AP Psychology Syllabus 2012-2013

Mrs. Hammondsahammon@summit-academy.com

Course Description

AP Psychology is a college level course that requires dedication and hard work. Students will be expected to read and study on their own to prepare for class each day. Taking this class makes students eligible to take the AP Psychology exam. They may receive college credit if they get a 4 or 5 on the exam. The class will cover the history of psychology, learning, emotion, developmental processes, personality, testing differences, abnormal psychology, and social psychology.

Course Requirements

Students must take general psychology before taking AP psychology. The class will require independent reading, the creation of many papers, online research and online activities.

Materials

· 3 ring binder

· Loose leaf paper

· Writing utensils

· Markers or colored pencils

· Calculator

Course Procedures

Papers

Students will be required to write papers for this class. Psychology is based on evaluating and analyzing situations. Students will be asked to write their evaluations of current articles or their own research.

Homework

Homework will often be reading assignments, but may include work on papers, or projects.

Tests

A written test will be given for each section. This test will include multiple choice and free response items. The content of the test will be from samples of former AP tests.

Course Text

Psychology AP Edition. Zimbardo et al. Pearson 2005

Course Grading

As a college level course, AP biology will be graded on a 5.0 scale

Grading Scale:

· 5.0 A: 98-100%

4.67 A-: 90-97%

· 4.33 B+: 88-89%

4.0 B: 84-87%

· 3.67 B-: 80-83%

3.33 C+: 78-79%

· 3.0 C: 74-77%

2.67 C-: 70-73%

· 0.0 F: 0-69%

Semester Grades will be determined in the following manner:

40% Quarter 1 Grade

40% Quarter 2 Grade

20% Final Exam Grade

 

Course Curriculum

• History and approaches (2 weeks)
• Foundations of Psychology
• Historical Theories of Psychology
• Evolution of Psychology
• Fields within Psychology
• Major assessments
• Psychology Trading Cards
• Students each make 10 cards about past psychologists and their contributions to modern psychology. Subjects for the cards will be assigned by the teacher.
• Unit 1 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.
• Research methods (2 weeks)
• Methods
• Conducting Experiments
• Statistics
• Reliability and Validity
• Ethics
• Major assessments
• Partner Research Project
• Students will conduct an observational study, case study, or experiment of their own design and write a paper detailing their procedures and results. This will be done in groups of twos or threes. Partners will be assigned by the teacher.
• Unit 2 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.
• Biological bases of behavior (3 weeks)
• Division of the Nervous System
• Structure and Function of Neurons
• Structure and Function of the Brain
• Endocrine System
• Major assessments
• Orange Brain
• Students make a model of the brain using oranges, jelly beans, and raisins. Students will have to identify major parts of the brain and their functions during the activity.
• Unit 3 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.
• Sensation and perception (2 weeks)
• Structure and Function of the Eye
• Structure and Function of the Ear
• Olfaction and Gustation
• Absolute and Difference Thresholds
• Depth Perception
• Perception Errors
• Major assessments
• Individual Research Papers on Sensation
• Students will write a brief (3-5) page research paper on abnormalities in perception (blindness, deafness, ect.)
• Unit 4 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.
• States of consciousness (2 weeks)
• Stages of Sleep
• Sleep Disorders
• Classification of Drugs
• Effects of Drugs on the Brain
• Major assessments
• Group Survey Project
• Students will work in teacher assigned groups of two or three to develop a survey to determine the most common types of drugs used amongst high school students and write a paper explaining the results and analyzing possible affects of these drugs.
• Unit 5 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.
• Learning (1 week)
• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
• Cognitive Learning
• Observational Learning
• Major Assessments
• Sudoku Learning Project
• Students will work in teacher assigned groups of two or three to design a study to see if people learn better when they learn on their own or better when taught by others.
• Unit 6 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.

Semester 2

• Cognition and Memory (2 weeks)
• Encoding/Storage/Retrieval
• Recall vs. Recognition
• Sensory/Short-Term/Long-Term Memory
• Retrieval Cues
• Interference
• Heuristics and Algorithms
• Schemas
• Problem Solving
• Major assessments
• Group Presentation Heuristics
• Students will work in teacher assigned groups of four to design and present an example of an assigned heuristic to the class. This must involve an activity for the class to do.
• Unit 7 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.
• Motivation and emotion (2 weeks)
• Theories of Emotion
• Hunger, Thirst, Sex , and Pain
• Maslow's Hierarchy
• Achievement
• Theories of Emotion
• Major assessments
• Group Motivation Survey Study
• Students will work in teacher assigned groups of two or three to design, distribute and analyze surveys to determine what adolescents think their most important motivating factors are.
• Unit 8 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.
• Developmental psychology (2 weeks)
• Prenatal Development
• Piaget
• Kohlberg
• Erikson
• Components of Language
• Acquisition of Language
• Major Assessments
• Class Project: Who learns to talk first?
• Students take a survey that asks when they first spoke their first word, first sentence, etc. We will then analyze the information and each student will write a brief paper (1-2 pages) explaining the results.
• Unit 9 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.
• Personality (3 weeks)
• Psychodynamic Theory
• Trait Theory
• Humanistic Theory
• Projective Tests
• Personality Types
• Major assessments
• Projective Differences
• Students will look at two ink blots and record their responses and attempt to analyze them using standard Rorschach scoring. They will also write stories about two picture cards and attempt to analyze them using standard TAT scoring. Students will then write a brief paper describing the differences in the results between the two tests and whether or not they believe the results are accurate.
• Unit 10 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.
• Testing and Individual Differences (2 weeks)
• Standaardization and Norms
• Reliability and Validity
• Types of Tests
• Ehtics and Standards in Testing
• Intelligence
• Heredity vs. Environment in Intelligence
• Human Diversity
• Major assessments
• Unit 11 Test
• Students each make 10 cards about past psychologists and their contributions to modern psychology. Subjects for the cards will be assigned by the teacher.

 

• Abnormal psychology and Treatment (3 weeks)
• Identifying Illness
• Anxiety Disorders
• Somatoform Disorders
• Mood Disorders
• Personality Disorders
• Dissociative Disorders
• Psychotic Disorders
• Psychodynamic Therapy
• Behavioral/Learning Therapy
• Humanistic Therapy
• Cognitive Therapy
• Biologic Treatments
• Major assessments
• Book Report
• Students can choose from a provided list of books or get their own choice approved. Students will read a book about a person with a mental disorder and write a report giving a brief synopsis of the book and an analysis of how accurately the disorder was portrayed in the book.
• Unit 12 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.
• Social psychology (3 weeks)
• Social Influence
• Cooperation vs. Competition
• Obedience
• Conformity
• Group Processes
• Social Cognition
• Social Perception
• Interpersonal Attraction
• Major Assessments
• Class Project: How Hot are They?
• Students look at pictures of famous people and rank them based on how physically attractive they are. We then analyze their data looking for differences in how females and males answered and compare to data an how male and female teachers have answered. Students will write a brief paper explaining the results.
• Unit 13 Test
• Test will include multiple choice questions (40-50) and at least two essay questions. Questions will come from previous AP exams.

 

 

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