Intro Psychology Learning Outomes CCR
Intro Psychology Learning Outomes CCR
Intro Psychology Learning Outomes CCR
Learning Outcomes
Project Team
Charles Fadel, Founder, Center for Curriculum Redesign
Charles Fadel is a global education thought leader and author, futurist, inventor, founder
and chairman of Center for Curriculum Redesign, project director Harvard Graduate School
of Education, member President’s Council at Olin College of Engineering, education
committee chair at BIAC/OECD, and co-author of “Artificial Intelligence in Education”
(2019), “Four-Dimensional Education” (framework in 21 languages), and best-selling
“21st Century Skills.”
Project Approach
This work represents a codified and scalable approach to developing faculty and
discipline-association aligned learning outcomes in addition to a database of learning
outcomes that function as a roadmap of instructional goals for faculty teaching these
courses; domain associations endeavoring to codify essential undergraduate domain
knowledge; courseware providers developing rich, interactive, and adaptive curriculum
resources to support instruction and assessment in gateway courses; and students as
consumers and buyers of college credits to better understand the core knowledge and
competencies they should gain by the completion of Introductory Psychology. The
curriculum is defined as the organizing principles, essential and factual content, and
procedures that constitute the knowledge base of a domain. Quality curriculum
includes structured learning activities that foster problem-solving and inquiry
enabling students to both encode new knowledge based on prior knowledge and
transfer new knowledge into additional contexts.
CCR is committed to re-engineering education for the 21st century. Humanity faces
severe challenges at the societal (equity, environment), economic (global), and
personal levels (employability, happiness). Technology’s exponential growth provides
opportunities but also rapidly compounds the problems. Education can serve to meet
these challenges. CCR addresses the fundamental question of "WHAT should
students learn for the 21st century?" CCR combines a rigorous methodology that
includes the collection and analysis of multiple points of data as well as collaborations
that encourage creativity to break down boundaries and highlight salient innovations
for inclusion in a modern curriculum in the various disciplines.
For this project, CCR’s charter is to define the measurable, specific learning outcomes
for key undergraduate courses that are “gateways” to the college undergraduate
curriculum, and for which successful completion is critical for college success. More
than three million students enroll in roughly 20 general education courses in US higher
education each year. According to research from the National Center for Academic
Transformation, just 25 courses generate roughly half of all student enrollments in
community colleges and about a third of enrollments in four-year institutions.
Successful completion of these courses is key to student progress toward a quality
degree or credential. The Gardner Institute has identified these “gateway courses” as
foundational, credit-bearing, lower-division courses, for which large numbers of
students are at risk of failure, and thus stand as “gatekeepers” to degree completion.
A large part of our mission is to center equity in our work and look for opportunities to
remove barriers for Black, Latino/a/x, Indigenous Peoples, and students experiencing
poverty to be successful in these courses. A demonstration course for this project is
Introductory Psychology, due to the following factors.
To advance the work, a team of faculty who are highly experienced in teaching
Introductory Psychology, and equity experts in the field of psychology were
commissioned to guide the creation of course learning outcomes, identify discipline
core concepts, include key missing topics, and provide profound examples to enliven
the concepts and equity focus of the work. The student learning outcomes will guide
the creation of the course’s curriculum design and will support the development of
well-aligned assessments and content. We deployed a rigorous methodology that
references discipline guidelines, recommendations, standards, publications in the
discipline of psychology, and the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The lead subject matter experts on our team are Dr. Jennifer Thompson, Professor
Garth Neufeld, and Dr. Aaron Richmond.
The introductory course in psychology is the second most popular course in the college
curriculum after English Composition; it may be a general education requirement, the
prerequisite to a discipline specific-second course, or a time to discover a career path
never considered before. Our work as follows is built upon the diligent and insightful
work of others, most notably the American Psychological Association.
Feedback
Please send any feedback on this document to [email protected].
