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2.5: Assignments

  • Page ID
    59799
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    The assignments in this course are openly licensed, and are available as-is, or can be modified to suit your students’ needs. Selected answer keys are available to faculty who adopt Waymaker, OHM, or Candela courses with paid support from Lumen Learning. This approach helps us protect the academic integrity of these materials by ensuring they are shared only with authorized and institution-affiliated faculty and staff.

    If you import this course into your learning management system (Blackboard, Canvas, etc.), the assignments will automatically be loaded into the assignment tool, where they may be adjusted, or edited there. Assignments also come with rubrics and pre-assigned point values that may easily be edited or removed.

    The assignments for Introductory Psychology are ideas and suggestions to use as you see appropriate. Some are larger assignments spanning several weeks, while others are smaller, less-time consuming tasks. You can view them below or throughout the course.

    You can view them below or throughout the course.

    Discussions and Assignments by Module
    Module Discussion Assignment
    Psychological Foundations

    Discussion: Foundations of Psychology—Perspectives in Psychology

    Explain behavior from 3 perspectives

    Assignment: Foundations of Psychology

    Watch a TED talk

    Psychological Research

    Discussion: Research in Psychology—Analyzing Research

    Describe and discuss a PLOS research article

    Assignment: Research in Psychology—Psychology in the News

    Compare a popular news article with research article

    Biopsychology

    Discussion: Biopsychology—Using Your Brain

    Describe parts of the brain involved in daily activities

    Assignment: Biopsychology–Brain Part Infographic

    Create a visual/infographic about a part of the brain

    *larger assignment

    State of Consciousness

    Discussion: States of Consciousness—Sleep Stages

    Describe sleep stages and ways to improve sleep

    Assignment: Sleep and Dream Journal

    Track and analyze sleep and dreams. Record sleep habits and dreams a minimum of 3 days.

    *larger assignment, needs introduction at least 1 week prior to due date

    Sensation and Perception

    Discussion: Sensation and Perception—Cultural Influences on Perception

    Demonstrate cultural differences in perception.

    *If used in conjnuction with the “Perception and Illusions” assignment, this post could ask students to bring in examples/evidence from the illusion task

    Assignment: Perception and Food—Applications of the Delbouef Illusion

    Apply Food Lab research and the Delbouef Illusion to recommend plate size and dinner set-up.

     

    Assignment: Perception and Illusions

     

    Apply an understanding of Martin Doherty’s research on developmental and cross-cultural effects in the Ebbinghaus illusion. Find an illusion, describe it, and explain whether or not it may show cross-cultural effects.

    Thinking and Intelligence

    Discussion: Thinking and Intelligence—Thinking about Intelligence

    Choose to respond to two questions from a list

    Assignment: Thinking and Intelligence—What Makes Smarts?

    Describe 3 smart people and analyze what contributes to their intelligence.

     

    Assignment: Thinking and Intelligence—The Paradox of Choice

     

    Examine an experiment about cognitive overload and decision-making when given many options.

    Memory

    Discussion: Memory—Explaining Memory

    Create a mnemonic and explain an early childhood memory

    Assignment: Memory—Study Guide

    Apply knowledge from module on memory, thinking and intelligence, and states of consciousness to help a struggling student.

    Learning

    Discussion: Learning—What I Learned

    Write examples of something learned through classical, operant, and observational learning

    Assignment: Learning—Conditioning Project

    Spend at least 10 days using conditioning principles to break or make a habit.

    *requires sufficient time (10 days) of working on changing behavior, and should be introduced with two weeks of advanced notice.

    Lifespan Development Discussion: Lifespan Development—Stages of Development

    Pick an age and describe the age along with developmental theories and if you agree or disagree with the theoretical designations

    Assignment: Lifespan Development—Developmental Toys Assignment

    Find toys for a child of 6 months, 4 years, and 8 years, then explain theories for the age and why the toys are appropriate.

    Social Psychology

    Discussion: Social Psychology—Thinking about Social Psychology

    Pick one question to respond to out of 4 options

    Assignment: Social Psychology—Designing a Study in Social Psychology

    Create a shortened research proposal for a study in social psychology (or one that tests common proverbs).

    *larger assignment, possibly the largest assignment. Could be broken into multiple parts and given advanced notice.

    Personality

    Discussion: Personality—Personality and the Grinch

    Use two of the theories presented in the text to analyze the Grinch’s personality

    Assignment: Personality—Assessing Personality

    Take two personality tests then analyze their validity and reliability.

     

    Assignment: Personality—Blirtatiousness—Personality—Blirtatiousness

     

    Examine various types of validity and design a new way to test the validity of the Blirt test.

    Emotion and Motivation

    Discussion: Motivation and Emotion–What Motivates You?

    What motivates you to do your schoolwork?

    Assignment: Motivation and Emotion—Theories of Emotion

    Demonstrate the James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, Schachter-Singer, and cognitive-mediational theories of emotion.

     

    Assignment: Growth Mindsets and the Control Condition–Growth Mindsets and the Control Condition

     

    Take a deeper look at the Carol Dweck study on mindset and analyze how the results may appear different if the control benchmark varied.

    Industrial-Organizational Psychology

    Discussion: Industrial-Organizational PsychologyThinking about Industrial/Organizational Psychology

    Pick a favorite I/O topic or give advice on conducting an interview

    Assignment: Industrial-Organizational Psychology— KSAs Assignment

    Investigate and reflect on KSAs needed for future job.

    Psychological Disorders

    Discussion: Psychological Disorders—Diagnosing Disorders

    Diagnose a fictional character with a psychological disorder

    Assignment: Psychological Disorders—Disorder At-a-Glance

    Research one disorder and create an “At-a-Glance” paper about the main points.

    Therapy and Treatment

    Discussion: Therapy and Treatment—Thinking about Treatment

    Choose to respond to one of four questions

    Assignment: Therapy and Treatment—Treating Mental Illness

    Describe 3 different treatment methods for the fictional character diagnosed for the “Diagnosing Disorders” discussion.

    *This assignment builds off of the discussion assignment in the previous module, in which students “diagnosed” a fictional character with a psychological disorder.

    Stress, Lifestyle, and Health

    Discussion: Stress, Lifestyle, and Health—Thoughts on Stress and Happiness

    Give advice on managing stress or increasing happiness

    Assignment: Stress, Lifestyle, and Health–Time and Stress Management

    Pick from three options to do things related to tracking stress and time management.

    *requires advanced noticed

    Discussion Grading Rubric

    The discussions in the course vary in their requirements and design, but this rubric below may be used and modified to facilitate grading.

    Criteria Poor Good Excellent Points
    Responds to prompt Response is superficial, lacking in analysis or critique. Contributes few novel ideas, connections, or applications. Provides an accurate response to the prompt, but the information delivered is limited or lacking in analysis. Provides a  thoughtful and clear response to the content or question asked. The response includes original thoughts and novel ideas. __/4
    Supporting Details Includes vague or incomplete supporting evidence or fails to back opinion with facts. Supports opinions with details, though connections may be unclear, not firmly established, or explicit. Supports response with evidence; makes connections to the course content and/or other experiences. Cites evidence when appropriate. __/2
    Comments and participation Provides brief responses or shows little effort to participate in the learning community. Responds kindly and builds upon the comments from others, but may lack depth, detail, and/or explanation. Kindly and thoroughly extend discussions already taking place or poses new possibilities or opinions not previously voiced. Responses are substantive and constructive. __/4
          Total __/10

    Licenses and Attributions

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    2.5: Assignments is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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