Summer SAVY, Session 5 Day 5, Exploring the Human Mind (7th-8th)
Dear Exploring the Human Mind parents,
It’s hard to believe that today was our last day! But what a great day we had! We spent the morning putting together our final poster presentations. This activity allowed students to combine their research findings with their art skills, and it seemed like everyone had a blast designing their own unique poster. Hopefully, most of them will be bringing their posters home to show you what they accomplished!
Some of their topics included identifying aspects of music that may influence negative or positive perceptions, examining how alcohol impacts memory and emotions, determining how having siblings relates to teamwork, and researching the effects of social media on adolescent cognitive and emotional functioning.
After lunch, those who volunteered presented their posters to the class. I was beyond impressed by the deep questions your students had for the presenters, along with the thoughtful feedback. There was a wonderful sense of collaboration and intention to make our research questions as strong as possible. After the presentations, we engaged in a poster walk, wherein all students walked around and provided feedback on two of their peers’ posters. This allowed us to partake once again in peer review and let the students who did not wish to present still have a moment to show off their work.
The last hour or so was spent summing up what we have learned so far this week, and discussing “next steps” in psychology, such as future job opportunities and learning more about studying psychology in graduate school. I allowed the students to ask me questions about college, PhD programs in psychology, and how to manage time. They had great questions for me!
I hope all your students had a fantastic week learning about psychology. Of course, there is never enough time to cover everything, but they should walk away from this week with a sense of what makes certain studies strong (and what their limitations may be), and the blueprint for designing their own research projects, a skill that will serve them all well throughout the rest of their education.
If you choose, please feel free to engage in these dinner table questions:
- Is it truly possible to present my research in a way that can be understood by anyone?
- You may also ask your students about their own research questions. You may prompt them by inquiring about…
- how they chose their topics
- what literature they saw online that related to their question
- how they would fund their project
- what results they expect to find
- and why those results might be important for the field.
Sincerely,
Abby