Course overview
- Study period
- Semester 1, 2025 (24/02/2025 - 22/11/2025)
- Study level
- Undergraduate
- Location
- St Lucia
- Attendance mode
- In Person
- Units
- 4
- Administrative campus
- St Lucia
- Coordinating unit
- Education School
This course prepares pre-service teachers to teach Psychology in the senior phase of schooling. Pre-service teachers will be provided with opportunity to develop knowledge and understanding of relevant curriculum documents. The course will engage pre-service teachers in a critical analysis of recent disciplinary developments in scholarship and professional practice in the teaching of Psychology in the senior phase of schooling. They will be provided with opportunities to develop the appropriate knowledge and teaching strategies to effectively deal with literacy and numeracy demands and learning opportunities that exist in Psychology. Pre-service teachers will demonstrate the application of knowledge and skills to practice through (i) designing, implementing and evaluating effective learning and teaching sequences and discipline specific assessment tasks that draw on curriculum, assessment, reporting, and ICT knowledge; and (ii) identifying and designing discipline specific opportunities for professional engagement and communication within the school context, teaching networks and the broader community.
For Semester 1, 2025, the mid-semester break for this course will be relocated to university week 8. In Semester 2, this course commences 1 week before standard Semester 2 classes.
This course prepares pre-service teachers to teach psychology in the senior phase of schooling. The course aligns with the requirements set out by QCAA for the design and delivery of senior psychology in Queensland. The major focus of the course is to provide hands-on experience in designing and delivering lessons on the various aspects of psychology. The course has been designed around a series of workshops with extensive resources also being provided via the course site on LearnUQ.ﾠ
Course requirements
Restrictions
Restricted to students who are eligible to undertake Bachelor of Education (Secondary) dual program Professional Year
Course contact
Course staff
Lecturer
Professor Jason Lodge
Timetable
The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.
Additional timetable information
This is a year long course. Workshops will be held on weeks when students are not on placement only.
Aims and outcomes
The course aims to engage pre-service teachers in a critical analysis of recent disciplinary developments in scholarship and professional practice in the teaching of Psychology in the senior phase of schooling.
Pre-service teachersﾠwill be provided with opportunities to develop the appropriate knowledge and teaching strategies to effectively deal with literacy and numeracy demands and learning opportunities that exist in Psychology.
Pre-service teachers will demonstrate the application of knowledge and skills to practice through:
(i) designing, implementing and evaluating effective learning and teaching sequences and discipline-specific assessment tasks that draw on curriculum, assessment, reporting, and ICT knowledge; and
(ii) identifying and designing discipline-specific opportunities for professional engagement and communication within the school context, teaching networks and the broader community.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Demonstrate an understanding of relevant content and analysis of recent disciplinary developments in scholarship and professional practice in the teaching of Psychology. (APST 2.1)
LO2.
Demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge of how students learn and knowledge of relevant curriculum documents to the development of appropriate discipline based learning goals and teaching strategies for students of varying abilities. (APSTs 1.2, 1.5, 2.1, 3.1)
LO3.
Demonstrate the ability to design, implement and evaluate learning and teaching sequences and discipline-specific assessment tasks that draw on relevant curriculum documents, a range of effective teaching resources, a range of assessment and reporting strategies, and ICT knowledge that enables teaching strategies that expand learning. (APSTs 2.2, 2.3, 2.6, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 5.1)
LO4.
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of literacy and numeracy teaching strategies and their application in Psychology. (APST 2.5)
LO5.
Demonstrate the ability to respond to feedback, and identify and design discipline-specific opportunities for professional learning engagement and communication within the school context, teaching networks and the broader community and understand the rationale for this professional practice in relation to improved student learning. (APSTs 6.3, 6.4, 7.4)
LO6.
Demonstrate clear, fluent and coherent communication skills in English consistent with personal, professional and academic conventions. (APST 2.1)
Assessment
Assessment summary
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practical/ Demonstration, Presentation | Microteaching presentation | 20% Practical demonstration 15 mins |
31/03/2025 - 14/04/2025
Written component is due 1 week after your presentation. |
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation |
Learning and teaching sequence and assessment task
|
50% 3000 words |
7/10/2025 2:00 pm |
| Presentation | Professional engagement and communication | 30% 1500 words |
20/10/2025 - 3/11/2025
Written submission is due one week after you present. |
Assessment details
Microteaching presentation
- Mode
- Activity/ Performance
- Category
- Practical/ Demonstration, Presentation
- Weight
- 20% Practical demonstration 15 mins
- Due date
31/03/2025 - 14/04/2025
Written component is due 1 week after your presentation.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L03, L05, L06
Task description
Using the senior psychology curriculum you are to present a lesson segment.
Your presentation should go for no more than 15 minutes and should consist of the following:
• a 5 minute overview which includes the context for your lesson and a brief outline of where and how your segment fits into your larger lesson (you should show your overview and lesson plan)
• a 10 minute simulation of the lesson segment
You are required to submit the following in one document via Blackboard one week after you present:
• A brief overview that shows where your lesson fits into a possible unit of work (as a table)
• A full lesson plan that indicates where your segment fits into the lesson (the full lesson should be 60-70 minutes long)
• Any resources used
You are also to submit to Blackboard a justification for the content and style of your lesson. The justification must draw on research and theory (clearly referenced in APA 7 format) to argue why the lesson was designed and delivered as it was. This must be submitted to Blackboard one week after your lesson is delivered.
Please note: You are not required to present the full lesson in the workshop, you only present a 10 minute segment of the lesson.
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers:
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area.
3.3 Use teaching strategies
Include a range of teaching strategies.
6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning
Demonstrate an understanding of the rationale for continued professional learning and the implications for improved student learning.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides emerging tools that may support students in completing this assessment task. Students may appropriately use AI in completing this assessment task. Students must clearly reference any use of AI in each instance. A failure to reference AI use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Learning and teaching sequence and assessment task
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Paper/ Report/ Annotation
- Weight
- 50% 3000 words
- Due date
7/10/2025 2:00 pm
- Other conditions
- Student specific, Work integrated learning.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06
Task description
To ensure that the learning intents of the syllabus are delivered effectively, teachers need to plan their learning sequences and ensure that assessment tasks meet the requirements of the instrument-specific marking guides.
The Task
You are to individually create a sequence of learning for one topic of work based on the Senior Psychology Syllabus. This can be the same topic used for Assessment task 1.
Your submission needs to include the following:
1. Provide a topic overview which outlines:
a. Learning goal/intent
b. Key content/vocab/terminology
c. Key teaching, reporting and learning strategies
d. Literacy and numeracy activities
e. Resources required
f. Homework
g. Assessment strategies (e.g. informal, formal, diagnostic, formative, summative)
2. Describe and justify the teaching strategies/approaches to be used (with academic references). In this section you are to refer to relevant learning theory/research. Note that a failure to support your justification with references to the research and theory in education (appropriately cited in APA7 format) will result in a failing grade
3. Prepare detailed lesson plans for at least three key lessons (of ~ 1 hour) within your topic plan - include in your detailed plans all learning activities, resources, assessable elements, and technologies you will use.
4. You need to ensure that at least one of these three lessons demonstrates the implementation of ICT teaching strategies. Justify how the use of the(se) technologies enhances learning opportunities for students.
5. Using one lesson, explain how you have set learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities and characteristics.
6. Explain how in your topic plan (and detailed lesson plans), you have incorporated strategies to differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides emerging tools that may support students in completing this assessment task. Students may appropriately use AI in completing this assessment task. Students must clearly reference any use of AI in each instance.
A failure to reference AI use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers:
Focus/Descriptor
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area.
2.2 Content selection and organisation
Organise content into an effective learning and teaching sequence.
2.3 Curriculum assessment and reporting
Use curriculum assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences and lesson plans.
2.5 Literacy and numeracy strategies
Know and understand literacy and numeracy teaching strategies and their application in teaching areas.
2.6 Information and Communication Technology
Implement teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students.
3.1 Establish challenging learning goals
Set learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying ability and characteristics.
3.2 Plan structure and sequence learning programs
Plan lesson sequences using knowledge of student learning, content and effective teaching strategies.
3.4 Select and use resources
Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources including ICT, that engage students in their learning.
5.1 Assess student learning
Demonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student learning
Submission guidelines
Submission will occur via Turnitin submission portal.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Professional engagement and communication
- Mode
- Activity/ Performance
- Category
- Presentation
- Weight
- 30% 1500 words
- Due date
20/10/2025 - 3/11/2025
Written submission is due one week after you present.
- Learning outcomes
- L02, L05, L06
Task description
After completing your micro-teaching task in Semester One and throughout your professional experience placement, you will have reflected on your own personal professional goals in Psychology: Curriculum Studies to improve your teaching and student outcomes. Throughout Semester Two, we will dedicate time in our workshop to sharing strategies to address professional development needs in a community context. During this time, students will facilitate a segment (10 minutes). Each member of the cohort is required to facilitate a session that will be graded.
