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Purpose
The aims of this session include:• to provide specific information regarding
changes to curriculum and assessment for VCE Psychology 2013-2016 as a result of a move to a single end-of-year examination of two-and-a-half hours duration
• to gather feedback/questions/comments regarding implementation in order to produce a set of FAQs to support delivery of the revised study design for VCE Psychology from 2013.
Online publication of VCE Study Designs
• From 2013, all VCE study designs, advice for teachers, resources and assessment handbooks will be available in an online format only (i.e. no hard copies)
• Online publications will include a publication/update date
• Teachers will be advised of major updates through the VCAA Bulletin VCE, VET and VCAL
Summary of changes
A number of key knowledge points across Units 3 and 4 have been deleted and/or edited for clarity and scope, and changes have been made to School-assessed Coursework. These have been published in the VCAA Bulletin VCE, VCAL and VET Supplement 1, No. 97, July 2012.
Reminder: teachers may subscribe to the VCAA Bulletin Online – refer to VCAA home page.
Teaching and learning resources
• Changes to the study design have been made with the intention that teachers may continue to use existing teaching and learning resources
• The Summary of changes for VCE Psychology on the VCAA website should assist teachers to identify study content and sections in current texts which may no longer be applicable to the accredited 2013–2016 course
• Teachers should note that some publishers are producing revised materials – it is a school/teacher-based decision as to whether new resources are purchased and/or utilised
Curriculum changes
• Key knowledge deletions• editing of key knowledge for clarity and scope• Research methodologies consolidated across
Units 3 and 4, and pruned• Specific phobia becomes one of four mental
illnesses (specific phobia or major depression or gambling or schizophrenia) from which one is studied
Assessment changes
• Single end-of-year examination of 2½ hours duration• Examination:SAC = 60:40 (change from 66:34)• Unit 3 and 4 SAC tasks and mark allocations have
changed• The study of a mental disorder and its management
(one of: specific phobia or major depression or gambling or schizophrenia) is assessed through School-assessed Coursework only (i.e. not end-of-year examination)
Unit 3 Key Knowledge: Deletions
The following knowledge points have been deleted from Unit 3:•consciousness as a psychological construct•perceptual anomalies•application and use of brain research methods•specific inclusion of the work of Kandel•role of RAS and thalamus •mnemonic devices: peg-word method; method of loci
Unit 4 Key Knowledge: Deletions
The following knowledge points have been deleted from Unit 4:•use of imaging technologies in identification of localised changes in the brain due to learning specific tasks•one-trial learning; insight learning; latent learning; specific reference to Thorndike’s puzzle-box experiment•strengths and limitations of Selyes’ General Adaptation Syndrome
Key Knowledge: Clarifications
• purpose of sleep• electromyograph (EMG)• role of the temporal lobe including the hippocampus and the
amygdala• the neuron in memory formation including the role of axons,
dendrites, synapses and neurotransmitters• organisation of long-term memory including declarative
(episodic and semantic) and procedural memory, and sematic network theory
• the neural basis of learning – the development of neural pathways including the role of axons, dendrites, synapses and neurotransmitters
Research methodologies
• one set of research methodologies and ethical principles applies across both Unit 3 and Unit 4
• reporting conventions have been specified to follow reporting conventions as per American Psychological Association (APA) format
Deleted:
• artificiality; demand characteristics; brain imaging and recording technologies; reliability including internal consistency; validity including construct and external; use of animals in research; advantages and limitations of the use of non-human animals in research in terms of generalisations and conclusions; role of ethics committees
School-assessed Coursework
• contributes 40 per cent to the study score
- Unit 3 SAC: 20 per cent
- Unit 4 SAC: 20 per cent• should form part of the teaching and learning
program, both in terms of formative (including diagnostic) and summative assessment
Unit 3 SAC: Report of a research investigation
Report of a research investigation related to memory conducted by the student•50 marks (out of 100 for the unit)•may be a single, extended investigation•may be a multi-part investigation composed of a series of shorter experiments linked to a particular aspect of memory•may be student-designed or teacher-assigned•should relate to development of skills listed on page 13 •should incorporate aspects of the research methodologies listed on page 22
Unit 4 SAC: Annotated folio of activities
Folio of at least five practical activities and annotations of at least three of these activities to illustrate selected aspects of learning •50 marks (out of 100 for the unit)•some marks should be allocated to the completion of folio activities•practical activities may be undertaken individually or in groups, but assessment of the annotations must be completed individually
FAQs
A set of Frequently Asked Questions will be published on the VCE Psychology study page of the VCAA website to support implementation of the revised study design 2013−2016
Advice for Teachers
The Advice for Teachers has been updated to include relevant employability skills derived from the Employability Skills Framework against specified assessment tasks for Units 1 –4
Assessment Handbook
The Assessment Handbook for VCE Psychology 2013−2016 will be available from the VCE Psychology study page prior to Term 1 2013.
Resources
• The list of resources will be updated annually by the VCAA and will be available from the VCE Psychology page
• Educators may submit suggested references for inclusion on the resource list to the Curriculum Manager for Science at the VCAA
Examination conditions
• 15 minutes reading time• 150 minutes writing time• Question and Answer book + Multiple Choice
answer sheet• 60 per cent contribution to Study Score
Examination content
• All outcomes in Units 3 and 4, all the key knowledge and key skills, and the set of research methodologies and ethical principles for Units 3 and 4, except content related to the study of a specific mental disorder
• Students will be required to apply Psychology knowledge and skills to both Unit 3 and/or Unit 4
• Some questions may include content from more than one Area of study within a Unit and/or content which may cross both Units 3 and 4
Examination format and mark allocation
Three sections:• Section A
- 65 marks: multiple choice questions• Section B
- 60 marks: variety of question types• Section C
- 15 marks: short-answer and extended response
Examination will be out of 140 marks
Examination: Section A
• 65 questions
• 65 marks
• Multiple choice
• All questions compulsory
Examination: Section B
• 60 marks
• Variety of question types including descriptions and explanations
• Section not divided according to Areas of study
• All questions compulsory
Examination: Section C
• One compulsory, research-based scenario• 15 marks• No optional questions• The research scenario may relate to one or more
of the Areas of study• There will be some short answer questions
relating to the scenario and one extended response question worth approximately 10 marks
Approved examination materials
Approved:•Stationery: pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers, sharpeners and rulers
Not approved:•Blank sheets of paper •Correction fluid•Calculator
Examination advice
• Each examination will follow the examination specifications and will test a representative sample of the key knowledge and key skills
• The number of marks provides a guide to the complexity of the expected answer/s
Sample examination paper
• Most of the questions were sourced from previous years' papers • Solutions to past examination questions can be accessed by
referring to the relevant Assessment Reports available on the VCAA website
• Some questions were specifically developed to illustrate that questions can draw upon understanding of concepts across Units 3 and 4
• Teachers will be provided – as examples – with two different types of questions that may be asked in Section C to illustrate different ways of approaching a given research scenario; only one of these types of questions will be included in Section C in any given examination
Contact
VCAA branch Science Manager Contact Details
Curriculum Maria James Tel: 9651 4655Email: [email protected]
Assessment Kris Allen Tel: 9225 2356Email:[email protected]
© Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2012
