Many organizations dedicated to learning and teaching in the field of psychology struggle with diversifying and widening international representation. The drive for diversification of membership and leadership occurs as such groups increasingly prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. In this paper, we offer evidence-based guidance on the benefits of increasing diversity in organizational

Fostering metacognitive awareness of misconceptions should enhance deep processing of scientifically correct explanations and thereby decrease misconceptions. To explore these potentially beneficial effects, we conducted a field study implemented in a regular educational psychology course in an Australian teacher education program. In a two-by-two within-subject experimental design, student teachers

Although feedback engagement is important for learning, students often do not engage with provided feedback to inform future assignments. One factor for low feedback uptake is the easy access to grades. Thus, systematically delaying the grade release in favor of providing feedback first—temporary mark withholding—may increase students’ engagement with feedback. We tested the hypothesis that temporary

Students and instructors are looking for effective study and instructional strategies that enhance student achievement across a range of content and conditions. The current Special Issue features seven articles and one report, which used varied methodologies to investigate the benefits of practising retrieval and providing feedback for learning. This editorial serves as an introduction and conceptual

Understanding characteristics that contribute to psychology students’ academic success is important to better support them during their studies. Referring to person–environment fit theory, we examined effects of study-relevant characteristics (self-efficacy beliefs, self-assessed level of information about the study program) on subjective criteria of success (persistence with the choice of study subject

The use of effective study strategies is important for academic achievement, yet research indicates that students often use relatively ineffective learning strategies. Though potent strategies to promote durable learning exist, there is a lack of theoretical and empirical work on how to train students to self-regulate use of these strategies successfully. We summarize a novel framework to do so: the

Epistemological beliefs are subjective views about the nature of knowledge and knowing. A large number of research approaches are dedicated to this field. Yet, there is no research investigating the beliefs that pre-service teachers have towards educational psychology, a highly relevant domain for their prospective profession. Based on this theoretical background, two studies have been conducted. In

This qualitative study introduces a pedagogic design which addresses the challenging task of teaching and learning self-awareness and critical reflection in the teaching of psychology. The context of the study was a course in personality psychology for first year students, and the topic of interest was how the perception of personality is affected by gender stereotypes. The pedagogic design included

The main goal of this study was to test whether feedback from a lecturer and tutor on an initial reflective journal entry fosters reflection quality in a subsequent journal entry and reflection skills in student teachers. To address these questions, we, a team of educators and psychologists, conducted a field experiment during the practical semester. Student teachers (N = 54; 40 female) wrote two reflective

This report illustrates the didactical concept and implementation of a theory–practice learning setting where preservice teachers counsel pupils from local schools on their self-regulated learning. The learning setting is part of the preservice teachers’ psychology curriculum embedded in their educational foundation studies and aims at fostering preservice teachers’ psychological literacy; specifically

Retrieval practice is a learning technique that is known to produce enhanced long-term memory retention when compared to several other techniques. This difference in learning outcome is commonly called “the testing effect”. Yet there is little research on how individual differences in personality traits and working memory capacity moderate the size of the retrieval-practice benefits. The current study

Formative assessment and feedback strategies play a core role in effective learning and instruction. Thus, teachers should be able to effectively apply the theoretical and empirical insights on formative assessment and feedback strategies in their classrooms. However, designing and implementing formative feedback strategies are complex tasks. Based on the Interactive Tutoring Feedback Model we developed

Cumulative assessment refers to interspersed testing in which each assessment covers all previous content and the mean assessments’ grade weighs in for the final exam grade. The effect of cumulative assessment on motivation and performance might differ between summative (i.e. assessment grades weigh in for the final exam grade) and formative (i.e. the assessments grades do not weigh in) variants. The

Online-quizzes are an economic and objective method for formative assessment in universities. However, closed questions have been criticized for promoting shallow learning and resulting often in poor learning outcomes. These disadvantages can be overcome by embedding closed questions in effective instructional designs involving feedback. In the present field study, a final sample of N = 496 students

Anxiety is one of the most prevalent mental health problems; it is known to impede cognitive functioning. It is believed to alter preferences for feedback-based learning in anxious and non-anxious learners. Thus, the present study measured feedback processing in adults (N = 30) with and without anxiety symptoms using a probabilistic learning task. Event-related potential (ERP) measures were used to

