Faculty Member: Sandra Campeanu

WAC Writing Fellow: Michael Shelichach

Abstract

This portfolio documents the use of writing and WAC principles in a 300-level Psychology elective in the Spring semester of 2016.  The course was Psychology of Memory (PSY312) and consisted of 32 students.  Most of these students were Psychology Majors but there were also students from other departments such as Speech & Language Pathology.  A quick survey at the beginning of the class informed that the majority of these students hoped to attend graduate school.  As such, reading and analyzing the scientific literature in the field (of Memory research) was a major objective in this course.

Specifically, the focus of this portfolio is in determining if/how scaffolding can be used to help students read and analyze primary research articles.  Scaffolding refers to the use of multiple, progressive assignments designed to guide students to build their skills.  Primary research articles refer to those that describe actual research that has been done (as opposed to a review, for example).  Generally, the scaffolding mechanism was effective and beneficial to students, however a few tweaks should be made for the next time the series of assignments is used.