NCATE 2003 NCSS Social Studies Matrix 2.5

Eastern Michigan University
College of Arts and Sciences

NCSS/Social Studies

XI. Matrix

Matrix Item 2.5 Disciplinary Standard: Psychology

Teachers who are licensed to teach psychology at all school levels should possess the knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions to organize and provide instruction at the appropriate school level for the study of psychology.

Indicators of Capabilities for Teaching Psychology

Teachers of psychology at all school levels should provide developmentally appropriate experiences as they guide learners in their study. They should:

assist learners in comprehending and applying concepts, theories, and principles associated with human cognition, emotional, social, and personal development, and growth and change;
guide learner understanding of human thinking, memory, perception, learning, development, and behavior;
assist learner comprehension of factors associated with human adjustment and coping behaviors in various situations, during different stages of life, and in respect to particular personal and environmental situations;
have learners consider how such factors as memory, thinking, beliefs, emotions, personality, perceptions, attitude, and abilities may affect their decisions and actions at any particular moment and may be used to interpret and comprehend possible decisions and actions by others;
have learners examine factors associated with the construction, revision, and use of self-concepts and identity and how these may affect an individual’s thinking, feelings, decisions, and actions towards self, others, and the world;
have learners examine factors that may have contributed to their own self-concepts and identity, including how their family, groups, peers, and communities may have contributed;
have learners examine and comprehend factors associated with personality and individual differences and how personality and these differences have been and may be described, classified, assessed, and interpreted;
assist learners to examine, comprehend, and apply ideas associated with mental and emotional health as well as psychological disorders, including factors contributing to and the treatment of such disorders;
enable learners to understand interconnections between themselves and particular situations, places, time, events, and social/cultural environments and systems that may influence them as well as be influenced by them;
insure that learners comprehend, consider the advantages and disadvantages of, and apply concepts, principles, and procedures for conducting, monitoring, applying, and interpreting sound psychology research activities;
insure that learners consider the various codes of ethics accepted by psychologists regarding the conducting of research on human and animal subjects and the reporting of research findings;
enable students to engage in preliminary behavioral science research, using various research paradigms and perspectives.

2.5 Psychology

The program prepares Social Studies teachers who possess the knowledge, capabilities and dispositions to organize and provide instruction at the appropriate school level for the study of Psychology.

Programmatic Evidence

1. EMU Students may take psychology as a life science to fulfill their basic studies requirement for one life science class. [See appendix for listing of these classes]

2. All students receive instruction, resources, and models for teaching psychology in HIST 481. All students must take EDPS 322 Human Development and Learning. This course is approximately 50% human development, birth through adolescence, and 50% information on learning and motivation. Since those topics overlap, the division is not absolute. There is considerable focus on the impact of cultural and other environmental factors on development and learning. The required assessment is a group diversity project that requires students to work together to research the impact of specific variables on learning (race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) and the types of school interventions that can enhance learning.

3. All Psychology for Secondary Education students must take the following required classes:

PSY 101 or PSY 102 (General Psychology)

PSY 205 (Quantitative Methods)

PSY 301 (Experimental Psychology)

PSY 453 (History and Systems in Psychology)

The objectives of PSY 101 and PSY 102 include:

Upon completion of this course students will:

1. Demonstrate knowledge of a general overview of different areas, principles and theories of psychology.

2. Demonstrate a basic knowledge of psychological systems and their applications to daily life.

3. Demonstrate basic abilities to integrate principles and applications of psychology.

4. Demonstrate knowledge of the following concepts and topics in psychology: Historical Foundations, Different Approaches of the last century, Learning Principles: Behaviorism, Classical. Conditioning, Operant Conditioning, Observational Learning, Personality: Differences between people, Psychoanalysis, Personality: Humanism, Personality: Social‑Cognitive Theory, Personality: Trait Theory, Social Influence of Behavior, Social cognition (thinking, Brain Physiology, Sensation & Perception, Consciousness: Sleep, Consciousness: Drugs, Stress & Illness, Clinical Psychology: Depression, and Personality Disorders.

The objectives of PSY 205 include:

Students will be able to:

1. Describe, analyze and apply mathematical and statistical techniques which psychologists employ.

2. Describe, analyze and apply basic mathematical concepts and descriptive statistics, and inferential statistical procedures.

3. Apply statistical techniques in the context of research examples

4. Students will be able to describe and apply the following concepts: Frequency Distributions, Percentiles and Graphs, Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion, Measures of Dispersion and the Standard Normal Distribution, Probability, Correlation, Regression and Prediction, Statistical Inference: Single Samples, Statistical Inference: Two‑Sample Case, Two Factor ANOVA, and Statistical Inference with Categorical Variables.

The objectives of PSY 301 include:

Students will be able to:

1. Describe, analyze and evaluate psychology research.

2. Describe, analyze and evaluate the different methodologies employed by psychologists (e.g., descriptive, experimental).

3. Apply the American Psychological Association's ethical and manuscript preparation guidelines.

4. Apply search skills in the psychological literature (library skills!), and the application of statistics in the research process.

5. Apply SPSS to analyze data.

6. Generate their own research proposal.

The objectives of PSY 453 include:

Students will be able to recall and apply:

1. Concepts of psychology in pre-20th century philosophy, science, and culture.

2. Developments in psychology in Europe and North America during the 20th century.

3. Concepts and theories such as Psychology in Ancient Greece, the Structuralism, William James: Forerunner of Functionalism, Functionalism, Modern Associationism, Early Behaviorism, Gestalt Psychology, Field Theory, Psychoanalysis, and Later Behaviorism (Guthrie, Hull, Kantor, Skinner, Bandura).

All psychology majors must also take a series of restricted electives to give them a broad base in the different psychological methods and approaches. These include one class on Adjustment and Psychology, one class in Biological psychology, one class in Learning and Motivation, one class in Developmental and Social Psychology and 2 more open electives. A list of classes for each restricted elective is below:

Restricted electives (take one course from each group):

Group A: Adjustment and personality

PSY 360 Abnormal psychology

PSY 451 Dynamics of personality

Group B: Biological psychology

PSY 357            Sensation and perception

PSY 457            Physiological psychology

PSY 458            Comparative animal behavior

Group C: Learning and motivation

PSY 304 Learning

PSY 356 Motivation and emotion

Group d: Developmental and social

PSY 321 Child Psychology

PSY 309 Social Psychology

Electives:

Two more psychology courses in areas that are relevant to your goals: some electives commonly taken:

PSY 203            Self analysis and control

PSY 207            Psychology of adjustment

PSY 240            Psychology of sex

PSY 242            Psychology of women

PSY 322            Psychology of adolescence

PSY 351            Industrial psychology

PSY 365            Behavior modification

2.5.2 Test Evidence

Majors in psychology passed the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification at a rate of 75% over the past four years. The statewide average for this period has been 80%.

MTTC Objectives for each subject test are listed in the Appendix.

2.5.3 Performance Evidence

All HIST 481 students must complete a lesson in psychology as part of the unit. This lesson is assessed for their ability to offer meaningful instruction in this area to their students.

The following rubric is used to assess student use of psychological concepts in their unit:

Rubrics for unit in HIST 481

Category	Excellent (5)	Acceptable (3)	Unacceptable (0)
Lesson objectives are aligned with national Social Studies standards (NCSS)
Lesson objectives are aligned with state Social Studies standards (Michigan Curriculum Framework)
Lesson contains substantial objectives, instruction, activities and assessment in psychology

Students in winter 2002 HIST 481 class scored 74% on psychology instruction in their units. A sample of student units developed during student teaching were assessed in Winter 2002 to assess overall student ability to apply the ten strands to design and implementation of units in the classroom. The rubric used was the same as the one above used for assessment of unit design in HIST 481. In this sample, students scored 67% in this discipline. These scores clearly demonstrate that in the future, students need further instruction in this area in the HIST 481 class.

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