The ZAP project: designing interactive computer tools for learning psychology

Abstract

In the ZAP project, a set of interactive computer programs called ‘ZAPs’ was developed. The programs were designed in such a way that first‐year students experience psychological phenomena in a vivid and self‐explanatory way. Students can either take the role of participant in a psychological experiment, they can experience phenomena themselves, or they can take the role of researcher and learn by discovery. ZAPs provide added value to existing learning materials about psychological topics and can elicit experiential and discovery learning activities. This article discusses the practical and theoretical considerations that underlie the design and structure of ZAPs and provides guidelines for their practical application in different educational settings.

Acknowledgements

The development of ZAPs took place in the context of the ZAP project, which was supported by a grant from the Stichting SURF. The ZAP project team consisted of Henk Schmidt, Wilco te Winkel, Sofie Loyens, Eveline Osseweijer and Manon de Jong of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and Jules Pieters, Jan Oosterhuis, Jakob Sikken, Marita Wesselink, Ben Reimerink, Ton de Jong, Casper Hulshof and Tessa Eysink of the University of Twente. The authors would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper.