AP Psychology

Study Plan 1

Objectives
1. Define psychology and list its specialization and associated careers
2. Describe and critically appraise the major psychology perspectives

Topic

1. What is psychology?
a) With your partner, browse through Bernstein to answer the question: “What does psychology study?”
b) Extension: Visit Psychology Today and find articles of interest to you.
b) Instructions for setting up your AP Blog remains will appear soon. Your first entry posting will be titled: “My motivations for studying psychology.”

2. What is AP Psychology?
a) Download your own copy of the AP Course requirements and assessment program
b) After browsing though the course descriptions and your text post an entry on your blog outline the unit that sounds most interesting to you. Explain your answer. (one paragraph)

3. History of Psychology
a) Reading pp1-23
b) Text based activities:

1) Jigsaw Group Work: In small groups, brainstorm three topics of interest for one type of psychologist found in bold on pages p.3-6.
Your classmates will attempt to categorize these topics.

2) Class Discussion:The text outlines a number of different approaches to psychology and uses aggression as an example. How would the different  perspectives approach the topic of gender differences?

3) Class Discussion: Use the Table 1.2 to identify examples of collectivist behavior you have observed in China.

4) Extension: Read the article “Always Home” and write a paragraph discussing to what extent you are a TCK and whether you think the article accurately identifies aspects of your life.

c) Video “Past Present and Promise”
Viewing Guide

c) The Perspectives and great names. PowerPoint Presentation
e) Class discussion: Why do we do the things that we do?

4. Approaches and Perspectives
a) Where do you stand on important psychological issues: Handout 1.4

5. Psychology as a Career
a) Interviews and reports

6. Resources, Review and Assessment
a) Chapter Outline
b) PowerPoint
c) Chapter Review
b) Chapter test
Look at the next post to help you personalize the way you study for chapter tests.

Look here to see some fairly standard advice regarding how to study psychology effectively.

You should aim to determine what works best for you as we all learn differently. You could take chapter notes or complete the guided study or do both. The online resources that accompany the Berstein text include quizzes and vocabulary exercises and you can add these to your study method. Adopt your own strategy and see how successful you are. If you do not do well in the chapter tests then you obviously need to adopt a different study strategy.