Teaching Philosophy
UNDERGRADUATE INSTRUCTION
After years of teaching undergraduate statistics
and a variety of laboratory courses, my assignments have changed.
Now I teach life-span developmental psychology every semester and summer,
and also teach child psychology during the summer. In undergraduate
lecture courses I outline important points before lecturing, encourage
a great deal of student participation, and summarize the points covered
at the beginning of the next class meeting. The material covered
is selected to represent those aspects of developmental psychology most
useful to undergraduates from a variety of majors. Only the most
relevant material from the text is assigned; readings vary from a few pages
to no more than one chapter per week. Students are expected to know
that material very well!
Class meetings are enlivened with many descriptions of real life
experiences which exemplify the concepts covered, and with graphic and
cartoon transparencies from popular sources that make points treated in
the text or lectures.
Children's books and excerpts from magazines add variety to the
readings.
As part of my effort to prepare students
for the 21st century I offer an optional assignment. Students can
submit questions on the lectures and readings via e-mail or post them in
a newsgroup. I pay a doctoral student to offer advice designed to
improve each student's writing - a thrust of GMU that employers value highly.
The best of these questions are used in three multiple choice examinations
that determine the course grade. That's right - you get to see many
of the examination questions ahead of time, and they are written at a student
level! The optional assignment can count as a 4th exam.
I frequently engage undergraduate
students as research assistants in efforts to improve children's cognitive
development. Taking important roles in research projects, these students
earn credit toward their degree and co-author papers published in professional
journals. Five GMU undergraduates under my tutelage have even been
sole authors of journal articles on topics of their own choice.
GRADUATE INSTRUCTION
I was hired 25 years ago to teach research
methods and statistics for GMU's new graduate program, and did so for 20
years. Recently my teaching has shifted to life-span development,
theories of development, cognitive development, and special topics on the
graduate level. I follow a strategy of focusing on the most useful
and relevant topics, paring readings down to that material, and combining
a solid text with cutting-edge articles from professional journals.
Graduate classes almost always involve essay exams and one term paper.
If the class is small, students may make brief classroom presentations.
Much of my graduate teaching involves directing individuals
and teams in research projects. To learn more about that, go to the
heading on this web page entitled RESEARCH!