Teaching of Psychology, Ahead of Print.
BackgroundThe American Psychological Association has identified information literacy as a crucial component to undergraduate education. One major barrier to comprehensive information literacy instruction has been a lack of guidance integrating this into survey courses, particularly with reduced pedagogical resources available.ObjectiveThis research evaluates the effectiveness of a scaffolded information literacy curriculum that may be integrated into psychology courses.MethodStudents in introductory psychology courses were taught with either an information literacy curriculum or the typical science-focused curriculum. Information literacy knowledge was evaluated using a multiple-choice test.ResultsStudents who received the specialized curriculum demonstrated significant improvements on an objective information literacy test by the end of the course, while students in the control group did not.ConclusionEvidence suggests that this easily adaptable information literacy curriculum is effective in meeting psychology information literacy goals, more so than the traditional science-focused curriculum taught in introductory psychology classes.Teaching ImplicationsInstructors and faculty should be encouraged to utilize this adaptive curriculum, available on Open Science Framework, as a way of improving information literacy. Other implications, including feasibility and content, are discussed.