Faculty Resources
Target Skills for Each Level of the Curriculum
In 2005, the Undergraduate Committee outlined the skills students should have after completing each level of the curriculum. The committee identified 5 target skill sets or learning processes: knowledge of content; critical reading, oral communication, writing, and critical thinking/analysis.
In order to ensure that students are developing these skills, undergraduate instructors should be familiar with the skills targeted at each level. Courses and assignments should be designed to develop the relevant skill set.
Introductory Level Courses and Methods Courses (1061, 1071, 1167, 2168, 2196):
| Content: | Definitions, facts, procedures (i.e., the vocabulary of a field) |
| Critical reading: | Secondary sources (texts), learn to read graphs and data sheets |
| Oral language: | Discussions, asking questions, class participation |
| Writing: | Short essay, group lab reports |
| Critical thinking: | Synthesizing across units, evidence based hypotheses |
Foundational courses (2000-level):
| Content: | Specialization, defining studies for a theory |
| Critical reading: | Text plus primary sources |
| Oral language: | Discussions, class participation |
| Writing: | In class writing |
| Critical thinking: | Synthesizing articles and text, identifying author’s stance |
Advanced courses (3000-level):
| Content: | Narrow specialization |
| Critical reading: | Text plus primary sources |
| Oral language: | Group presentation on topic |
| Writing: | Research paper |
| Critical thinking: | Theoretical support for hypotheses + alternative explanations |
Capstones:
| Content: | Become either expert of generalist |
| Critical reading: | Primary sources |
| Oral language: | Oral presentation to peers |
| Writing: | Research paper meeting intensive writing requirements |
| Critical thinking: | Use primary literature to derive and critically evaluate hypotheses |
Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology (OTRP)
The OTRP website includes Project Syllabus which is a collection of peer-reviewed syllabi for a variety of Psychology courses and many other helpful resources.