Warwick School District

Course Description

Practical Psychology will introduce students to a better way of understanding themselves and a greater recognition of their capacity for growth.  The course will present students with basic theories and principals of psychology and examine the impact of personality through a pragmatic approach.

Core Curriculum Content Standards

PA Common Core: History and Social Studies (2012)

• Reading Informational Text: Students read, understand, and respond to informational text – with emphasis on comprehension, making connections among ideas and between texts with focus on textual evidence.

• GRADES 11-12

• Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.(8.5.11-12.A)
• Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.(8.5.11-12.B)
• Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.(8.5.11-12.C)
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).(8.5.11-12.D)
• Analyze in detail how a complex primary source is structured, including how key sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text contribute to the whole.(8.5.11-12.E)
• Evaluate authors’ differing points of view on the same historical event or issue by assessing the authors’ claims, reasoning, and evidence.(8.5.11-12.F)
• Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.(8.5.11-12.G)
• Evaluate an author’s premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.(8.5.11-12.H)
• Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.(8.5.11-12.I)

• Writing: Students write for different purposes and audiences. Students write clear and focused text to convey a well-defined perspective and appropriate content.

• GRADES 11-12

• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.(8.6.11-12.C)
• Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.(8.6.11-12.D)
• Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.(8.6.11-12.E)
• Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.(8.6.11-12.F)
• Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.(8.6.11-12.H)

National Standards for High School Psychology curricula (2011)

• Grades 9-12

• Perspectives in Psychological Science(U1)
• Development of psychology as an empirical science(U1.1)
• Research Methods, Measurement, and Statistics(U2)
• Biological bases of behavior(U3)
• Structure and function of the nervous system in human and non-human animals(U3.1)
• Structure and function of the endocrine system(U3.2)
• The interaction between biological factors and experience(U3.3)
• Methods and issues related to biological advances(U3.4)
• Biological basesensation and perceptions of behavior(U4)
• The processes of sensation and perception(U4.1)
• The capabilities and limitations of sensory processes(U4.2)
• Consciousness(U5)
• The relationship between conscious and unconscious processes(U5.1)
• Characteristics of sleep and theories that explain why we sleep and dream(U5.2)
• Categories of psychoactive drugs and their effects(U5.3)
• Other states of consciousness(U5.4)
• Life Span Development(U6)
• Methods and issues in life span development(U6.1)
• Childhood(U6.5)
• Adolescence(U6.6)
• Memory(U11)
• Encoding of memory(U11.1)
• Storage of memory(U11.2)
• Retrieval of memory(U11.3)
• Thinking(U12)
• Basic elements comprising thought(U12.1)
• Obstacles related to thought(U12.2)
• Motivation(U14)
• Perspectives on motivation(U14.1)
• Personality(U16)
• Perspectives on personality(U16.1)
• Evaluate psychodynamic theories(U16.1.1)
• Evaluate trait theories(U16.1.2)
• Evaluate humanistic theories(U16.1.3)
• Evaluate social“cognitive theories(U16.1.4)
• Assessment of personality(U16.2)
• Differentiate personality assessment techniques(U16.2.1)
• Discuss the reliability and validity of personality assessment(APA.912.U16.CS2.PS2)
• Issues in personality(U16.3)
• Discuss connections to health and work(U16.3.3)
• Discuss self-concept(U16.3.4)
• Analyze how individualistic and collectivistic cultural individual variations domain perspectives relate to personality(U16.3.5)
• Vocational Applications(U20)
• Career options(U20.1)
• Educational requirements(U20.2)

Units

Unit #1 - Introduction / Chapter 1

Unit #2 - Consciousness

Unit #3 - Brain and Behavior

Unit #4 - How People Grow

Unit #5 - Personality Development

Unit #6 - Personality Development and Theory Since Freud

Unit #7 - Learning, Thinking, and Developing Creativity

Unit #8 - Incorporating the Four C's