NOTICE: Syllabus information is subject to change, as this course is under review for potential edits to align to College Board's new Course and Exam Description.
This is the first course in a two-course sequence. This course is designed to meet the expectations of the College Board. According to the College Board, “The AP Psychology course is designed to introduce students to the systematic and scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of human beings and other animals. Students are exposed to the psychological facts, principles, and phenomena associated with each of the major subfields within psychology. They also learn about the ethics and methods psychologists use in their science and practice.” This course covers the following units: History and Approaches, Research Methods, Biological Bases of Behavior, Sensation and Perception, State of Consciousness, Learning, and Cognition. Students will learn how to approach both the multiple-choice questions and the free-response questions on the AP Exam. In addition, students will engage in class discussions and apply concepts learned to aspects of the real world. In order to maintain the integrity of AP standards, all AP course midterm and final exams must be proctored. Prerequisites: None
Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...
- Evaluate the theories, both past and present, that psychologists use to explain behavior and mental processes.
- Determine how research provides guidance for psychologists who develop theories to explain behavior and who apply theories to solve problems in behavior.
- Assess relationship between physiological processes and behavior — including the influence of neural function, the nervous system and the brain, and genetic contributions to behavior.
- Evaluate how sensation and perception work together to help us ascribe meaning to our experiences.
- Analyze how consciousness and what it encompasses is critical to an appreciation of what is meant by a given state of consciousness.
- Distinguish the different theories of learning.
- Evaluate how humans convert sensory input into kinds of information and examine how humans learn, remember and retrieve information.
Course Outline:
Unit 1: History and Approaches
Unit 2: Research Methods
Unit 3: Biological Bases of Behavior
Unit 4: Sensation and Perception
Unit 5: States of Consciousness
Unit 6: Learning Cognition
Resources Included: Online lesson instruction and activities, opportunities to engage with a certified, online instructor and classmates, when appropriate, and online assessments to measure student performance of course objectives and readiness for subsequent academic pursuits.
Additional Costs: Students are responsible to acquire a textbook. The required textbook is Coon, Dennis, and John O. Mitterer. Psychology: A Journey. 5th edition. 2014. Boston: Cengage Learning.
Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system.
Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.
Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.
Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements: https://michiganvirtual.org/about/support/knowledge-base/technical-requirements/
Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.
Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Required Assessment: Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, instructor-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building and other forms of authentic assessments.
Technical Skills Needed: Basic technology skills necessary to locate and share information and files as well as interact with others in a Learning Management System (LMS), include the ability to:
- Download, edit, save, convert, and upload files
- Download and install software
- Use a messaging service similar to email
- Communicate with others in online discussion or message boards, following basic rules of netiquette
- Open attachments shared in messages
- Create, save, and submit files in commonly used word processing program formats and as a PDF
- Edit file share settings in cloud-based applications, such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
- Save a file as a .pdf
- Copy and paste and format text using your mouse, keyboard, or an html editor’s toolbar menu
- Insert images or links into a file or html editor
- Search for information within a document using Ctrl+F or Command+F keyboard shortcuts
- Work in multiple browser windows and tabs simultaneously
- Activate a microphone or webcam on your device, and record and upload or link audio and/or video files
- Use presentation and graphics programs
- Follow an online pacing guide or calendar of due dates
- Use spell-check, citation editors, and tools commonly provided in word processing tool menus
- Create and maintain usernames and passwords
Additional Information: The official course descriptions for Advanced Placement courses and information about their exams are located on the College Board site at http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/descriptions/index.html.
Michigan Virtual prepares students in AP courses for the AP exam, but does not offer the exam test itself. It is the responsibility of the school or parent to register for a local administration of the AP exam.
There are required due dates in AP courses. The pacing of due dates in AP courses aligns to the completion of all lessons and required assignments and assessments prior to the national AP exam date related to this course title. The calendar of AP exam dates is published by the College Board (Exam Calendar).