NSF grant will enrich research opportunities for undergraduate psychology students

Undergraduate psychology programs at most universities involve a great deal of "book learning" and lectures and very few true research opportunities for students. Most students find that studies on humans or animals take place at the graduate level or in more traditional science programs.

The UDM Psychology Department, and through the efforts of Associate Professors of Psychology Elizabeth M. Hill and Harold Greene and Associate Professor of Biology Greg Grabowski, sought to change this practice by applying for a National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Undergraduate Education grant to develop courses that will provide research training for its undergraduate students.

The department has been awarded a grant entitled "Enriched Undergraduate Research Training Using Project-based Laboratory Courses." The $143,596 grant, which will be used to develop two laboratory courses currently unavailable in the program, provides funding from July 2007 through June 2010.

According to an excerpt from the grant proposal, "The specific objectives are to increase students' knowledge of research methods, critical thinking ability, confidence in computer use, and interest in research and graduate school. In the current Psychology curriculum, undergraduates majoring in general psychology have limited exposure to research."

"I'm excited and grateful to NSF for their support," says Hill. "It's very hard to run these labs without the software, computers, equipment and animal care facilities that this grant will fund."

With or without the NSF funding, Hill says developing the lab courses had already been planned as part of a revision to the Psychology curriculum to reflect the objectives of the American Psychology Association. But the opportunities the grant funding will provide will have that much more of an impact on the students.

"One of the things we found with our students is that although they had good grade point averages at graduation, some were finding it difficult to get into graduate programs, primarily because of the lack of research experience," says Hill. "The new lab courses will also give the students experience using the same software and equipment they will be using in graduate school." Another important set of skills the students will gain is critical thinking, assessment of evidence and evaluation of results through self-directed, hands-on research projects—all necessary for graduate work.

Hill also notes that the lab courses they are developing would not really work well at a larger university than UDM. "This is an advantage for UDM students, says Hill. "It would be very difficult to have students work on independent research projects in classes with more than 20 students."

The two lab courses that focus on Biopsychology and Perception and Cognition are to be taken after students complete their traditional lecture courses in those content areas. PYC 408 "Advanced Laboratory in Biopsychology" will focus on observing the maternal behavior of mice.

The second course, PYC 410 "Advanced Laboratory in Perceptual-Cognitive Psychology" will allow students to study the mind's processing of visual stimuli. Following these projects, students will form groups, devise research questions, present their research plans to class, collect data and make a conference-style oral/poster presentation to the class.

The new advanced laboratory will be initiated in the 2008-09 academic year, with one offered each semester.