Two types of in-class discussions using feature films to stimulate discussion in a law and psychology course are described. In the first discussion, students identify legal doctrines and research findings relevant to the films, and they critique the accuracy of the films' representation of this material. The second discussion requires students to analyze the psycholegal issues the films evoke, critique the films' presentation of the issues, and evaluate their impact on the students' own positions. Participation in the discussions is intended to increase active learning and improve critical thinking. Using films may also improve students' perspective-taking skills. The subjectivity of films is one source of their attractiveness as teaching tools, but it also poses some educational risks.

This study investigated the educational value of research participation by assessing the accuracy of student perceptions regarding the scientific status and methodology of psychology at 3 times during a semester: during the first week, following introductory and methodology lectures, and at the end of the term. Students' understanding of contemporary psychology and research procedures improved across the term. Findings indicate that students' increased understanding of psychological research procedures may be due to their participation in research in addition to course content.Two goals that appear to be germane to most introductory psychology courses are that students gain an understanding of (a) the breadth of contemporary psychology and (b) the scientific methods psychologists employ. College students taking their first psychology course often have misinformed opinions about psychology based on exposure to the popular media. For example, the prevalence of psychological television talk shows and self-help books, in addition to the iconic status of Sigmund Freud as representative of the field of psy-chology, might lead students to overestimate the extent to which psychology is a clinical field that relies on armchair observation methods (Stanovich, 1986). Often, teaching students to appreciate contemporary psychology necessitates attempting to correct these popular misconceptions (McKeachie, 1960;Vaughan, 1977). Indeed, several instructors explicitly mention on their syllabi that one of the goals of the course is to debunk popular myths regarding psychology (Project Syllabus, 2003), and correcting common opinions based on media misinformation is an avowed objective of popular introductory texts (e.g., Wade &Tavris, 2003) and supplements (e.g., Stanovich, 1986).Does the common practice of requiring introductory students to participate in research help to meet these pedagogical goals of introductory psychology classes? Sieber and Saks (1989) found that 74% of the universities they surveyed used a participant pool, 93% of which recruited participants from introductory courses. Universities often claim educational value as the rationale for requiring introductory psychology students to participate in experiments (Jung, 1969; Landrum Vol. 32, No. 2, 2005 95

Previous research has shown that when asked to rate their agreement with statements regarding their attitudes towards participation in psychological experiments, students reported that their participation was of educational value (e.g., Bowman and Waite, 2003; Landrum and Chastain, 1995). We investigated what kinds of learning experiences students would report when prompted with open ended questions regarding their participation. Four open ended questions asked how seriously participants took the research experience, what participants gained from studies, what were commonalties among the studies and how their classroom experience helped with understanding the experiments. In addition to reporting that they took their participation seriously, students reported that they learned not only about psychological content but also about the process of conducting psychological research.

We describe two exercises using undergraduates from abnormal psychology courses to act as role-play clients for graduate counselor–trainees. The first exercise involves mock counseling sessions; the second is a mock case conference. We grade graduates on their counseling and case-conceptualization skills. Undergraduates participate as ungraded volunteers. We believe that graduate students benefit from the challenge and honest feedback that undergraduate role players provide. Undergraduates reported academic benefits and increased empathy for the characters they played. The exercises seem to be educationally beneficial and may also help decrease undergraduates' negative stereotyping of persons with psychological problems.

No abstract