Two SPC Psychology Professors Appear in Connections

Saint Peter’s College Psychology Associate Professors Dr. Frederick Bonato and Dr. Andrea Bubka wrote an article for the January 30 issue of Connections, the newsletter published by the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The article discussed the efforts the two make, along with the entire Psychology Department, in providing students with research opportunities to augment their course work. The article follows below: Debated often at undergraduate institutions is the amount of emphasis that should be placed on scholarly activities and teaching. On the surface, it may seem that these activities are mutually exclusive; time spent on research takes away from teaching and vice versa. We view the research/teaching dichotomy as artificial and, in fact, potentially harmful to a student’s overall development. When teaching and research are combined, the net results are often remarkable. Students who do not necessarily excel in the classroom often exhibit significant improvement after acquiring some hands-on experience in the laboratory. In the Psychology Department at Saint Peter’s College, we have adopted a model of education that strongly encourages student-faculty research collaboration. Results have been impressive. Saint Peter’s is not considered to a major research institution, however some of the faculty are deeply involved in scholarly activity. Saint Peter’s prides itself on providing a high quality arts and science education to its undergraduates. The normal required teaching load for full-time faculty is 24 credits per academic year (eight three-credit courses). For faculty members who conduct research, productivity is constrained by the teaching load, committee involvement, and the time required for the personal attention given to advising. However, external funding (e.g. National Science Foundation) and internal fellowships offered by the college can provide release time for research activities. On the surface, release time may seem counter-productive to student learning in that full-time faculty members are removed from the classroom. However, when students become a part of the faculty member’s research team., this is not the case at all. Our approach to training laboratory assistants follows an apprenticeship model. Students are mentored through every step of the research process, from formulation of the problem to presentation. Research assistants have been involved in research projects through several mechanisms, including independent studies, tutorials, undergraduate research seminars and laboratory courses. Many students working in our laboratory are paid through a college work-study program or through funds provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). In the last five years, we have collaborated on research projects with approximately 44 students, of which 38 have co-authored and presented research at regional and international conferences. Student-faculty collaboration in our department has not been limited to our laboratory. Maryellen Hamilton and Leonor Lega, the other full-time members of our department, have also worked extensively with undergraduate research assistants. Collectively, this has resulted in a sort of research institution “feel” that has vitalized our department’s learning environment. We believe that for students majoring in psychology, involvement in research can be a vital component of their undergraduate education. Graduate admission committees not only look at grade point averages and standardized test scores as criteria for deciding acceptance into thei program, but also at the level of a student’s involvement in our-of-classroom research projects. Students who engage in research as undergraduates have a greater chance of being accepted into graduate school. Experiences gained as research assistants teach students valuable analytical skills that are transferable to a wide range of scientific specialties. Students working in our lab have gone on to study psychology at the graduate level, utilizing research skills gained by hands-on training provided in the scientific method. This year alone we know of four students applying to Ph.D. programs in experimental psychology. Many will also apply for Master’s degree programs. In our laboratory, one of the aims of our program is to discover and understand the causes of motion sickness. This particular project allows student researchers several opportunities. Students seem to easily relate to the project, perhaps because most people have experienced motion sickness at least once. Students working with us quickly appreciate that the field of experimental psychology is broad. They are often surprised to find that motion sickness is not really a sickness in the traditional sense of the word. It is instead a set of responses to certain types of sensory input that vehicular motion sometimes produces; this places the study of motion sickness squarely in the realm of sensory/perceptual psychology. They also learn that all there is to know is not in the book, and, in fact, what is known about a given topic (e.g. motion sickness), is in some cases very little. Lastly, our research program requires a team effort. Student researchers learn how to collaborate not only with faculty members, but with other students as well. When we asked some of our students to tell us how research experience has enhanced their education at Saint Peter’s, Heyddy Vanegas said, “As a research assistant, I have been able to implement my theoretical knowledge of psychology into practice. This is very important to me because education is composed of both theory and experience.” Louis Alfieri, a senior bound for graduate school, said this: “In my opinion, many tests in the classroom assess rote learning, whereas research experience has forced me to question things I used to take for granted. My experience has made me a more curious person, and at the same time it helped provide me with a way to investigate any questions I might have: the scientific method.” Do only research assistants benefit from student/faculty research collaborations? The answer, we believe, is “No.” Although those who work in the lab may reap the most rewards, other students benefit as well. We both teach laboratory courses in Sensation and Perception, Vision Research, Human Factors, and Cognitive Processes. Students enrolled in these courses benefit from the ongoing lab projects that will serve as examples of research in progress. Equipment purchased through a NSF grant has contributed greatly to the range of experiments that can be conducted in our lab classes. Even subjects who participate in our experiments benefit from research activity in the department. These are typically first or second year students who, after participating in an experiment are thoroughly, debriefed about the experiment’s purpose. Debriefing essentially constitutes a short tutorial during which the student may learn something that goes beyond what they may have gained through their classroom experiences. Has research taken us away from teaching? We believe the opposite is true. Research activity in our department has significantly enhanced the learning experiences of our students. Hands-on laboratory experience offers students a chance for personal growth that cannot be attained in the typical classroom setting.