Increasing interest in cognitive psychology

using scenario-based assessment

Sophie Cormack

Students often perceive cognitive psychology as an abstract and difficult subject with little intrinsic interest.
When student feedback identified problems with the traditional essay assessment in a cognitive psychology
module, action research led to the development of a forensic scenario-based assessment which successfully
increased student interest in cognitive psychology. Reflections on the meaning of assessment led to a reframing
of the purpose of the taught classes to serve the assignment, an approach favoured by students that staff had
previously resisted. The focus shifted from delivery of content to facilitating students in the assignment work.
The complexity and richness of the scenario guaranteed interesting class discussions, helped students practice
applying their knowledge of psychology, and inspired students to explore the literature creatively. Observation
and student feedback led to further refinements, eventually generating not just increased student enthusiasm
but also a significant increase in performance.
Keywords: Teaching cognitive psychology; scenario-based assessment.

The context The issues

N THE 2009/10 academic year at the Up until 2008/09 students had been given a

I University of Sunderland, a post-92 univer-

sity, students taking British Psychological
Society (BPS) accredited degrees were
choice of essays, with one title from each of
the core areas. However, we found that most
students would decide early on which essay
required to take a 20-credit Level 5 under- topic to focus on, and would then only
graduate module in biological and cognitive attend the associated teaching block. Staff
psychology. For convenience from now on were concerned that students were not,
I will use the words ‘the module’ to refer therefore, gaining a broad knowledge of
only to the cognitive half of the module. The cognitive psychology. To counteract the
module had been running for some years in problem, in 2009/10 students were told that
the same format, as a team-taught module they would be given only two essay titles to
divided into five blocks covering the core choose from, which would not be revealed
areas of attention, perception, memory, until near the end of the module. The essay
language and thinking. Lecturers delivered titles could be taken from any of the five
their own specialised areas, with several teaching blocks.
research-active staff in the team. The outcome, in retrospect, seems
To achieve the learning outcomes of the obvious: students were resentful that they had
module students were required to demon- to attend so many sessions of no use to the
strate knowledge and understanding of assessment. They complained that very little
theory and method in a range of cognitive of the module was relevant for their essay,
domains, to appraise the strengths and weak- illustrating a mismatch between staff and
nesses of alternative explanations of behav- student conceptions of ‘relevance’. Staff had
iour and to employ evidence-based reasoning made careful decisions about what topics to
to evaluate theories. These learning include and regarded them all as highly rele-
outcomes were assessed through a course- vant knowledge for students graduating with a
work essay. A typical essay title was ‘Examine BPS-accredited psychology degree, as well as
the effects of anxiety on attention and being core aspects of human psychology. In
consider whether they could be explained by contrast most students rated the content as
Baddeley’s model of working memory’. relevant only if it was directly assessed.

Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 20 No

No.2,
2,Winter
Winter2014
2014 39
© The British Psychological Society
Sophie Cormack
Author

