Psychology

  • Course Description

    Psychology is a vast discipline that studies behavior and mental processes. Psychology impacts our lives in such a wide variety of ways, such as how we learn, how our memories work, what motivates us, what contributes to our emotional states, and how other people impact our behavior. It is not an overly abstract field. It is relevant in many ways to our everyday lives. Topics on which we focus include brain structure and function, consciousness, cognition, motivation, emotional, personality traits, and psychological disorders.

    Essential Concepts/Skills

    Students will learn the importance of properly defining and applying psychological terms.
    Students will analyze and evaluate discussion topics/issues in class and online (turnitin.com).
    Students will develop study skills with a particular emphasis on proper time spacing and distributed practice.
    Students will be able to identify and apply various types of research methods that psychologists utilize.
    Students will engage in retrieval practice via Kahoot review games, review books, and feedback on exams.

    Major Units:

    FALL SEMESTER
    History/Careers/Theories
    Research and Statistics
    Biological Bases of Behavior
    Development
    Sensation/Perception
    Consciousness

    SPRING SEMESTER
    Learning
    Memory
    Cognition & Language
    Motivation/Emotion
    Personality and Stress
    Social Psychology
    Disorders and Treatment

    AP Psychology

    Course Description

    AP Psychology is a yearlong, college-level course that explores psychology as a science. AP Psychology is a course in which various different theoretical approaches to the study of human behavior are examined. These approaches/topics will be examined in many exciting and dynamic ways, such as lecture (PowerPoint format presentations), discussion, articles, videos, experiments and essays. Topics on which we focus include brain structure and function, consciousness, cognition, motivation, emotional, personality traits, and psychological disorders.

    Essential Concepts/Skills

    Students should familiarize themselves with and consistently utilize online resources for the class.
    Students should learn the importance of properly defining and applying psychological terms.
    Students should be capable of analyzing and evaluating discussion topics/issues in class and online (turnitin.com).
    Students should develop study skills with a particular emphasis on proper time spacing and distributed practice.
    Students should be able to identify and apply various types of research methods that psychologists utilize.
    Students engage in retrieval practice via Kahoot review games, review books, and feedback on exams.

    Major Units:

    FALL SEMESTER
    History and Approaches
    Research Methods
    Biological Bases of Behavior
    Sensation and Perception
    States of Consciousness
    Learning
    Cognition

    SPRING SEMESTER
    Motivation and Emotion
    Developmental Psychology
    Personality
    Testing and Individual Differences
    Abnormal Behavior and its Treatment
    Social Psychology