THE MEDIA ASSIGNMENT - ENHANCING PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS ABILITY TO APPLYTHEIR KNOWLEDGE OF PSYCHOLOGY

In this study, I explore whether a media assignment, similar to that u sed by Rider (1992), increased introductory psychology students' abili ty to apply their knowledge of psychological concepts to examples of r eal-world events. Students collected examples from the popular media t hat illustrated either operantor classical-conditioning concepts. Afte rward, they took a quiz that contained factual and applied multiple-ch oice questions on these concepts. Students who collected examples of o perant-conditioning concepts performed better than other students on q uiz questions designed to asses their ability to apply their knowledge of operant conditioning. However, students who collected examples of classical-conditioning concepts did not outperform other students on a pplied classical-conditioning questions. Media assignments may enhance students' learning and their ability to apply course knowledge to rea l-world events.