Technological advances have given us tools—Google, in particular—that can both augment and free up our cognitive resources. Research has demonstrated, however, that some cognitive costs may arise from our reliance on such external memories. We examined whether pretesting—asking participants to solve a problem before consulting Google for needed information—can enhance participants’ subsequent recall

Many students use ineffective learning strategies. They tend to start too late and learn in a superficial way, without integrating different parts of the study materials. To help students in Psychological Assessment in Youth overcome these problems, we designed online study-aids to spread their learning over the semester (distributed practice) and provide them with self-test questions (practice testing)

In preparation for graduating from high school, students face the challenge of having to learn the subject matter of several school years with little guidance. The ability to self-regulate learning is conducive to this. Research has shown that students’ self-regulated learning can be successfully promoted through training. However, when such training is provided voluntarily, not all students participate

Sleep right after studying new material is more conducive to memory than a period of wakefulness. Another way to counteract forgetting is to practice retrieval: taking a test strengthens memory more effectively than restudying the material. The current work aims at investigating the interaction between sleep and testing by asking if testing adds to, neutralizes, or decreases the effect of sleep on

In previous years students in the advanced bachelor course Developmental Psychopathology often failed examination questions where they had to apply theoretical knowledge to realistic clinical issues. Therefore, a new teaching method was implemented to improve students’ understanding. Flipped classroom (FC) and team-based learning (TBL) techniques were implemented, using six challenging authentic assignments

The foundation of how students usually learn is laid early in their academic lives. However, many or even most students do not primarily rely on those learning strategies that are most favorable from a scientific point of view. To change students’ learning behavior when they start their university education, we developed a computer-based adaptive learning environment to train favorable learning strategies

During the last months, teaching has undergone a probably unprecedentedly rapid change. Many psychology instructors were forced to introduce new teaching methods that were either online or had little personal contact between students and teachers. Psychology Learning and Teaching offers a platform for sharing experiences with such new teaching and learning formats. Our submission format “Reports” is

Memoirs and autobiographies can be rich sources of real-world information for students in psychology classes. These resources have been used in adult-oriented abnormal psychology classes, but have yet to be explored for use in courses on abnormal child psychology. This manuscript reviews the use of memoirs and autobiographies in adult-oriented abnormal psychology classes and then explores the use of

Social media is riddled with memes (i.e., captioned images intended to convey cultural ideas or beliefs) that often promote maladaptive and unsupported beliefs about human development and parenting. This paper presents a scientific writing assignment designed to help spread accurate information on human development beyond the classroom through creation and sharing of original material on social media

Good news regarding our newly founded society: the European Society for Psychology Learning and Teaching (ESPLAT) now has over 100 members. If you are not yet a member, please consider joining us! On the website, you find all the information regarding the society, its aims and scope (https://esplatorg.weebly.com). One benefit for ESPLAT members will be reduced fees for the upcoming ESPLAT conference

This quasi-experimental study investigated the role of prior psychology knowledge and in-class retrieval activity in the testing effect. Undergraduate introductory psychology students (N = 53) from two classes at a small liberal arts college practiced retrieving information in class with multiple-choice quizzing and concept mapping. Prior psychology knowledge was measured using a 25-item multiple-choice

Teaching ethics to undergraduate psychology students has been the focus of professional organizations for several years. However, the evidence that psychology programs are teaching ethics and its effectiveness is scarce. In this review, we present recent evidence on teaching ethics based on three themes: delivery of ethics in the curriculum, instructional strategies, and faculty issues related to teaching

We implemented NSF-funded computerized Experimental Psychology Laboratories at Touro College and incorporated process-oriented guided-inquiry learning (POGIL). We designed POGIL modules for the labs and conducted workshops for faculty on the implementation of the guided-inquiry approach, including learning teams. Data were collected from students who took experimental psychology with and without using

When people interpret the outcome of a research study, do they consider other relevant information such as prior research? In the current study, 251 college graduates read a single brief fictitious news article. The article summarized the findings of a study that found positive results for a new drug. Three versions of the article varied the amount and type of previous research: (a) two prior studies

Statistical thinking is essential to understanding the nature of scientific results as a consumer. Statistical thinking also facilitates thinking like a scientist. Instead of emphasizing a “correct” procedure for data analysis and its outcome, statistical thinking focuses on the process of data analysis. This article reviews frequentist and Bayesian approaches such that teachers can promote less well-known

