Scientific Methods: Psychology and Illusion

This teaching block of five lessons revolves around the idea of scientific testing and psychology. The students will be introduced to the “Scottish Water Company” and their mission to find out how a new water-based sports drink can improve psychological abilities. The students will learn about three areas of psychology; perception, memory, and reaction time to find a possible psychology experiment for the water. Once the children find that they can measure and test reaction time, they will begin to look at questions about scientific testing, and then design their own test. The series will conclude with the finding that the water was no more than tap water, which the children can present in writing or verbally.

This resource is suggested as a second level science resource and relates mainly to SCQF level 2 Experiences and Outcomes. However it could be used with classes working at first or third level, or even be used alongside a different curriculum with minor adaptations.

Relevant Experiences and Outcomes:
LIT 2-02a, LIT 2-07a, LIT 2-09a, LIT 2-10a, MNU 2-01a, MNU 2-02a, MNU 2-03a, MNU 2-03b, MNU 2-07a , MNU 2-10b, MNU 2-11a, MNU 2-11b, MNU 3-03a, MNU 3-07a, MNU 3-08a, MNU 3-11a, SCN 1-12b, SCN 1-20a, SCN 2-12b, SCN 2-20a, SCN 3-12b

This resource was created as part of the Psychology Outreach and Engagement course which allows undergraduate psychology students to develop new projects aimed at meeting the needs of local community partners as part of their degree.

This resource was originally developed for Curiosity Club.

Author: Alex Wren, adapted by Alysha Wilson, Molly Wickett and Alyssa Heggison.

Unless otherwise stated, all content is released under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.