As in much of the current writing on Introductory Psychology, we have adopted the APA Pillar Model (Gurung et al, 2016;
Gurung & Neufeld, 2021) when conceptualizing content in the course. This content selection model describes five options
of basic content areas in psychology (i.e., pillars), to select and teach, with the notion that scientific research and
foundations of psychology thread throughout the content areas of the course. In addition to scientific foundations,
intersectional determinants and issues of equity are threaded throughout the course. The list of LOs reflects the five pillars
and is comprehensive for a course in Introductory Psychology.
The following pages present tables of Learning Outcomes (LOs) logically grouped by Introductory Psychology anchoring
“Topics” which primarily follow the Pillar Model (American Psychological Association, 2016) rather than a linear sequence
suggesting a single way to move through the material in a classroom. A course developer could design a course that
progresses through these Topics in order, however, it is quite reasonable to create other sequences that cover all the same
Psychology Topics and LOs. The psychology team designed this framework for the non-major student audience in a one
semester course. The LOs take the form of statements of what students should be able to do with the capabilities they
develop in the course as well as their knowledge of concepts and key topics. The LOs highlighted in blue below were
added to address equity considerations and/or modern demands on the content coverage of psychological concepts, topics,
and outcomes.
Since the goals of education are both Expertise AND Transfer, our work has focused on paying deep attention to three
facets, which need to be intertwined - “braided” together - during courseware development:
● Essential Content: These are the core course LO’s, expanded to include the equity and modernization aspects
discussed above.
● Discipline Core Concepts: They represent the epistemological lens that experts apply when looking at the world (see
further description below).
● Competencies: Life and work require the mastery of “21st Century Skills/Social-Emotional Learning,” yet precious
little is done in education to ensure their explicit identification and their learning - deliberately, systematically,
comprehensively, demonstrably.
Our work provides this guidance to the course developer, by explicitly identifying the relevant (top 4, mid 4, bottom 4)
competencies for Social Sciences:
Core Concepts
Core Concepts are abstract principles that can be used to organize broad areas of knowledge for a given domain, make
inferences within a domain, and solve a wide range of problems. Each Core Concept describes a lens that experts use to
see their domain and the world. Standards and Learning Outcomes convey what should be learned, while Core Concepts
describe the “so what.”
The set of Core Concepts creates a scaffold that helps students develop meaningful connections which lead to deeper real-
world understanding and a more robust ability to solve problems. They are essential to Transfer.
The column headings include an approximate indication of time it may take to cover all the LOs within the Topic. This is not
meant to suggest a precise number of hours equally spread across the LOs within that Topic. The table column “Time on
Task” gives general guidance about the priority and time commitment at the Core level, legend below.
IMPORTANT: The non-optional CORE LOs are the ones we advocate faculty and courseware developers use for our target
audience’s core learning experience. These are the LOs that should inform an Introductory Psychology course for non-
majors.
Core Concepts: Scientific Inquiry, Equity and Inclusion, Trends and Variations, Biases
Equity Connections:
● The Hidden Biases in WEIRD Psychology Research (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho6OlPrD7sA)
● Tuskegee Syphilis Study (https://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm)
● Havasupai case with Arizona State University (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5310710/)
● Quaker Oats study (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/spoonful-sugar-helps-radioactive-oatmeal-go-
down-180962424/)
● The History of the Lab Rat Is Full of Scientific Triumphs and Ethical Quandaries
(https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/history-lab-rat-scientific-triumphs-ethical-quandaries-
180971533/ )
● Delivering Indigenous Data Sovereignty (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCsCZJ8ugPA)
● More social science studies just failed to replicate. Here’s why this is good. (https://www.vox.com/science-and-
health/2018/8/27/17761466/psychology-replication-crisis-nature-social-science )
● More than Tuskegee: Understanding Mistrust about Research Participation
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4354806/)
● No Meaningful Apology for American Indian Unethical Research Abuses
(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10508422.2012.730788)
● Indigenous Statistics: A Quantitative Research Methodology (https://www.routledge.com/Indigenous-
Statistics-A-Quantitative-Research-Methodology/Walter-Andersen/p/book/9781611322934)
● DEI and qualitative research
Core Concepts: Scientific Inquiry, Determinants, Equity and Inclusion, Trends and Variations, Biases, Application
Equity Connections:
● Sleep differences due to age
● Ethnic disparities and sleep (National Sleep Foundation, 2010)
● Siesta culture (Barone, 2000; Webb & Dinges, 1989)
● Culture and Dreams (Lohmann, 2007)
● Familial, Social, and Individual Factors Contributing to Risk for Adolescent Substance Use
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4008086/#:~:text=Risk%20factors%20categorized%20as%2
0familial,factors%20include%20ADHD%20and%20depression.)
