Teaching
Since earning my Ph.D., I have had the opportunity to teach a variety of courses including social psychology, personality theories, social cognition, social and personality development, interpersonal processes, statistics, research methods and lab, experimental methods and lab, psychology thesis, laboratory in social psychology, and evolutionary psychology. I also developed a one-credit course on career preparation in psychology that helps students explore careers in psychology, write resumes, and prepare graduate school applications and interviews. Additionally, I have taught in non-traditional ways by directing independent studies, supervising honors theses, teaching in a life-long learning program and advising the MU Psychology Club.
My passion for teaching methodology and research design in particular has merged with my research interests, as I study best practices for teaching research methods. I serve as the editor for http://www.teachpsychscience.org, an open resource for teaching activities in research methods and statistics, and co-authored a textbook. Discovering the Scientist Within: Research Methods in Psychology. My development of the career preparation course has also informed my scholarship in skill development for psychology majors. In 2006 I was awarded the Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Teaching Award from the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science in Florida Atlantic University. This is awarded to one professor annually and was a great honor.
~Teaching Related Scholarship~
Ciarocco, N. J., Lewandowski, G. W., Jr., & Van Volkom, M. (2013). The impact of a multifacted approach to teaching research methods on students' attitudes. Teaching of Psychology, 40, 20-25. doi:10.1177/0098628312465859
Ciarocco, N. J., Dinella, L. M., & Lewandowski, G. W., Jr. (2011). Strategies for making psychology self-relevant in and out of the classroom. In R. Miller & B. Rycek (Eds.), Promoting student engagement: Volume I: Programs, techniques and opportunities [E-book]. Society for the Teaching of Psychology.
Lewandowski, G. W., Jr., Ciarocco, N., & Strohmetz, D. B. (2009). TeachPsychScience.org: Resources for teaching research and statistics in psychology. Association for Psychological Science Fund for Teaching and Public Understanding of Psychological Science (Award Amount of $5,000).
Ciarocco, N., Strohmetz, D. B., & Lewandowski, G. W., Jr. (2009). Exemplar studies for teaching research methodology. Instructional Resource Award from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (Award Amount: $1,500.00).
Ciarocco, N., Strohmetz, D.B., &. (January, 2011). Teaching through example: How to use empirical studies to teach research methods. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology, St. Pete, FL.
Lewandowski, G. W., Jr., Ciarocco, N. & Strohmetz, D.B. (January, 2011). Teaching the science of psychology: A collection of resources. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Institute on the Teaching of Psychology, St. Pete, FL.
Ciarocco, N. (June, 2009). Headliners: Making psychology self-relevant through current media. Symposium conducted at Eastern Conference on the Teaching of Psychology, Staunton, VA.
