A Curriculum Based on the Half-Unit Psychology Elective in Texas High Schools

• Main Author: Greenstone, James Lynn
• Other Authors: Black, Watt L.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: North Texas State University 1974
• Subjects: high school psychology courses; Psychology > Study and teaching (Secondary); Psychology > Study and teaching (Secondary) > Curricula.; high school psychology curriculum
• Online Access: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc500542/

This study constructs a curriculum guide to supplement the half-unit elective in Texas high school psychology. The guide is designed to provide a basic course structure to assist the secondary-level psychology teacher. Material already in existence in high school psychology was determined from The Educational Index, Psychological Abstracts, Dissertation Abstracts, and the Education Research Information Center. The Texas Education Agency provided guidelines for teaching secondary psychology and all other state-level information on high school psychology. The American Psychological Association furnished information about their work in secondary psychology, and the fifty state departments of education provided other state-level information. Further, a survey was conducted of the 111 high school psychology teachers in the 85 schools in the State of Texas which offer secondary-level psychology courses. An equal number of counselors within these same schools was also surveyed, as well as an expert panel of six judges. Points of emphasis in high school psychology textbooks were determined from the tables of contents in the eight such texts voluntarily used in the state. Relatively little published information provides guidelines for a high school psychology curriculum. The survey of the fifty state departments of education produced no statewide curriculum guides. The survey of teachers, counselors, and experts confirmed the desirability of five basic course areas recommended by the Texas Education Agency and five recommended by this researcher. The survey of textbook authors also supported these results, and the curriculum guide developed includes all ten areas. Each curriculum area included concepts to be conveyed, content to be taught, and instructional strategies suggested to the classroom teacher. This study recommends that this curriculum guide be piloted in Texas high school psychology classrooms, that it be updated to meet current needs, and that it be revised to improve its effectiveness.