I like to use a basic, fictional study when introducing students to the concepts behind research in psychology. For this purpose, I pretend that I’ve designed a drug called “Rememberol” and that it helps students increase what they remember after they study.
It’s a basic concept and the fact that it’s a pill enables me to use it to demonstrate some basic concepts, like manipulating a variable, placebos, control and treatment groups, external and internal validity, correlation vs causation, research designs, research methods, etc.
This example recurs throughout the introductory lessons in IB Psychology: A student’s guide.
Travis Dixon is an IB Psychology teacher, author, workshop leader, examiner and IA moderator.