Psychology

The Psychology curriculum is designed to present fundamental Psychology concepts in a clear, meaningful, and interactive way. The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to the content, terminology, methodology, and application of the discipline. This survey course is organized according to the seven core domains of the standards set by the American Psychological Association; Scientific Inquiry, Bio-psychology, Development and Learning, Sociocultural, Cognition, Individual Variations, and Applications of Psychological Science. This elective course stresses the application of academic content to the student’s life.

The curriculum design for this course has been developed to add flexibility for the teacher.  Seven domains of study are presented along with individual module plans that provide essential questions, objectives, key terms, resources, general instructional activities, modifications, and suggested lessons for differentiated learning. In addition, special literacy lessons have been created for each domain to align the course with required common core standards in history/social studies. A pacing guide with a recommended time line in weeks is available to help teachers navigate their way through the units of the course within the time allotted for a high school semester.

The “R/S” textbook Thinking About Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behavior (Worth, 2013) and its supplemental materials complement the objectives of this curriculum guide.  However, an appendix is featured at the end of this guide offering a host of film and Internet to be used by teachers who wish to go beyond the textbook to engage their students.