http://www.apa.org/news/events/2015/apa-clark-workshop.aspx. The application deadline is April 15, 2015. Participants will be selected about May 1. This workshop is sponsored by the American Psychological Foundation, Clark University and APA, with generous sup-port from Lee Gurel, PhD. Please contact Martha Boenau by email (mboenau@apa.org) or at (202) 336-6140 if you have any questions.

OTHER NEWS

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ANNUAL CONFERENCES OF THE REGIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONSLooking for an opportunity to hear about cutting-edge re-search in psychology presented by prominent psychologists? Can’t make it to the APA annual meeting?

Consider attending a regional meeting in 2015, where you can update your knowledge about the discipline, learn new strategies to enhance your teaching and meet new colleagues. The dates and locations of the regional meetings follow.

March 5-7, 2015Eastern Psychological Association (EPA) Philadelphia, PAhttp://www.easternpsychological.org/

March 18-21, 2015Southeastern Psychological Association (SEPA) Hilton Head, SChttp://www.sepaonline.com/

April 10-12, 2015Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) Wichita, KShttp://www.swpsych.org/

April 9-11, 2015Rocky Mountain Psychological Association (RMPA) Boise, IDhttp://www.rockymountainpsych.org/

April 30-May 3, 2015 Western Psychological Association (WPA) Las Vegas, NVhttp://www.westernpsych.org/

April 30-May 2, 2015 Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA) Chicago, ILhttp://www.midwesternpsych.org/

October 9-10, 2015New England Psychological Association (NEPA) Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MAwww.NEPsychological.org

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

NORTHWEST CONFERENCE ON TEACHING INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGYFriday, April 17, 2015Highline College, Des Moines, WA

This year’s theme: “Using Introductory Psychology to Foster Student Success”

Psychology is popular. Millions (yes, millions) of students take an introductory psychology course every year, but only a fraction of these students will go on to major in psychol-ogy. This provides teachers of general psychology a unique

challenge and opportunity. While we work hard to navigate the vast and (at times) rough waters of course content and student diversity, we learn that what we are teaching is very meaningful to our students, both inside and outside of the classroom.

TIP Northwest 2015 will focus on using general psychology to help students become more successful learners, thinkers and citizens. A significant portion of this conference will be reserved for registrant interaction to work out ideas present-ed by our keynote speakers. Registrants will also be given the opportunity to share and observe teaching activities that fit our theme of “Using Introductory Psychology to Foster Student Success.” For details, visit the conference website at http://TIPnorthwest.highline.edu.

APF HIGH SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY TEACHER NETWORK GRANTSThese APF grants support the development of local and regional networks of high school psychology teachers. Spe-cifically, these grants are meant to support the creation or continuation of local or regional teaching workshops or conferences for high school psychology teachers. For infor-mation on strategies for setting up a local teaching network

and details on existing groups, please see http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/ptn/2014/05/local-psychology-teachers.aspx or http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/topss/state-local-groups.aspx.

For details on how to apply, please visit http://www.apa.org/apf/funding/psychology-teacher-network.aspx. APF will award $3,000 in grants in 2015. The application deadline is May 1, 2015.

OTHER NEWS

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TEACHING ACTIVITIES

FROM ROB MCENTARFFER, PHD LINCOLN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, NEEncourage students to bring their random psychology-related questions and share at the beginning of a class. After students understand the different psychological perspectives, they can practice categorizing their psychology-related questions where they belong in the set of perspectives. For example, if a student asks “Do dreams mean anything?” the first thing the group can do is figure out where that question “belongs” in the system of perspectives (and usually multiple perspec-tives are possible—cognitive, biological and psychodynamic theorists all might be interested in a question about dreams). After the perspective is established, the class can quickly explain how a researcher from that perspective would inves-tigate the answer to that question. A biological psychologist would study the answer to the question in a very different way than a cognitive psychologist would. Depending on how much time you have, you can branch off into a research meth-ods discussion, since psychologists from different perspectives would use different methodologies to investigate the same question. In my classes, we seldom end up with a specific answer to the questions students bring, but we always clarify what kinds of research (from which perspectives) would be needed in order to establish an answer.

