1. Teachers – you’ll need
Coloured cards for starter activity Progress cards Human Bingo sheet

2. Welcome to the Psychology Department
Psychology A Level
Welcome to the Psychology Department

3. Starter activity – 5 minutes
We nearly always do starter activities to check your learning, so before we even know who you are, we’ll do a starter.
Take a card
Write a question based on something from your summer homework
Write the answer on the back
Check with the person next to you if the answer is correct. Any doubts, ask the teacher
Move around the room and ask people your question. If they get it right give them your card. If they get it wrong tell them the answer. Your partner now does the same thing to you. You could tell each other your names at this point
If they got it wrong and you’ve told them the answer, ask them the question again. Hopefully they will get it right this time. Give them the card. Once you have both swapped cards, do the same with someone else but with your new card
Aim to see at least ten different people, don’t worry if you get your original card back, you’ll soon swap it again
Question
What is heredity
Answer
The idea that characteristics are passed genetically through generations

4. What to do today
Meet your colleagues Check summer homework Expectations within the Psychology Department Check that you know the key terminology Set homework to be completed by this lesson next week

5. But first – progress cards and homework
These will be used to track your progress and for parents evening, subject reviews/one-to-one’s and tutorial.
Assessment scores/marks will be recorded on here.
You will be expected to ensure you have reflected on each formal assessment you do.
Homework:
You will be expected to complete ALL homework tasks.
No excuses will be accepted on the day it is due and you will be expected to write the reason for your non-completion of work on your progress card.
‘I have forgotten it’ – simply put, don’t do this!
If you do not complete your homework, you will be expected to stay behind at the end of the lesson to talk to your teacher.

6. Meet your colleagues and checking summer homework
Human Bingo
Please get all of your summer homework out and place it on the desk in front of you to be checked by your teacher as you do the human bingo.
Take Human Bingo sheet
You are going to move round the room
Try to fill in as much of your sheet as possible

7. Expectations of the department
In groups go to the white boards on the wall and divide it into three sections
My teachers ) My classmates ) Me
Now write down three expectations under each of the headings. You have just 3 minutes
Why do you think these are important?

8. What you need to do to make classes run really well and efficiently – ground rules
Mobile phones are only allowed to be used in class on the direction of the teacher for legitimate class work. The rest of the time they must be put away in your bag and put on silent. If a student is found to be using a mobile phone for non-authorised activities, they may be asked to put it in a tray at the front of the class to be collected at the end of the lesson. Repeat offenders will be sanctioned There’s a good scientific reason for this. If you need to leave the classroom for any reason (e.g. toilet visit, water refill) you will be asked to place your phone on the desk before you go Students are expected to arrive to class on time. If you happen to arrive a few minutes late to the class, come in quietly and take your seat without disturbing others around you. If you arrive after the register has been taken, you will need to remind your teacher at the end of class to mark you present. If you are more than 5 minutes late, please knock on the door and wait to be admitted

9. What you need to do to make classes run really well and efficiently – ground rules
Show respect for your teacher and your classmates by not talking while the teacher is talking, or while other class members are asking a question or making a contribution. Any student who persistently disrupts the lesson in this way, will be asked to leave the classroom and disciplinary action will be taken You must arrive to the class with the materials you need to take part in the lesson. Pen, paper, folder and textbook are essential. You should also try to bring coloured pens, pencils, highlighters and a ruler. When you arrive at class you must get out your folder and have your notes on the topic we are working on in front of you You must have a folder and keep it organised. You don’t have to have all of your notes with you all of the time, but you will be expected to bring your notes from the topic we are working on

10. What you need to do to make classes run really well and efficiently – ground rules
You must submit all homework on time and complete any preparation work you are asked to do. Failure to complete preparation work (flipped work) will result in you being asked to leave the class Part of your weekly homework is to make sure that you review your notes from the last class. You will be expected to arrive to each class with knowledge of what was covered previously and the ability to answer questions on those topics. ‘I don’t know’ will not be accepted as a response to questions You are expected to follow the instructions of the teacher without argument and make a full contribution to group work exercises. Every member of the group has a responsibility for working co-operatively with every other member of the group. It is worth noting now, that students will get credit in their UCAS references if the teacher notices them taking a lead role in group work activities, or being particularly active in discussions

