Suggested Why Comics? GCSE Psychology Revision Lesson Plan

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Suggested Why Comics? GCSE Psychology Revision Lesson Plan

Why Comics? GCSE (age 14-16) Psychology Revision Lesson Plan: Migration and Refugees

IntroductionLooking to engage your students in contemporary human rights and social issues? Based at SOAS University of London, Why Comics? Education Charity brings contemporary humanitarian and social issues into the classroom (such as racism, conflict, migration, trafficking and climate change) through interactive literary comic books based on real-life testimony.

Our free easy-to-use Key Stage 2-5 resources build empathy and enhance learning for 7-18-year-old students and teachers alike, alongside UK national-curriculum relevant lesson plans to support multiple subjects.

Each sample UK National Curriculum based Lesson Plan is provided as a Word.doc – so you can use it as a building block. Please feel free to adjust the content to suit your teaching style and students’ needs, all the content is only suggested.

Our innovative resources help enhance learning to support multiple subjects (such as English, ESOL, Personal, Social, Health and Economic [PSHE] education, Citizenship Studies, Art, Media Studies and Geography). Our support materials are intended to inspire teachers and enhance teaching practices and different ideas.

Why Comics? resources are embedded with a wealth of age-appropriate contextual multimedia (such as news articles, maps, videos, infographics and reports) to educate and inspire pupils across a wide demographic.

Our materials encourage learners to make connections between their own lives and the lives of others throughout the world, promoting critical and reflective thinking on vital global themes. In this way, Why Comics? can help combat racism and intolerance in schools.

Already, over 600 schools in 27 countries have provided detailed feedback on our free interactive educational resources to overwhelmingly positive feedback. From September 2017, our materials will be disseminated to over 25,000 schools worldwide.

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Suggested Why Comics? GCSE Psychology Revision Lesson Plan

Please help us by filling out a short anonymous SurveyMonkey questionnaire after you have used our materials for our funders. This helps ensure that our great resources remain free.

Please email info@whycomics.org for more information. Thank you.

Why Comics? Charity number - 1172791

Table of Contents

Introduction...................................................................................................................................2

UK National Curriculum Psychology requirements:.........................................................................3

Why Comics? Psychology Revision Lesson Plan ...............................................................................4

Understanding social and cultural issues using psychology: Learning through literary comics.........4Aims:..........................................................................................................................................4Learning objectives:....................................................................................................................4

Lesson plan 1:.................................................................................................................................5

Follow-up Lesson Plan....................................................................................................................5Aims:..........................................................................................................................................6Learning objectives:....................................................................................................................6

Lesson Plan 2:.................................................................................................................................6

Feedback........................................................................................................................................7

UK National Curriculum Psychology requirements:[Source: UK Gov GCSE Psychology Subject content and assessment objectives]

GCSE specifications in psychology must inspire and engage students by providing a broad, coherent, satisfying and worthwhile course of study which develops an understanding of the ideas and values that characterise ‘self’ and others. Students will be equipped with a psychological literacy that enables them to apply their knowledge and skills in their everyday lives, including making informed decisions about further study and career choices.

Specifications should encourage students to carry out ethical, investigative activities appropriate for the study of psychology at this level, but students will not be directly assessed on these specific activities.

GCSE specifications in psychology must enable students to:

use specialist vocabulary, psychological concepts, terminology and convention to engage in the process of psychological enquiry

acquire knowledge and understanding of psychology, developing an understanding of self and others, and how psychological understanding can help to explain everyday social phenomena

understand how psychological research is conducted, including the role of scientific method and data analysis

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Suggested Why Comics? GCSE Psychology Revision Lesson Plan

present information, develop arguments and draw conclusions through a critical approach to psychological evidence, developing as reflective thinkers

develop an understanding of the relationship between psychology and personal, moral, social and cultural issues, and develop an understanding of ethical issues in psychology

develop an understanding of psychological issues, the contribution of psychology to individual, social and cultural diversity, and how psychology contributes to society

Please note teaching notes are in purple.

