ESPLAT 2025 conference: Scientific thinking in challenging times

Introduction. The mental well-being of young people is deteriorating. They struggle with questions such as “Who am I?”, “What am I capable of?”, and “What do I want?”. Our new course, Street Psychology (based on the successful, international educational program “Street Law”), could provide a solution. In this course for the Bachelor of Psychology program at VU Amsterdam (The Netherlands), students conduct workshops on Psychology for high school pupils. During our presentation we will present the Street Psychology method and the results of the first pilot course that we taught in February and March 2025.
Methods. Fourteen 2nd and 3rd year Psychology bachelor students participated in Street Psychology. The course consisted of 2 training days and 6 tutorials over the course of 8 weeks, and students developed 3 or 4 new lesson plans that were taught at local high schools. During these lessons, students used interactive teaching methods to discuss and confront current psychological issues that high schoolers are struggling with. Lessons were aimed at improving the mental well-being and resilience of young people. At the end of the course, students hand in a portfolio consisting of preparatory assignments, their lesson plans with a scientific foundation, and personal reflections.
Results. The emphasis in this new, experiential educational program is on the students' learning process. They create their own learning goals and lesson plans. During the course, they develop essential skills in research, creative and solution-oriented thinking, collaboration, communication and presentation. Moreover, by teaching about Psychology, they master and deepen their own knowledge. The experiences and findings of the pilot course will be presented during the conference, as it is currently still ongoing.
Discussion. We will discuss the implications of our pilot and how the Street Psychology method can be implemented in other curricula.