Staff worried about how ‘assessment- The format for the assignment was influ-
focused’ the students were, seeming to show enced by the fourth annual Project LeAP
no interest in psychology beyond what they Summer Workshop on problem-based
were to be assessed on (a common cry of learning, which I had attended in 2006.
teachers, noted Biggs & Tang, 2011, p.37). Although I decided not to use a problem-
I too was baffled by students’ unwillingness based learning (PBL) approach, I was
to engage or even attend sessions if they impressed by the idea of using concrete
were not being assessed. I had started to scenarios in which students were encouraged
accept that if there was some content we felt to approach the problem by assuming the
students ‘ought’ to know, or some class we roles of professionals. Moust, van Berkel and
deemed essential to attend, then we would Schmidt (2005) argue that the benefits of PBL
have to assess it. are sabotaged by omitting any of the essential
However, I was also becoming increasingly elements, such as the small group sizes, or
uncomfortable with our approach to assess- steps in the learning process. So it would be
ment. By the time I was teaching my block on unlikely that using a concrete scenario alone
the module I already knew it was not being would have the same effect as using PBL.
assessed, but I had to conceal this knowledge However, there is an independent literature
from the students. I found my own enthu- on the benefits of using realistic scenarios, or
siasm dampened, as I too experienced the vignettes (e.g. Errington, 2011; Jeffries &
feeling that my teaching was ‘irrelevant’. Maeder, 2004 & 2005, 2006; Norton, 2004).
Students often perceive cognitive One benefit is that scenarios can prepare
psychology as difficult, dry and abstract, even students for employment by requiring them to
boring. All of us tried hard to bring the consider how they can put their academic
subject to life, however despite our efforts knowledge to practical use. Mair, Taylor and
only a minority of students were attracted to Hulme (2013) have emphasised the impor-
cognitive psychology as a subject for further tance of developing such psychological
study, with around a fifth of the cohort opting literacy skills, so students can apply their
for a final year option in cognitive psycho- knowledge of psychology within whatever
logy. As a supervisor of ‘cognitive’ final year work or personal situations they encounter.
projects I always had more places available The LeAP Summer Workshop on PBL
than students wishing to study with me. had mainly focused on engineering and
In early summer 2010, the module team physics, as illustrated in Savin-Baden (2008),
discussed these issues and could find no but I was struck by the description of the
immediate answer. Initial proposals to medical school at Manchester (O’Neill,
broaden the essay so that students would Morris & Baxter, 2000) where PBL was used
have to look across cognition as a whole were within a lecture and lab-based teaching envi-
rejected on the grounds that they would only ronment. The lecture course and laboratory
make the essay even more abstract and chal- activities were designed to be relevant to the
lenging for students. Some staff thought a PBL case materials. This gave me a new
solution was impossible. model for assessment, one where the assign-
ment task is the central defining focus of a
The development process module, with the taught classes designed to
I generated ideas by working through the serve the assignment.
areas of applied psychology students are Biggs and Tang (2011) wrote that, ‘From
most interested in, then using my knowledge the teacher’s perspective, summative assess-
of the literature in cognition to evaluate ment is at the end of the teaching-learning
whether there would be sufficient connec- sequence of events, but from the student’s
tions to draw upon. I decided to ground the perspective the assessment is at the begin-
assignment in forensic psychology. ning’ (p.198). I had shifted to the student’s

40 Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 20 No. 2, Winter 2014

 Scenario-based assessment in cognitive psychology
Title

perspective. Instead of seeing the assessment experience as an amateur novelist. I set out
of the module as a problem to solve, I began to write a fictional case which would be as
to see the assessment as a solution for the realistic as possible, so I carried out extensive
module, as the purpose which would drive research into the literature including tran-
decisions about content and delivery. scripts of legal cases. Due to the amount of
time it took to design the scenario, I was
The design process writing the evidence as the module
I planned that students would be presented progressed. It was a dynamic process of
with evidence from a criminal trial which consultation with the module teaching team,
would build up throughout the course of the such that they adjusted their teaching to
module, filling out the story of an armed orient towards the scenario, and I edited the
robbery and its aftermath. The students evidence to incorporate their suggestions.
would take on the role of an expert witness
in cognitive psychology. Students would be The assignment
immersed in the task from the start, with The trigger for the scenario was a letter from
each taught session providing further a solicitor in London asking for help in
resources, ideas, or formative discussions preparing an appeal on behalf of her client
with peers and tutors, to build up a rich (Pedro), who was serving a 20-year sentence
understanding of the possibilities available for being an accomplice to armed robbery
to address the task. and murder. Pedro had been a ticket-seller at
I emphasised to the students how similar a cinema in 1998. He and four other cinema
an expert witness report is to a scientific staff had been in the manager’s office
essay or experimental report, forms of assess- counting up the day’s takings when a man
ment they were already familiar with. with a gun burst in and demanded the
I explained that an expert witness does not money. During the process the robber shot
have the same role as a lawyer. An expert the security guard dead. The police later
witness for the defence has a duty to be uncovered evidence suggesting that Pedro
scientific and objective, not to use persuasive had been the robber’s accomplice.
rhetoric. I read to the students parts of Bond I explained that the solicitor wanted an
et al.’s (2007) guide for expert witnesses, expert witness to look at five sets of trial
including their suggestion that expert evidence, to see whether the police interpre-
witnesses testify that: ‘I understand my duty tation could be questioned, which might give
as an expert witness to the court to provide Pedro grounds for appeal. For each of the
independent assistance by way of objective five pieces of evidence, the solicitor posed a
unbiased opinion in relation to matters question, for example, ‘How likely is it that
within my expertise’ (p.165). Another guide, the barmaid correctly identified the man she
Hall and Smith (2001), advises expert saw talking to the robber?’.
witnesses to ‘provide cross references to […] Rather than setting a single assignment,
any publishable material which supports the I split it into two half-length assignments, so
conclusions’ (p.142). This allowed me to that students would obtain feedback on this
insist on the use of APA-style citations and unfamiliar form of assessment before they
references, while still maintaining the started the second assignment. For the first
integrity of the scenario. assignment students chose whether to
I believe that good teachers make use of answer a question on attention or one on
their own individual quirks and skills to language, and for the second assignment
enhance their teaching (a view shared by they chose perception, memory or thinking.
others, see Kane, Sandretto & Heath, 2004, All the topics were interconnected, and each
pp.299–300). I have one talent which I had piece of evidence (outlined below) added
never before applied to my teaching: my more information to the case.

Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 20 No. 2, Winter 2014 41

Sophie Cormack
Author

Attention: Pedro’s initial description of the on autobiographical memory, lie-detection,

robber was so poor that the police believed it and reality-monitoring. The extract below,
was an attempt to divert them to look for the from the interview of the assistant cinema
wrong person. The solicitor asked whether manager, shows the rich and ambiguous
Pedro’s description could have been that of nature of the evidence.
an innocent eyewitness. This evidence raised I was customer services manager in
questions about the limits of attention, about Woollies for a while, and we did have
top-down and bottom-up influences, effects some training. Try to burn his image into
of anxiety, threat and novelty, and the rela- my brain. Which was going great until he
tionship between attention and memory. turned and caught me staring. And there
I was lying on the floor and him pointing
Language: Students were presented with a a gun at me. Then it was like… well like it
series of text messages in scrambled order. was happening to someone else. Bill
They were told that the messages were jumped him and tried to grab the gun and
retrieved from a mobile phone that the it was Bill took the shot. They fell against
robber had attempted to destroy, but that the table which toppled the piles of coins
the timestamp and sender information were and they came crashing down and I was
missing. I derived this idea from a case inves- screwing my eyes up and there was this last
tigated by the forensic linguist Olsson one which was just spinning around, it
(2008). Students worked in groups to decide seemed to last hours. Now I only have to
on a plausible ordering, which they had to hear coins falling and bam, my heart is
justify in the assignment using the psycho- going 19 to the dozen and I’m breaking
linguistic literature on structuring of into a sweat, it’s that shock again. He just
discourse, use of anaphora, idiolect and adja- jabbed the barrel into Bill and…. I can’t
cency pairs. The text messages clearly think about it, oh man.
implied that the robber had an accomplice This witness tends to report the scene from
among the cinema staff. an observer perspective. Students could use
the lie-detection literature to argue that this
Perception: Students were told that a barmaid is a type of distancing or lack of immediacy
had seen a man talking to the robber in a associated with deception. However, students
pub a few days before the robbery. The could show critical thinking by pointing out
police thought her description of this man that observer-perspective is also found in
matched Pedro, and showed her photo- traumatic memory, and that there is some
graphs from which she selected Pedro’s. She evidence of post-traumatic stress in this
also subsequently picked him out in an iden- account. Alternatively they could point out
tity parade. The question was whether she that the account contains the vivid sensory
could have been mistaken in her identifica- details typical of autobiographical memory,
tion. There were many flaws inserted into or they could focus on the small effect sizes
this set of evidence, so students could choose found in the deception literature. All these
which they thought were most significant. To possibilities and more were found in the
answer the question students were guided to actual student work, with students differing
literature on face recognition and identifica- greatly in their attention to detail and in how
tion procedures. many interpretations they considered.

