IB Psychology

If you have ever wanted to learn how the brain functions and how memories develop, then IB psychology would be a class to forecast for. Student learn about the essential aspects of psychology, beginning with an overview of the history to a study of biological, cognitive, and developmental psychology.

Frederick Holtz teaches the class and provides a few reasons why students might be interested in taking the class. “Knowledge about human psychology itself is really useful knowledge,” Holtz said. “We learn about the way the mind works in ways that can be very helpful to students.”

Much of the knowledge gained from IB psychology can be very practical. When learning about stress and sleep, students may learn ways to better handle their own stress levels. Or when learning how memory functions during the cognitive psychology unit, students can learn how to study better.

It also prepares students for college, as critical thinking is an important aspect of the class. There is a focus on reading and understanding major psychological experiments, and students replicate one of the experiments as an IA (internal assessment). A student may earn four college credits through PCC from the class.

“It’s a really good college preparatory class. It’s useful in that way as it requires people to think of things that are complicated and at the college level,” Holtz said.

The class provides new ways of thinking and looking at the world, and an in depth understanding of the way our brain functions and affects our lives. If students goes on to take IB psychology 2, they would learn how groups affect our behavior along with examining more important psychology research.