The preregistration of research plans and hypotheses may prevent publication bias and questionable research practices. We incorporated a modified version of the preregistration process into an undergraduate capstone research course. Students completed a standard preregistration form during the planning stages of their research projects as well as surveys about their knowledge of preregistration. Based

Psychology as an A-level subject in senior high school (12th to 13th grade) has increased in popularity in recent years. The purpose of this study was to investigate why students choose psychology as a subject, and their satisfaction with this choice. A total of 624 Norwegian students responded to a survey. A factor analysis supported a three-factor solution in relation to reasons for choosing to study

By the time this editorial is published, we will have had the conference of the European Society for Psychology Learning and Teaching (ESPLAT) in Utrecht, The Netherlands. This will be the first conference of the newly founded society, a successor of the EuroPLAT Network, which had its last conference in Salzburg, Austria, in 2017. Maybe you have been a long-time attendee of ESPLAT and EuroPLAT conferences

This paper describes a model for the articulation and assessment of goals in the development and use of a general psychology custom textbook. A description of custom textbooks is presented, and the specific textbook that our Psychology Department has developed is discussed. Two studies present data on student and faculty perceptions of the effectiveness of the textbook. Study 1 involved faculty members

The role of learning styles in the classroom remains a heavily debated topic within education. Notable problems with using learning styles to inform classroom instruction include a lack of empirical support and potential negative effects on student learning and motivation. This content analysis focused on the presence and quantity of learning styles discussion in 20 texts commonly used in educator

Affecting preservice teachers' pedagogical intentions and future behavior is a challenging goal of teacher education. It may be accomplished by purposefully changing their beliefs. The aim of this study was to investigate whether lesson videos, compared to an argumentation-based video format, can evoke stronger and more positive emotional reactions and whether these reactions in turn result in higher

Open science initiatives, which are often collaborative efforts focused on making research more transparent, have experienced increasing popularity in the past decade. Open science principles of openness and transparency provide opportunities to advance diversity, justice, and sustainability by promoting diverse, just, and sustainable outcomes among both undergraduate and senior researchers. We review

The Hagen Cumulative Science Project is a large-scale replication project based on students’ thesis work. In the project, we aim to (a) teach students to conduct the entire research process for conducting a replication according to open science standards and (b) contribute to cumulative science by increasing the number of direct replications. We describe the procedural steps of the project from choosing

The advent of the integrated learning system (ILS) offers instructors opportunities to provide students with feedback-enabled, interactive learning exercises as online supplements to assigned textbooks. Major college publishers are now bundling an ILS with many of their textbook offerings in undergraduate courses in psychology and other fields. We incorporated an ILS in two separate classes in introductory

The current crisis of confidence in psychological science has spurred on field-wide reforms to enhance transparency, reproducibility, and replicability. To solidify these reforms within the scientific community, student courses on open science practices are essential. Here we describe the content of our Research Master course “Good Research Practices” which we have designed and taught at the University

An academic career in psychology typically begins with a role reversal: young academics, who were only recently being taught, become doctoral researchers and teachers. Studies at two German universities provide insights into how students and early-career academics (ecas) in psychology view research and teaching and how their perspectives might differ due to changed roles. In Study 1, participants (n = 35

Despite discussion and institution of new reforms in psychology research, little is known about how much reform psychologists believe is still needed across various research practices and whether instructors are teaching students about replication and reform in their courses. To investigate these questions, we distributed questionnaires assessing perceived need for reform in psychology research and

We surveyed college students (N = 105) asking them to rate the importance of workplace skills as if they were responding as themselves, as their parents, and as future employers. We also asked participants to generate a list of skills they considered most important to develop in college, and to evaluate workplace behaviors for the likelihood of any of these resulting in termination of employment for

There is a widely acknowledged need to improve the reliability and efficiency of scientific research to increase the credibility of the published scientific literature and accelerate discovery. Widespread improvement requires a cultural shift in both thinking and practice, and better education will be instrumental to achieve this. Here we argue that education in reproducible science should start at

Misconceptions about psychological phenomena are prevalent among students completing college-level psychology courses. Although these myths are often difficult to eliminate, efforts incorporating a refutational focus have demonstrated some initial promise in dispelling these beliefs. In the current quasi-experimental study, four sections of an online undergraduate Abnormal Psychology course (n = 113

Sir Ronald Fisher’s venerable experiment “The Lady Tasting Tea” is revisited from a Bayesian perspective. We demonstrate how a similar tasting experiment, conducted in a classroom setting, can familiarize students with several key concepts of Bayesian inference, such as the prior distribution, the posterior distribution, the Bayes factor, and sequential analysis.