Why Comics? Psychology Revision Lesson Plan Here is a suggested introductory lesson plan using various psychological theories to understand issues of migration, told through through Abike, Almaz, Antoni, Daria, Hasko, Khalid, Mohammed, Sagal, Zein or Nadia’s eyes. It is 45 mins long consisting of a reading in class, followed by group discussion and an assigned homework. We have also included ideas for a follow up lesson. The class can either read the comic collectively via projector, or at home via the web (http://www.whycomics.org/comics).

Migration, and specifically the migration of refugees, has been a constant item in the news during 2015 and 2016. This lesson aims to provide students with the ability to utilise the psychological theories they have learned throughout the year, to understand the contribution of psychology to individual, social and cultural diversity, and how psychology contributes to society.

Understanding social and cultural issues using psychology: Learning through literary comics

Aims: This session will explore refugees and migration using psychological perspectives.

1. Read through the comic2. Discuss various psychological perspectives3. Use the various psychological perspectives to try to understand your chosen comic’s

protagonist4. Use psychology to further understand the refugee crisis

Learning objectives: By the end of the session, students will be able to:

1. List the various psychological theories that have been learned2. Apply psychological theories to a specific story3. Use psychological theories to understand a current social and cultural issue

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Suggested Why Comics? GCSE Psychology Revision Lesson Plan

Lesson plan 1:

1. Read through the comic as a group - Project the story in class and go through the comic panel by panel. Ask different pupils to read out each page. If there is time, you could explore several of the additional resources in the interactive boxes dispersed throughout the comic. (20 mins)

2. Class Discussion - As a class discuss the different ways psychology can help us to understand your chosen comic protagonist’s story, applying a range of psychological theories to different parts of the story. Keep this session as open as possible, allowing creativity and critical, analytical and reflective thinking. (20 mins)

Teacher’s note

Core Concepts of Psychology [ UK Gov GCSE Psychology Subject content and assessment objectives ]

biological – an understanding of biological concepts within psychology, including neuroscience and genetics as contributors to behaviour

cognitive – an understanding of thought, information and mental processing as contributors to behaviour

social – an understanding of the social area of psychology, the impact of social and environmental factors on behaviour and the influence of groups

developmental – an understanding of how individuals change throughout their lives, with a particular focus on childhood and how both nature and nurture can affect individuals

individual differences – an understanding of the complex nature of human behaviour and experiences and why and how people are different

3. Assign the class a homework - Ask each student to choose one part of the story and one psychological theory which could be used to understand the events. Ask students to write a short descriptive and analytical piece which explains how we can understand the section of the story through their chosen theory. (5 mins)

Please help us by filling out a short anonymous SurveyMonkey questionnaire after you have used our materials for our funders. This helps ensure that our great resources remain free.

Please email info@whycomics.org for more information. Thank you.

Follow-up Lesson Plan

Understanding social and cultural issues through psychology

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Suggested Why Comics? GCSE Psychology Revision Lesson Plan

Aims: This session will how psychology research can be used to help us to understand refugees and migration.

• Students will go through the comic again, this time making use of the further information provided using the tabs

• Students will recap on the various psychological processes found in the previous lesson

• Students will discuss the benefits of using psychological research to investigate the issue of refugees and migration

• Students will go through the various psychological research methods available• Students will design an experiment investigating one of the psychological processes

found in your chosen comic

Learning objectives: By the end of the session, students will be able to:

• Understand a social and cultural issue from a psychological perspective• Understand the relevance of psychology research in investigating current issues and

the world around them• List the various research methods• Design an experiment investigating a specific psychological process

Lesson Plan 2: 1. Summarise the previous lesson: recap on the comic and what the class discussed.

This time use the tabs around the comic to provide the class with facts and further information on your chosen comic’s protagonist (15 mins).

