SUPPORTED RESEARCH

Introduction of Topic Booklets on Psychology of Health and

Psychology of Crime

BACKGROUND TO RESEARCH

• Supported research initiative provided by Woodhouse College

• A2 Psychology students’ evaluation of 2003 course requesting more discussion time in class

• Decision by Psychology Teachers to make the teaching of A2 less exam-driven and more related to the topics of Health and Crime in a broader educational sense

Why we chose to introduce Topic Booklets

• AS Psychology students use Topic Booklets already

• Evaluation from A2 students – more class discussion requested

• Psychology teachers found the AS Topic Booklets a useful teaching guide

TOPIC BOOKLETS

• Decision to produce 16 topic booklets for A2 Psychology students on Psychology of Health and Psychology of Crime to meet these needs and to analyse their impact at the end of the course

• To ensure that these Topic Booklets allow for more class discussion

• To ensure that these Topic Booklets apply educational psychology principles to enhance learning and improve teaching skills

OUR BRIEF

• Make the booklets good for the students

• Make the booklets good for us!

Aim of Booklets

• To shift the structural side of the work towards independent study by students to leave more time for discussion

• To make teaching more student-centred• To provide the need for emotional safety• To put self-esteem and personal responsibility

central to the learning process

“We learn to do something by doing it. There is no other way” John Holt

A habit is formed when:

• A person knows what to do

• How to do it

• Has a good reason for doing it

A PERSON KNOWS WHAT TO DO

• Booklets to provide students with the skills to be able to write essays meeting the exam requirements of the specification

• Mark schemes

• Past essay questions

A PERSON KNOWS HOW TO DO IT

• Topic Booklets to provide the following:

• Essay plans

• Evidence grids

A PERSON HAS A GOOD REASON FOR DOING IT

• Passing A Level Psychology achieving the highest possible grade

“In times of change the learners will inherit the earth while the knowers will find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” Eric Hoffer

New practice is sustained when:

• People have a motivation to keep doing it, which comes from conviction

“People’s beliefs about their abilities have a profound effect on their abilities. Ability is not a fixed property; there is a huge variability on how you perform. People who have a sense of self-efficacy bounce back from failures; they approach things in terms of how to handle them rather than worrying about what can go wrong.”

Albert Bandura

motivation

• Improves self efficacyi.e. task is not too hard, students

feel they can do it.• Also can stretch more able

students as they choose• Internal locus of control

(students’ take responsibility for their own learning)

New practice is sustained when:

• There is an understanding of the principles that underpin the practice so that new methodology can be continually refreshed and reinvented

Cognitive psychology:scaffolding

• Using essay planning sheets with mark schemes

• Easy to fill in

• Helps students to structure their own work with prompts

Mastery tasks – Knowledge, Comprehension and Application

• Incorporation of blank grids to enable all students to enter a description of evidence

• Evidence suggested and page numbers given to lead students to read the study and then fill in the grid

EXPLANATIONS OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR

Topic Study Detail

Theories of criminal behaviour

Physiological:

Bartol (1999) (p.14):

MZ and DZ’s

Example of Evidence Grid

Developmental Tasks – Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation

• Incorporation of blank essay plans to:

• Analyse evidence• Synthesise evidence• Evaluate evidence

Evaluation Issues: Research Evidence: Compared or Contrasted

1 1

2

2 1

Example of Section B essay – part (b)

Hoped for outcomes

• To provide the students with control over their learning

• Increase motivation and engagement

What the students said about the booklets…..

• Qualitative evidence:

Manageability and Organisation:

WHAT DID YOU FIND MOST HELPFUL ABOUT THE TOPIC BOOKLETS?

‘they help spread the work out and makes it easy to remember’

‘grids for studies, essay plan grids’

Visual layout

‘….layout different colour booklets’

PSYCHOLOGY AND CRIME

OFFENDER PROFILINGDefinitions, approaches and developing a profileBiases and pitfalls in profilingApplied profiling (one case study only)

What did you find least useful about the topic booklets?

LIMITED GRID SPACE

‘needed to make extra notes as space was limited’

‘boxes were a bit small so couldn’t fill in all the information

ADDITIONAL LITERATURE‘a lot of articles not read’

‘articles – didn’t really use them’

Please give us ideas of how to improve the topic booklets

EXTRA SPACE

‘make boxes bigger’

STUDY SKILLS

‘have some studies with evaluation issues filled in and others blank for students to have a go at.’

‘better studies, which have more evaluation issues’

What the students said about the booklets…..

• Qualitative evidence:

Manageability and Organisation:

WHAT DID YOU FIND MOST HELPFUL ABOUT THE TOPIC BOOKLETS?

‘they help spread the work out and makes it easy to remember’

‘grids for studies, essay plan grids’

Visual layout

‘….layout different colour booklets’

Well……did the booklets work?

• They certainly did!• According to both students and teachers,

students were able to organise their work – and remembered to bring the correct booklets to class

• It broke down the specification into usable chunks

• They loved the essay planners, and used them• It enabled teachers to provide cover if there

were absences.

What are we going to do next?

• Bigger and better things.• More emphasis on individuals completing booklets at

home. Leaving more time for…• Classroom discussion and creative teaching.• Extension tasks for brighter students – blank grids for

them to choose interesting research on their own.• Use of mind maps – more visual material for ‘right-

brainners’• Promote wider reading with more relevant articles.• Essay planning sheets to include more mnemonics and

user-friendly structuring, writing frames.