Teaching Seminar

Dr. Scharff

Individual Differences among students (and teachers)and their implications for

(Once again, some of this is modified from what I heard in myteaching class, and
some is my added opinion.)

Area of the Country

Occasionally, you may have to make some allowances for differencesthat exist
between areas of the country. For example, if you are fromNew York and you speak
quickly with a New York dialect, you may haveto slow down a little if you are in
Texas. Otherwise, you willsometimes lose your entire class on a point. Unless you are
teachingin the Mississippi mud swamps and have a really thick Yankee
accent,however, this is unlikely to be a serious issue. In fact, sometimesyou may be
able to use your dialect or any regional stories you knowto make a point in an
entertaining way.

Different issues may also be more sensitive is certain areas ofthe country, so you may
need to think before you speak if youÕre in anew area. (More on sensitive issues
below.)

Language Ability

Here we may push "area of the country" issues to the limit. Thedifferences in
language ability that exist among students may beinsignificant in many cases, but for
people who simply can'tunderstand English very well (e.g. foreign students),
understanding alecture may be nearly impossible. What can we do about this
problem?Very little. This is an example of a problem that students must solvefor
themselves. If you have a student who is not proficient with theEnglish language, all
you can really do is suggest that they see youor the T.A. when they need clarification
about things like idioms orculture-specific issues. It may sound cruel, but in the
interest offairness, you have to expect the same thing from all of yourstudents. If a
person wants a degree at an English languageuniversity, they should become
proficient with the English language.

Ethnic Differences

This can be a very difficult issue (and here in East Texassometimes especially so).
Perhaps we are just beginning to emergefrom our sordid history of blatant racism, or
perhaps the issue isinherently sensitive. We also hear a lot about it lately:
diversitytraining, multicultural issues included in courses, etc.. In anycase, it is clear
that the issue is often touchy, and it is equallyclear that we cannot (and should not)
ignore the issue.

This issue is also more difficult because you will often have awide variety of feelings
/ beliefs / opinions about matters involvingethnic differences. You've got your own to
start with, and then therange within a given class can be wider than you might expect
(orwish for in some cases). You may need to alter how you handle asensitive issue
depending upon feedback/comments that you receivefrom the group during
discussion. Extreme comments can come out ofyour students' mouths, and you need
to explore your own feelings andthe facts / available research so that you can respond
in an informedmanner, and so that the class does not devolve into an opinion surveyor
a study of insults.

Several sensitive issues may arise in Psychology classes. Forexample, the often seen
discrepancy in the IQ scores of blacks andwhites. Or, issues involving homosexuality
-- are there biologicalinfluences, or is it entirely environmental (unlikely), are
thesepeople evil sinners (not a point you need to ask, but you may getcomments....).
What about gender differences? (These last two are notstrictly ethnic differences
issues, but they certainly can besensitive.)

One other point with ethnic differences -- what should you doabout accommodating
different religious schedules, etc.? MostChristians are already accommodated with the
set holiday schedule,but you may want to avoid having tests on other religious
holidays(or at least acknowledge such misses as excused absences.)

Differences in Intelligence

The intelligence of your students will determine the kind ofmaterial that you can
present, and the fact that there are hugeintellectual differences among students means
that material whichquite suitable for the average student will be too challenging
forthose who are less intelligent and too easy for those who areespecially bright. How
do we deal with this problem?

First of all, is it a problem? Yes. Even among college students,you will have a large
range of IQ (around 85-130). In freshmanclasses, the range is likely to be even larger.
To whom, then, do weaddress our lectures? Do we bore the bright or lose the
slowerstudents?

Like many problems this one has no easy answer, and as thequestions above indicate,
there are trade-offs to consider. Thefollowing is an illustration.
Perhaps the answer lies in the piano. "The piano?" someone asks.Yes, the piano, "
responses Prof. X. "When you play the piano, yougenerally use almost all the keys,
but you spend most of your timeplaying the keys near the middle." "I still don't get it",
somedullard responds. "So, do the same kind of thing when you lecture",says Prof X.
"If the average student in your class has an IQ of 110,make most of your points in
such a way that people with IQ's of 110will find them interesting and challenging,
and, most important,UNDERSTANDABLE. "I still don't get it", responds the dullard.
"See meafter class, and we'll discuss it", responds Prof X.

Notice you can help those that are a little slower than most byusing some redundancy,
but you need to present redundant informationin different ways so that the smart kids
won't be bored to tears. Ifsomeone is really slow (or having a mental block), don't
waste classtime; have them discuss it with you after class. You can also tossout
challenging ideas every once in a while for the benefit of thereally bright kids, but
here again, it is nice if the things you doto challenge your top students are at least
comprehensible to theless gifted.

Other points to consider:

1) Be careful not to make too many concessions to students who are not bright.
For example, if students aren't at least average in intelligence, they probably
don't belong in college anyway (if they do come, they at least better be
prepared for a lot of work).

2) Despite what many people believe, the material in Psychology is NOT

3) How do you deal with questions in class? Unless they indicate that you have
somehow miscommunicated a basic idea, very briefly. For example, if the
question suggests that you haven't made something clear, clarify. But if it
suggests that the questioner simply doesn't understand, try to answer as
concisely as possible and invite the student to discuss the issue further with you
after class.

4) Some students will have documented learning disabilities. At SFA the

5) Finally, you may see individual differences that reflect previous exposure to
related material. Such previous exposure may give to give a student an
advantage over other students, but is not necessarily due to differences in
intelligence, per se. Before starting a new topic, it might be helpful to poll the
class to see what background knowledge the various students might have.

Work Habits and Motivation

There are clearly individual differences in students' work habits,but there is very little
that we can do about this. We can do alittle, however, about motivation. If we spice up
our lectures andmake them interesting and even funny now and then, we can lead
moststudents to expect that class will be kind of fun and eveninteresting. Due to a
partial reinforcement schedule effect, this islikely to pay off later even if the lectures
may gradually becomemore serious over the course of the term period. Students
willprobably learn more if they enjoy class more. Spicing up the classwith humor or
surprise will also help keep your students' attention.Since the attention span of most
college students is only 5 or 10minutes (and it's worse on Friday mornings), you'd
better think aboutthe cost of NOT waking them up every once in a while.