This project is redesigning the core psychology curricula for majors as an integrated hardware - software infrastructure designed to progressively build technologically sophisticated experimentation skills as students advance to upper division courses. Student skills are acquired through core laboratory courses positioned in the sophomore and junior years and also through exercises developed in collateral courses within the curriculum. In their senior year, students apply these acquired skills in their yearlong capstone thesis projects. Operationally, the project incrementally builds skills in use of E-Prime and BioPac technology. The training commences as students learn to integrate E-Prime programming exercises into sequenced laboratory courses, beginning with "Research Methods and Analysis" - a prerequisite for all courses included in this project. More advanced E-Prime skills are acquired in the sophomore-junior level core laboratories of Assessment and Social Psychology where students also learn how to design projects that make use of BioPac physiological recording technology. Additional experiences with these technologies are provided in exercises developed for courses in Cognition, Abnormal Psychology, and Behavioral Neuroscience. Thus, when students begin their capstone research projects, they have had technological training in at least two core laboratory courses and are likely to have had additional training in several other courses. Because the project provides a more skill driven rather than content driven curriculum, the intellectual gains of students are likely to be transferable to a variety of STEM careers and also engender critical thinking and synthesis skills. The project is being evaluated through a pre/post assessment tool used in all courses involved in the project, the impact of the program on an on-going departmental assessment based on the PCAT Instrument (Psychology Area Concentration Achievement Test), and a before/after assessment of the quality and technological sophistication of our capstone thesis projects performed by outside evaluators. In addition to publications and conference presentations, the project outcomes and documentation are being disseminated on the departmental website (www.psych.westminster.edu). It provides detailed descriptions of the materials and student projects developed, including programming protocols and on-line manuals.
