Professor, Psychology
Mark Cole, PhD
My approach to teaching is what I like to call “the Apprenticeship Model”. In short, I believe that students learn best by doing, not just by reading and listening.
Huron’s small size permits the luxury of small classes, which are ideal for the apprenticeship model of teaching that I favour. In my animal-learning course, students have an opportunity to conduct simple observational research with rats. In my behaviour therapy course, students have an opportunity to help volunteer clients eliminate a simple phobia. Finally, in my history of psychology course, students learn about the roots of our discipline, partly by preparing a poster involving original research.
Summary of Research:
- Memory for food locations by foraging rats;
- Observational learning by rats;
- The role of spatial geometry in memory for food locations by rats;
- Canine cognition;
- The academic genealogy of the Psychology Department at Huron