With the demise of coursework, teachers up and down the county are having to rethink how they can engage the imaginations of budding psychologists. The Extended Project (EP) could provide that important opportunity to study a psychological topic in-depth using methods and study skills students may not otherwise use before university. The EP is a stand-alone qualification offered alongside A Levels (although a compulsory part of the diploma) and is offered by OCR, AQA, Edexcel and WJEC. Worth the same as an AS level, it carries the same number of UCAS points and could be the sort of talking point at an admissions interview that discriminates one candidate for an oversubscribed course from another.

Students can choose any topic – findings from the QCA pilot suggest that they achieve best when they have this flexibility. The final project can take the form of a product, performance, field study, design, investigation or dissertation. It gives students a good chance to flex skills like self-directed learning, source selection, evaluation and planning. Without coursework or other opportunities for independent study, there is a risk that such skills will be underdeveloped.

But consider the implications before students rush out eagerly clutching their questionnaires on shopping habits or grabbing volunteers for audience effect tasks.

Who will mange the qualification? What if students want to study topics outside of your comfort zone of the Stroop Effect? Where are the ethical constraints? Who will be the most suitable (this does not have to equate with most the academic!) students to take on the project? How can it slot into, around, on top of other taught subjects? With what will you fill the 30 or so hours of guided learning hours? Will you put in entries in Year 12 or Year 13? And most importantly- where can you find the answers to these questions?

Each Awarding Body is building a bank of resources and teacher support that can direct your choices and much of it is freely available on-line. Here at OCR we are working with centres to develop learning aids such as PowerPoint presentation and materials that can be photocopied, as well as assessing different models of delivery and offering free training events for teachers.

Schools and colleges are already having to cope with the changes to A Levels, GCSEs and the introduction of Diplomas, so the thought of another new qualification nmay be too much to bear but consider the benefits: There are real opportunities for cross curricular links as staff expertise is shared. Universities are sitting up and taking notice as EP focuses on the process not the outcome so students don’t have to narrow their thinking to rigid examination criteria. And for those students who would leap at the chance to collect data for their very own chisquare? All they have to do is choose their hypothesis…

Sally Morris has taught Psychology for over a decade and is a former Head of Department working as a Seconded Teacher in the Customer Support Division of OCR If you or your centre would like to discuss the extended project, support materials or share your own developed materials please contact her on sally.morris@ocr.org.uk.

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=2622868 TES article: Harvard professor critical of A levels praises the “paradigm shift” offered by the EP

http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_15297.aspx fact sheet regarding EP from QCA

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0173 Schools’ minister Jim Knight praises the extended project#

http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/projects/extended_project/ link to the OCR website

It has been an exciting time at www.PsychExchange.co.uk over the last few months and we have gone from strength-to-strength all thanks to the bubbling community of psychology teachers we have that are willing to share their ideas, resources and time to help each other. As I write this we are approaching 80,000 downloads which is amazing and we are nearing having 1,000 resources, including videos and ideas, on the site. What a mile-stone.

With the second year of the new specifications PsychExchange will be a valuable resource to us all sharing schemes of work, resources and the odd rant (which is always good). So, if you haven’t been along to PsychExchange for a while come and see the massive archive of excellent resources we have and maybe you could share something yourself while you’re there.

We’ve had many excellent resources for all the major exam boards recently and in the videos section we have several full length documentaries (along with all the other fab little clips): “Dr. Money and the boy with no Penis”, “HardTALK: Chris Sizemore” and the Channel 4 documentary “Would you save a stranger?”

Thanks to all for sharing.
Jamie Davies and Mark Holah
guru@psychexchange.co.uk

My students have enjoyed playing a whole-class version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” (there’s a PowerPoint template on www.Psychexchange.co.uk). The PowerPoint is very professional looking, and has questions on the Biological Approach but could be adapted in lots of ways. It’s certainly engaging!

They’ve also enjoyed Psychology Bingo – give each student a blank grid, approx. 5 by 4. Have them put a key term in each space (e.g. reliability; validity etc) from a list you give them. The list needs to have several more terms than there are spaces on the grid, and could be put up as a PPT slide, an OHT or on a smartboard so each student chooses their own terms. Someone then reads out the definitions in random order, the students cross off the key terms if they have them on their card. This could then be developed as an exercise in groups, each group devising their own Psychology Bingo game based on a topic or area.

