NV TOPSS: Supporting Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools with Resources for All of Nevada Schools

The Social and Personality Pillar of the National Standards for High School Psychology Curricula (APA, 2022) is comprised of
four standard areas (Social, Personality, Multiculturalism and Gender, and Motivation and Emotion). This lesson plan is
designed to support the teaching of two specific content standards (social cognition and social influence), that fall under
the Social Content Standard. Some teachers may expect to find content on cultural differences and similarities or concepts
such as prejudice and discrimination under the category of social psychology but should note that this lesson plan does not
address those topics as it is aligned to the Social standard area as mentioned above. The lessons include content outlines,
critical thinking exercises and class activities to support the needs of teachers, learners and classrooms. All resources in
this lesson plan are designed to promote engagement and mastery of social psychology concepts. Teachers can choose
from the activities to develop lessons as needed.

This lesson plan is designed to support the teaching of
a broad range of concepts related to stress and health
in a variety of psychology classroom contexts. Each
lesson includes a content outline, critical thinking
exercises, and class activities to support the unique
needs of different teachers, learners, and classrooms.
This unit plan allows for a great deal of flexibility.
Teachers can choose from the pool of available
content and activities to develop lessons that are the
best fit for their classes. Class activities are designed
to foster more direct engagement and demonstration
of the content of each lesson. Critical thinking
exercises are discussion-based and they typically
focus on application of concepts. The laboratory
exercise involves data collection and analysis at
the level of the individual and the class to reinforce
psychological research.

This lesson plan is designed to teach a
broad range of concepts related to cognition and thinking in a variety of psychology classroom contexts. The various content outlines, activities, and critical thinking exercises were written with the purpose of allowing individual teachers the freedom to pick and choose the activities that fit the needs of their classroom and the diverse learners within it.

Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology is the scientific study of people at their jobs. This field is not about being a therapist at work.
Instead, the field has two main goals: 1) to help people perform better at their jobs, and 2) to help people enjoy their jobs more. I-O psychologists work to achieve these goals in many ways, such as focusing on the “business” side of things. On the other hand, another way I-O psychologists do their job is by focusing on the “people” side of things. This part of the field looks at topics such as motivation, leadership, and stress.

This optional lesson plan includes information that may be useful for
teacher background even if it is not used in the classroom. Individual
school and community considerations will help determine what content or which activities are appropriate to include with students in class. Every individual has a gender identity. Therefore, understanding and discussing gender is relevant to all students and all teachers.
Educators have a significant impact on the ways children and
adolescents perceive the world through the inclusion or exclusion
of identities and cultural narratives. For some, underrepresentation
can lead to feelings of disequilibrium and exclusion.

This project was supported by a grant from the American Psychological Foundation
David and Carol Myers Fund to Support Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools.