Teaching Life-Span Psychology often struggles with students perceiving developmental milestones as abstract concepts detached from students' personal experience. This teaching innovation initiative carried in Life-Span Psychology I and II courses, promotes sustained reflection on students' own life trajectories during the first year of Psychology studies. The intervention uses personal lifelines, conceived as a biographical and phenomenological resource that integrates the bio-psycho-social-spiritual dimensions of development, to foster self-knowledge and self-awareness. Specific objectives include enhancing students' self-reflection, critical analysis skills, strengthen self-esteem and self-confidence.


A mixed-methods pre-post quasi-experimental design was used with first-year Psychology and Psychology and Criminology students who completed the lifeline assignment across two semesters. A comparison group comprised students from Primary Education, Early Childhood Education, Social Work and Social Education enrolled in developmental psychology courses without lifeline assignment. Quantitative measures included the abbreviated VIA-IS (Values in Action Inventory of Strengths) and the RSE (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) scales. Qualitative data were collected through open-ended questionnaires accompanying the lifeline task and semi-structured focus groups conducted across semesters.


Preliminary results indicate changes in students' reflective awareness of personal strengths and developmental experiences. Data analysis is currently underway, and quantitative analysis is expected to reveal pre-post changes in self-esteem and character strengths within and between groups. Qualitative analysis is expected to reveal increases in self-understanding, narrative coherence, and perceived integration between personal biography and course content. Together, these findings offer an initial assessment of the lifeline intervention's impact on promoting self-knowledge and professional awareness during undergraduate education.