Kay Minter is the current chair of TOPSS (Teachers of Psychology in the Secondary Schools) and she is trying to gather information from teachers of high school psychology from all over the country and world about some possible changes. Here are Kay's questions:
1) There is some question as to whether high school psychology will become included in the group known as STEM subjects - that is, Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. If psych is included, what might be the ramifications to high school teachers from your perspective? Would there be a push to make psychology and psych teachers part of the Science department instead of Social Studies? If so, how would you view this change and how might it affect you?
2) Do current teachers of psychology (all levels: regular, AP, and IB) believe that a separate statistics course (like Statistics 101) should be a required undergraduate course for a teacher to be certified in psychology? Are the statistics that usually accompany a psychology department "Research Methods" course enough statistics for a new certification in psychology? (This would be for future teachers; current teachers would be grandfathered in.)
These kinds of questions are being asked of APA and TOPSS from multiple sources, so your input would be very much appreciated. Please post your thoughts in the comments below or you can send them directly to me at ashejones@gmail.com.
(And I might add: STEM is a very big buzzword in education funding these days, so there may be real implications to psychology being considered one of the STEM courses.)
-- posted by Steve
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