AP® Psychology Students Observe Lower Schoolers in a Cross-Divisional Collaboration

This week, AP® Psychology students in the Upper School collaborated with Lower Schoolers in a cross-divisional project that focused on childhood development.

In psychology, Upper Schoolers are currently studying cognitive, physical and social development through peer-to-peer and parent interactions. They extended their observations to Lower Schoolers by visiting JK, 1st, 3rd and 4th grades during different classes and collected data that correlated with childhood development concepts.

In turn, the Beasley students used the opportunity to give the Upper Schoolers insight on what they’ve been working on in class—literacy and reading, social studies and even cup stacking during P.E.

“I was particularly struck by the fact that I was witnessing the oldest students at our school learn a counting game from the youngest students at our school—so cool to be a part of this process!” shared Upper School psychology teacher Mr. Aaron Proctor.

This is the third year that the AP® Psychology class has collaborated with Lower School, and the partnership is continuing to be beneficial for both divisions.

“This a perfect opportunity for cross-divisional teacher work,” continued Mr. Proctor. “I really enjoyed ‘talking shop’ with Lower School teachers about the rationales behind their lesson plans and the various psychological benefits of the activities to their students’ overall development.”