Partnering through fairs and exhibitions, universities showcase science to high schools

The biannual psychology fair at Nebraska Wesleyan University has grown so large that the psychology department has to oust its third-floor neighbors, the political science faculty, when the event happens every other fall.

In 1975, the year the fair started, 700 high school students and their teachers came to see about 20 psychology exhibits put on by the department's undergraduates. Now close to 2,000 students and teachers view more than 60 exhibits.

"I don't know if the event's founders ever imagined it would get this big," says outgoing department chair Kenneth Keith, PhD, who's moving to a chair post at the University of San Diego.

One thing is sure though, Keith says. The fair has fulfilled the founders' intentions--to expose high school students and teachers to the science of psychology and to spur exchange between instructors across educational levels. The fair now draws from the surrounding states of Missouri, Kansas and Iowa, and 50 high schools attend regularly. It also brings the added benefit of recruiting students, Keith says.

In addition to viewing demonstrations such as antique stereoscopes, animal learning in Skinner boxes and computerized monitoring of the brain, teachers and students listen to and visit with prominent lecturers. APA President Richard M. Suinn, PhD, will speak this year.

Other psychology departments are starting similar events. With support from a curriculum development grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., last year organized a Psychological Science Day to foster exchange among instructors and spark student interest in laboratory experiments. Ten psychology teachers from area high schools and 50 of their students attended.

St. Olaf undergraduates demonstrated psychology labs--on short-term memory in rats, for example, and the relationship between eye blink and attention--that are part of the college's introductory psychology course.

The format, says event coordinator Howard Thorsheim, PhD, benefits everyone: High school teachers learn activities for use in their classes, college instructors are able to partner with them, their students gain insight into college-level psychological science and undergraduates glean teaching experience.

Of course there are costs too--the time it takes faculty to organize the event and the money it takes to sponsor it. Wesleyan spends $2,000 on its event. St. Olaf shares costs of $3,500 with NSF for coverage of meals, mileage, materials and substitutes for high school teachers. But there's a payoff, organizers say.

"Faculty and administrative colleagues have said that because it encourages students to enroll at the college and possibly become psych majors, it is well worth the investment," says Thorsheim.

--B. Murray



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