AP Psychology September 2008-May 2009 Overview This year long course is intended to introduce students to the scientific study of behavior and the methods, theory and concepts in a college level introductory psychology course. AP psychology is a survey course; we will explore each of the major areas of psychology. The primary objective of this course is for each student to take and pass the Advanced Placement Exam for psychology. AP Psychology will be taught at the college level and student study habits and participation should reflect this fact. All vocabulary, information and activities are intended to prepare students for the AP exam. There are no pre-requisite courses or age restrictions for taking this course. Students will be asked to complete many writing assignments and projects. Students should be prepared to work outside of class, successful students average four hours per week working on assignments and reviewing and revising notes. Curriculum Details Text Myers, David. Psychology, 8 th edition. New York: Worth. 2007. Resources for Teaching AP Psychology Blair-Broeker and Ernst. Teaching Tips for General Psychology. New York: Worth. 2007. Discovering Psychology web site. Glassman and Hadad. Approaches to Psychology. New York: 2004. Halonen and Gray. The Critical Thinking Companion. New York: Worth. 2001. Hock, Roger. Forty Studies that Changed Psychology. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 2002. Hunt, Morton. The Story of Psychology. New York: Doubleday. 2007 School issued laptop to each student.
Timeline The class is taught on a modified block schedule with seven classes of 45 minute periods on Monday and alternating 90 minute block days on Tuesday-Thursday and Wednesday-Friday. This schedule, 45 minutes, 90 minutes, and 90 minutes, provides a more constant amount time with students each week. The course plan shown below requires 32 of the 3 of school before the AP exam is given in May 2009. Grading The appropriate text pages are read before the content is discussed in class, with reading notes and vocabulary cards checked on a random schedule and given 20 points for completion. Tests will follow the AP format and will count 100 points. All tests are cumulative with current material weighted 50% and older material weighted 50%. For example the unit 4 test, questions from unit 1, 2, and 3 will each count 16.7% of the total and unit 4 will count 50%. Other assignments will include labs, article summaries, and class activities. These assignments will vary with the unit and will count 20 points each. A semester exam and final exam will be given and weighted at 20% of the total course grade. Course Outline 1: History, Perspectives, Research Methods (Myer s prologue, chapter 1, app. A; APA Ethical Guidelines) 2: Biological Basis (chapters 2 and 3) Text Content Objectives Activities Psychology s Roots Development Timeline Perspectives Occupations Experimental Design Research Methods Ethics Statistical Analysis Neurons Brain Nervous System Define Psychology Trace historical development Contrast modern perspectives Identify subfields of psychology Identify basic elements of an experiment Contrast research designs (correlation causation) Describe ethical considerations in research and Therapy Calculate descriptive stats Identify correct inferential statistic Describe structure and function of neuron parts Describe neural communication, Name Neurotransmitters Identify brain by location, function, and structure Explain divisions of nervous system School psychologist visits Experiment Stations showing Experiment, survey, interview, observation Ethical Scenarios H/G 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 Hock readings Practice AP test Practice AP Essay and Writing Workshop Neurotransmitters chart Brain diagrams, my MRI brain scans Phineas Gage video Family traits project
