|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Psychology: Teaching Tips
|
|
| | These suggestions are taken from the Teacher's Guide -- AP Psychology.
- Conduct formal debates. Formal debates in class about some of the controversies in the field of psychology are a natural extension of the content. Nature versus nurture? Continuous versus noncontinuous development? A behavioral account of the acquisition of languages versus a cognitive account? These issues and many more are tailor-made for interesting debates and well-prepared arguments, both pro and con. Those who do not debate can serve as judges, timers, scorekeepers, or moderators. You may even want to ask a debate coach to come to class and offer pointers about debating.
- Have students write for publication. This is an effective means of pulling together concepts and terms relevant to the AP Psychology course. The Whitman Journal of Psychology publishes high school research exclusively. Several state psychological associations sponsor high school psychology research contests, giving scholarships and monetary awards to the winners. An increasing number of schools are able to place student papers on the Web -- on the school's home page, for instance -- which creates instant publication opportunities. Research papers may also be displayed on posters similar to those found at the poster sessions of many psychology-related conventions held throughout the United States each year.
- Write or e-mail questions to research psychologists. AP students often come up with unique questions. Enabling students to send relevant questions to a research psychologist can be a wonderful way to make the curriculum come alive and to receive expert information firsthand. Most textbook authors now include their e-mail addresses in their textbooks and encourage this kind of exchange. Students with access to the Internet may obtain the e-mail address of virtually any psychologist with an e-mail account by using a name search program.
- Invite guest speakers to class. Speakers can be a valuable resource. Psychologists in private practice and psychology faculty members from nearby colleges and universities often accept invitations to address high school students. School psychologists and counselors within one's own building may also provide valuable insights.
- Analyze short stories, novels, television episodes, and movies. Such works can enrich AP courses. The critical analysis of techniques used by an actor portraying a psychologist or a similar character in a novel is often enlightening. These analyses can also provide opportunities to discuss ethical behavior.
- Use flashcards. Require students to make flashcards with definitions of the key vocabulary words in each chapter. The flashcards are a study aid and can be checked the day of each chapter test.
- Assign in-class group work. Small groups, generally assigned by the teacher, are useful during in-class discussions and exercises and can also produce projects. Ask for an assessment by group members of each student's participation at the end of the semester. The usual criteria include:
- attendance
- verbal participation
- contributions to the topic at hand
- helping the group progress through the materials
- Require participation in an out-of-class group. It can be useful, especially early in the semester, to require students to attend one out-of-class group each week. Such groups help students learn study skills and ways to document their study efforts.
- Assign team research projects. The team research project has three major goals:
- to give students first-hand experience in the way psychologists do the research that builds the facts and concepts used by courses like this
- to help students apply ideas from the course as they plan and carry out the project
- to offer practice in learning cooperatively with other students
Teams of three or four students should begin meeting about the third week of the term to develop and carry out research projects using concepts from the course. Typical projects have explored such issues as: Does writing questions while reading or studying improve recall? How does caffeine consumption affect a student's ability to pay attention during class? Instead of performing an experiment, students might do a qualitative study, examining perhaps how classmates approach different assignments or prepare for a test. Others might choose to conduct an observational study, asking, for instance, whether crowd noise really helps a team do better.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Course Home Pages