Unit 2 - Research Methods Due 9/30 (a-day) 10/1 (b-day)

Reading assignment notes check (10 pts)

Study Guide assignment (10 pts)

Flash Cards assignement (10 pts)

Objectives (think about these as you read):

1. What methods do psychologists use to learn about behavior and mental processes?

2. How is “Critical Thinking” important for psychological research?

3. What role do theories play in psychological research?

4. Describe and compare the following research methods: Naturalistic Observation, Case Studies, Surveys, Correlational Studies, Experiments.

5. Explain the ethical issues in using human and animal subjects for psych research.

6. What statistics do psych researchers use?

7. What are the ethical guidelines psych researchers must follow?

Bernstein Text Chapter 2 Pp. 27 - 57

Read and take Cornell notes based on your reading instructions. Write down how long it takes you to complete the reading and notes so you can know what to expect in terms of studying for future chapters.

Bernstein Study Guide Chapter 2 (starts on P. 26)

1. Review the chapter based on your reading instructions.

2. Key Term Flashcards: All terms 2 – 35 (yes, really)

3. Additional Flashcards: Family Studies, Twin Studies, Adoption Studies, Five important ethical guidelines for psych research.

4. Written assignments to turn in on separate paper with full heading. Copy the questions and write the answers. Check your answers and grade your paper before class. Write the correct answer for each one you got wrong.

Concepts and Exercises No. 1: Q 1-8 (matching on p. 36)

Multiple Choice Sample Quiz 1 Q 1-20 (starts on p. 38) – just write the letter for each question, you don’t need to copy these questions.

How to send an e-mail to a teacher - REALLY!

In your high school career you are beginning to communicate via the internet with your teachers. It is crucial to follow some basic guidelines when you do this for a couple of reasons.

First, your teachers are busy people (as are most students) and e-mail should be a tool which makes their lives easier rather than more difficult.

Second, and more important, your e-mails are a projection of your professionalism. Get used to writing professional e-mails so you are taken seriously by teachers, college professors, peers, employers, and others you think should take you seriously.

1. Write a subject line that tells the reader what the e-mail is about. For email about classes, include the class name and period in your subject line.

Don’t: SUBJECT: (don't leave it blank or put something like "hi")

Do: SUBJECT: Question about observation assignment Hon. Bio. Per. 5

2. Sign the e-mail with your full name and your class and period number. Many students have e-mail addresses which don’t include their name, and remember that teachers have about 150 students so be sure they know who you are!

Don’t: seeya J ;-)

Do: Sincerely, Juan Gonzalez, Hon. Bio. Per. 5

3. Write in a professional manner. Use standard capitalization and punctuation. Use your computer’s spell checker and proof-read your email before you send it. Remember, using ALL CAPITALS is like YELLING in an email.

Don’t: yo mr c wazup wat u giv 4 homwurk 2day

Do: Hi Mr. Cantor. I am absent today because I’m pretty sick. Can you please e-mail me any notes from class and our assignment? I’ll be sure to bring a note from my grandma so my absence is excused.

4. Only send appropriate emails. Please don’t forward chain letters or other Spam. Please don’t send joke or “inspirational” e-mails unless they relate to our class. Many chain letters are urban myths. Before you feel the need to forward the message about a new computer virus or free laptop giveaway, check http://snopes.com/ to see if it is true or not. Also, I don’t “friend” current students on Facebook, so please don’t send a friend request until you graduate from NGHS.

i.e. I’d love to see a clean and school appropriate joke or cartoon about evolution that involves Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud bungee jumping, but I don’t want to see any joke that might be mean, racist, sexist, obscene, rude, offensive, or otherwise irrelevant to our class.

5. If you send a paper or other assignment to a teacher learn how to send it as an Attachment. Name your file something that makes sense and is unique to your paper.

Don’t: biologypaper.doc (every student might name it this)

Do: JuanGonzalezSciFairBioPer05.doc

The computers at school can’t read “.docx” and other unusual file types. Always use “save as” to save your document as a .doc or a .rtf file before attaching. If you can’t do that, you can copy and paste your document into the body of your e-mail, assuming it isn’t too long and full of graphs etc.

6. If you don’t have internet access at home there are other options:
1. Use the library at school during lunch or after school.
2. Use the Chicago Public Library – There are several branches near school.
3. Use a computer at a friend or relative’s house.
4. Arrange to stay after school in my room, or another teacher's room to use the computer.

History of Psychology Presentations Sept. 19(a) Sept. 21(b)

Work on your "History of Psych" presentations. Be sure to save your work often and e-mail me your powerpoint when you are done. Be sure to PRACTICE what you plan to say so you don't read off your slides and bore everyone to distraction.

(Image from http://havefunwithpsychology.com/)

Unit 1 Reading assignment due Sept. 14 (a) and 15 (b)

We will be checking the notes and study guide assignment for Unit 1 - Introducing Psychology on Monday Sept. 14, and Tuesday Sept. 15. Be sure to follow the instructions on the reading assignment sheet which can be found with our other documents on Our AP Psych site. Bring your flashcards to class so I can check those too.

If you are a new member of the class and you don't have a textbook, please let me know as soon as possible. I have already notified the school and we are trying to fix the problem. In the mean time, if you have a study guide, use that as much as you can and find a "study buddy" who has a book you can share.

Finally, If you were given a copy of the book, "5 Steps to a 5" please bring it to school so we can return it. Those books will be used in the classroom and should not have been signed out to students.

All our documents will be online

You will find "Important Links" at the top right of this blog page. >>>>>

If you click on the link there to our AP Psych Website you will find links to all the important documents we will be using in our class. The syllabus and summer assignment are there for those who are new to the class, as well as the first reading assignment, table of contents and reading instructions.

Welcome back to School!

It's a new school year and it's going to be great. I've looked at many of the blogs you created over the summer and am impressed by some of the insightful and interesting posts you wrote.

If you didn't make the July 20th deadline for your blog post please get it done ASAP and send me an e-mail explaining why you didn't make the deadline. For example if you didn't register for the class until August 10th, I'll take that into account.

Some students have asked if I accept late work and the answer is, "YES!" I take points off if the work is late for a reason other than an excused absence, but the point of this class is to LEARN and you can't learn if you don't do the work. If you know ahead of time that you may not get an assignment in on time, talk to me BEFORE it's due so we can make an arrangement.

I'll collect the Phineas Gage study guide questions and check your notes on Chapter 1 of the Bernstein text on the first day of class, which is Sept. 8th (a-day) or Sept. 9th (b-day.)

Finally, check out this recently discovered photo of Phineas Gage (above.) The photo was probably used in an advertisement for an appearance that Mr. Gage was promoting. Did you know who it was as soon as you saw the photo?