EDUCATION
The foundation of quality secondary school psychology education is the understanding, articulation, and dissemination of psychology as a science. Furthermore, the psychology curriculum should infuse perspectives fostering students’ growth, development, and understanding of cultural diversity. Desirable, compatible, and common principles characterize quality secondary school psychology curricula.
The following are recommendations in continuing efforts to review, maintain, and revise psychology curricula.
STUDENTS
Quality high school psychology curricula should establish high and clear expectations for students, emphasizing active learning and providing ongoing progress. The curriculum should also encourage drawing on and responding to students’ diverse characteristics as a means of enrichment.
Students learn about psychology in numerous environments. These environments include but are not limited to classrooms, field experiences, laboratories, media, clubs, science fairs, and informal contact with teachers. Environments should encourage students to explore their abilities, interests, and values while becoming increasingly independent in their decision making.
In support of student advising, faculty should be provided with administrative support of activities, staff development opportunities, and tangible rewards for excellence. Resources necessary for innovative programs, technological access, and research activities should also be provided.
TEACHERS
Quality high school psychology curricula should be taught by faculty who foster learning through teaching, technological access, and relevant research applications. Faculty should also nurture different outlooks among students and staff through the infusion of various cultural and ethnic perspectives.
Faculty should share information and effective practices with colleagues, while viewing educational development as a lifelong process that includes professional development; technological training; and participation in local, state, and national conferences.
CURRICULA
Quality high school psychology curricula should emphasize the empirical examination of behavior and mental processes. The curriculum should aid in the understanding of diversity while fostering the pursuit of postsecondary school education and careers in psychology.
Clear and rigorous goals are essential. These goals should include the integration of natural and social sciences; examination of ethical scientific inquiry; and the critical analysis of research methods, statistics, and research designs. Goals should also include understanding scientific methods, speaking and writing effectively, and respecting diversity. Understanding how the study of psychology enables students to make informed judgments that strengthen the community should also be a goal.
We recommend inclusion of the following pedagogical techniques: active and collaborative learning, research projects, community service, understanding of diversity in behavior, and activities that increase.
Assessment is another critical element of a quality curriculum in high school psychology. Assessment of learning should include numerous, valid, and varied measures of student learning. These will address not just content of psychology courses but relevant skills, including skilled use of technology.
PEDAGOGY
Population experts predict an American population consisting of 50 percent ethnic minority groups by the year 2060. Births from the steady interracial marriage rate increase could move this demographic shift up anywhere from 5 to 15 years. The changing face of America challenges our understanding of human behavior. Diversity, including cultural, age, and gender issues, must be addressed in high school psychology courses.
For many students, the high school population is not representative of the national population. The psychology course is an excellent way to expose students to the diversity missing from their communities. This exposure fosters an understanding of similarities and differences in human behavior and mental processes across all dimensions (e.g., cultural, ethnic, racial, age, religious, gender, ability/disability, and sexual orientation) of diversity.
Teachers must help students develop skills for adapting to a rapidly changing, interdependent world. This world demands an understanding of and sensitivity to diversity, critical thinking, and skills promoting life-long learning (National Institute of Education (NIE), 1984). Psychology teachers must be up to date on pedagogical techniques designed to achieve these goals. These techniques include (but are not limited to) cooperative learning, classroom demonstrations, research projects, community service, and specialized activities designed to increase the understanding of diversity in behavior.
