In an earlier post I outlined one of the core concepts of the themantic model of curriculum design: the building block. If a building block is an individual unit of information, a relationship chain is what is created when it’s significantly connected to another building block. Psychology is the study of relationships. Primarily, it’s the study of relationships between variables and behaviour. …
Building Blocks: The Foundation of the Themantic Model
Now that we’re beginning to launch the themantic model of teaching and learning, it’s probably a good idea to begin elucidating what the model is all about. But before you think that this will just be another bunch of edujargon or abstract pedagogical theory, it’s important to note that at Themantic Education we realise that any theory is only as …
SAQ Writing Guide
Updated Jan 25th, 2021 I’ve spent over ten years trying to devise good advice for students about how to write exam answers. You’ll see below an original post I wrote a few years ago (in 2017) with an attached “SAQ Writing Guide” as a word.doc that I thought would revolutionize teaching of SAQs. I was wrong. I’ve learned that specific …
Understanding Research “Methods”
Frankly, sometimes I get a little peeved when distinctions are made between research “methods” and “techniques.” This is a pedantic distinction and one that doesn’t have any influence on the broader conceptual understandings we want students to acquire in this course. From the May 2013 exam mark scheme the appropriate “methods” to discuss at the biological LOA (now called an …
Paper Three Questions 1a,b,c: Details
NOTE: THIS IS FOR THE NEW SYLLABUS! Remember that all three questions from Question 1 will be asked, so you need to be prepared to answer all three. There are 9 possible marks available for Question 1, which accounts for 37.5% of Paper One. The following is an overview of these three questions. 1a. Identify the method used and outline …
Sample Stimulus Material (Paper Three)
The most important thing to remember with Paper Three responses is that you know exactly what the questions might be. This makes it really easy to prepare. The difficulty is that you don’t know what the research stimulus will be, so it’s important that you get lots of practice at answering these questions with practice research summaries. Remember that the …
What is an “approach?”
The “Levels of Analysis” are out, and so are “Perspectives”, so now we have “approaches to understanding human behaviour.” But what does this mean? In short, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a term used to separate the IB Psychology course into meaningful units. I would define the approaches as a description of behaviours, as well as a set of variables …
New Syllabus: Major Changes
The IB has published the new subject guide, teacher support material and specimen exam papers. You can find all this information on the OCC. In my mind, here are the big changes: Learning Outcomes removed (Read more…) Options time reduced to 20 hours SL and HL now do the same Internal Assessment Paper 3 includes quantitative possibility HL have extensions …
No More Learning Outcomes
With the new guide the learning outcomes are out the window. While for many of us used to the old system of LO’s this may appear daunting, I for one am pleased to see the back of “describe the role of situational and dispositional factors in explaining behaviour” and “explain emic and etic concepts.” These are poorly phrased, to say …
Tajfel and Turner’s Social Identity Theory
Why does my blog have three different posts explaining social identity theory? Because for the first few years teaching this theory I had to write it out for myself to fully comprehend it. It’s difficult to understand at first. My best advice is to always remember that its’ a theory of intergroup conflict (e.g. prejudice and discrimination), so think of real …