Psychology The Psychology course will develop some of the key skills and concepts that students will need for their forthcoming A Level Psychology course. Students will be briefly introduced to the depth and complexity of A Level content and will then choose a project to study from three topics: addiction, stress, and eating disorders. The lessons have been designed to introduce students to the variety of approaches encountered in Psychology and the research skills that are required. There will also be references to data analysis and presentation, and a very brief outline of the statistical tests they will use in their A Level studies. Lesson Outline: 2 structured lessons per week, plus one lesson for independent pre-learning work, and for teacher student meetings to discuss individual ideas/projects (envisaged at 5 minutes per student). It may be necessary to schedule some of these third lessons in mutually agreed slots outside the regular timetable. Week 1: Introduction An introduction to the approaches with a focus on the biological approach and its interaction with the humanistic, behavioural, cognitive and psychodynamic approaches - lesson 1. The topic choices will be explained in lesson 2 and students will be given a brief explanation of the areas of research that they should focus upon. Students will have chosen their topic prior to Week two’s lessons. Week 2: Key skills Lesson 1 will deal with science, objectivity, non-experimental research methods and the methodological problems in research. The second lesson will deal with the differences between the structure of psychological reports and A Level essays. It will conclude with guidance regarding the student projects. Week 3: Feedback In the first lesson students will submit project plans and receive feedback. General points will be addressed in the three topic areas, Stress, addiction and eating disorders. The precise balance will depend on student choices. The second lesson will deal with the presentation of primary and secondary data. Students will finalise their projects and email them to their teacher prior to week 4.
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