Lab News

New paper alert! 

"Connecting Introductory Psychology to Climate Change Can Empower Students" is now available online in the Teaching of Psychology. This pair studies with Gregg Sparkman, Leor Hackel, Jennifer Randall Crosby, and James Gross explores how an activity on the last day of an introductory psychology class can empower students to take action on climate change. 

 Read more at: https://doi.org/10.1177/00986283231177949 

New paper alert! 

"Social norms govern what behaviors come to mind -- And what do not" is now available online in theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology. This collection of studies with David Kalkstein, Cayce Hook, and Greg Walton explores how powerful social norms help people manage problems of self-control by preventing temptations from coming to mind. The paper includes a classroom study examining how "tech-free" policies reduce temptations to multitask. 

 Read more at: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2023-18691-001 

The biggest ever BRITElab class graduated from Duke on May 8, 2022! We’re so proud of all those who have been a part of a lab, and look forward to seeing what you do next! 

New paper alert! What do different teaching metaphors imply about students?

Read more at: www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/msw.21008.har 

BRITElab students Jessie Goldblatt and Sihan (Jen) Wang, presented posters at this year's SPSP conference! 

Our PI, Dr. Bridgette Martin Hard, is one of 11 faculty members who received the 2021-2022 Research Seed Grant via philanthropic support from the Charles Lafitte Foundation in Psychological and Neuroscience Research at Duke University. This grant will support a new branch of research: can metaphorical language influence academic engagement and achievement?

Our PI, Dr. Bridgette Martin Hard, is the recipient of the 2020-21 Robert B. Cox Teaching Award!

Kennedy (top: The quest to do it all: how college students' conceptions of balance relate to wellbeing) & Jessica (bottom: Reframing Classroom Participation as Collaboration) presented posters at this year's VIP sessions! 

They will be transforming these posters into their senior theses!

Also, kudos to other BRITElab students Priyanka and Justin who presented also presented posters!

Dr. Bridgette Hard, our PI, has received the 2021 Robert S. Daniel Teaching Excellence Award from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology. The Robert S. Daniel Teaching Excellence Award recognizes excellence in teaching at a four-year college or university.

!Congratulations to our honors students, Janette Levin and Adam Zimmer for successfully defending their theses!

Bonus congrats to Janette who won this year's Winfred Holton Prize for Educational Research

 One BRITElab student and one alum presented at the February 2021 BRITEideas talks! Jingxuan Liu presented research on the impacts of norm-based and criteria-based grading systems on student beliefs and behaviors. Michelle Wong discussed how the use of different metaphors for the student-instructor relationship can impact student course expectations.

Check out the recordings at this link! 

Dr. Bridgette Martin Hard presented a talk at the 2021 NITOP Teaching Slam: Do You See Who I See? Demonstrating the Face Identity Aftereffect to Teach the Neural Basis of Visual Perception.

Check it out at this YouTube link!

Dr. Bridgette Martin Hard published a chapter in a newly released edited volume on assessment, published by APA Books, Assessing Undergraduate Learning in Psychology: Strategies for Measuring and Improving Student Performance.

The book was co-edited by Susan Nolan, Christopher Hakala, and R. Eric Landrum, and explores assessments that instructors and administrators can use to design student-centered undergraduate psychology courses and curricula. The contributors address the realities of assessment, offering ideas on how to maximize their utility in the face of limitations. Ultimately, the book can support programs as they prepare students to be successful global citizens.

Assessing Undergraduate Learning in Psychology is available directly from APA Books (https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/assessing-undergraduate-learning-psychology) as well as from many major online book sellers.

Dr. Bridgette Martin Hard receives the faculty seed grant from the Charles Lafitte Foundation for the Program for Research in Psychology & Neuroscience! Dr. Hard has been a recipient of this grant in both 2018 and 2019. The faculty project for the 2020-2021 year is titled: “How Do Professors’ Intuitive Theories About Teaching Shape Pedagogy.”

BRITElab student Malorie Lipsten and former lab manager Vivian Iva submitted a poster titled "What are we rating? Race and gender bias in students' perceptions of onine course reviews" for the 2020 virtual APA conference!

