The "small talk" activity: An interactive, applied learning technique

The "small talk" activity helps students gain a comprehensive overview of c ourse material and encourages them to apply course content to situations ou tside the classroom. Students in a course on the psychology of stereotyping and prejudice applied their knowledge of course material in generating res ponses to comments about gender and ethnic bias that ostensibly might be he ard at social gatherings (e.g., "Women are all alike"). The: comments were related to theoretical and research articles assigned throughout the semest er, and students were instructed to respond to these comments from a psycho logical perspective. Students alternated playing the roles of commentator a nd respondent. I include a discussion of variations of the activity and an application of the activity for other courses.