The Graduate Student Teaching Association (GSTA) is kicking off this year with new and returning members! We asked the team what their favorite concepts to teach or activities to implement into the classroom were. Stay on the lookout this year for some exciting new updates from the group!

Chair: Ashmita Mazumder (she/her), University of Toronto - Scarborough:

One of my favorite concepts to teach is metascience- the science of how we do science. This topic dives into questions like: What makes research replicable? How do biases creep into study designs? And how can we improve the transparency and rigor of psychological research? Students are often surprised to learn that science itself is a work in progress, and exploring topics like the replication crisis or open science practices empowers them to think critically about the field. It’s a rewarding experience to see students shift from being passive consumers of research to active evaluators of how science is conducted and communicated.

Josh Lovett (he/him), University of Illinois Chicago:

One of my favorite teaching techniques is using student-generated data to prompt class discussions. For example, I often use polling software to collect and compile students' responses, which then serve as a foundation for discussion. In my statistics course, I’ve used this approach by displaying students’ answers to specific questions and showing the resulting distribution. This allows students to visually analyze the graph and identify key features like modality and shape, fostering more engagement and excitement about the material

Lindsey Rutter (she/her), Oregon State University:

One of my favorite activities is to have students find a recently published article about a topic they feel passionate about. I ask them to summarize the article, write about why this research is interesting (encouraging them to get their classmates interested in the topic, too!), and have them connect it with the course content. I think it is super important to find ways to incorporate contemporary research findings into psychology courses!

Mel Ceren (she/her), CUNY Graduate Center:

One of my favorite activities to incorporate as a new semester begins and fresh faces enter the classroom are ice breakers. Icebreakers are commonly used to introduce the classroom atmosphere, but students may be hesitant to start talking about themselves. I would recommend "Draw Your Duck," a humorous icebreaker that is a unique approach to start a session and get everyone interested rather than the standard "tell the class about yourself." In this icebreaker, students get a minute or two to sketch and name a duck, stressing originality and uniqueness above artistic talent. Then, students may share their ducks, which frequently results in laughter and inspires discussions on community-driven solutions to ecological and even climate change.

Romeo Penheiro, University of Houston:

I like to have frequent, low-stakes retrieval practice in my course. For instance, my statistics course has short, optional quizzes that test knowledge and, if completed, allow students to earn small credits towards their final grade. I have also incorporated “two-minute checks” or exit tickets at the end of the class to consolidate their learning from the lecture presentation.

Elizabeth Taylor (she/ her), Virginia Commonwealth University: 

When teaching aspects of research design and/or research processes in the lab setting, I like to implement activities that allow students to practice the concepts we are discussing during lab meetings following presentations. For example, if we are discussing concepts surrounding qualitative interviewing, I might provide sample interview questions that students are encouraged to pair up and ask each other, making up answers for the sake of practice. Then, regrouping and discussing what students found interesting, difficult, or easy about the process encourages critical thinking about the research processes under discussion.

Mackenzie Devaney, University of Minnesota- Twin Cities:

One of my favorite topics to teach is scientific integrity and ethics. I make sure to emphasize how scientific findings can become sensationalized by the media so it’s important to avoid intentional misconduct and make ethical choices. I use the example of the debunked study between the MMR vaccine and autism, how the media covered the article, and its relationship to current vaccine trends to demonstrate how there can be long-term consequences for misconduct. I also like to inform students about how certain famous psychological studies may have been both unethical and have questionable research methods. This topic allows me to educate my students on the importance of critical thinking and not accepting findings at face-value which I believe is one of the most useful things I can teach them.