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.

Week 4: Presentation of projects

Lesson one will focus on the presentation of the bulk of the projects by the students. There will be a range of presentation options ranging from summary documents to Power Point presentations. Students will choose their method of presentation.

Lesson two will complete the process outlined above. Finally, there will be a plenary discussion of the course, and an evaluation sheet to complete.

Project Outcome: Projects will be saved and may be used to inform students of choices in the second year of their studies.

Spanish

The Spanish course will introduce students to the more independent nature of studying a language at A Level. The course will also provide students with opportunities to consolidate some key challenging grammar concepts needed in AS, as well as plenty of opportunities to practise their spoken Spanish. Students will also be able to research a cultural topic of their own interest and present their findings in the lesson.

Lesson Outline: 2 sessions per week, 1 speaking, plus one optional 1:1 support tutorial per week.

Week 1

Culture – Introduction to Mexican history and fiestas. Grammar – Present tense (irregular verbs). Speaking Sessions – Speaking sessions will revolve around cultural topics and will focus on developing fluency.

Week 2

Culture – Introduction to Mexican literature and how to tackle literary texts. Grammar – Preterite tense with a focus on irregular verbs. Speaking Sessions – Speaking sessions will revolve around cultural topics and will focus on developing fluency.

Week 3

Culture – Research skills and how to investigate a topic of your interest. Grammar – Conditional tense with a focus on irregular stems. Speaking Sessions – Speaking sessions will revolve around cultural topics and will focus on developing fluency.

Week 4

Culture – Presentation of your chosen cultural topic. Grammar – Conditional sentences using the imperfect subjunctive. Speaking Sessions – Speaking sessions will revolve around cultural topics and will focus on developing fluency.

Project Outcome: To deliver a short presentation about a cultural topic of your choice. The purpose is to develop strong research skills that you will need for Spanish A Level. You will have to access articles/ sources of information in the target language, analyse them and give your opinion on your findings. It is a very exciting opportunity to pursue a cultural topic that interests you, which will give you a taste of what the Independent Research Project in Year 13 looks like.