The TTP offers a unique opportunity to recruit high ability students from a low income high school with students from some of the most under represented ethnic minority populations in the U.S. Participants in this research intervention are a sample of students attending an academic magnet school in a large eastern urban city with a current population of 1,541 students on a college campus. Many of these students, if accepted in college, would be the first generation in their families to attend college. The STAT assesses how well students answer questions that require them to use analytic, practical, or creative thinking skills. The test includes both multiple choice and essay questions. We use the test so we can select students who have a particular strength, but also need to improve some thinking or writing skills.
Students attend a one semester, college level, introductory course in psychology.
The course is held 3 days a week for three lectures and 1 to 2 hour lab sessions with a college mentor. Class size is about 12 students. Each student is assigned to a highly successful and trained college mentor, who is matched with them based on thinking skills that need improvement. Lectures are designed to encourage students to develop their thinking and writing skills by applying their thinking abilities to specific situations presented in the course. In Search or the Human Mind, as a text.