Students keen to understand human behaviour
|
An interest in human behaviour is making the new Psychology course a hit at schools across Western Australia.
Kingsway Christian College Psychology teacher, Tony Yap, said he had 22 students enrolled in the new Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) course.
“Twenty of them are Year 11 students and a further two are Year 12 students who are attending the class for personal interest but not doing the assessments,” Mr Yap said.
“The course has attracted a wide range of students. Generally, there are students who are interested in ‘people-based’ careers such as sports psychology, teaching, nursing, counselling and business studies.
“My students have indicated they’re really enjoying the course, as they believe they’re acquiring important life skills such as research and analysis, and wider understandings for the future.”
Mr Yap said the course generated interesting topics of discussion structured around the aspects of self, others and society.
He said students are able to identify with ‘real’ and interesting topics such as the influence of their peers, IQ and emotional intelligence. This variety of topics is appealing to adolescents.
“Another strength of the course is the diversity of assessment tasks; from report writing to practical information gathering/research. There’s also room for flexibility in course delivery, eg. the use of interesting DVDs, interviews, etc.
“On the other hand, determining the depth of teaching a topic/discussion is a challenge for teachers of a new course such as Psychology. For example, in the area of parents’ influence on children’s behaviour, there’s a lot of research and information on ‘attachment’, but it is not directly spelled out in the 2A Psychology syllabus.
“The assessment tasks are quite demanding for students in terms of the pace of doing the task. For example, teaching students how to write a research report requires more classroom time.”
|
|
|
Mr Yap said his 2A students had conducted research into the impact of group dynamics on joke telling and examining stereotyping in the media.
“As for the experience of teaching the course, it is rewarding to teach an interesting subject which engages students, and one which prepares them for the challenges of life and careers in the future.”
The Curriculum Council’s Psychology course project officer, Paula Carroll, said the course is appealing to students because human behaviour is a fascinating topic.
“The course provides students with the opportunity to study human behaviour as a science. They learn how psychological research can sometimes contradict popular beliefs about human behaviour and how these findings can be applied to important issues in today’s world,” Ms Carroll said.
Thirteen schools across WA are offering the Psychology course in 2008 and the feedback from teachers and students is very positive.
For more information about the new Psychology course, visit http://www.curriculum.wa.edu.au/internet/Senior_Secondary/Courses/
|
|
Last Updated:
18/ 09/
2008 10:42
