Assessment of Teenage Diaries for Teaching Concepts in Adolescent Psychology

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Student self-report measures have been reported in numerous studies to assert that the use of ease studies in college psychology courses can help students to better understand the relevance of course topics; however, few studies have directly measured the impact of case studies on students' learning. The present study differs from previous studies involving case studies in that a pretest-posttest design with within-test control items was utilized to investigate the effectiveness of four National Public Radio's Teenage Diaries used to facilitate students' (N=35) learning and retention of course concepts in an adolescent psychology course. The present study also sought to determine if other educational variables, such as prior coursework in psychology and reading ability, had any influence on students' test scores. The statistically significant results indicated that the use of the diaries was an effective instructional intervention, and that reading ability in part plays a role in students' academic achievement.

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The application of case studies have long been used by psychology instructors to illustrate course material and to increase students' appreciation of the relevance of course concepts outside of the classroom context. The research involving the use of case studies has suggested that increased understanding of course material is perceived by college students (e.g., Cabe, Walker, & Williams, 1999; McDade, 1995; Sheldon, 2000, 2004; Tsui, 2002). To date, however, few studies have directly examined the impact of case studies on students' actual learning of course concepts. According to Tsui (2002), studies that have addressed classroom experiences tend to rely too heavily on student self-report data rather than observational data. Also, among the research that has examined the use of case studies to promote students' understanding of course material, the focus of teaching varies, thus studies addressing the same teaching elements have produced varied findings. Given that the use of case studies in college courses is an increasingly popular …