AP Psychology 

Your Tour Guide: Mr. Titus

Textbook 

Myers, D. A. (2018). Myers’ psychology for AP (3rd ed.). Worth.

Supplementary Materials 

Academic journals, case studies, online media, and other resources used for topic  enrichment. 

AP Support & Resources: AP Classroom  

By completing a simple activation process at the start of the school year, students will  receive access to a robust set of resources. AP^® Classroom is a dedicated online platform  designed to support teachers and students throughout their AP experience. The platform  provides a variety of powerful resources and tools to provide yearlong support to teachers  and enable students to receive meaningful feedback on their progress.  

③ Unit Guides 

③ Personal Progress Checks 

③ Progress Dashboard 

③ AP Question Bank 

Student Practice 

Throughout each unit, Topic Questions will be provided to help students check their  understanding. The Topic Questions are especially useful for confirming understanding  of difficult or foundational topics before moving on to new content or skills that build  upon prior topics. Topic Questions can be assigned before, during, or after a lesson, and  as in-class work or homework. Students will get rationales for each Topic Question that  will help them understand why an answer is correct or incorrect, and their results  will reveal misunderstandings to help them target the content and skills needed for  additional practice. 

At the end of each unit or at key points within a unit, Personal Progress Checks will  be provided in class or as homework assignments in AP Classroom. Students will get a  personal report with feedback on every topic, skill, and question that they can use to chart  their progress, and their results will come with rationales that explain every question’s  answer. One to two class periods are set aside to re-teach skills based on the results of the  Personal Progress Checks. 

Purpose 

The purpose of this AP Psychology course is to introduce students to the study of the  behavior and mental processes of the human brain. This class will prepare students for the  AP Psychology Exam in May. Advanced Placement Psychology 

Expectations 

There are several requirements that all AP classes have in common: high expectations of  the students, a high level of rigor, and the expectation that students will engage in self learning outside the classroom. There are many topics on the AP Exam in May. We will  learn a great deal in class with rigorous learning activities. However, as in college, it will  be necessary for all students to complete work and research topics at home that we may  not discuss in class.  

Important 

Psychology is a course that includes a number of sensitive topics that you may feel  uncomfortable talking or hearing about in class. I will discuss with you the nature of  the movies and documentaries I am going to show you so that you can decide if you are  comfortable with the topic. I may send home permission slips for a signature from your  parent or guardian if I feel that a documentary I plan to show may be of a particularly  powerful nature. 

Assignments 

For each unit, students must complete these regular assignments to the instructor’s  satisfaction: 

③ Vocabulary notecards (Definition, Example, Picture) 

③ Reading questions (from the text, videos, and other sources) 

③ Demonstration and case study analyses  

③ Free Response Questions 

③ Personal Progress Checks 

Each unit will require the completion of vocabulary notecards, reading questions,  and projects: 

③ Vocabulary- from a list of terms and commonly used psychological vocabulary, the  student is expected to not only define the term, but also create an example and choose  a visual representation of the term (can be physical or electronic). 

③ Article Analysis Questions- These questions ask you to identify the elements of a piece of research and evaluate how well the findings can be applied to the overall population.

③ Evidence Based Questions- These questions ask you to read three research articles and make a claim using those articles as evidence.

③ Reading Questions- Reading is a large part of this class. Students are required to  read the text and other supplemental readings, and they must answer questions  on the readings.  

③ Personal Progress Checks- Research shows that testing your own knowledge helps  with retention and retrieval. Students are required to complete a Personal Progress  Check (PPC) on AP Classroom with each unit. 

Assessments 

Traditional assessments include unit tests, research papers, and exams. Tests and  exams will model the format of the AP Psychology Exam, with a combination of multiple choice and free-response essays. Other assessments consist of psychology simulations,  experiments, class presentations, collaborative/individual research projects, and  online activities, such as assessments on AP Classroom. 

