My Favourite Teaching and Learning Strategy

This is one of my favourite teaching and learning strategies. It is commonly referred to in the teaching profession as 'marketplace'. Even when I was studying at GCSE and A-Level (yes, all them years ago!) our teacher would use these strategies for complex theories or key studies.

It can be done as an individual task or in pairs/groups. In my Psychology A-Level class, I use this as an individual task as I only have five students. The reason it becomes so effective is that it uses all of the concepts in Bloom's Taxonomy to promote higher levels of thinking among students. Geoff Petty (2012) also recommends this strategy, particularly in post-compulsory education (age 14+), because of this promotion of critical thinking.

Setting The Stall

This strategy can be used either as a consolidation of new information learned or as an introduction to a new theory/topic that students can research first.
It's important that for this strategy:
- it is relevant to the class
- students are given clear guidance (e.g you could tell them to explain only using pictures or have a word limit.)
- used as an assessment tool and not focus on the creative design (students are learning psychology, not art).

For my classes, I tend to use it as an assessment of understanding. Once students have learned about a topic, not only do I get them to produce a piece of work but I also get them to explain their ideas to other students. It works well for more difficult topics such as the structure of the neuron.

An Extension
So now that students have designed their beautiful posters, it now needs a purpose. This can be taken anywhere you like! I tend to give students a couple of exam-style questions using trigger words:
Identify
Describe
Explain
Evaluate

You can set the questions yourself or even get the students to create these types of questions (I would only recommend this for 'higher achievers' to incorporate differentiation into your lessons).

By the end of the process, another student should be able to look at that piece of work and be able to answer the questions that the student has set.

You can see some of my students work linked to this post. Some of the designs are incredible and explain detailed concepts and studies. There is also an example of an essay plan which a student has created which fits the criteria of the Edexcel IAL AO1 and AO2.

* Apologies - Some of the information is not very clear due to scanning the image *

Image 1 - Explaining infradian rhythms (as a part of biological rhythms).
Image 2 & 3 - Brendgen et al, (2015). An outline of the study and also a sample essay plan including A01 & A03 points.
Image 4 - Structure of a neuron.

Credit goes to my Y12 Psychology students who have displayed great enthusiasm and attention to detail.

Transference

Welcome to my second post. I thought I would blog very briefly about an interesting concept that I have been discussing with my students.

This is transference theory. It is a methodology used in psychoanalysis, or counselling.

"Transference describes a situation where the feelings, desires, and expectations of one person are redirected and applied to another person. Most commonly,transference refers to a therapeutic setting, where a person in therapy may apply certain feelings or emotions toward the therapist."

I also found this video on youtube which explains transference in everyday life.

The video shows us how we transfer a way of behaving from childhood to adulthood - in situations which don't really warrant it. So, If your parents tell you that you are acting like a child, then there is probably a reason for it!
It really made the students think about other people's behaviours and that transference provides a valid explanation for adult behaviour which derives from childhood.

The video finishes with the following quote - "We don't need people to be normal. We just need them to be able to explain their abnormalities in good time, with kindness and humility."

Psychology at IPS - An Introduction from Teacher Dom

Welcome to my first post. I will aim to write a post once a week, time permitting. I will also publish links to my Y12 Psychology blogs. My blog will feature mainly psychological concepts but I may occasionally post some personal experiences, so please follow our adventure.

This week my Y12 students had an introduction to Freud's Psychodynamic Theory. It is a theory that has caused considerable debate among academics. Freud almost 'sexualises' concepts from the early years, and I do apologise to my Y12s about this.

They have created a blog on the topic covered this week. In particular, the psychosexual stages and the case study of Little Hans. I also gave them a topic to debate about whether behaviourism or psychodynamic theory provides the best explanation of behaviour. It was interesting to read their responses, and the majority focused on behaviourism due to it's more scientific nature when compared with psychodynamic theory. However, I was also intrigued by one student who suggested that the psychodynamic theory provides a better explanation because it consists of nature AND nurture.


I have advised my students that their blogs should not be 'textbook' notes, but in fact, they are encouraged to include their own opinions/ideas where necessary to demonstrate understanding. It's mainly informal, and for their revision so I only check their blogs regarding content, structure and ideas. They may have exam questions to answer which I will give detailed verbal/written feedback so that they can fix it.
You can read their blogs below:

http://tashapsycheblog.blogspot.com/

http://yasminepsychologyial.blogspot.com/2018/03/yasmine-i.html

https://natnichanickypsychologyial.blogspot.com/

https://isabellepsychologyial.blogspot.com/

I encourage my students to become critical thinkers, and this is one way of achieving the goal. I like this quote from Steven C Reinhart - "A good teacher has changed from 'the one who explains things so well that students understand' to 'one who gets students to explain things so well that they can be understood'.
I use this concept throughout my teaching. An idea that I used with my Y7 English class is to 'explain to an alien'. I will take the role of an alien during class and ask them to explain concepts to this creature in a simple form. This encourages speaking skills and critical thinking, which is of great significance to our international students. This tip was shared with me by a tutor on my PGCE called Sara Davies. I loved this AoL strategy when it was introduced to me and will continue to use it throughout my teaching career.



I hope you follow my students blogs throughout the year as they prepare for their 'Edexcel International A-Level' in Psychology.