Memory: The solicitor asked students to look Thinking: This topic was set within the
at police interviews with the four eye- context of rationality and decision-making.
witnesses, to see if they resembled true The evidence was a series of interviews in
memories or showed any evidence of decep- which the police questioned Pedro about his
tion. Students were introduced to literature movements on the evening that the barmaid

42 Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 20 No. 2, Winter 2014

 Scenario-based assessment in cognitive psychology
Title

thought she saw him talking to the robber. 85 per cent. Seventy-five per cent of students
Pedro denies having met the robber, but felt that there were sufficient opportunities
claims he suffers from alcoholic blackouts for formative assessment, up from 40 per
and eventually signs a confession, which he cent. However, the percentage of students
retracts a week later. Students were asked to who felt that the assessment task was clear
explore the literature on false confessions dropped from 85 per cent to 79 per cent,
and were encouraged to consider biases and there was also a slight drop in ratings on
which might elicit confessions, such as the clarity of assessment criteria. The main
temporal discounting and confirmation bias comment from students was that they would
on the part of the police. have liked more guidance on the assign-
ment.
Implementation The overall impression was that the
Lectures were largely unaltered, as students students enjoyed the scenario and felt that it
still needed to be introduced to the five areas was relevant, but had not entirely under-
of cognition and the lectures would provide stood what I wanted them to do in the write-
the theoretical background which students up. This corresponded with the impression
would draw upon for their assignment. from the marking: many students had
I re-designed almost all the seminars. Each described theory and empirical work, and
of the five topics had two associated semi- had also attempted to interpret the evidence
nars. In the first seminar students undertook to answer the solicitor’s question, but there
activities which consolidated the topic or was no real link between the two. This was
introduced relevant forensic areas (e.g. clearly a challenging task for them, perhaps
weapon focus, false confessions). In the more than they realised.
second seminar a group of students deliv-
ered a presentation suggesting how they Iterations
would apply the topic to the assignment In the 2011/12 academic year I included
scenario, which led to discussion and forma- more explicit written guidelines and more
tive feedback from the tutor. formative work in seminars.
Feedback ratings improved even more,
Evaluation of the assignment but there was a negligible improvement in
The scenario was very well received: students performance from the previous year (less
even debated on Facebook whether Pedro than two per cent), t(196.31)=2.29, p=.023,
was innocent or guilty. About twice as many d=.31, which was not significantly different
students chose a final year option in cogni- from performance in 2009/10, before the
tive psychology, and all my places as a project scenario was introduced, t(208.75)=1.28,
supervisor were filled for the first time in p=.203, d=.17. This time the main student
18 years. complaint was that the group presentation
The success of the assignment was evalu- work was stressful. We observed that groups
ated by looking at student performance and often arrived poorly prepared, or some
student feedback (both quantitative and members simply did not attend.
qualitative) compared with the previous year. In 2012/13 a new seminar tutor joined
Disappointingly, there was no improvement the module team, who was very enthusiastic
in student performance, t(215)=0.94, p=.350, about the assignment. We redesigned the
d=.13. However, there were striking improve- seminars so that they were tutor-led and
ments in student feedback on the module. students could prepare for them with indi-
Nearly all ratings on the module improved, vidual study. Group work activities took place
for example, the number of students who within the scheduled classes. Student feed-
felt they had a reasonable grasp of the back was very good, with student representa-
module topics rose from 70 per cent to tives commending the assessment.

Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 20 No. 2, Winter 2014 43

Author Cormack
Sophie

In 2013/14 we made a change to the Final evaluation

assessment. We had noticed that some This section provides an overview of the find-
students appeared to be strategically ings from the quantitative measures of
attending, perhaps because they knew they student feedback and performance. To
only had to write up two of the five topics, compare student feedback across years,
and as a result they had an incomplete I calculated a mean rating from 12 of the 17
understanding of the scenario. We decided questions on the module feedback question-
to set a single assignment at the end of the naire, covering teaching, learning and assess-
module with a 2000 word limit. The task was ment. Three questions (on quality of
for students to advise the solicitor which feedback on assessment and tutor approach-
evidence would provide the best grounds for ability) were excluded because I felt that
appeal. they were unrelated to the type of assess-
Performance was significantly better on ment. One question was excluded due to
the single assignment than it had been on missing data for one year. I also excluded a
the split version, as shown by the final question on how well students could spread
analysis in the next section. The students the workload because I thought it might say
showed imaginative critical thinking, more about the spacing of assignments than
synthesis of large amounts of primary-source about their content. Combining ratings for
literature, good understanding of cognitive the 12 remaining questions gave a very
psychology and ability to apply it very well in rough idea of how ‘positive’ students were
a forensic context. These students had flour- about the module. The ratings from the
ished. biological half of the full module are used as

Figure 1: Mean student ratings of the cognitive and biological components.

44 Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 20 No. 2, Winter 2014

 Scenario-based assessment in cognitive psychology
Title

a comparison, as the content area is compa- mark was the mean of the two half-size
rably difficult for students. Figure 1 shows assignments). Students who obtained zero
how the ratings for the two subjects have (usually a non-submission) in any unit of
fluctuated over the years. The rating repre- assessment were not included. The total
sents the mean percentage of students who numbers of included and excluded students
gave positive ratings across each criterion. can be seen in Table 1 (overleaf). In most
The scenario was introduced in the years the cognitive half of the module ran
2010/11 academic year. Figure 1 reveals that after the biological half, which is why non-
in the wider timescale, the increase in ratings submissions were higher, as cumulatively
the year the scenario was introduced actually more students had dropped out.
only served to return ratings to their 2008/09 Figure 2 shows student performance
levels, and the actual gain was only made in across the timescale of the study, with marks
2011/12, after more guidance had been from 50 to 59 per cent representing lower
introduced. The lower ratings on the biolog- second class attainment.
ical content in 2008/09 are probably because Analysis of variance was carried out but
it was assessed by an exam: since 2009/10 it due to violations of the assumption of homo-
has been assessed by a coursework essay. geneity of variance, results must be inter-
To calculate student performance, the preted cautiously. The interaction between
mean mark for the biological psychology subject and year was significant,
essay was compared with the mean mark on F(5,647)=7.73, p<.001, ηp2=.056. Tests of
the cognitive half of the module (in the first simple effects using the Bonferroni correc-
three years of the scenario the cognitive tion showed that in 2013/14 the cognitive

Figure 2. Mean student performance on the cognitive and biological components.

Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 20 No. 2, Winter 2014 45

Author Cormack
Sophie

Table 1: Number of students included in performance data analysis, by year.

Academic Total Number of Number of students excluded

year students students Non- Non- Non-
on module included submission submission submission
in analysis in both areas biological cognitive
2008/09 109 85 8 5 11
2009/10 146 112 20 8 6
2010/11 120 105 8 6 2
2011/12 115 107 1 0 7
2012/13 175 154 12 0 9
2013/14 113 90 14 1 8
Note that four students across the years have been categorised as ‘non-submissions’ who submitted work marked at
zero for reasons such as plagiarism or submitting the wrong assignment. Some of those recorded as non-submissions
for the cognitive assignment submitted one of the two assignments but not the other. The figures for non-
submission vary from year to year partly due to varying practices on recording data from students who withdrew.

