Jeffrey Valla
As part of the annual 4-H Cornell Cooperative Extension Career Explorations program for teens on July 1-3, Professor Wendy Williams and Human Development Graduate Student Jeff Valla hosted a group of twenty-five 4-H youth who participated in the “Thinking Like A Scientist” (TLAS) extension education program. 2008 was the 8th consecutive year that TLAS was offered as part of the summer Career Explorations program. Over three days, these 4-H students were exposed to a wide array of current research and ideas in psychology. In addition to “thinking like scientists,” these students were exposed to hands-on activities in which they learned about how to properly design and perform psychological research like “real” scientists.
TLAS is an NSF-funded extension program led by Williams that aims to teach youth about the scientific method, scientific research, and what it is like to be a practicing scientist, in addition to teaching everyday critical thinking skills. The broader goal of TLAS is to foster an early interest in science in young people from groups traditionally underrepresented in science careers—such as youth of color and those from disadvantaged backgrounds—by providing exposure to engaging science-related experiences.
TLAS takes a dynamic, novel approach to teaching the scientific method TLAS uses concepts and research carefully chosen to be more intrinsically engaging and familiar to junior high and high school youth than topics typically covered in schools. Topics include E.S.P., Depression, Violent Videogames, and other material relevant to teenagers. TLAS students learn about correlation versus causation, controlled experiments, and the implications of research for public policy and society at large. Thus, students are learning the scientific method in contexts they already know about and can relate to.
This year’s program, taught by Valla (himself a N.Y.S. 4-H success story), and assisted by undergraduate student Jessica Zulawski, also included hands-on activities in which students designed their own experiments to test the effects of violent videogames on aggression and whether or not ESP exists, coupled with in-depth discussions of how different policy groups would react to the findings of their studies. Participants were even given a firsthand look at actual research going on here in the department—they had a chance to play Human Development professor Matthew Belmonte’s new “Astropolis” videogame, a work-in-progress prototype that uses a “space invader”-style interface for autism testing and therapy. The program concluded with the annual trip to the must-see Cornell Brain Collection display in Uris Hall, to the excitement of many students and slight dismay of those with weaker stomachs.
Participants finished the program with a more dynamic understanding of the scientific method, an understanding of how the scientific method can be used in everyday critical thinking, a better understanding of the fact that “real” scientists aren’t just people in white lab coats mixing chemicals, and an understanding of how psychologists actually go about designing, implementing, and revising experiments to answer important questions. While we hope that some of these students will one day decide to pursue science careers themselves, even those who do not will be more scientifically literate and more aware of how science affects their world.
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