The Task
You are to individually select a professional development topic to present as a session designed to help peers and colleagues with an aspect of the teaching of psychology. This can be any topic that you feel might be useful for the target audience:
During class:
• Facilitate a 10-minute session designed to help colleagues with an aspect of teaching psychology
One week after class, prepare and submit to Turnitin a 1500-word report that outlines:
▪ Background explaining why you identified the topic of your session and why it is important for psychology teachers;
▪ Academic research on strategies you discussed to support your session and approach (with references in APA7 format);
▪ Classroom interventions and practical tips;
▪ Expected impact on teaching and learning;
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers:
Focus/Descriptor
1.2 Understand how students learn
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching.
6.3 Engage with colleagues and improve practice
Seek and apply constructive feedback from supervisors and teachers to improve teaching practices.
6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning
Demonstrate an understanding of the rationale for continued professional learning and the implications for improved student learning.
7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities
Understand the role of external professionals and community representatives in broadening teachers’ professional knowledge and practice.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides emerging tools that may support students in completing this assessment task. Students may appropriately use AI in completing this assessment task. Students must clearly reference any use of AI in each instance. A failure to reference AI use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Course grading
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
| Grade | Description |
|---|---|
| 1 (Low Fail) |
Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: No evidence of engagement with assessment requirements and literature.ﾠ No critical analysis of readings, theories and research. |
| 2 (Fail) |
Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: Very minimal engagement with assessment requirements and literature.ﾠ Critical analysis of readings, theories and research severely lacking.ﾠﾠWritten presentation extremely poor. |
| 3 (Marginal Fail) |
Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes Course grade description: Lack of engagement with assessment requirements and literature.ﾠ Poor critical analysis of readings, theories and research with substandard written presentation. |
| 4 (Pass) |
Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: Satisfies all of the basic requirements for the course, such as some use of fundamental concepts, some use of references, basically keeping to the topic; some elaboration of ideas and arguments, some degree of coherence and organisation and appropriate length; demonstrates sufficient quality of performance to be considered satisfactory or adequate or competent or capable with respect to explaining the significance and implications of the topic. |
| 5 (Credit) |
Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: Demonstrates ability to use and apply fundamental concepts of the course, going beyond mere replication of ideas from source materials to show understanding of key ideas, awareness of relevance, analysis of implications and drawing of conclusions. |
| 6 (Distinction) |
Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: Demonstrates awareness and understanding of deeper and subtler aspects of the course, such as identifying and debating critical issues or problems, applying ideas to practical situations in schools, and offering insightful commentary, implications and conclusions.</p> |
| 7 (High Distinction) |
Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes. Course grade description: Demonstrates imagination, originality or flair, based on comprehensive and complex understanding of the course.ﾠAssessment is interesting or surprising or exciting or challenging or erudite. |
Additional course grading information
Determining Final Grades:ﾠThe final grades are determined by consideration of the weighting of individual assessment items, through the use of weighting formula and the profile of individual grades across accumulated assessment tasks.ﾠ
Exemplar ﾠto show ﾠcalculation ﾠof final grade:
All three assignments in this course will be providedﾠaﾠgrade out of 7.ﾠ The final grade will be calculated using the weighting and the individual assignment grade as follows.ﾠ Forﾠexampleﾠif a student receives the following three grades:
Assignment 1: Grade of 4 at 20% weighting
Assignment 2: Grade of 6 at 50% weighting
Assignment 3: Grade of 7 at 30% weighting
The final grade for this student taking into account the weighting of each assignment would be:
ﾠﾠﾠ (A1)ﾠﾠﾠﾠ +ﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠﾠ (A2) ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ+ ﾠ ﾠ ﾠ(A3) ﾠ ﾠ
ﾠ(0.20 x 4) + (0.50 x 6) + (0.3 x 7) = 0.8 + 3 + 2.1 =ﾠ5.9ﾠ
The final grade would be rounded to the nearest whole number; in thisﾠcaseﾠthe grade would be 6.
In the case where the final grade is 0.5 or above, the grade will be rounded up to the nearest whole number (e.g. 5.5 would become 6). In the case where the final grade is 0.49 or below, the grade will be rounded down to the nearest whole number (e.g. 6.49 would become 6).
Note: To avoid inflation or deflation of grades at the assessment level, the exact grade calculated from the rubric criteria scores will be manually recorded in the grade centre. The exact grades for each assignment (i.e., not the rounded grades) will be used to calculate the final course grade. Blackboard grade centre columns will be labelled accordingly.
