300-Level Psychology, Sensory Processes (Writing-Intensive)
BECOMING PERCEPTIONISTS:
EXPERIENCING & UNDERSTANDING SENSORY PROCESSES
Before I ever taught writing-intensive classes I'd give them an
assignment, hand it to them on a piece of paper that described the
term paper, and say "go do it, turn it in at the end of the
semester," and that's all that was ever said about it. I used to
give the students a chance to rewrite every one of the assignments a
second time, then give them feedback and grade it. I was essentially a
lecturer who made students write a lot. But today you're seeing the
Cadillac; I've evolved to this position, taking more from the writing
perspective.—Professor Robert Cole
COURSE GOALS
The major objectives of the course and thus of the writing exercises
is to get the students to think and write in the analytic manner of a
perceptionist. We explore causal relationships between physical stimuli,
physiological mechanisms, parallel psychological processes and
perceptual experiences in humans.
Students must learn the language of these parameters (i.e. physics,
physiology, and psychology). They learn the methods for producing data,
the theories that integrate and explain the data, and the analytic
processes that interrelate the two.
The writing contributes to class discussions. I do
focused freewriting. I might say "Let's start out today with a
ten-minute freewrite on what does the two-point tactile threshold tell
us about the skin system." They should have done the demonstration,
they should have read the chapter, they should be able to take the
little quiz. Quite often my focused freewrite is a precursor to the quiz
that they'll take at the end of the hour. It's kind of like taking the
fear out: "Oh, I've just written about that at the first of the
hour, and now we've talked about it for and hour, and now I'm going to
write about it again.--Professor Cole
WRITING ACTIVITIES
1. PERCEPTUAL DEMONSTRATION REPORT JOURNAL
The instructor comments, "The journals they do every week on the
material they're reading teach them the terminology, concepts, and
analytic skills — and they're having fun at it too."
Students keep a 3-ring looseleaf binder to record weekly perceptual
demonstrations they themselves perform. The demonstrations — provided
in their textbook — give them the opportunity to directly experience
perceptual phenomena.
For example, students are given the blind spot phenomenon to
demonstrate to themselves and to study. Students put an object at a
certain angle from their left eye, then close their right eye. The
object "disappears" when its image falls on a space on the
retina where the optic nerve forms and where there are no
light-sensitive elements. Students then apply a formula to determine the
visual angle on the retina and the relative approximate location of the
blind spot.
For each demonstration, students write:
a. a brief description of the necessary stimulus (such as the X on a
page);
b. a description of the procedures they followed to make the percept
occur;
c. a description of their individual perceptual responses and their
observations; and
d. an explanation of what the demonstration reveals about the human
perceptual system and the ways in which information is processed.
For example, with the blind spot experience, students record their
data and observations, describe the experience, then explain what the
demonstration revealed and what they learned about the blind spot, the
optic perceptual system, and how that system processes information.
Included in the journals are informal notes of conditions and
experiences while they are happening, to ensure that students
don't forget observations that may later prove critical in explaining
phenomena. Students hand in their journals weekly.
The instructor and teaching assistant read them and return them with
comments. While students are not required to revise, they should show
improvement in writing and analytical skills with each successive
journal report. At the end of the semester, the journals are graded as a
whole and as a record of progression in writing about perceptual
analysis.
PURPOSE: Not only does this activity encourage students to
think analytically and write in the manner of a perceptionist, but it
also exposes them to the many levels of analysis employed in explaining
perceptual phenomena. According to the instructor, the journals also are
"an excellent vehicle for developing their analytic skills by
providing hardcopy with which to evaluate, modify, reconfigure, and
integrate their own ideas."
The weekly writings, as miniature versions of a research report,
provide successive practice and a gradual building of confidence. The
demonstrations also allow students to experience the phenomena first
hand. It teaches them the analytic process, terminology, and concepts
necessary to perceptionists.
2. CASE-HISTORY ANALYSIS
Students are given the case history of a person who became blind at
the age of ten months, who had his vision restored as an adult by means
of corneal transplants, and whose vision and senses were studied by
perceptionists. After students read the study, they are first required
to write a short paper in which they briefly summarize and critique this
study, then provide the thesis statement of their analysis.
It must focus on and explore in depth one perceptual phenomenon
studied in this case history (e.g. size-distance relationship, pictorial
perception, cross modal transfer). Or students may focus on and explore
a larger, theoretically-based issue (e.g. the effects of nature vs.
nurture in the development of perception, or the relative roles of computational-
vs. knowledge- based positions on perception) exemplified in the
case.
After turning in this brief abstract, students develop their
analyses, do library research on the phenomenon, read about the relevant
theories, read the empirical studies that tested the theories, and
integrate all of that data into a cohesive term paper that includes four
sections:
1. BACKGROUND. Students describe and summarize the case study, its
major features, the perceptionists' method of study, the perceptionists'
results after observation, and the perceptionists' conclusions (as
related to general principles that govern perceptual abilities).
2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM. Students briefly explain the problem
they plan to explore.
3. DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROBLEM. Students develop the theory and other
assumptions within which their analyses occur, providing the background
and research supporting these theories/assumptions. Within that
framework, students then evaluatively analyze the data and conclusions
from the case history.
4. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS. Students summarize their main points,
state their conclusions, and explain how the conclusions are significant
in human understanding of perceptual abilities.
A total of four drafts are submitted for writing-group and instructor
feedback. Feedback often helps students develop a "re-vision"
of the paper and helps them focus or get back on track.
PURPOSE: The initial abstract will help focus and direct
students' ideas. Drafting and developing the longer analysis immerses
students in the subject and study of sensory processes, allowing them to
explore perceptual phenomena in depth, to extensively read professional
psychology articles, to develop and apply their analytic skills in the
field of perceptual analysis, and to express their ideas in the
professional vernacular of the field. In reviewing psychological
literature during their research, students read for themselves examples
of professional writing.
Professor Cole comments on his class (excerpts
from an interview):
When the students are gone, they're going to forget All the
terminology and detail. What I want them to learn is how to think
critically and analytically about the phenomena in this field.
I feel the best way to learn to write is to read and do the
writing of that profession.
In different ways, I have done some of the assignments before
in other classes, but not in the cohesive, coordinated manner with
the goals that I have now. This is all becoming clearer to me as I
continue to teach the writing-intensive courses. I've evolved to
this position, taking more from the writing perspective. Now I'm
trying to use those assignments as vehicles to get them to be able
to follow a writing process because I feel that by breaking that
up into steps, they learn much better my major objective, which is
the analytic process. Now I'm trying to use the writing and the
discussion to teach more of the analytic process, not just the
"content" of the course.
Writing is a mechanism for students to think critically and
analytically about these relationships among factors that explain
perception. They’re not just memorizing statements that come out
of the book but by constructions they make in their own words on
paper. Then they can look at them, read them, modify them, and
change their way of expression and their way of thinking. I don't
think you can separate writing and thinking. |
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