University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, February 27, 1991
9
Computers teach psychology
Classes use games to simulate real life
By Sarah Davis
Shelly plays a game he designed for his psychology classes.
Kansan staff writer
Letsgo. Hi. Hello
These three simple commands typed into a computer can launch a student into a new experience.
student into a new experience.
Learning can be enhanced through
computer games.
Marynard Shelly, professor of psychology, has been teaching psychology courses at the University of Chicago through computer games for 14 years.
Shelly said the computer games exposed students to different kinds of experiences.
This semester he is teaching three courses, Social Psychology, Psychology of Satisfaction and Advanced Personality, in which he uses 90 games he designed and programmed.
"If you want to give people real experiences, you can't assign problems because there's no right or wrong answer, and you can't ask them to take drugs or not to talk for three days because it's dangerous and not ethical," he said. "So the only alternative is to have a containment. With a computer, real experiences won't get out of control."
He said the idea of learning through experiencing was important.
"I never ask them to know a name or to know a theory because it's not going to help them in real life." My entire emphasis is an application
The games help students think more deeply about people and situations, he said.
Leslie Murphy, a Lenexa senior in his Advanced Personality course, aureed.
"I think the thing that helped me was repeated exposure to the games," she said. "There's an awareness that comes out of the
class. There's an emphasis on com plexity."
Todd Goodbinder, Overland Park sophomore, is enrolled in the Social Psychology course. He said the different situations in each of the games helped him view life from different perspectives.
"I think it's an interesting way to teach a course," he said. "You learn through the computer games you play. They're thinking games."
Another student in the class, Corey Zirlin, Chicago, III, sophomore, said he could relate to real life the situations in the games, such as using energy wisely or using the power of persuasion.
"Some of the things he talks about enlighten you," he said. "He shows how something so basic can influence you."
Shelly said he hoped his students learned much from his method of teaching.
"I want them to learn the ideas that are involved, how to apply them, not only verbally but also from using computers," she said. "You can do in a game is put information
together and look at the multiple aspects."
Students in his Psychology of Satisfaction class meet once a week at the computer center to play the games with a partner. The other two classes are self-taught. Students play the games on their own time.
Students also have the option of either playing the games or writing papers, and they are able to finish the course within five or six weeks if they can show them understand the information that Shelly has presented.
Jon Picus, Milwaukee. Wis., sophomore, said the Social Psychology course he was in this semester was both confusing and exciting.
"I've never taken anything like this before," he said. "It's fun, and it's a challenge to play the games."
Goodbear said that although the course was not easy, he recom-
"When you come to the University of Kansas, all the classes are the same, but in this class it's all hands-on he said. "It's just a neat concept."
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