Designed for
Students who are interested in learning about Psychology and different areas within the field
Level
Beginner
Class format
One-on-one and small group (Max. 7 students/class)
Class Introduction
Students will be introduced to eight of the major topics in psychology. Each week we will cover a different topic, resulting in an introduction to a comprehensive understanding of the human mind and how it affects behaviors. Throughout the course, students will apply concepts of psychology to real world examples, and by the end of the course they will be seeing psychology in everyday life.
Outcome
After completing the course, students are expected to reach the following goals:
- Explain the role of biological, psychological, social, and cultural determinants on behavior.
- Apply concepts and generate examples of psychological science to everyday life situations.
- Demonstrate basic knowledge of a psychology topic of choice through a class presentation.
Course Content
| Lesson | Topics |
| 1 | Biological Psychology: the brain, neurons and neurotransmitters, the nervous system (Students will start with the question: What is psychology?) |
| 2 | Learning: classical and operant conditioning. Introduce mini-experiment using these principles in the next two weeks |
| 3 | Cognition: memory, language (also check in on experiment progress- share ideas, roadblocks and successes) |
| 4 | Sleep (also share final results of experiments) |
| 5 | Developmental Psychology |
| 6 | Social Psychology (and share any videos/examples of theories of development seen in the last week) |
| 7 | Sensation and Perception (and prepare projects) |
| 8 | Positive psychology (and the role of stress) (also share final projects) |
Feedback
Students and their parents will receive brief feedback after each class, via Teachworks, regarding the student’s general participation in class. Students will also receive feedback on graded assignments via email.
Schedule
15 hours of classes, 90 minutes/class
