To quote Martin Atkins, “it’s all psychology.” He couldn’t be more right when it comes to what we’ve been doing in Psychology this year. With a couple of juniors and a great group of seniors, it is awesome to see how many students are taking a real interest in learning not just about academics, but about themselves.
In addition to being an elective course, Psychology is a course designed specifically to prepare students for what a college class will be like. This year, the Psychology students have had the opportunity to design the parts of the brain on a cake (delicious by the way); create rap songs about different glands (which was both informative and quite entertaining); use practical examples to understand things that happen in our daily lives, and even last week, we got to visit the ELA-8 and test Piaget’s theories on cognitive development and Kohlberg’s theories on developing morality.
Last Tuesday, we visited Mrs. Smith’s pre-K class, Mrs. Massey’s 3rd grade class, and Mrs. Beaucham’s 6th grade class. Last Wednesday, we visited Mrs. Harrison’s 1st grade class, Mr. McConnell’s 3rd grade class, and Mr. Eberhart’s 6th grade class. In addition to getting to see what great things are happening down in the ELA-8 classrooms, we got to test Jean Piaget’s theories on cognitive (brain/thinking) development and Kohlberg’s theories on morality in person.
After developing tests that would check their theories, groups of students asked the same questions and performed the same activities with each level of students. Other than out-performing Piaget’s expectations (because we have some pretty smart students at Darlington), the psychology students saw how even intelligent pre-K and 1st-graders were unable to correctly answer abstract questions. The same questions, however, most of the 6th-graders and to a lesser extent the 3rd-graders, were able to answer with as developed an answer as you would get from an adult.
Click here to see a gallery from the Psychology class' visit in ELA-8.
As we learned in class, at younger ages, the answers weren’t wrong, but showed insight into how pre-K and 1st-graders especially saw the world. The tests showed that Piaget and Kohlberg knew something when they said that your brain works differently at different stages of development. It is about learning how even now in high school; about to go to college, your brain is still developing and playing an impact on your academic, social, and extracurricular lives. We have had several “ah-ha” moments this year where students finally discovered something about themselves that had been bugging them for years. That’s what psychology is about. It’s not about the grade (well maybe a little bit for the grade), it’s about being a representation of what we try and do at Darlington. That is, to be a tool to help you understand yourself, find your areas where you can excel, and to use this information to be prepared for whatever comes next.
If you have any questions about Psychology or are thinking about taking it next year or in the future, please come see me (Mr. Jacobs) in the History Department.