3: Sensation/Perception (chapters 5 and 6) 4: Consciousness, Sleep, Drugs (chapter 7) 2 nd nine weeks begins 5: Learning (chapter 8) 6: Cognitive, memory Endocrine System Genetics Tools/Scanners Thresholds/Adaptation Eye/Ear Other senses Attention Perception cues ESP Rhythms Sleep Dreaming Drugs Hypnosis Classical Operant Social/Observational Latent Other perspectives Contrast fraternal and identical twins Describe differences between types of scans Contrast nature and nurture Contrast sensation and perception Define absolute and difference thresholds Label diagrams Explain Young-Helmholtz and opponent process Explain place and frequency theories Describe the operation of any sense Describe perception cues Describe biorhythms Identify sleep disorders and sleep stages Contrast nrem and REM Describe function of dreams Define chemical and physical dependence Describe drug classifications Describe psychological and physiological effects Identify us, ur, cs, cr in scenarios Explain learning processes such as acquisition, extinction, generalization, and discrimination Describe the process of OC Define biological predisposition Describe the effect of reinforcement schedules Contrast positive- negative punishment and Extinction H/G 2.3, 3.4 Soda taste testing lab Eye and Ear charts BBC visual perception site The Brain perception video Stroop Effect lab Flipbooks H/G 5.2, 5.6 and 6.5 Mouse Party Sleep, dream, food journals IceKube Drug effects chart Hypnosis demo H/G 7.1 and 7.4 Dotting (conditioning) Shaping lab Bandura video H/G 8.1, 8.2, and 8.5
(chapter 9) 7: Language, thought, Self (chapter 10) 3 rd nine weeks begins 8: intelligence, testing (chapter 11) 9: Motivation, emotion (chapter 12 and 13) 10: Development (chapter 4) IP model of memory Encoding Storing Retrieval Forgetting Memory construction Thinking Creativity, problem solving Beliefs Language structure Language development Animal thinking Intelligence Testing Effect of Nature/nurture Instincts and drives Evolution Arousal Hunger, Sex, Affiliation and Motivation Physiology of emotions Life-Span research Development theories Contrast sensory, short-term, and long-term memory, including duration and capacity Compare autonomic and effortful processing Describe schema and cognitive dissonance Describe role of prototypes and concepts Compare problem solving strategies Define heuristics Describe the structure of language Identify stages of language development Whorf Describe animal cognition and language Compare types of tests (intelligence, projective, Achievement) Describe psychometrics (standardization, norms, Reliability, validity) Describe the extremes of a normal curve Define bias and possible bias in intelligence tests Define motivation and describe theories Contrast intrinsic and extrinsic motivation Describe Maslow s hierarchy Describe stress reactions and G.A.S. Describe physiological basis of needs Distinguish between James-Lange, Cannon-Bard, And Schachter theories of emotion Contrast longitudinal and cross-sectional research Describe pre-natal development Contrast parenting styles NLP lab Hemispheric Specialization Lab H/G 9.1, 9.2, and 9.6 (Loftus) Psychologist presentations H/G 10.5 Semester Exam Statistics Workshop Practice SAT test H/G 11.1 and 11.5 National Zoo field trip* (observations used for optional unit after AP tests in May) H/G 12.6 Daycare field trip Stage vs Continuum debate H/G 4.5 and 4.6
11: Personality (chapter 15) 4 th nine weeks 12: Disorders, Stress, Coping, Therapy (chapter 14, 16, and 17) 13: Social (chapter 18) 14: Exam Prep 15: Comparative Post-AP tests Sex roles, sex differences Traits Self-esteem Freud and Rogers Positive Psychology Define disorders Normalcy DSM Therapies Evaluate therapy Preventing disorders Group behavior Conformity Prejudice Aggression Attraction Altruism Describe theories of Piaget, Erikson, Vygotsky, and Kohlberg Contrast personality theories from all perspectives Explain how defense mechanisms are used Identify aim, effectiveness, and characteristics of therapy from each perspective Describe community and preventative approaches Describe modern ECT Describe the use of attribution in describing behavior Describe research by Asch, Milgram, Zimbardo Contrast groupthink and social inhibition and facilitation Practice AP Test, writing workshop (repeat from first unit for any new students) Student centered and student driven review of course content Describe similarities between human physiology with research lab animals Contrast human behavior in groups with research lab animals Positive Psychology survey Compatibility lab H/G 14.3 and 14.6 Practice AP Test Approaches to Therapy jigsaw Clinical Psychologist visits Ellis RET video H/G 16.2, 17.2, and 17.6 Conformity Lab H/G 18.1 and 18.2 Final Exam Lunch Room Lab Richmond Metro Zoo trip (for new students)