3In this curriculum, we will act as an educational resource for teachers in the field. Our curriculum resource aims to incorporate the scientific study of human behaviour through the biological perspectives of psychology. We will achieve this by exploring the connection between the brain and human behaviour. Primarily aimed at year 10 students, this resource provides pre-Victorian Certification of Education (VCE) level students a glimpse into the world of psychology to help them decide on further study in VCE and perhaps beyond. In essence, psychology is study of the mind, behaviour and thought. This document will specifically delve into the fundamental and intriguing area of the study, the brain.
Overarching topic:
How are behaviour and mental processes shaped?
Specific topic:
How does the brain function?
There is no principal psychology education guidelines for pre-VCE level students. Therefore the foundation of the present resource is the VCE curriculum, as set by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). As previously mentioned, this resource aims to give students a sense of the structure of psychology. The resource does not go into the level of detail as expected in Unit 1 Psychology. The nature of this resource opens up the opportunities for teachers to be flexible and modify certain aspects to meet the needs of individual students.
The current document adheres to five facets of the General Capabilities of the Australian Curriculum:
Literacy
Numeracy
ICT capability
Critical and creative thinking
Personal and social capability
Furthermore, it promotes the achievement of Goal 2 of the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. All young Australians become:
Successful learners
Confident and creative individuals
Active and informed citizens
This educational resource is developed on the basis of the inquiry-based learning process. Inquiry instruction underlies a number of learning activities incorporated in this document. Inquiry-based methods have been known to prompt student learning through social interaction and investigation of scenarios and problems (Gormally, Brickman, Hallar, & Armstrong, 2009). In turn, they allow students opportunities to take active roles in their own learning journeys. Through inquiry-based learning instructors have the potential to support students to thoroughly explore issues and case studies, so that they can learn to apply their knowledge in more meaningful ways.