Diana Farcas receives a 2022 APA TOPSS Charles T. Blair-Broeker Excellence in Teaching Award

Diana Farcas, PhD, a psychology teacher at Carlucci American International School of Lisbon in Sintra, Portugal, has been named an international winner of a 2022  APA TOPSS Charles T. Blair-Broeker Excellence in Teaching Award  by the American Psychological Association's Committee of Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS).

During her decade of teaching, Farcas has created a substantial learning environment which students are excited to enter. “Her love for teaching and her passion for psychology showed immensely and inspired her students to achieve their best,” recounts Isabella Saba, a former student. 

Through her teaching strategies, Farcas prioritizes her students’ comprehension and appreciation for psychology and its many lessons that apply to life. She adjusts her classroom so that it serves the specific needs of her students, while remaining rigorous and engaging. 

Farcas leads an innovative classroom, with lessons designed to engage and excite psychology students. She has developed a learning model using a 5-step process that stimulates the curriculum. Her lessons beginning with a hook that relates psychological concepts to the real world, then engages students in hands-on activities, and eventually wraps up with a reflection to gauge students understanding. 

Nate Chapman, principal of Carlucci American International School of Lisbon, describes that Farcas’ “instructional methods and lesson design serve as a model for others in her engagement and use of active learning strategies. Examples of this include her innovative approach to using her classroom space to add a multifaceted and sensory learning environment.” It is through this teaching method that Farcas has led her students to success. These in-depth measures have proven themselves as her students average a 6.75 on the International Baccalaureate (IB) psychology exam, compared to the world average of 5 points. 

Farcas also strives to engage her students in aspects of psychology outside of the curriculum taught in the classroom. She offers her students the opportunity to visit the psychology laboratory in which she has conducted research for many years. This allows students to see the real-life application of psychology outside of the classroom content, offering students’ knowledge on how to conduct their own psychological research. 

Farcas’ love for psychology is also reflected in her work outside of the classroom. She volunteers in the community and she is a member of four academic societies, including the European Association of Developmental Psychology. She acts as a reviewer for four academic journals, including the International Journal of Psychology. Farcas has also moderated sessions at five national and international psychology or interdisciplinary conferences. She has personally engaged in psychological research projects covering a wide range of concepts including mental health, self-stigma, bullying, and familial support.

“Diana's passion for psychology shows. She has furthered her own education in psychology all the way to earning a PhD in the field. She utilizes this knowledge to encourage her students to examine psychology as a science and think critically about the world around them,” said Dana Melone, MAT, chair of APA’s TOPSS Committee. 

For her deep devotion to her students and the teaching of psychology, the APA TOPSS Committee is excited to present this award to Diana Farcas, PhD.

APA TOPSS Committee Member-at-Large Kari Hall, MA, interviewed Diana Farcas, PhD, to ask about her experiences and advice as a teacher:

Farcas will receive a framed certificate, engraved award, cash prize of $500 and a complimentary TOPSS membership renewal for the 2023 membership year. Additionally, Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers is generously donating a $500 credit to Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers to each of the winning teachers.

Now in its 30th year, TOPSS is the voice of high school psychology teachers within APA. Through APA’s Education Directorate, TOPSS offers teaching materials, professional development, the Psychology Teacher Network quarterly newsletter and programs for high school psychology teachers and students. There are approximately 2,200 APA high school teacher affiliates in APA. High school psychology is a rapidly growing course option. In 2021, just over 289,000 students took the Advanced Placement psychology examination. Additionally, over 22,700 high school students worldwide took the International Baccalaureate psychology exam in psychology in May 2021. Other psychology courses are taught at the high school level, including on-level and dual credit psychology courses. In the United States, recent data from the Department of Education indicated that 29.96% of graduating students across the country had earned credit for taking a psychology course during high school (U.S. Department of Education, 2022).

TOPSS’s mission is to promote the highest standards in the teaching of psychology as a science and discipline; promote professional development and other means for lifelong learning for high school teachers of psychology; facilitate networking among teachers from all teaching levels of psychology; encourage recruitment and retention of students in the field of psychology; enhance the visibility and legitimacy of high school psychology; and recommend the appropriate advocacy, education policy and certification issues that impact the quality or visibility of teaching of high school psychology. Learn more about TOPSS on the APA Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools webpage and on its Facebookopens in new window page.

For more information, please contact Emily Leary Chesnes.