Annalise.Abraham@reigate.ac.uk

Compare and Contrast

To get across the tricky idea of similarities and differences between different studies I’ve made some snap cards. One card for each study, the students play snap in pairs, but instead of ‘snapping’ the matching cards they snap whenever two studies are from the same approach or perspective. When that happens they have to identify one similarity and one difference between the two studies – and write it down of course!

It’s taken me considerably longer than I had anticipated to make these things but there’s enough of each to make 9 sets for the OCR specification – I’m still glueing them to the backs of playing cards. Alternatively you could just write the names of the studies on pieces of paper. Not as flashy but somewhat easier. Or write/print/stick onto coloured card!

Louise Lomas,
louiselomas@talktalk.net

Coursework has died a death, and that leaves many of us with a gap post-AS exams (and at other times). Even though we may lose students to field courses or various days out this is still a time which could be really valuable in reminding students that psychology is fantastically interesting and fun, and reinforcing some of the research methods or other information so the odd fragment might last into September. So here are a set of ideas – do use them, edit them, or be stimulated to produce your own (in which case please could you share a copy with the rest of us by emailing me the file? Please?) eviepsych1@gmail.com

For things which are suitable, it is good for students to have to remember the scientific method on which psychology is based: theory; hypothesis; sampling; empirical methods where possible; collection of data; data presentation and analysis; conclusions.

I have recycled this because it works well,is fun, and has a strong ethical side. I think it’s more suitable for Y13, who have that extra bit of maturity, and adults. It is based on the concept that the items we store most successfully into LTM are those with the greatest personal meaning, the deepest semantic processing.

Groups can each have a different task, such as constructing the questionnaire, deciding on open or closed questions or simple yes/no answers, deciding on the target population and sampling method, data collection and analysis and so on. The ethics of asking about a socially and personally sensitive memory also need discussion. There could be a plenary session to pool questions, ideas and planning, but students need to know that the teacher/tutor has the final say as the responsibility for activities rests with her/him.

One word of caution: when we first did this our questionnaire (all yes/no answers) was immensely popular with the adults in the sample, from the canteen staff to families – but one student came reeling back into the class after, misguidedly in my opinion, having used her father as part of her sample. It wasn’t just a case of too much information, she was additionally deeply shocked that he’d started kissing girls in the back row of the cinema when aged 11 !

For some reason, I always expect to have more time in the summer term, I should know by know that it never happens. As soon as examinations are over, I just want to hibernate, but this year we will all be busy preparing resources for new A2, GCSE and Diploma qualifications – does it never end? On the positive side, not long until the summer holidays, but it does all start again in September!

In April I attended the annual EFPTA Conference, this was held jointly with the ATPS Conference in Edinburgh. The two day event was excellent and good fun was had by all. Our European visitors particularly enjoyed the experience of a traditional Scottish Ceilidh. A full report is included in this newsletter.

Our next big event is the Annual ATP Conference in Exeter July 9th – 11th; please see the website www.atpconference.org.uk for further details. This promises to be a spectacular event, once again organised by Phil Banyard. Our AGM will be held during the Conference on Friday 10th July at 6pm and a nomination form is enclosed in this newsletter.

A very thorny issue is that of gaining QTS. As many of you know, it is almost impossible to offer guidance as the rules and regulations not only vary vastly between institutions, but change on an annual basis. The ATP wants to lobby government on this issue; however we need evidence of your experiences and difficulties. At the Conference a session will be held to discuss these issues, but if you are unable to be at the Conference please email either Emma Shakespeare or Gail Ward (contact details at back of newsletter) with details of your experiences.

As always I welcome ideas/comments from any members about how to improve our services. The ATP is only ever as good as its membership so please continue to promote the ATP and encourage others to join. Please also remember to keep us informed of any changes to your personal details so we can keep in touch. The ATP now has a new and improved website, please have a look and let me have your suggestions www.theatp.org

Deb Gajic
d.gajic@sky.com