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I am going to echo some of the comments already made in this forum, especially with the overwhelming feeling due to the apparent vast amount of information available. I am very much used to the constraints of an A Level syllabus, however the IB appears to actually provide more ownership and development of what psychology is. It seems to make more sense to have a holistic approach because although we do compartmentalise into the separate approaches, this is not realistic to studying human behaviour and the majority of practical applications will take a more interactionist approach, which seems to voice the IB ideology.

1. Is there a preferred teaching order of the topics? Or does this really depend on the type of students and resources available?

2. Do students achieve better results in certain options (on average)?

3. Do many teachers use Flipped Learning as a method of teaching?

Thanks,
Naomi Boyd

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I'll admit, reading through the guide gave me a lot of anxiety. I guess appropriate as it is psychology. I'm not finding a lot of support from my school. If anyone is willing to share a calendar or pacing guide of the course (SL is what I am teaching) that would be amazing. jscarselli@d49.org I'm a minnow in an ocean. I am nervous about the IA that it might drive students away. I need to make in interesting  and break it down so it doesn't seem like a large task. When should I start it?

The only material I have is the Oxford IB Book. I hope it works with the new curriculum as from my understanding funds for resources is slim.
The second item that jumped out at me is bridging psychology and TOK. Students in my class may never take TOK as only a handful of kids are diploma candidates. That being said am I expected to teach both?

The third is all the case studies students need to know. Does anyone have a good way or specific cases to limit the amount of cases. I am unfamiliar with many as this is my first year teaching in the IB. Any suggestions please send jscarselli@d49.org.
Thank you,
Jennifer Scarselli

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Subject Guide, Teacher Support Materials and Psychology Website

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Subject Guide, Teacher Support Materials and Psychology Website

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It is definitely very enriching to read all of the subject guide, curriculum and the sample of student work. In particular importance, I found the layout of the IA to be very structured and well defined.

Having no teaching experience (as I'm a school counselor), I now have a clearer idea of how the DB psychology curriculum is mapped. It felt as though it is a BA level type of material (in terms of content). But again, it is fascinating to see how the IB learner profile is being very much impeded in every single task that the students have to take on. In the assessment criteria, what really is being assessed are the IB attributes put into practice!

While reading through the guide and the rest of materials on the website:

I wondered whether conducting an experiment as part of the assessment can be counted towards CAS hours?

Also, I wondered whether the psychology teacher becomes more like a supervisor while students are conducting their research?

The more I read, the more I get to love this course!

Thank you!

Tala Noweisser

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Psychology guide, teacher support materials & Psych webpage

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Psychology guide, teacher support materials & Psych webpage

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I want to begin my post by stating that I am clearly overwhelmed by the amount of information I have read in the past few days. The documents are extremely helpful in outlining the course and the examples in the teacher support materials have been very insightful. I am particularly interested in the research methods and the IA, as I find both challenging. Also, when I looked through the sample question papers, I realized that just knowing the content will not suffice. The students need to comprehend what is being asked of them, which is quite a task in itself. Some questions that came to my mind are as follows:

1. Do we have a guideline as to how much syllabus we need or must cover at different points in the two year journey ? For example: If my students are assessed (I semester) in the month of October, having begun grade 11 in mid July; then are there certain skills/topics that must be attained/covered by then ?

2. What is the preferred approach to teaching : Start with paper I and link paper 2 optionals to social, biologial and cognitive approaches? or
Start with paper 2 topics and intertwine the paper 1 concepts?

3. Since ethics and research methods seem to form the foundation of every aspect being studied, does one incorporate them while discussing research in each section? or do we deal with the research topic separately?

4. With regard to the IA, what I have understood is that the students need to perform a simple experimental study . Given my understanding is correct, then is it a mandatory group assignment (what we currently follow )or can it be an individual activity?
Also are their any resources other than OCC where we can find options/topics for IA.
Also, is it better to get done with the IA in the first year or does the IA need to be done in the second year?

5.  Is it mandatory to tie in TOK and Learner Profile  to every class that one conducts or in general to the concept and research studies ?

6.  As part of CAS, can the students organize health campaigns, assemblies, poster campaigns, plays etc which can be linked with their paper 2 topics?

7. How do we decide which research study to pick while teaching a concept? Is there any preference given to research studies done in the past or visa versa? Do we do just one research study per concept or multiple..which is preferred?

Some questions are similar to those that already have been mentioned on the wall.

One more question..
8. Among the options that are available for paper 2, are some preferred over the others ?

Thank you !
Saakshi

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I found the psychology guide to be both comforting and daunting at the same time. My biggest concern is figuring out how to blend AP and IB in the same classroom. The psychology guide eased some of my anxiety by making me realize that my current AP curriculum provides a good amount of similar information that the IB curriculum requires. The main difference is the internal assessment.

Are there any suggestions or example curriculum plans for how teachers teach both AP/IB within the same class? Would it be recommended to have all students complete the internal assessment or just the IB students? Furthermore, is it suggested to assign the internal assessment when discussing research methods or as an end of the semester task?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Despite these concerns, I am looking forward to implementing the internal assessment in my course.

