INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY TEACHING PRIMER Early Career ...

Krauss, J. (1999). A jigsaw puzzle approach to learning history in introductory psychology.
Teaching of Psychology, 26(4), 279-280.
This activity used a jigsaw puzzle to teach structuralism, functionalism, and gestalt psychology.
As students work in groups to complete a puzzle, they note the components, purpose, and
whole product. This would be a relatively easy activity to implement and would not take too
much class time.
Zehr, D. (2000). Teaching psychology's history through a comparative analysis of introductory
psychology texts. Teaching of Psychology, 27(1), 31-33.
This article describes an activity in which students look through Introductory Psychology texts
from previous decades and compared them to contemporary texts. This could be done as an
in-class activity or give students presentations (as described in article). This would be a good
activity to reinforce concepts such as scientific approaches, goals of psychology, and
understanding the evolution of topics within in the discipline.
LINKS TO ToPIX MATERIALS
Activities, demonstrations, handouts, etc.:
http://topix.teachpsych.org/w/page/19981004/History%20in%20the%20Classroom
Video/audio: http://topix.teachpsych.org/w/page/19981003/History%20Videos
Books & Films: http://topix.teachpsych.org/w/page/39234838/History
Current events/ news:
http://topix.teachpsych.org/w/page/24891589/History%20in%20the%20News
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