A plan for summer...

The AS students will be heading back in soon. It is often one of the 'less motivated' times in the year. I have found that students respond well to designing their own mini research project. There are traditional lessons of content too, but they are set the challenge of a four week project in an area of Psychology they are interested in alongside some 'taught' lessons every week.

There are many considerations for you, as the teacher to consider, for example...

1) Ethics: It is obviously vital that no students research in any way that is unethical. They are bound to push the boundaries but I always ensure I check the planned research for ethics before anything goes ahead. It's good practice for students to write up consent forms, debriefs, instructions etc as they can be asked about in Unit 4.I never allow any research on children or clinical populations. The ramifications are immense. If in doubt play it safe!

2) UCAS statements: I encourage students to choose an area that relates to the degree course they are heading for if at all possible. A musician can investigate music and memory, a Primary education applicant can look at learning styles, a marketing applicant can look at the effectiveness of adverts....and so the list continues! Students react well to this, as it gives them motivation because they are interested and it looks brilliant on personal statements. Admissions tutors like it too.

3) Simplicity: You will have to rein them in. They will have grand plans, which are not do-able. Often you can trim the idea back to something that is possible in the time given. Simple works much better.

4) Statistics: Get them to select the inferential test they would need to analyse the data. They can draw up descriptive statistics as part of their write up.

5) The write up: Keep it minimal! A 2 A4 page summary is what I usually ask for. There isn't enough time for an extensive literature search so most of the write up will be method and results. This gives them a flavour of what needs to be included in a traditional report.

6) Pairs/groups: I find that they work well in pairs for this project if their interests overlap. If not they can work individually. No joint write ups are allowed though. They must submit individually. That thwarts the social loafers!

7) Stimuli: The first lesson is spent with them looking through books and magazines from the psychology section of the library to get them thinking about what they want to do. The planning lessons are very busy, but fun. Have some read- to- go ideas up your sleeve for the students who are unfocused... then they don't spend a couple of lessons thinking of nothing!

It works particularly well at this time of year when there are trips, uni visits and other disruptions. Give it a whirl!