Combining the Use of Progressive Writing Techniques and Popular Movies in Introductory Psychology

Abstract

We designed a paper assignment for introductory psychology that used progressive writing techniques to discuss course material as illustrated in popular movies. We provided students with a written tutorial that explained a 6-step writing process and provided feedback on their progress at each step. Course evaluations indicated that students liked the assignment and believed that the progressive writing approach helped them write a high-quality paper. Although student motivation was lower than expected, paper performance was high with 44% of students earning more than 90% of the available points.