Psychology Lab Instructors – An Introduction to Ivy and Rand
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Synapse
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2012
1. What is your personal story?
Ivy: I grew up in Hong Kong and I moved here when I was in High School. I like Vancouver because of the weather, the people, and the freedom. By freedom, I mean political freedom. In Canada, every citizen can vote for parties they support. We have rights to protest and to express our political criticism through the media. In Hong Kong, after 1997, the political atmosphere is worse than ever. There is not enough transparency in policy making, and people are suffering from monopolization. There is little Hong Kong citizens can do to change the current situation.
Rand: I was born in Tunisia, spent my early childhood in Jordan and moved to Palestine, my parent’s homeland, at the age of six. I moved to Canada about five years ago to pursue my university education. Moving to a new country on my own was definitely challenging, but Vancouver has since become a second home to me. I gladly joined Kwantlen in July of 2011; an experience which has been positive and enriching so far!
2. Tell us about yourself, what kind of spare-time activities do you enjoy?
Ivy: I like snowboarding, scrapbooking, and listening to music. I used to practice music with a ‘peipa’ [pronounced: pee-pa], which is a four stringed lute – a little bit like a guitar. I volunteer at a youth group and a senior home, and I think it is important to get involved in the community.
Rand: I play the viola and I enjoy playing with orchestra and chamber music groups. I am a member of the Palestine Youth orchestra which meets annually and performs concert tours in different countries around the world. I also enjoy cooking, travelling, spending time in the sun, and good coffee. Other than psychology and neuroscience, some of my interests include world politics and human rights issues.
3. Where did you acquire your education and why did you choose Psychology?
Ivy: I acquired my education at Simon Fraser University, graduated with a BA in Psychology, and minored in education. I had a particular interest in curriculum design. Why did I choose Psychology? That is a good one. I like to understand the world from a micro-perspective by starting from understanding people. I consider the fundamental in any study is to understand our behavior, whether in subjects like political science, sociology, or criminology, which is why I chose to study Psychology. In my first year, I tried many different subjects in the social sciences. I believe that my beliefs come from not one subject alone but many.
Rand: After graduating from high school in the West Bank city of Ramallah, I was lucky to receive a full scholarship to study at the University of British Columbia. The biology underlying human behaviour and mental processes is fascinating to me, so I chose to peruse a bachelor of science in psychology. This is a truly interdisciplinary field that provided me with a perfect mixture of the sciences and social sciences, both of which interest me. Another reason for my choice is that a lot is still not understood about the brain and its functions; this means that there are many opportunities to discover something new, which is very exciting to me! In my third year at UBC, I started working on my Honours thesis which I completed in Dr. Catharine Rankin’s lab studying the genetics of memory in Caenorhabditis elegans (a microscopic round worm).
4. What are your responsibilities in your respective Psychology Labs?
Ivy: My responsibilities include primarily running lab tutorials and SPSS labs for first and second year students. I also coordinate the research pool and manage both Surrey and Richmond labs. I am motivated and almost feel obligated to nurture students and to provide a friendly learning environment for them.
Rand: As the lab Instructor for the BSc lab, I work with faculty members to develop lab activities for various introductory and upper level psychology courses. Besides running the labs, I am responsible for the general management of the lab including ordering materials and equipment, budgeting, and ensuring safety.
5. What projects are currently ongoing in the Psychology Labs?
Ivy: We are revising the research pool system to make it more user-friendly. I am also in the progress of developing new labs for research methods and first year statistics (2300). What is really new and exciting is that we are trying to open lab space at the Langley campus. I think it is important to have lab space in Langley to support the students and faculty there.
Rand: Since the BSc lab opened in fall 2011, several lab activities have been introduced. Some of the lab activities include: cow eye dissection, face perception using eye-tracking technology, an audition lab, a taste lab, and two different brain labs where students dissect sheep brains and examine real human brains.
6. What is your favorite part of working in the Psychology Lab?
Ivy: I enjoy the diversity of my work. I see and work with a lot of different people. Every situation allows me to learn and experience new things every day. I never get bored of my work! It keeps me in a learning mode all the time and I think that is one of the ways to better myself. I always joke around with my colleagues and students that I might be less likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s because I am constantly learning new knowledge and ‘tricks’ and my head never stops thinking!
Rand: My favourite part of working in the lab is the time I spend interacting with students during lab activities. I enjoy the many interesting and thought provoking questions that they ask, their energetic attitudes, and the excitement they show toward hands-on lab activities.
7. Where do you hope to see the Psychology program, specifically the development of the laboratories, in the future?
Ivy: Like I said earlier, we would love to have new laboratory space in the Langley Campus and include lab activities as part of the regular curriculum. Many aspects of psychology can seem abstract and theoretical to students. Having lab activities and tutorials can give students hands-on experience to help them elaborate on and apply the conceptual knowledge they gain in class.
Rand: Since the BSc. Lab is still very new, I anticipate a lot of developments in the next few years. There is a lot of discussion in the department on ways to enrich current psychology courses with interactive lab activities. A few ideas include developing electrophysiology experiments to measure neural activity in invertebrates, neural histology experiments, and more. So… stay tuned!
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In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightjournal.com.
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