REACH OUT!
Take the Thrill of Psychology to Grades 8-12!

Exploring Behavior Week: Participate this year!!! Overview:  What is Exploring Behavior Week? Why grades 8-12? Why me? Easy as 1-Ready, 2-Set, 3-GO! Exploring Behavior Week Resources/Presentation Materials Other Resources What is Exploring Behavior Week? Psychological science is an exciting and important enterprise - but one about which the general public knows too little. During Exploring Behavior Week, you can help!  With the help of outreach materials, graduate students and faculty can talk to middle and high school students about what psychology is, who psychologists are, where psychologists work, and how psychological scientists ask questions about human behavior.  Exploring Behavior Week is part of the Decade of Behavior initiative. [top]   Why school outreach? Education inclusive of the behavioral/social sciences: models the real world by cutting across boundaries of time, space, and discipline;  engages students in the study of their own, direct experience; and invites use of compelling, inquiry-based activities on a shoestring budget. Involving K-12 students in psychological science will enhance science literacy, public support, and the flow of talent into the future-scientist pipeline. [top]   Why grades 8-12? Most students in these grades have had no exposure to psychology - but plenty to Frasier, Doctor Laura, and other characters they may confuse with psychologists. An early introduction to psychological science can shape their view of science and educational choices. [top]   Why me? All of us whose futures - as scholars, teachers, and citizens - depend on the health of the behavioral/social sciences need to pitch in and advocate for what we do. The students need us, and we need them. Besides, it's fun! [top] Easy as 1-Ready, 2-Set, 3-GO! Psychology students and faculty are a busy bunch. So we ask that you make just one, 45-minute visit to a Grade 8-12 classroom. We've done some things to make the visit as easy and enjoyable as possible (see Exploring Behavior Week Resources/Presentation Materials for details). #1 - Ready Contact a local school: Call the principal, Contact faculty at your institution who are connected with a school, through research or enrollment of their children, or Ask us for a local contact or a letter outlining the purpose of the school visit. #2 - Set Plan a lively, interactive presentation. We've prepared materials to help, but be yourself - add, subtract, and edit as you wish. The goal is simple: for students to learn that (a) some psychologists do scientific research, (b) this research contributes to our understanding of and ability to deal with important issues, and (c) the Decade of Behavior is underway to promote awareness of (a) and (b). #3 - GO! Visit a classroom, and have fun! The students will learn plenty, and so will you. We've designed a simple evaluation form for you to use and will appreciate feedback from you about it. And tell your colleagues; make Exploring Behavior Week a new tradition in your department! [top]  Exploring Behavior Week Resources/Presentation Materials: Download the presentation instruction booklet [PDF file - requires Adobe Acrobat Reader] View the Exploring Behavior Week Powerpoint Slide-Show Template [1.08mb PPT file-- requires Microsoft Powerpoint]. To download the file, right click on the link then select "Save Target As" [top] Other Resources: Decade of Behavior website: www.decadeofbehavior.org   Decade of Behavior poster (available upon request while supplies last)   APA's Activities Handbook for the Teaching of Psychology: Volumes 1-4 (www.apa.org/books/apatitles.html)   APA's (1999) National Standards for the Teaching of High School Psychology Online (www.apa.org/ed/natlstandards.html)   AAAS's (1990) Science for All Americans Chapter 1: The Nature of Science Online (www.project2061.org)   APA's psychology career publication for students:  Psychology: Scientific Problem Solvers--Careers for the 21st Century   Your colleagues in psychology and other departments   Your imagination! [top]   For more information, contact the APA Science Directorate at (202) 336-6000.   "Everyone knows that the social sciences are hypercomplex. They are inherently far more difficult than physics and chemistry, and as a result they, not physics and chemistry, should be called the hard sciences."  E. O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (Knopf, 1999) "Over the course of human history, people have developed many interconnected and validated ideas about the physical, biological, psychological, and social worlds.... Science, energetically pursued, can provide humanity with the knowledge of the biophysical environment and of social behavior needed to develop effective solutions to its global and local problems... Without a science-literate population, the outlook for a better world is not promising."  From Science for All Americans (AAAS, 1990) "The Decade of Behavior, launched in September, 2000, is a multidisciplinary initiative to focus the talents, energy, and creativity of the behavioral and social sciences on meeting many of society's most significant challenges... [It includes] a multifaceted public education campaign about the importance and relevance of behavioral and social science research." From the Decade of Behavior website [top]