Graduate training in psychology emphasizes a student's ability to understand research design and methodology, as well as to generate research that contributes to the profession. The Attitudes Toward Research (ATR) scale was developed in 2005 to measure attitudes among student populations. Past research suggests the scale contains five factors: usefulness of research, research anxiety, positive feelings

Writing has long been recognized as both an outcome and method of successful pedagogy in psychology. Accordingly, there are a number of methods that successful instructors have employed to teach psychology students how to write. One such method is to facilitate students’ reviewing each other’s written work (i.e., to engage in peer review), although the research on this as an efficacious classroom intervention

Previous research investigating the relationship between peer-assisted study sessions (also called supplemental instruction or peer-assisted learning) and academic performance has a number of concerns. These include the lack of inclusion of important variables such as academic motivation and personality. This study (N = 233) investigated how motivation, personality, and control variables (prior subject

The primary goal of this article is to provide detailed instructions as to how to run a mindset intervention in a psychology statistics course. A secondary goal is to provide preliminary data on such an intervention’s relationship to students’ statistics anxiety and course grades. Large randomized studies have demonstrated that using a one-time mindset intervention can have positive benefits for students’

Psychology graduates are employed in a wide variety of workplace roles. The broad nature of these future workplace requirements can make it difficult for students to learn and apply classroom knowledge and challenging for educators to develop authentic and engaging materials. In research methods and statistics courses in particular it can be difficult to develop specific context exemplars. This article

This study examined student outcomes of participating in a semester-long, intergenerational service-learning course compared to a traditional pedagogy course. At the beginning and end of the semester, students (N = 161) voluntarily completed a series of measures assessing six outcomes across four domains: personal, social, citizenship, and academic. Results from mixed analysis of variance and multivariate

Psychology students often feel anxious about learning statistics, which can impact their performance. However, little research has explored statistics confidence, which may be an important way to reduce the negative connotations of associating statistics with anxiety. We aimed to explore whether modifying an existing measure of statistics anxiety (the STARS scale) and reframing the questions so students

The concept of “non-disposable assignments” (NDAs), including those referred to as “renewable assignments,” has grown in popularity in recent years in select education circles, particularly alongside an enthusiastic push toward open pedagogy. Unfortunately, little organized literature exists to effectively define, implement, and empirically evaluate what is ultimately an age-old though infrequently

The bulk of previous research on students' perceptions of open educational resources have lacked a control group of students rating traditional textbooks. Moreover, few studies have examined differences in the perceptions of online students and those taking classes in the classroom. A 2 × 2 cross-sectional design was used in which 925 students, assigned either a traditional textbook or an open textbook

Open educational resources (OER) are increasingly attractive options for reducing educational costs, yet controlled studies of their efficacy are lacking. The current study addressed many criticisms of past research by accounting for course and instructor characteristics in comparing objective student learning outcomes across multiple sections of General Psychology taught by trained graduate student

In the current study we examined students' course performance, perceptions, and self-reported use of an open textbook compared to a traditional publisher's textbook in an introductory psychology course. Sixty students from two course sections used either an open textbook or a traditional textbook. To minimize the effect of confounding variables, each section was taught by the same instructor, at the

This paper argues that teaching psychology for non-psychologists influences psychology's public image and the basis of collaboration between psychologists and non-psychologists. Therefore, designing psychology curricula for non-psychology students and professionals is an important task of psychology departments that deserves attention. For guiding the design process, we propose considering five criteria

Open Educational Resources (OER) remove barriers to access instructional material. In light of their increased availability and use, a body of research has emerged to examine the impact of OER on college student success. While many of these studies have broadly examined efficacy across a variety of disciplines, the current study specifically examined the impact of the type of textbook (commercial vs

In September 2018, there was a revival of the European Psychology Learning and Teaching (EUROPLAT) conference series that took place in Salzburg, Austria. With more than 50 paper and poster presentations from all over the world, the conference was a successful sequel to EUROPLAT but also a new beginning. As Birgit Spinath had announced in PLAT 17(2), one major aim of the conference was the founding