| Abstract: | The undergraduate course in the psychology of personal and social development at the University of California at Davis recently underwent some methodological changes. The changes were the addition of weekly encounter groups to traditional lecture during the fall and winter quarter and the substitution of the encounter groups for lectures during the spring quarter. Students found that the addition of the encounter groups to the lecture increased their involvement in the course and made it a much more meaningful and relevant experience when compared with other college courses already taken. Students in the class where the encounter groups took the place of the lecture not only found their experience more meaningful and relevant when compared with the traditional lecture class but also scored as well as the lecture class on an identical final exam. |
