Lauren's Teaching Philosophy

Not what to learn; rather, how to learn... 

Psychological Science at 
​Mesa Community College

Learning Made for Adventurers

I began teaching at Mesa Community College (MCC) in the Fall of 2010, first as a developmental math instructor, and then as a psychological sciences instructor. My course loads vary each semester, which have included:  Introductory Psychology, Understanding Death & Dying, and Educational Psychology.  Summaries and course objectives of my current course offerings are indicated below.

Understanding Death & Dying
PSY156

Prerequisites: None
As you can imagine, each person takes this course for a different reason. For some, it's an experience in learning, an effort to gain a better understanding of thanatology (the study of death and dying). Those students may be nurses, hospice workers, mortuary science majors, psychology majors. For others, the choice to take this class is the start of a journey, one that will challenge what we know about suicide, homicide, grief and immortality, end-of-life care, and self-care. My hope for students taking PSY156 is that they gain new insight to loss, in all its forms, for themselves and for others. In this class, we discuss, analyze, critique, and embrace the varying perspectives and cultural implications of the Death and Dying system. 

​Learning Objectives: 
  • Describe current attitudes toward death and the factors which have lessened familiarity with it.
  • Compare perspectives about death in preliterate cultures with those in the western world.
  • Describe American Indian, traditional African, and Mexican perspectives on death.
  • Describe the major concepts of death and immortality of the Hebrew tradition, Christianity, and Eastern religions.
  • Describe theoretical accounts of the development of a child's understanding of death.
  • Describe health care for the dying in the modern hospital and in hospices.
  • Describe the adult person's experience of and patterns of coping with a life threatening illness.
  • Describe the contemporary ethical issues confronting the medical profession when treating terminally ill patients.
  • List and describe the major legal issues which arise due to death.
  • Describe the variables which influence grief of survivors and coping mechanisms available to them.
  • Describe the child's experience of and patterns of coping with death.
  • Describe the history and criticisms of the American funeral.
  • Describe the major causes of deaths due to non-illness.
  • Describe the major types of suicide and the issues involved in prevention, intervention, and postvention.
  • Describe the personal and social application of death education.
​

Educational Psychology
PSY210

Prerequisites: PSY101, or instructor permission
Similar to the Understanding Death & Dying course, students enroll in Educational Psychology for many different reasons.  Perhaps that person is interested in teaching and learning, student behavior, assessment, or cognitive development (among other topics). Students taking this course often report majoring in Education, Psychology, Counseling, or Administration; however, the course is open to students from all disciplines.  If you're interested in the learning more about the intersection of education and psychology, this is the course for you. 
​
Learning Objectives: 
  • Describe the discipline of educational psychology and explain how psychological principles are used to improve the education process.
  • Describe how the method of scientific inquiry is used in psychological research and how these findings apply to effective instruction and learning.
  • Describe the biological, cognitive, social, and emotional processes of human development as they relate to the tasks of schooling.
  • Explain the psychological research on such sources of human diversity as differences in intellectual ability, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, culture, and gender.
  • Describe the behavioral, cognitive, and information processing theories of learning and their applications in the classroom.
  • Describe psychological research into instructional effectiveness.
  • Identify and explain how effective teachers motivate their students both to learn and behave responsibly.
  • Explain various psychological principles geared to the management and support of a learning-oriented environment.
  • Explain how effective teachers determine goals and specify instructional outcomes.
  • Explain how effective teachers assess students, themselves, and the educational system.​​