In 2023, APA and the APA Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS) launched a new project that aimed to help high school psychology teachers infuse diversity and representation across the high school psychology curriculum. This project provides teachers with research summaries, psychologist profiles, guiding questions, and additional resources aligned to the five content pillars of the National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula. The first set of materials focused on race and racialized identity.
The APA Education Directorate and TOPSS are pleased to announce that a second set of resources is now available online, focused on disability and neurodiversity. The new set of resources were developed by Kara Ayers, PhD; Emily Lund, PhD; Erika Sanborne; and Allison Shaver.
The materials are posted along with suggested instructions for teachers to use the materials in class. For example, the research summaries can be incorporated into a lecture or shared with students as a reading to demonstrate how psychological science explores the diversity of human experience or can be used to encourage students to identify the major components of a research study (i.e., the hypothesis or study question, sample, method, and findings). The psychologist profiles can be shared with students to enhance the visibility of psychologists of diverse backgrounds, or students can be asked to conduct research to learn more about the psychologist and their work.
A third set of resources on national origin and immigration status will be published in 2025. This project has been supported by funding from the American Psychological Foundation David and Carol Myers Fund to Support Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools.