11. What you need to do to make classes run really well and efficiently – ground rules
Please be aware that no student has the right to sit in a particular place in the classroom. The teacher will organise students in groups according to their professional judgement. This means that at any time you may be asked to move to a different place in the class If you finish your work early and you are waiting for others to catch up, you should engage in an extension task. Instructions for this can be found on p.18 of the psychology student handbook, under ‘extension work during lessons’ Any resources borrowed from the resources box must be put back in the right drawer at the end of class, rubbish should be thrown away and unwanted paper put in the recycling bin. Your table should be clear before you leave the classroom

12. What you need to do to make classes run really well and efficiently – ground rules
If you are absent from class, you will need to follow the class buddy system (see p.9 of the psychology student handbook) We’ll discuss this further when we give the handbooks out next lesson

13. homework quiz – do you know your psychology?
We do a lot of testing at A level, making sure you know what you know and where you need to improve. Take five minutes to skim read through your homework sheets that you did for homework Now answer these questions on scrap paper.

14. Questions
Give two of the four main assumptions of the biological approach?
Who was Charles Darwin?
What is meant by Natural Selection?
What is a concordance rate?
If a characteristic is genetic, should concordance rates be higher for identical twins (MZ twins) or non-identical twins (DZ twins)?
What so we mean by ‘Nature’ in a psychological context?
What do we mean by ‘Nurture’ in a psychological context?
What is the interactionist approach to understanding behaviour?
What are the six different ways in which a psychologist can carry out an observation?
What are behavioural categories?
What is time and event sampling?

15. Answers
1 Give two of the four main assumptions of the biological approach?
Assumptions
• Behaviour can be largely explained in terms of Biology e.g. genetics, heredity, neurons etc.
• Behaviour and processes can be explained by the structure and function of the human nervous system, particularly the brain.
• Human genes have evolved over millions of years to adapt behaviour to the environment. Therefore, most behaviour will have an adaptive / evolutionary purpose.
• Psychology should be seen as a science, to be studied in a scientific manner (usually in a laboratory).
2 Who was Charles Darwin? Pioneer of evolution. Author of On the origin of Species (1859)
3 What is meant by Natural Selection? Characteristics that help an animal to survive and therefore reproduce, will be passed on through the genes to the offspring, so these characteristics are naturally selected
4 What is a concordance rate? The ratio of where two people (usually twins) display the same characterisitcs – usually used to establish a genetic link in psychological disorders
5 If a characteristic is genetic, should concordance rates be higher for identical twins (MZ twins) or non-identical twins (DZ twins)? Identical twins, because they share exactly the same genes.

16. Answers
6 What do we mean by ‘Nature’ in a psychological context? The idea that our traits are innate/inborn
7 What do we mean by ‘Nurture’ in a psychological context? The idea that we learn characteristics as we grow older
8 What is the interactionist approach to understanding behaviour? The idea that traits are caused by an interaction between biology and environment
9 What are the six different ways in which a psychologist can carry out an observation? Controlled, natural, participant, non-participant, covert, overt.
10 What are behavioural categories? Common behavioural classifications used to tally the number of times a behaviour occurs
11 What are time and event sampling? Time = The observer with record what behaviour is occurring at a specific time interval. Event = The observers record every time a specific behaviour occurs

17. Psychology - Define the term
Now get into pairs (make one three if there is an odd number)
One of you face the back wall and one of you face the board. The one facing the board should stand up (in a three, have two people facing the back wall)
The person looking at the board will see the psychological term, you have to describe it to your partner. You CANNOT say any part of the term or sentence that you see. You have just 10 seconds to get the answer from your friend’s description
The person answering remembers how many they get correct out of 15.
It’ll get noisy, and it is a competition, because you’ll swap roles half way through.

18. Are you ready?
Press here to begin

19. Mean Average

20. Science

21. Behaviourism

22. Covert observation

23. Evolution

24. Charles Darwin

25. Classical conditioning

26. Nurture

27. Concordance rate

28. Dizygotic Twin

29. Participant observation

30. Genetics

31. Phenotype

32. Heredity

33. Negative reinforcement
Last one
Negative reinforcement

34. Click here to start round two
Part 1 finished
SWAP
Click here to start round two

35. Research Study

36. Scatter graph

37. Overt Observation

38. Median Average

39. Percentages

40. Phenotype

41. Natural Selection

42. Operant conditioning

43. monozygotic twin

44. Schizophrenia

45. Controlled observation

46. Bar Chart

47. Positive reinforcment
Last one
Positive reinforcment

48. The end

49. Last check – do you all understand what your homework is?
For your next lesson, make sure that you have completed the work on

50. Plenary
Today we looked at information research methods and other key terms Write down on paper anything from today that you found that you didn’t understand or only partially understood. Research this for next lesson and if you still do not understand, ask colleague/teacher.