title: Teaching psychology as a laboratory science in the age of the Internet
abstract: For over 30 years, psychologists have relied on computers to teach experimental psychology. With the advent of experiment generators, students can create well-designed experiments and can test sophisticated hypotheses from the start of their undergraduate training. Characteristics of new Net-based experiment generators are discussed and compared with traditional stand-alone generators. A call is made to formally evaluate the instructional effectiveness of the wide range of experiment generators now available. Specifically, software should be evaluated in terms of known learning outcomes, using appropriate control groups. The many inherent differences between any two software programs should be made clear. The teacher's instructional method should be fully described and held constant between comparisons. Finally, the often complex interaction between the teacher's instructional method and the pedagogical details of the software must be considered
keyphrases: laboratory science Internet computers well-designed experiments undergraduate training Net-based experiment generators stand-alone generators instructional effectiveness software known learning outcomes control groups pedagogical details experimental psychology teaching hypothesis testing teacher instructional method