I was heavily influenced by two expert teachers. From Professor Leo Postman of Berkeley, I learned as an undergraduate the value of simplification and organization; his classes were models of clarity. From Professor Benton Underwood of Northwestern, I experienced as a graduate student the excitement of teaching; his enthusiasm for the subject matter was contagious.

When I began teaching, I felt constrained by my lecture notes, compelled to avoid the unexpected question that might shatter my planned organization. Later I discovered that I could respond to students' questions during class and that this interaction was stimulating to me and to my students. It took me ten years to realize that undergraduates possessed special needs and interests separate from those of graduate students. I restructured my classes around the principle of relevance to the undergraduate curriculum, emphasizing those topics that would provide students with enduring lessons beyond my course.

I approach the undergraduate psychological statistics and methodology course by drawing the students into the puzzles and challenges of experimental research, providing them with sufficient tools to be creative in designing and analyzing a substantial research topic of their own. I do not present statistics as an arbitrary set of procedures, but as a means for revealing the answers to the fundamental issues that spark excitement in our discipline.

My students put special effort into my course because I provide them with incentives. The primary one is an independent piece of research. And I add motivation by setting no restriction on the number of A's or B's that I give as final course grades. What was undoubtedly students' most dreaded course in the psychology major proves to be interesting, challenging, understandable, and one in which they can excel.

I give the graduate student instructors full responsibility in the design of their sections. I meet weekly with them to discuss the progress of the sections, to offer suggestions for dealing with problems, and to exchange ideas. A great deal of the success of this course is due to the efforts of my teaching assistants, and they blossom by being given a meaningful and responsible teaching assignment.

My graduate courses provide first-year graduate students in our various programs with their primary exposure to design methodology and statistical analysis. Rather than lecture, I attempt to create an atmosphere that encourages the students to interact with me and their classmates. I ask students to treat the reading as the formal lecture to be read before class and to view the actual class meeting as an opportunity to seek clarification and to ask questions.