Living Scientifically

Description

Theme: Science, Technology and Society?

Duration: 1 Semester

Construction: 2 topics of 7 weeks duration

Overview

This Unit will investigate the Victorian Curriculum theme related to Science as a Human Endeavour while also addressing Science Inquiry Skills, under the context of Psychology.

Students will investigate why living in the 21st Century requires much more than general intelligence to remember scientific information. It also requires the ability to collect, analyse and think about this so called ‘scientific information’ which is present everywhere and constantly trying to influence how we think and how we live. Using Psychology as a context, students will investigate why and how psychological theories have evolved and how the values and needs of contemporary society can influence the focus of scientific research in Psychology. Technological advances which have improved our understanding of the human brain will be explored and the validity of claims made by institutions will be investigated using a rigorous scientific process. Students will design and run a first-hand quantitative investigation into claims made by brain training program to determine whether brain games really work.