Grading Policy:

Grades will be weighted on the following basis:

• Summative Assessments: 35%

• Formative Assessments: 20%

• Guided Practice Work: 30%

• Independent Practice Work: 15%

Course Outline: Skills 

The AP Psychology skills describe what a student should be able to do while exploring  course concepts. The table that follows presents the skills that students should develop  during the AP Psychology course. These skills form the basis of tasks on the AP Exam. 

1. Concept Understanding – Students will define, explain, and apply concepts,  behavior, theories, and perspectives. 

a. Activity: Students will create developmentally appropriate toys for each of  Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development and explain how they will help the  child accomplish the stage’s main task. (Skill 1) 

b. Activity: Students will watch the movie Mockingbird Don’t Sing and debate the  concept of the “critical period” within language acquisition. (Skill 1) 

2. Data Analysis – Students will analyze and interpret quantitative data.  

a. Activity: Students will look at current health data from Moore Co., identify the  most concerning issues within the data, and present solutions on how to help  improve the problem in the community. (Skill 2) 

b. Activity: Students will be given the opportunity to analyze a normal curve as  it relates to modern intelligence testing (e.g., WAIS and WISC). Students will  be given the opportunity to interpret the normal curve with respect to mean,  standard deviation, and percentiles for the given intelligence test data. (Skill 2) 

3. Scientific Investigation – Students will analyze psychological research studies.

a. Activity: Students will formulate a hypothesis about social loafing or social  facilitation. They will then gather data. Students will compare their results with  published research studies of the same topic and analyze the results of these  studies as they compare to their results. (Skill 3) 

b. Activity: Students will analyze research from the developmental theorists  (Piaget, Erikson, etc.) and consider the methodology, results, ethics, and  criticisms. (Skill 3) 

COURSE OUTLINE AS PRESENTED IN THE AP PSYCHOLOGY  COURSE AND EXAM DESCRIPTION: 

Foundation: Science Practices 

Unit 1: Biological Bases of Behavior 15%–25% 

Unit 2: Cognition  15%–25% 

Unit 3: Development and Learning 15%–25% 

Unit 4: Social Psychology and Personality 15%–25% 

Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health 15%–25% 

Outline of the Course

Science Practices

Practice 1: Concept Application 

Practice 2: Research Methods and Design

Practice 3: Data Interpretation

Practice 4: Argumentation

Unit 1: Biological Bases of Behavior 15-25% Topics: 

• Interaction of Heredity and. Environment

• The Nervous System

• Neurons and Neural Firing

• The Brain

• Sleep

• Sensation

Unit 1 MCQ Personal Progress Check 

Unit 1 Article Analysis and Evidence Based Questions

Unit 2:Cognition 15%-25% Topics: 

• Perception

• Thinking, Problem-Solving, Judgments, Decision-Making

• Intro to Memory

• Encoding, storing, and Retrieving Memories

• Forgetting and Memory Challenges

• Intelligence and Achievement

Unit 2 MCQ Personal Progress Check 

Unit 2 Article Analysis and Evidence Based Questions

Unit 3: Development and Learning 15%–25% Topics: 

• Themes and Methods in Developmental Psychology

• Physical Development across the lifespan

• Gender and Sexual Orientation

• Cognitive Development across the lifespan

• Social-Emotional Development across the lifespan

• Classical Conditioning

• Operant Conditioning

• Social, Cognitive, and Neural Factors in Learning

Unit 3 MCQ Personal Progress Check 

Unit 3 Article Analysis and Evidence Based Questions

Unit 4: Social Psychology and Personality Topics: 

• Attribution Theory and Person Perception

• Attitude Formation and Attitude Change

• Psychology of Social Situations

• Psychodynamic and Humanistic Theories of Personality

• Social Cognitive and Trait Theories of Personality

• Motivation

• Emotion

Unit 4 MCQ Personal Progress Check 

Unit 4 Article Analysis and Evidence Based Questions

Unit 5: Mental and Physical Health 15-25% Topics: 

• Intro to Health Psychology

• Positive Psychology

• Explaining and Classifying Psychological Disorders

• Selection of Categories of PSychological Disorders

• Treatment of Psychological Disorders

Unit 5 MCQ Personal Progress Check 

Unit 5 Article Analysis and Evidence Based Questions