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New program emphasizes service learning

A partnership between Washington State University’s Center for Civic Engagement and the LAUNCH Program is bringing service-learning into the classroom, with positive impacts on student success.

The two offices collaborated on an effort to include service-learning in Psychology 105 and Human Development 200 courses in the 2023-24 academic year. More than 800 students were asked to engage in service-learning experiences scaffolded into the courses and then reflect on the experience as part of their fall semester course curriculum.

“Our goal was to give students the space and opportunity to think about who they are, where they want to go, and what learning experiences could help them in that developmental process,” Samantha Swindell, psychology professor and associate dean of undergraduate studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Service-learning doesn’t just give students an opportunity to live their values – it also has a substantial impact on their success. A study conducted by biology faculty and CCE staff during academic years 2017-18 and 2018-19 found that students who participated in a similar service-learning project received an academic boost: end-of-semester grades for participants were almost 10% higher than non-participants’ grades, and participants’ fall-to-fall retention was 9.3% higher. The impact was particularly pronounced among students of color.

“We have every reason to believe that the benefits of service-learning are as true for our students as they were in the group that was studied,” Swindell said. “Service-learning helps students be more civic-minded, feel more like a member of the community, improves self-efficacy, and is great practice in stepping into an unfamiliar situation and seeing it as a learning opportunity.”

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‘Exploding head syndrome’? Inside a mysterious, disturbing sleep condition

A musician and guitar luthier who’s no stranger to loud noises, Dave Lovos admits to being a bit undone by the boom he heard in his head one night earlier this year. It hit just as Lovos was drifting off to sleep, the force of it snapping him to attention.

What Lovos experienced is known by the unscientific but evocative moniker “exploding head syndrome” (EHS), a mysterious example of a parasomnia, or sleep disorder. Parasomnias include sleepwalking, sleep talking, sleep paralysis, and pesky muscle spasms known as “myoclonic jerks.” In most cases, these parasomnias are normal and harmless, except when physical danger or pain is involved.

“My office would be a lot messier if heads were actually exploding,” says Brian Sharpless, [former WSU psychology faculty member and] a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in sleep. Sharpless is among the handful of psychologists and others researching EHS. He says the condition is harmless.

Classified as a sleep disorder in 2005 by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the small number of studies to date have dismissed earlier clinical claims that women over 50 were more prone to EHS. Data today show that the incidents are almost equally divided among men and women. In a study out of Washington State University, authored by Sharpless, upwards of 13 percent of college students reported at least one episode.

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National Geographic Magazine

‘It’s not enough to just be nice’

A Washington State University (WSU) study found it’s not enough for a teacher to be nice. What students really crave is an instructor who thinks they could improve.

The idea of a “growth mindset” compared to a “fixed mindset” has been around for quite some time. This study found that a teachers’ growth mindset appears more important than warmth.

Makita White, a psychology Ph.D. candidate at WSU [and] the lead author for the study, and Elizabeth Canning, assistant professor of psychology, said they found students responded well to a warm and friendly instructor, but what they really craved is an instructor who thought they could improve.

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Teachers’ growth mindset appears more important than warmth

Students tend to like friendly teachers, but they like those who believe they can improve even more, new research indicates.

Students in a study still responded positively to instructors described as being cold but who also had a growth mindset, meaning they felt students’ ability in a subject could improve by working hard and trying different strategies. The opposite was also true: more participants reacted negatively to a warm, smiling teacher when they stated a fixed mindset, which is a belief that innate abilities cannot be changed, such as someone being naturally good at math.

“It’s not enough to just be nice,” said lead author Makita White, a Washington State University psychology Ph.D. candidate. “If teachers can change their demeanor to be warmer, it does have a good impact, but it’s a lot better to convey a growth mindset than a fixed mindset to students.”

Previous research has noted that students tend to view teachers who have growth mindsets as friendly and warm, so this proof-of-concept study, published in the journal Motivation Science, was designed to evaluate those factors separately.

“At a very simple level, being friendly is good, but the mindset messages that you send students are really important. They can be even more powerful than just being friendly or welcoming to students,” said Elizabeth Canning, a WSU psychology researcher and the senior author on the paper.

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Phys.org
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Does using weed make you a nicer person? Results may vary.

Some people may turn to weed for anxiety, sleep and creativity. New research suggests it could also make you a nicer person.

The findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience Research, suggests there could be a connection between cannabis use and empathy.

A study of 85 regular cannabis users and 51 nonusers asked participants to complete a test that measures empathy. Researchers also used brain imaging to study some of the subjects, analyzing a region of the brain that plays a central role in mediating the empathic response.

The recent research shows an association between cannabis use and empathy, but doesn’t prove cause and effect, said Carrie Cuttler, a psychology professor at Washington State University.

“We have no idea if it’s that the people who are more empathetic to begin with are more likely to use cannabis,” Cuttler said.

Or there may be another reason such as “a personality trait or difference in lived experience, that is driving people to be interested in using cannabis and have higher empathy as well,” Cuttler said. “There’s not enough evidence to convince me yet that the cannabis is causing them to be more empathetic.”

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The Washington Post
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