The goal of a service-learning project is toenhance learning by sharing with others and actively reflecting onthe process afterward. The community, or "others" involved shouldalso benefit from this interaction. In late March we will interactwith eighth-graders from a local middle school (TJR). See below forlinks to photos from this site visit.
Service-learning projects are one way toapply what we know from research about perception to needs outsidethe classroom. There are many other areas where applied research isbenefitting individuals in society at large. This course will alsoemphasize such applied areas, and as their first paper, the studentswill each summarize the current status of an area of appliedperception research (see below).
Finally, as part of this course, thestudents designed and performed an original research project. Thisyear, we examined the relative influence of top-down and bottom-upcues on the first perception of ambiguous figures. Apaper compiled from the students' experimental write-ups isavailable.
Since all of the above will be documented onthis webpage, it will be updated as the semester progresses. If youare interested, the webpages from previous classes are alsoavailable: 1997, 1998, 1999.
Return to Perception 440 information page.
The Class:
Back Row: Dr. Lauren Scharff,
BrianMcDaniel, Emily Douglass, Jeremy Bidwell, Joseph Heggins
(GraduateAssistant)
Front Row: Dixie Morgan, Ashley Dockx, Melanie
Lilliston,Loretta Moss
On April 17th, the class visited TJR MiddleSchool, gave presentations and interacted with eighth-graders in Mrs.Leah Kahn's science class. The interactions involved manydemonstrations which helped the students understand some basicprinciples about perceptual processing and some of the effects ofperceptual aging. Clickhere for photos of ourvisit.
In order to receive honor's credit for thiscourse, Emily wrote the following story, OnlySenses, and incorporated what shehad learned this semester into the story. Enjoy!