Pedagogy of the Logic Model: Teaching Undergraduates to Work Together to Change Their Communities

Abstract

Undergraduate community psychology courses can empower students to address challenging problems in their local communities. Creating a logic model is an experiential way to learn course concepts by “doing.” Throughout the semester, students work with peers to define a problem, develop an intervention, and plan an evaluation focused on an issue of concern to them. This report provides an overview of how to organize a community psychology course around the creation of a logic model in order for students to develop this applied skill. Two undergraduate student authors report on their experience with the logic model assignment, describing the community problem they chose to address, what they learned from the assignment, what they found challenging, and what they are doing now in their communities based on what they learned.

KEYWORDS:

• applied learning
• community psychology
• experiential learning
• group work
• logic model
• undergraduate education

Notes

Note. The instructor integrated the logic model into the majority of lectures and in-class quizzes. Six total in-class hours were spent completing the above group work with the instructor available to facilitate. Six hours of class time were spent on the students’ presentations of the logic models to peer stakeholders.

Note. ^a 41 students (87%) completed midterm evaluations.

^b “Community Psychology” includes comments about considering becoming a community psychologist and learning the theories and concepts of the field.

^c “Nothing” was a frequent comment (e.g., 13 students said they would change “nothing” about the course).

^d 21 students (45%) provided comments for the final evaluations, which are reproduced as submitted; 7 of those comments described applied learning or the logic model assignment. The remaining 14 comments were focused on the instructor.