Making Movies With Honors Intro Psych

This quarter, I was asked by the Honors Program to teach a one-unit credit-no credit honors seminar to accompany Intro Psych. This immediately raised a question in my mind–what do you do with a group of very bright students in a one unit credit/no credit course that does not waste everybody’s time?

I was inspired by a project that one of my friend’s daughters completed in high school–She and a friend put together a movie about fear, and asked me to record an interview for it. Ah ha! Who doesn’t like making movies? So I proposed to my Honors Class that they work in teams to put together a movie on a psychological topic of their choice. Last Tuesday, during our last meeting, we munched brownies (thanks Mr. F) and watched the results.

The diversity of topics was fun. We ended up with four films:

1. The Psychology of Rock Climbing
2. Memory
3. Solomon Asch and Conformity
4. Don’t Step Here (more conformity)

Dorm Residents Carefully Avoided the Sign on the Floor That Read: Don't Step Here

Now I am no professional filmmaker myself–far from it, in fact. But I was able to find a number of helpful resources for my students. So if you’re interested in using this activity, take a look at these.

1. Atomic Learning offers free downloadable Storyboard Pro software.
2. Video in the Classroom offers a wide variety of resources for teachers of all “grades” who want to incorporate film activities.

I ever get assigned an Honors Course again, I think I would explore this further. Of course, there’s also the option of making a Psychology-themed videogame…..