2. Classroom Discussion – Discuss the benefits of psychology research when understanding cultural and social issues such as those found in your chosen comic. Revise the various psychological research methods. (25 mins)

Teacher’s Note

GCSE specifications in psychology must require students to develop the following knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to psychological investigation and research methods:

planning to conduct a psychological investigation and writing a hypothesis including null and alternative

identifying different types of variables, including independent and dependent variables, and explaining the effect of extraneous variables and how to control for them

describing target populations, samples, sampling methods, their associated strengths and weaknesses and how to apply them. Understanding the principles of sampling as applied to scientific data

designing research including consideration of how it would be conducted, using quantitative and qualitative methods including:

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Suggested Why Comics? GCSE Psychology Revision Lesson Plan

lab, field, natural, interview, questionnaire, correlation, case study and observation

identifying strengths and weaknesses of the above methods, and types of research objectives for which they are most suitable

knowledge, analysis and evaluation of experimental designs, including independent and repeated measures, and their strengths and weaknesses

analysing the planning and conducting of research, through the consideration of the reliability and validity of sampling methods, experimental designs, quantitative and qualitative methods

demonstrating knowledge and understanding of ethical issues in psychological research, ethical guidelines, and ways of dealing with ethical issues

3. Assign a homework: ask the students to design an experiment investigating the psychological theory they used to explain an element of the chosen comic in the previous lesson. Note – students must also identify any ethical issues with their research methods.

FeedbackPlease help us by filling out a short anonymous SurveyMonkey questionnaire for our funders. This will help keep our great resources free. We will be happy to hear about how it works in the classroom, and are keen to receive any comments or feedback.

We are particularly interested if you would like to receive more resources like this. If so please include on the SurveyMonkey questionnaire which topics you would like us to cover (e.g. Divorce, Migration, Racism/Prejudice, Cyber/Bullying, Identity, Memory, Racism, Conflict, Natural Disasters, Human Trafficking/Slavery, Asylum/Refugees, Homelessness, Climate Change, Remittances & Migrant Workers, and Drug Trafficking & Addiction).

We are also interested to have feedback from pupils so if it is possible, please pass on the SurveyMonkey questionnaire link to them as well. Many thanks again, your help is most appreciated.

Future Plans

Over the coming year, we’re intending to expand our bank of database for KS2 (age 7-11) and KS3 (age 11-14) and KS4-5 (age 14-18) and their teachers, and produce national curriculum based accompanying lesson plans for multiple subjects. You can view all our resources on our Teachers Resources page.

We will continue to design and test our resources to ensure that they are made by teachers for teachers.

If you would like any more information or would like to be involved further, please contact info@whycomics.org. Thank you.

With very best wishes,

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Suggested Why Comics? GCSE Psychology Revision Lesson Plan

Dr Benjamin Dix

Director: Why Comics? Education CharitySenior Fellow: SOAS University of London

Web: http://www.whycomics.org/Email: info@whycomics.org Twitter and Instagram: @WhyComicsOrg Facebook: Why Comics? Education Charity

Why Comics? Education Charity is based at the Faber Building, SOAS University of London.Why Comics? Charity number - 1172791

Who backs Why Comics? - About PositiveNegatives

The award-winning non-profit PositiveNegatives produce literary comics, animations and podcasts about contemporary social and human rights issues. We combine ethnographic research with illustration and photography, adapting personal testimonies into art, education and advocacy materials. Since 2012, PositiveNegatives has worked extensively for over four years for an array of international organisations such as United Nations (UN), Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Open Society Foundations (OSF), The Nobel Peace Centre, The Guardian, BBC, and with leading academic institutions such as; Harvard South Asia Centre, SOAS University of London and University of Sussex.

Our work endeavours to combine literature, journalism and education. Visual story-telling engages audiences of all ages, backgrounds and levels of literacy. Approaching subjects like conflict and forced migration through the prism of personal narratives emotionally engages general readers and students alike. We have developed comics from research, policy papers and first hand testimonies for organisations such as these and many more. Each comic has reached millions of viewers, and many have been translated into multiple languages reaching diverse international stakeholders.

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