By teaching the course holistically and integrating the core and options, it’s possible to teach the IB Psychology course content in more depth and in less time. Below you can see how I intend on teaching my HL Psychology class in less than 180 hours with the help of my textbook, IB Psychology: A Student’s Guide. What I should point out …
IB Psychology (SL) in less than 125 Hours!
By teaching the course holistically and integrating the core and options it’s possible to teach the IB Psychology course in more depth and in less time. Here are two possible ways you could teach SL Psychology in less than 125 hours with the help of our textbook, IB Psychology: A Student’s Guide. Course Option #1 with Human Relationships …
When the IB asks the wrong question…
In the most recent IB Psychology exam the wrong question has been asked. And I’m not talking about the “etic” question, either. I’m referring to the SAQ from the cognitive level of analysis: Describe one study investigating the reliability of one cognitive process. This is obviously the wrong question to ask and may result in poor student performance, unless you’ve trained your …
Why teach themantically?
Why teach thematically? If you think about it, teaching by the core approaches (or levels of analysis) in a linear way IS a thematic approach – the themes are biology, cognition and socio-culture, and then the themes are abnormal psych, health, etc. These themes tie together topics so by the end of the unit students have a broad conceptual understanding. …
How to download the new IB Psychology Guide….2027 edition
Since it’s a common question, I thought I’d explain the steps to downloading the new course guide. I would publish it here, but that would be a copyright infringement. I will ask permission from IB if I can publish it, but for now it’s best to navigate through the new site for yourself. Step One: Log in to MyIB (Here) …
Sample course outlines
Here is a doc’ that I quickly put together to highlight some options for different course structures using the themantic approach. Please note these times are approximations. In fact, the time allocations are generous. For example, the Criminology unit has 27 “lessons” but allows for 35 hours. I’ve always allocated more hours than lessons, to allow for teaching writing skills, …
Alternative Essay Rubric
Here’s an alternative rubric that I use when marking my student’s work. At the core of the themantic approach to teaching is the recognition that learning moves from surface to deep learning. The three levels of learning (aka three levels of thinking) are descriptors that can lead to more objective marking and clearer feedback for students. These levels work at a …
Tip for Cutting Content #3: Identities, Attitudes and Behaviours
Seeing as my last post about dealing with the cognitive extensions seemed to help, I thought I’d share this one. For some reason that I’m not too sure of, the new guide has got a trifecta of effects of cultural influences in the third topic: identities, attitudes and behaviours. On the surface this appears to be somewhat of a problem. …
Tip for Cutting Content #2: HL Extension – Cognitive Approach
Many people are worried about the amount of “content” in the IB Psychology course, but if you identify core concepts within the guide you can easily find overlaps, reduce content and enhance conceptual understanding in your students. Remember that all assessments will ask students about a core concept (i.e. a relationship between behaviour, variables, research or ethics). Let’s look at …
Biological Approach: Sample Exam Questions
With the new curriculum and the loss of the LOs, many teachers may be wondering about what the exam questions will be like. The answer is: much like the old ones. If you look at all the topics in the biological approach they are all related to the understanding of how variables can influence behaviour. The exam questions will reflect …