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When 80 students participated in classic psychology experiments rather than simply learning about them, the result was deeper understanding and stronger connections to cognitive science research methods and findings.

The Project

Margaret Grant transformed her introductory cognitive science course by implementing online experiment demonstrations where students became active participants in the same types of studies that generate the field's key findings. Rather than passively learning about visual illusions, attention effects, and memory biases, students experienced these phenomena firsthand through interactive online experiments.

The approach combined individual experimental participation with structured partner discussions during class time, allowing students to reflect on their experiences and connect personal observations to theoretical course content.

Project Highlights

Direct experience created lasting understanding. Students developed intuitive grasp of cognitive phenomena by personally experiencing them, moving from abstract concept memorization to concrete, embodied knowledge of how mental processes work.

Reflection and discussion amplified learning. Students reported that partner discussions were particularly valuable, helping them articulate experiences and recognize patterns they might have missed when working alone.

Experiential learning scaled effectively in large courses. The blended approach, online individual experiments combined with in-person reflection, proved both feasible and impactful for 80+ students, demonstrating that hands-on learning can work in large course settings.

Looking Ahead

The project's success contributed to Grant receiving the 2024 Cormack Award for Teaching in FASS and influenced the transition of COGS 100 to a blended model. The experiential approach has been extended to other cognitive science courses, with findings published in the Linguistic Society of America's special issue on "The Future of Teaching Linguistics."

This work demonstrates that technology can effectively scale experiential learning opportunities that traditionally required small lab settings.