Psychology is a broad discipline which includes cognitive development and clinical and social behaviour. This course is offered at GCSE level only and during the course, pupils study topics such as memory, perception, communication and social influence.
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Psychology is considered to be a science because psychologists try to understand people through careful controlled observation. All sciences rely on rigorous scientific methods and, in this way, psychology is no different to biology, physics or chemistry.
However, psychology does not study molecules or plants, it studies people, their behaviour towards themselves and each other, and how they learn and think. It is the study of the mind and behaviour and asks the following key questions:
Why do I think like this?
Why do I feel like this?
Why do I behave like this?
Students will develop many valuable skills which will be of huge benefit to them after they leave school, whether that be in employment or in further education. These include evaluating research and theories, collecting and analysing data as well as developing their presentational and organisational skills.
OCR GCSE Psychology J203
The syllabus consists of two units and covers a wide range of different psychological areas:
Units 1
This unit covers four topics:
Unit 2
This unit covers four topics:
Within the first three topics of each unit we will look at two core studies, as well as studying key concepts, theories and applications.
Research methods looks at how psychologists collect and analyse their data and includes looking at observations, experiments, interviews and questionnaires. Students will also have the opportunity to carry out their own pieces of research.
You will be set homework each week. 澳门六合彩官网直播work will include tasks such as conducting your own research, answering past paper questions or researching different theories or studies.
Each unit makes up 50% of the GCSE and will be assessed through a 90‑minute written exam at the end of year 11.
The exam contains a mixture of short and longer answer questions.
Many students who take GCSE Psychology go on to study it for A Level. It is also useful in developing your scientific research skills which can be helpful for science or maths courses. In addition, psychology will develop your analytical and evaluative skills which will benefit you in a number of other subjects. Psychology is relevant to a number of careers such as medicine, police, social work, teaching and law.
This course will run as two-hour after-school sessions and is open to those students who have the capacity to take on an additional GCSE subject. For after-school options, there is a £300 per year charge to cover the cost of teaching and resources