5 reasons to be wary of choosing the development option

Travis DixonCurriculum, Developmental Psychology

This post was originally called: “5 reasons why I wouldn’t choose the development option,” but I’ve changed it so it’s less scary for those teachers who are keen on the option. If you’re contemplating which options to go for in the new course, I personally wouldn’t be rushing into choosing development as one of them. I’ve only recently come to see just …

5 reasons why I think “depth” is better than “breadth” in IB Psychology.

Travis DixonCurriculum, Revision and Exam Preparation

When planning to teach (or study) individual topics in the new IB Psychology course, you might find yourself faced with the question: do I go for depth or breadth?  For example, should you teach (or learn) three effects of hormones on behaviour, or just one? The new course has supposedly been designed to allow the choice of either approach. However,  in …

What does “breadth or depth” mean?

Travis DixonCurriculum

This post accompanies my other post about why I think it’s better to aim for depth over breadth in IB Psychology. What is depth? Depth refers to studying a topic by looking at only one or two examples. Examples Studying “Biases in thinking and decision making” by focusing only one on example, e.g., confirmation bias. Studying the effects of one …

Teaching Tip: How to cut content and increase understanding

Travis DixonCriminology, Curriculum, Themantics

When it’s time to teach the new course, if you’re a bit savvy in your curriculum design you can exploit overlaps, cut content, and best of all – enhance student understanding of psychology. How do we do all this? In this post I’ll walk you through some helpful hints and show you the value of constructing relationship chains. Keeping it Simple …

IB Psychology (HL) in less than 180 hours!

Travis DixonCurriculum, Themantics

By teaching the course holistically and integrating the core and options, it’s possible to teach the IB Psychology course content in more depth and in less time. Below you can see how I intend on teaching  my HL Psychology class in less than 180 hours with the help of my textbook, IB Psychology: A Student’s Guide.  What I should point out …

IB Psychology (SL) in less than 125 Hours!

Travis DixonCurriculum

  By teaching the course holistically and integrating the core and options it’s possible to teach the IB Psychology course in more depth and in less time. Here are two possible ways you could teach SL Psychology in less than 125 hours with the help of our textbook, IB Psychology: A Student’s Guide. Course Option #1 with Human Relationships     …

When the IB asks the wrong question…

Travis DixonAssessment (IB), Curriculum, Themantics

In the most recent IB Psychology exam the wrong question has been asked. And I’m not talking about the “etic” question, either. I’m referring to the SAQ from the cognitive level of analysis: Describe one study investigating the reliability of one cognitive process. This is obviously the wrong question to ask and may result in poor student performance, unless you’ve trained your …