Core Concepts: Scientific Inquiry, Determinants, Equity and Inclusion, Trends and Variations, Biases, Application
Equity Connections:
● Muller-Lyer Illusion (Henrich et al., 2010)
● How Bias influences perception
● How expectations influence perception
Equity Connections:
● Cultural differences in problem-solving (Nisbett, 2001)
● Cognitive biases and discrimination
● Cognitive biases and prejudice
● Confirmation Bias (Darley & Gross, 1983)
Equity Connections:
● The influence of race on eyewitness memory
Equity Connections:
● Development of Eugenics/Galton
● Terman, the Stanford-Binet scale, and segregation
● George I. Sanchez
● Albert Beckham
● Even the Rat was White
● Audrey Shuey
Equity Connections:
● Cultural differences and motivation
● “How does culture shape motivation?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpSkHRhpors)
● Race and ethnicity in the study of motivation and competence (https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-08058-
022)
Equity Connections:
● Cross-cultural similarities and differences in emotion (Shaver et al., 1992)
● Culture and emotion
● Gender and emotional expression
● Are women really more emotional than men? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6N88n9koUg)
Core Concepts: Scientific Inquiry, Determinants, Equity and Inclusion, Trends and Variation, Biases, Application
Equity Connections:
● Impact of Environmental factors on human growth and development
● Environmental factors that influence development
● Cultural influences on child development
● Role of culture in social development
Equity Connections:
● Learning theory through a social justice lens (Parson & Major, 2020)
● Sociocultural approaches to learning and development
Equity Connections:
● Effects of bilingualism
● The effect of language on culture
● Cultural factors that influence language acquisition
● Cross-cultural studies on language and concept formation
● Language and prejudice
● Linguistic racism
Core Concepts: Scientific Inquiry, Determinants, Equity and Inclusion, Trends and Variations, Biases, Application
Equity Connections:
Equity Connections:
● Motivation in different cultures at work
● Cognitive biases and racism and work
● Reducing racism and discrimination in the workplace
● Power and politics in organizations
Equity Connections:
● Two spirit: Counseling Native American gay, lesbian, and bisexual people (Garrett & Barret, 2003)
● US proposal for defining gender has no basis in science (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-
07238-8)
● Biological, Psychological, and Sociocultural influence on sexual orientation
● Sex and gender-based discrimination
Equity Connections:
● Cross-cultural Big 5 (https://open.maricopa.edu/culturepsychology/chapter/big-five-as-universals/)
● Cultural understanding of personality (https://opentext.wsu.edu/psych105/chapter/10-9-cultural-
understanding-of-personality/)
● Extravert individualists or introvert collectivists? (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-019-
00480-x)
Core Concepts: Scientific Inquiry, Determinants, Equity and Inclusion, Trends and Variations, Application
Equity Connections:
● Culture based normality
● Mental health disparities
● Culture and psychopathology (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6097026/)
● Disparities at the intersection of marginalized groups
(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5350011/)
Equity Connections:
● Evidence based treatment practices and diversity (Sue & Zane, 2006)
● Cultural competence
● Why mental healthcare is less accessible to marginalized communities
(https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/why-mental-healthcare-is-less-accessible-to-marginalized-
communities)
● Cultural aspects of ethics in psychotherapy
● Cultural Determinants of Help Seeking (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2796597/)
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