Psychology

In the first year of A-Level psychology, students will cover the introductory topics of psychology and research methods to give them the basic knowledge of the subject, so they can understand the content and concepts covered in year 13. Students will:

• Develop competence and confidence in a variety of practical, mathematical and problem solving skills

 • Develop their interest in and enthusiasm for the subject, including developing an interest in further study and careers associated with the subject.

Why study this course?

Students will understand how society makes decisions about scientific issues and how the sciences contribute to the success of the economy and society. It also will show students how we as humans develop throughout our life and offer explanations as to why we might experience certain scenarios in life.

Term 1: 

By the end of this term students will be able to understand the difference between aims, hypotheses, sampling techniques and the different types of variables and how to control them.  They will understand the importance of pilot studies, ethics and the peer review process. Students will also be able to understand the key studies that have helped shape the psychology community, this will allow students to have a basic knowledge of the subject to refer back to throughout their course.

Enquiry Questions: 

• What methods are used in psychological research?
• How has psychology developed since its origins?

Term 2: 

By the end of this term students will be able to understand a variety of research techniques including observations, interviews, questionnaires, case studies and content analysis.  They will also be able to understand the experimental method and three key experimental designs. On top of this, students will gain an understanding of how and why we conform and how society influences us to do this. 

Enquiry Questions:

• What methods are used in psychological research?
• Why do people conform or obey?

Term 3:

By the end of term 3 students will be able to understand the importance of reliability and validity.  They will also begin learning about descriptive statistics, presenting data and choosing statistical tests. Students will also be able to define what is considered normal and abnormal in terms of psychology and understand treatments differ for different mental health disorders.  

Enquiry Questions:

• What methods are used in psychological research?
• How do we define what is normal?

Term 4:

By the end of term 4 students will be able to complete a statistical analysis using the sign test, understand about probabilities and significance of results and how psychological investigations are reported. Students will be able to understand the role of parents in their upbringing and their development, then be able to analyse how this affects later relationships. 

Enquiry Questions:

• What methods are used in psychological research?
• How do care-givers and care-receivers interact?

Term 5:

By the end of this term students will be able to discuss different models of how memory works, understand about capacity, duration and coding of memories and understand about different types of long term memory. Students will also be able to understand how the brain and body work together to control things like reaction times, sleep cycles, digestion and how hormones are produced.

Enquiry Questions:

• What relationship does the brain have with the body?
• How do we remember?

Term 6:

By the end of this term students will be able to understand theories of why we forget and factors affecting accuracy of eyewitness testimonies. By the end of this term students will have been able to apply their knowledge of biopsychology to exam questions and complete their first mock exam, giving them the experience of sitting one of the complete psychology papers  

Enquiry Questions:

• What relationship does the brain have with the body?
• How do we remember?