assignment resulted in significantly higher Kane, Sandretto and Heath (2004) advise
marks than in the previous year, an increase inexperienced lecturers to ‘try and be your-
of over six per cent (p<.001, d=0.55), and self… you’ve got to teach it your way and
also significantly higher marks than in there are lots of different ways’ (p.304). Like-
2008/09 (p=.009, d=0.40). In 2013/14 wise for students I encouraged them to be
students also obtained significantly higher themselves and emphasised that there were
marks (by eight per cent) on the cognitive many ways to answer the assignment. I found
assignment than they did on the biological it hard as a storyteller not to give them
essay (p<.001, d=0.72). closure by telling them if Pedro was guilty or
innocent, but I wanted it to resemble real
Reflections life, where the truth can only be guessed at,
Implementing the scenario generated many and I did not want to give the impression
surprises. The first surprise was that some there was a ‘right answer’. Some students
students believed the scenario was real, so we found this frustrating, as they wanted to
had to emphasise its fictional nature. It was ‘solve’ the crime.
the first time I had put so much of myself I was also surprised that ever since I intro-
into an assignment, which made me feel a duced the scenario, I have been oversub-
little vulnerable. But learning is all about scribed for project students. It is as if the
taking risks and being creative, and I was assignment produces a halo effect which not
very happy to see the students showing the only produces more positive ratings of the
same characteristics in their assignment teaching and the topics, but also of the
answers. The module team were careful to teacher. I am perceived differently as a
align the teaching and assessment, yet the person because students enjoyed the
exact alignment was actually left for the module.
students to create for themselves. While we Another surprise was that the popularity
encouraged students to find some of the of the assignment did not immediately cause
connections we saw, many students ingen- an improvement in performance. Deci et al.
iously found links that I had not made (1991) argued that to support intrinsic moti-
myself. This is the advantage of using a vation students need a feeling of compe-
realistic, ambiguous and open scenario. tence and control, which may have been

46 Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 20 No. 2, Winter 2014

 Scenario-based assessment in cognitive psychology
Title

impaired by their lack of experience with the their own goals to reach the learning
format and the constraints of the word outcomes. Students can be inspired by the
count. module content, or by the teaching, but
I was also surprised that using one long most powerful is to inspire them with the
assignment rather than two short ones had assessment, where the concentration of
such a positive effect on performance. This effort gives such potential for deep learning.
may have been due to the greater freedom it Looking back I can see that I have
offered students. However, another hypoth- progressed through a series of different
esis is that dividing the assignment into two views. I began with the view that ‘students
short halves devalued it for students, such shouldn’t be so assessment-focused’, which
that they put more effort into full-size assign- I attempted to correct by trying to convey my
ments on other modules. Wormald et al. own views to them. Then I came to accept
(2009) and Cohall and Skeete (2014) found that ‘students are assessment focused so we
that when assessment weightings in a have to design that in’. Recently I have
module are changed, performance on newly shifted to a ‘systems’ view, where I think ‘of
higher-weighted assessments is higher and course students are assessment focused – it is
performance on lower-weighted assessments the rational outcome of the system they exist
is lower. It makes strategic sense that in’ and indeed that this is the way it should
students would apportion their effort more be, that assessment is the vision of what we
to assessments with a higher weighting want them to achieve, the representation of
(those worth 50 per cent of a module rather what we value, the embodiment of the
than 25 per cent of a module, for example), learning outcomes. Assessment is the
and it is also possible that the weighting of starting point for motivation.
an assessment affects perception of its value.
This action research has not only Acknowledgements
changed the student experience, but it has I thank the PSY240 module team who
also changed me. I used to believe that supported me and who participated in this
I chose interesting and intellectually chal- development: Ros Crawley, Etta Evans,
lenging essay titles which would lead Louise Delicato, Carole Carter, and Bethany
students to experience the excitement of Snow. Thanks also to Diane Westwood and
recent research in my topic area. I was Laurence Eagle for commenting on an
deluded. I was projecting my own interests earlier version of this paper.
onto students. It led me to devise assess-
ments of the type Biggs and Tang (2011) Correspondence
called ‘decontextualised’, those which assess Sophie Cormack
declarative knowledge but are not related to Department of Psychology,
a real life context. Faculty of Applied Sciences,
I believe that it is a priority to find assign- University of Sunderland,
ments which are intrinsically interesting to as David Goldman Informatics Centre,
many students as possible, which means Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter’s,
choosing an assignment with value for them. St Peter’s Way,
This also usually means giving them Sunderland SR6 0DD.
freedom, within clearly defined bounds Email: sophie.cormack@sunderland.ac.uk
which give them enough direction to set

Psychology Teaching Review Vol. 20 No. 2, Winter 2014 47

Author Cormack
Sophie

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