BRITElab congratulates our summer RAs on their final presentations and poster sessions!

Rising seniors Adam Zimmer and Janette Levin were part of this year's VIP cohort and got a head-start on their thesis with VIP. Rising sophomore Taalin RaoShah collaborated with Dr. to write an article on about collaboration in the classroom! 

Duke BRITElab would like to welcome its new Research Coordinator, Michelle Wong! Michelle graduated this past May with a BS in Program II, a self-designed interdisciplinary major titled Neuroanthropology in Pedagogy, Policy, and Practice. Michelle will follow up for Vivian, our former lab manager, who will now be pursuing graduate studies in art therapy. Michelle will be overseeing the operations of all of our projects as well as providing support to our undergraduate and graduate collaborators.

And we're online! Seniors Ceren Ebrem and Michelle Wong successfully defend their theses for graduation with distinction in the Psychology & Neuroscience and Program II departments respectively. 

Ceren is the recipient of the 2020 Zener Award, which recognizes the most outstanding undergraduate thesis as judged by a faculty committee. Michelle is an honorable mention for the 2020 Holton Prize for Educational research and will graduate with highest distinction. 

BRITElab visits SPSP 2020 in New Orleans! Three undergraduate researchers, Kayley Dotson, Jingxuan Liu, and Michelle Wong present posters at the symposium. 

Dr. Bridgette Martin Hard and graduate students Paula Yust, Christina Bejjani, and Brenda Yang present at 2020 NITOP Conference. Undergraduate students Ceren Ebrem and Jingxuan Liu co-authored posters titled Using Language to Measure Student Beliefs about Intelligence and Belonging & Academic Engagement in a Large Introductory Psychology Course.  

Check out the new Duke Learning Innovation blog post on “New Research on Team-Based Learning” written by BRITElab undergraduate student Malorie Lipstein!

Check out the new Duke Learning Innovation blog post on “Improving Student Learning: One Nudge at a Time” featuring guest posts from BRITElab undergraduate students Malorie Lipstein and Haley Blank!

“Is stress always bad?” Check out Dr. Bridgette Martin Hard’s YouTube video produced by Duke University Communications to learn about how reframing our ideas about stress can reduce its harmful impacts!

BRITElab undergrad researchers Michelle Wong and Jingxuan Liu present their summer research projects at the VIP poster session. VIP is a great opportunity for students to get a head-start on research for Graduation with Distinction. Both Michelle and Jing’s projects are being developed into research articles that they will co-author!

Dr. Bridgette Hard gives a talk, Metaphors We Teach By, with the APS-STP teaching institute at this year's APS meeting in Washington D.C.! Dr. Hard and BRITElab students Nathan Liang and Michelle Wong co-authored a poster and presents at APS 2019 in Washington D.C.

BRITElab thesis students Katie Herrmann and Anna Jenkins successfully defend their thesis projects for Graduation with Distinction in Psychology. Katie, Anna, and Michelle Wong also presented their projects at the April BRITEideas session. 

Stressed for Success: An Anxiety Reappraisal Video Intervention for Undergraduates, by Katie Herrmann

Worried Sick: The Impact of Students' Stress Mindsets on Academic Performance and Health, by Anna Jenkins

Dr. Bridgette Hard is featured in the Society for the Teaching of Psychology’s “This is How I Teach” Blog.

Check out Dr. Bridgette Hard’s recent article in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Psychology with Shannon Brady (Wake Forest) and BRITElab '18 alum Joshua Lovett.

Dr. Bridgette Hard receives faculty seed grant from the Charles Lafitte Foundation for Program for Research in Psychology & Neuroscience.

Dr. Bridgette Hard presents the Diane Halpern Lecture at the American Psychological Association’s Annual Convention, San Francisco, CA: “The Undercover Scientist: Using Pedagogical Research to Teach and Discover.”

Dr. Bridgette Hard is the featured guest on the PsychSessions Podcast: “The Artistry and Craft of Teaching!"