Psychology

Key Contact:  Keir Simmons ksi@gryphon.dorset.sch.uk

Syllabus Information:

At The Gryphon School we follow the AQA Specification. Across the two years, you will cover a total of 11 topics. The culmination of this learning is three 2 hour examinations at the end of Year 13. This is detailed below:

Course Content

Year 12

Year 12 serves an important purpose is establishing a foundation of knowledge and skills. Students start with a basic introduction to the different critical perspectives (approaches) in Psychology, alongside learning about the common methods used in psychological research. Moving forward, students can then start to explore psychological research with growing independence, through focusing on seminal social psychological research in the Social Influence topic, and the variety of easily replicable studies in the Memory topic. Finally, students are encouraged to appreciate how theory and research are interlinked through exploring human and animal attachment, and also psychopathology, including using different approaches to understand depression, phobias and OCD.

CTH (4 lessons per fortnight)

• Half Term 1 – Maths in Psychology / Research Methods Part 1
• Half Term 2 – Research Methods Part 1 / Research Methods Part 2
• Half Term 3 – Social Influence
• Half Term 4 – Social Influence
• Half Term 5 – Attachment
• Half Term 6 – Attachment

KSI (5 lessons per fortnight)

• Half Term 1 – Approaches
• Half Term 2 – Approaches / Memory
• Half Term 3 – Memory
• Half Term 4 – Memory / Psychopathology
• Half Term 5 – Psychopathology
• Half Term 6 – Issues and Debates

Year 13

In Year 13, students’ foundational knowledge is extended by expanding their knowledge of research methods, including more complex qualitative techniques. Concurrently, students get to flex their debating skills by unpicking several big debates in the world of psychology. Thereafter, we focus in on four topics which link back to the knowledge and skills learnt in Year 12. Biopsychology offers students a chance to explore the complexities of the brain, and take a critical lens to research into biological rhythms, including the sleep-wake cycle. Forensic Psychology, Schizophrenia and Relationships allow students to develop their critical thinking skills, and to see the linkages across the curriculum. Indeed, each circle in the diagrams shows where there are links back to previous topics.

CTH (4 lessons per fortnight)

• Half Term 1 – Research Methods Part 3
• Half Term 2 – Biopsychology
• Half Term 3 – Biopsychology / Schizophrenia
• Half Term 4 – Schizophrenia
• Half Term 5 – Revision / Exams
• Half Term 6 – Exams

KSI (5 lessons per fortnight)

• Half Term 1 – Issues and Debates
• Half Term 2 – Forensic Psychology
• Half Term 3 – Forensic Psychology / Relationships
• Half Term 4 – Relationships
• Half Term 5 – Revision / Exams
• Half Term 6 – Exams

Assessment

Students typically complete either two or three assessments per topic in Year 12 and 13. This is in addition to the end of year PPE in Year 12, and the two sets of PPEs in Year 13. All assessments are standardised, 24 mark assessments – this is in line with the way students are assessed in the exams. The questions reflect the variety of assessment in psychology, including multiple choice questions, short-answer response questions as well as essay-based questions. We believe this approach prepares students well for the demands of the A Level exams.

Homework

For each topic students will be given a ‘Homework and Consolidation Booklet’ with the expectation that students consolidate their knowledge here, make flashcards and answer past exam questions to prepare for assessments. The anticipated learning journey in Psychology looks like this:

Useful information, links and resources

AQA | AS and A-level | Psychology | Specification at a glance – specification, and also links to past papers and mark schemes

Login Screen (illuminate.digital) – the online textbook for Year 12 (note, this is free although students may wish to also buy a hard copy) – Login Provided to students

Login Screen (illuminate.digital) – the online textbook for Year 13 (note, this is free although students may wish to also buy a hard copy) – Login Provided to students