DURHAM -- A local college professor is using quirky TV characters, like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, to help students understand psychology concepts.
Dr. Lynne Kennette, a psychology professor at Durham College, says lecturing for three hours isn’t the best way to teach new material.
That’s why she tries to make her classes fresh and fun with hands-on activities, discussions -- and clips from popular TV shows.
“The Big Bang Theory has a great episode on operant conditioning where Sheldon modified Penny’s behaviour, and students really like it,” Dr. Kennette says.
Operant conditioning is a process that sees humans and animals learn certain behaviours as a way of getting rewards and avoiding punishment.
On the show, Sheldon rewards Penny with chocolate as a way of lessening behaviours that annoy him.
“We tend to watch these shows for entertainment, but there are important psychological concepts that come into play during many episodes of popular shows,” Dr. Kennette explains. “I use the clips as a starting point for discussion or just another way to illustrate a concept we’ve introduced in class.”
She says another great pop culture example is an episode of Family Guy where a game of peek-a-boo between baby Stewie and his dad demonstrates the concept of object permanence -- the idea that objects continue to exist even when they can’t be seen, heard or touched.
Dr. Kennette’s fun teaching style recently won her a Wayne Weiten Teaching Excellence Award, which recognizes innovative teaching methods that develop interest and awareness of psychology.
As Durham College’s only full-time psychology instructor, she teaches an introductory psychology course, which students from all different programs take as an elective.
“I have so much fun designing learning activities for my students,” Dr. Kennette says. “Witnessing their ‘aha moments’ when the concepts we discuss in class come to life in classroom experiments or demonstrations makes all the planning and hours of preparation worth it.”
For example, she teaches students about classical conditioning by feeding them lemonade crystals and training them to salivate to the word “Pavlov” -- the psychologist who coined the term.
There are also lively discussions about whether serial killers are born that way or shaped by their environment, and memory demonstrations that have the added benefit of helping students study for tests.
Dr. Kennette will receive her award at the annual American Psychological Association convention in Toronto in August.
It includes a plaque and a $1,500 prize, as well as a mention in the fall issue of the American Psychological Association journal, Teaching of Psychology.