Thank you!
Judy

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Reflections and questions about the Psychology Curri

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Reflections and questions about the Psychology Curri

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As I was going over the curriculum, I got so blown away by how rich it is. It is so full of learnings and teachings. There is so much to consider. I have been a teacher for almost twenty years and I have never seen anything like this. I am very excited about the Theory of Knowledge. This is a great opportunity for me to learn and be able to develop my students' way of thinking. I am also particularly interested in the CAS because it's a way to teach the children to be more balanced. Going over the curriculum, it started opening my mind about how I will teach my students this July. This is my first year in the IB Programme, so I'm a bit nervous about a lot of things especially the internal assessment.
Since it's my first year to teach IB Psychology, would it be best to teach the core courses first, or could I connect it also with the option courses?
If I start teaching in July, what is the best time for me to start teaching my students about the internal assessment?

Thank you and regards to all!

Joyce

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While looking at the materials I feel I have fallen down the rabbit hole. There is so much to consider. The IB curriculum is significantly different from anything I have worked with before and I'm a little nervous about making sure I hit all the important steps and get the kids ready.
Three things really stood out to me as I reviewed the material. First, the internal assessment task. This is obviously not the final paper that is submitted for a student's completion of the psychology course. So, should this be done the first year as part of the instruction and learning process or should it be completed near the beginning of the second year in preparation for the final paper?
Secondly, what is the correct balance between the core content and the optional content? Students will have to compile a research paper that serves as their exit assessment. Does this need to focus on the core Biological, Cognitive and Socio-cultural issues or can they choose any of the seven choices and have their paper focus on that.
Finally, I was caught up in the section that states caution with engaging sensitive topics. When I took psychology in college I started analyzing family friends and tried to place them in categories according to what we were learning at the time. I was twenty two. How do we teach psychology to high school students and keep them from making mistakes or starting rumors about others based on ideas and theories they may learn from the class. Currently "13 reasons" has been a topic among our 12-13 year old classes and we have used some homeroom time to address various issues. I can see this sort of thing getting out of hand with advanced theories of mental health as well.

Your thoughts are always appreciated,
-Will Hurst

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From what I have learned of the IB psychology curriculum I appreciate that it is more focused in its content. Having just taught the AP courses I found it was very scatter gun in its approach, hitting everything but doing a good job on nothing. The IB seems much more like the British system with the psychology A-levels with the chance to delve into the subjects more deeply.

With a short delivery time for the 15 units of AP (pretty much four lessons then a unit test) I am curious how to space out the IB units. I like the idea of students conducting experiments but what to know how much time they should have for these and how to determine “check in points” to ensure they do not get behind.

I also wonder about the course in general. At my present international school, it is not unusual for a student to leave suddenly when their parent gets a new job or posting. With the DP course being a two-year duration does a student come away with no credit if they finish their first year of the course and then move away and are not able to enter another IB school? Is that learning portable at all?

Cheers, Mike Quemby

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Psychology Guide, Teacher Support Materials and IB Psych webpage.

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Psychology Guide, Teacher Support Materials and IB Psych webpage.

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Between the 3 resources, everything I need appears to be here.  First and foremost, I wanted to see the assessment guidelines and then I wanted to see examples of assessed student work.  Between the Psych Guide, and the IB Psych web page, I found all those materials.  The Teacher support materials are okay, however, my school has recently subscribed to InThinking for Psychology led by John Crane, and I found many useful materials there too.  It would be nice to see if there was an example unit breakdown for one of the 3 main approaches to understanding behavior on one of the above sites.

Are we expecting our students do to their sampling at their current schools?  Are there examples where it's okay to get their samples outside of the school?  Does the Psych teacher become the IRB (Internal Review Board) to decided what's ethically appropriate or not? Are there psycho-metric tools online somewhere that can help students take their research further? Especially when considering the cognitive approach to behavior?

Something I'm looking forward to is starting with a good TOK concept at the begining of each course.  My favorite classes in high school and university started with a big question and spent the rest of the class breaking it down.

-Paul Strootman

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The psychology guide is extremely useful, highlighting all of the important topics and aspects of psychology that we get to teach. I am really excited about creating my course outline and choosing the optional topics. Reading through the curriculum guide, I’ve already started generating ideas and activities for the classroom. Being new to this, I also have a lot of questions.

What is the best way to structure the course? Core subjects taught congruently under the optional topic or in clear, separate units?

If the course topics are taught more conceptually, how do you keep track of the hours? Is it best to designate the same amount of hours between the three main elements of the core?

I would also love to discuss different teaching methodologies used to address the core.

Chelsea

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The Psychology Guide is thorough and helpful. I admit I became acquainted with the program as a whole throughout the past few months. Such acquaintance made it easier for me to process the role I will be playing as an IB Psychology teacher this fall.

I have thought several times about the TOK course and helping the student become critical thinkers who are capable of thinking from multiple perspectives. I am excited about my upcoming role in assisting students see the bigger picture of what they are studying.

I am, also, interested in learning more about the CAS component of the program. I always like my students to think outside of the box; by making links to Psychology in students’ everyday life, they become more caring, balanced and reflective, which are three IB learner attributes that can make a great difference in one's life, as well as others'.

Neveen

Painting: "Social Construction of Reality" by René Magritte.

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As a novice to the IB programme, I found the subject guide to be quite informative overall. It is clear that the course examines the interaction of cognitive, biological and sociocultural influences on behavior and mental processes.

To this point, I am interested to find out if it is recommended to teach these as separate units of study (one at a time) or if they should be taught in a blended format where they overlap each other?

The IB programme seems to encourage inquiry-based instruction. In light of this, how much time is typically devoted to direct instruction versus independent research?

In addition, I respect that the IB programme endorses a holistic approach to learning. Are there examples of community service projects that I can look at in which IB Psychology students have participated in?

Thanks! Ryan