This project will provide students with coherent, integrated, laboratory experiences that build competence and interest in scientific psychology. The proposal is for ten microcomputers, interfaces, and software to complement current educational strengths in core psychology courses (General Psychology, Statistics, and Research Methods), our content courses (Learning, Perception, and Physiological) and our research courses (Research Seminar and Independent Study). The computers will foster a programmatic curricular change. Students will participate in experiments - first as subjects, then as analysts, then as hypothesis builders, and finally as experimenters - to acquire the core methodological and cognitive skills needed for scientific investigations in any content area of psychology. Conducting empirical investigations and constructing testable, quantitative, models of complex behaviors will foster students' independence and self confidence.