FROM JENNIFER SCHLECHTWEG, MA RIDGEFIELD HIGH SCHOOL, CTMemorizing the parts of the brain and neurotransmitters is sometimes overwhelming for psychology students. This short activity helps make it more manageable for students by hav-ing them create something they use on the Internet every day. Students are asked to make biopsychology memes. You start with creating a list of terms you want the students to know and then assign one or two to each student. Then, direct the stu-dents to create a meme that not only gives an application of the term but also creates a mnemonic. Requirements: Picture and one phrase or sentence. Give an example: Hypothalamus—pic-ture of a fat rat. Caption reads “I’m not always this chubby, but when my ventromedial hypothalamus is cut, everything goes to my butt. Students are asked to share their examples with the class and explain their meme. This can be adapted to any list of terms students need to memorize and apply.

FUN AND QUICK IDEASAs psychology teachers, we are always looking for fun and quick ideas that can be incorporated into our classrooms. Please feel free to submit ideas to Amy Ramponi of Kimberly High School, Kimberly, Wisconsin, at amyramponi@gmail.com, and we will add a couple in future issues.

OTHER NEWS

REMINDERS! TOPSS MEMBERS ARE REMINDED OF THESE UP-COMING DEADLINES IN MARCHAPA TOPSS Charles T. Blair-Broeker Excellence in Teaching AwardsDeadline: March 2

The purpose of the APA TOPSS Charles T. Blair-Broeker Excellence in Teaching Award is to provide an opportunity for TOPSS to recognize outstanding teachers in psychology. Visit http://www.apa.org/about/awards/teaching-excellence.aspx for details.

2015 APA TOPSS Competition for High School Psychology StudentsDeadline: March 16

Students are asked to write an essay on the neurological, cognitive and social implications of substance abuse. For more details, visit: http://www.apa.org/ed/precollege/topss/student-competition.aspx.

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CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE EXAMINERSThe International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is taught in 139 countries. IB examiners mark and moderate material from candidates throughout the world, experiencing education on a truly global scale. Prior IB teaching experi-ence is not essential. IB examinations are taken during May, with marking often complete prior to General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) and General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations. The IB also offers flexible allocation levels and highly competitive rates of pay. Ex-aminers play an important role in maintaining the quality and consistency of assessment for which the International Baccalaureate is known worldwide. In return examiners gain insight into the IB assessment process, receiving invaluable training from senior examiners while enhancing their profes-sional development.

We are happy to receive applications in all subjects, but are particularly interested in:

• Psychology• Business and Management• Economics• History

If you share our interest in international education and wish to experience the IB firsthand, please apply to become an IB examiner. More information and an application form can be found on the IB website, www.ibo.org/examiners, or by emailing examrecruit@ibo.org.

OTHER NEWS

CALL FOR NATIONAL CONFERENCE SITE PROPOSALSThe American Psychological Association Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) is planning to convene a Summit on High School Psychology Education in June or July 2016. A Steering Committee is drafting plans for the conference, including the format, major topics, realistic outcomes, major presenters, participants, and funding sources.

Members of the Summit Steering Committee are Randal Ernst, EdD, co-chair, Lincoln Public Schools, Lincoln, NE; Amy Fineburg, PhD, co-chair, APA Board of Educational Affairs and Alabaster City Schools, Alabaster, AL; Regan Gurung, PhD, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, WI; Michael Hamilton, MA, Hopkinton High School, Hopkinton, MA; Steve Jones, MA, City of Medicine Academy, Durham, NC; Ladonna Lewis, PhD, Glendale Community College, Glendale, AZ; Yadira Sanchez, PsyD, Academia María Reina, San Juan, PR; Daria Schaffeld, MA, Prospect High School, Mt. Prospect, IL; Kenneth Weaver, PhD, Emporia State University, KS; and Kristin Whitlock, MEd, Davis High School, Kaysville, UT.

The steering committee cordially invites applications from universities or colleges that would like to host the four- to five-day summit at their institution. A week in late June or late July 2016 would be the preferred dates.

To host the conference, an institution would need to provide room and board for about 80 to 100 participants, administrative assistance with the production of materials developed on-site (computers and photocopying facilities), large rooms for plenary sessions and smaller rooms for discussions, accessibility to major airports and/or shuttle transportation and a conference-site manager responsible for coordinating the meeting rooms and meals, etc. Prior institutional experience in hosting such an event would be desirable.

Inquiries are welcome and should be directed to Martha Boenau at mboenau@apa.org or 202-336-6140.

Applications must be received by May 1, 2015, and sent to: BEA Steering Committee for the Summit on High School Psychology Education, c/o Robin Hailstorks, PhD (rhailstorks@apa.org), Education Directorate, American Psychological Association, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002-4242.