Location:
- Home
- Undergraduate Advising
Academic Goals
Learning Goals for Psychology 469: Psychology of Reasoning
Miriam Bassok
Course Overview: The course will cover cognitive research on human problem solving and reasoning. We will consider a variety of problem types (e.g., riddles, algebra word problems, medical diagnosis) to examine how people represent (= understand) problems and which methods they use to search for problem solutions. We will also examine how problem-solving changes with learning and compare the behavior of experts and novices. We will learn about the conditions that promote or
Learning Goals: The following learning goals can be accomplished by attending lectures, critical reading (submitting weekly discussion questions) and class discussion of the assigned book chapters and journal articles, and by conducting “mini experiments” and writing brief experimental reports.
- Acquire knowledge of the hinder flexible transfer of learning across content domains, and discuss the relevance of cognitive research on problem solving to performance in real-life situations. main findings and research methods used in investigations of human problem solving and reasoning (assessed by written discussion questions, participation in class discussions, and written experimental papers).
- Practice critical thinking by evaluating the findings and the research methods based on your real-life experience and knowledge of other topics in psychology (assessed by written discussion questions and participation in class discussions)
- Learn to apply the conceptual knowledge acquired from lectures and readings to your own investigations of problem solving and reasoning by designing and conducting two small experiments (assessed by midterm and final papers).
- Develop your written communication skills by (a) submitting weekly “discussion questions” in which you critically address the assigned readings, and (b) writing about your experiments.
- Develop your oral communication skills by (a) participating in class discussions and (b) through oral presentations of your experimental findings.
