Originally posted on MyIB forum and adapted here in case it helps.
The biggest challenge facing IB Psychology students and teachers in the new curriculum is the introduction of the SIX CONCEPTS: change, measurement, perspective, causality, bias and responsibility. This adds a lot of research method content to an already content-rich course. So here are some ideas I’m playing with for teaching the concepts.
1) Teach all topics with samples of supporting studies – the concepts are inextricably linked to research methods more than the topics so knowing real studies is key (I think).
2) Focus on one concept per unit. For example, in my unit on “Criminology” I only focus on “Causality” and in “Couples” (previously Love and Marriage) I focus on “Measurement.” To approach too many at once or too soon will scatter students brains. They need to learn by building connections and seeing themes – and THEN later in the course they can transfer across topics.
But this approach comes with a big caveat….
3) You can use a key term from each concept as a critical thinking extension in the lesson (not as the focus, or I fear they’ll drown in content). For example, teaching role of communication with Gottman’s four horsemen and one of his love lab studies. Focus on “measurement” in that unit, then the critical thinking extension could introduce a key term like “self-report bias” and link it to questionnaires on marital satisfaction. Next lesson might be on strategies to improve relationships, e.g. couple’s therapies, so the extension task is for students to read about “data triangulation” and how that might be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a particular therapy.
Then by the end of the course, when they’re reviewing Gottman they’ll be able to evaluate his research with their NOW extensive knowledge of biases, perspectives, responsible practices, etc.
By knowing the key terms, advanced students can evaluate the method AND hopefully they can apply it elsewhere in the course.
New IB Psychology Textbook by Travis coming soon – available here for pre-orders
4) NOW…what to do with kids that don’t hit the extensions in a class (which is two-thirds)? You could do whole class lessons focusing on specific concept key terms in the class practical lessons. There’s about 7-8 hours for each for those. Do the practical in 1-2 lessons, then leave the rest of the time to teach 1-2 key terms for each concept as they relate to that method (e.g. teaching different biases in relation to questionnaires, then next lesson how questionnaires can be part of experiments for causality).
5) Focus on experiments and correlational studies in the topics. Not only are these relevant to all topics, they’re also relevant to all concepts: bias, change, measurement, causality and responsibility. Perspective’s a stretch, but that’s an easy concept because the approaches cover that one.
Just some ideas.
I do like the introduction of concepts for assessment. However, I do wish there wasn’t the increased demands of content on top of these additions.
Travis Dixon is an IB Psychology teacher, author, workshop leader, examiner and IA moderator.