Nuts and bolts session

Title: The mind of the first-year student: Practical implications of insights from lifespan developmental psychology

Helen Pennington

Abstract

The session considers the cognitive strengths and limitations of the typical first-year student. Research and theory in lifespan developmental psychology suggests that most first-year students are at or near their peak in terms of fluid intelligence, but not in terms of some other important cognitive abilities, such as integrative thinking, reflective judgment and expertise. We discuss what we can realistically expect of our first-year students, and how we can promote their cognitive development through various scaffolding techniques. More specifically, we share ideas on how to help first-year students to achieve and maintain a broad perspective on a topic, synthesise material from different sources, and cope with multiple levels of analysis, contrasting viewpoints and uncertain knowledge.