Myth-Busting With Infographics: Do Creative Assignments Help Students Learn?

Abstract

Belief in psychological misconceptions has potential repercussions for both students and potentially society as a whole. We present a creative and engaging myth refutation assignment that uses an infographic format to promote the refutation of psychological misconceptions. A total of 166 students completed the myth refutation assignment, along with pre-assignment surveys to measure transformative experience, interest, and critical thinking. An end-of-semester myth quiz was given to assess long-term learning. Frequency of correct responses was higher for quiz questions that corresponded to the myth chosen for the students’ project, indicating that the assignment was effective at promoting learning. None of the other variables were significant predictors of myth refutation at the end of the semester.