Supplementary assessment
Supplementary assessment is available for this course.
Additional assessment information
The following applies to all assessments in this course:
Marking criteria and/or marking rubrics are available in the 'Assessment' folder in Blackboard for this course.
Release of assessment item marks and feedback
In addition to the grade awarded, feedback will be provided in a timely manner to enable students to apply the feedback to further tasks within the course or program and/or plan for supplementary assessment, requests for re-mark, or re-enrolment. However, as per UQ Policy and Procedures Library under the Assessment Policy , results for the final assessment item are to be released only after the final grade for the course has been released. Time frames for applications for assessment re-mark are indicated under the Assessment Procedure .
Re-mark policy
After each assessable item, students will be given the opportunity to view their assessment and so satisfy themselves that a marking or administrative error has not occurred. The formal process of querying a course result (requesting a remark on academic grounds) is set out in the UQ Policy and Procedures Library under the Assessment Procedure .
Use of AI/MT to support or inform assessment
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Translation (MT) are emerging tools that may support students in completing this assessment task. Students may appropriately use AI and/or MT in completing this assessment task. Students must clearly reference any use of AI or MT in each instance.
A failure to reference generative AI or MT use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Learning resources
You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.
Library resources
Library resources are available on the UQ Library website.
Learning activities
The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.
Filter activity type by
Please select
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Week 1 (24 Feb - 02 Mar) |
Workshop |
Sem 1, Week 1: Introduction Introduction to psychology curriculum studies APST: 2.1 Learning outcomes: L01 |
Week 2 (03 Mar - 09 Mar) |
Workshop |
Sem 1, Week 2: Learning psychology Understanding how students learn psychology APST: 1.2, 2.1 Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L04 |
Week 3 (10 Mar - 16 Mar) |
Workshop |
Sem 1, Week 3: Psychology content Teaching the psychology content (concepts, substance and structure) APST: 2.1, 2.2 Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Week 4 (17 Mar - 23 Mar) |
Workshop |
Sem 1, Week 4: Planning Planning (unit and lesson design) - including establishing challenging learning goals APST: 1.2, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2 Note that this workshop will be online. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04 |
Week 6 (31 Mar - 06 Apr) |
Workshop |
Assessment task 1 presentations Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L06 |
Week 7 (07 Apr - 13 Apr) |
Workshop |
Assessment task 1 presentations, part 2 Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L06 |
Week 8 (14 Apr - 20 Apr) |
No student involvement (Breaks, information) |
Mid-semester break |
Multiple weeks From Mid-sem break (first semester) To Week 13 |
Practical |
Break for professional experience No classes scheduled while undertaking professional experience (placement) in an accompanying course |
Revision week (first semester) (02 Jun - 08 Jun) |
Workshop |
Sem 1, Revision Week: Deep Dive on Unit 2 Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Week 14 (28 Jul - 03 Aug) |
Workshop |
Sem 2, Week 1: Recap and introduction Revision of first half of the course and introduction to semester 2 activities. Learning outcomes: L01, L06 |
Week 15 (04 Aug - 10 Aug) |
Workshop |
Sem 2, Week 2: Deep Dive on Unit 3 - part 1 Learning outcomes: L01, L06 |
Multiple weeks From Week 16 To Week 21 |
Practical |
Break for professional experience No classes scheduled while undertaking professional experience (placement) in an accompanying course |
Mid-sem break (second semester) (29 Sep - 05 Oct) |
No student involvement (Breaks, information) |
Mid-semester break |
Week 23 (06 Oct - 12 Oct) |
Workshop |
Sem 2, Week 10: Deep Dive on Unit 4 Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03 |
Week 24 (13 Oct - 19 Oct) |
Workshop |
Sem 2, Week 11: Educational technology & PD Implementing teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning and ongoing professional engagement APST: 2.6, 7.4 Learning outcomes: L01, L03, L06 |
Week 25 (20 Oct - 26 Oct) |
Workshop |
Sem 2, Week 12: Microteaching and peer feedback Microteaching activities/presentations; Providing constructive feedback to peers APST: 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.2, 6.3 Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06 |
Week 26 (27 Oct - 02 Nov) |
Workshop |
Sem 2, Week 13: Microteaching and peer feedback Microteaching activities/presentations; Providing constructive feedback to peers APST: 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.2, 6.3 Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L05, L06 |
Policies and procedures
University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:
- Student Code of Conduct Policy
- Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
- Assessment Procedure
- Examinations Procedure
- Reasonable Adjustments - Students Policy and Procedure
Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.