Reflection on Creating Strong Conceptual Understandings – Part 2

In a previous post on the Reflection of Concept Based Teaching and Learning I briefly discussed the difference between structure of knowledge and structure of process, and how Psychology uses a combination of both to establish concepts. Today I hope to explore the aspects which focus on structure of knowledge.

As we are currently revamping our student work booklets to adapt to the new IB Psychology curriculum, one key aspect we want to bring in is the overarching conceptual understandings. Particularly in the Foundational Psychology module, we hope students can begin to understand some of the generalisations made within the subject.

One example of a set of essential understandings we currently have for the Biological Approach are:

1. Students should understand the concept of localization and how the function of different parts of the brain is determined as well as the limitations of this model.

2. Techniques are used to study the brain and is based on a variety of factors including opportunity, available technology and costs.

3. The effect of neurotransmitters on human behaviour can be explained using an appropriate example. Neurotransmitters allow the impulse to cross a synapse (excitatory) or stop the impulse and prevent it from crossing a synapse (inhibitory). Neurotransmitters are themselves affected by agonists which amplify their effect and antagonists which reduce their effect. As a result, neurons working together can produce a large variety of effects resulting in a complex repertoire of behaviours. As a result any claim of cause and effect should be treated with caution

The aim of this post is to attempt to make stronger generalisations from these essential understandings as we attempted in this weeks professional development session. Using the following guidelines from the Concept Based Curriculum and Instruction Workbook, the aim of our departmental reflection on the use of CBTL is to transform these strong generalisations. By asking How? and Why? this really helps to transform understandings from first order to second order.

Localization

1st order: Students should understand the concept of localization and how the function of different parts of the brain is determined as well as the limitations of this model.

2nd order: MRI, FMRI and PET scans allows the observation of the structure and the function of the living human brain to understand the relationship between the brain and behaviour. 

The effectiveness of a brain scan in establishing correlations between the brain and behaviour is based on validity, reliability and generalisability.

Neurotransmitters

1st order: Our brain and neurochemistry – including neurotransmitters, hormones and pheromones – play a role in human behaviour.

2nd order: Neurotransmitters send electrochemical messages which permit or prevent an impulse crossing a synapse so that people can respond to stimuli, either from the environment or from internal changes in the body

Neuroplasticity

1st order: Neural networks can change developmentally, over time or after injury. This is termed neuroplasticity.

2nd order: The development of neural networks through repetition and neural pruning is both genetic and subject to environmental influences.

So what? Why is this important?

During the session, we realised that by building these stronger conceptual understandings enables us as teachers to provide students more awareness about the key concepts and how this can then connect to research in Psychology. We hope that this will enable students to see Psychology as a range of concepts to learn rather than a list of studies. I also hope that by sharing our journey of making stronger conceptual understandings will continue the conversation with other teachers who might wish to provide feedback on our generalisations so far.

What next?

Our priorities as a department are now to continue to adapt our conceptual understandings to make stronger generalisations within the rest of the Biological Approach but also the rest of the Core in Psychology. From this, we can identify and encourage how students can begin to make connections from the Core (Biological, Cognitive and Sociocultural Approaches) to the Options in Psychology (Abnormal and Relationships).

Edit: 31st May 2018

Since writing this blog post, we have re-considered our conceptual understandings and acknowledged that currently they may still be very subject specific and not based on broader concepts. Looking forward to updating this post when we have done a little more work on this soon!