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Differentiated Instruction: Abnormal Psychology and Anxiety Disorders

Hilary Lapham
AET/525
May 23, 2014
Deb Hatchfield
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Differentiated Instruction: Abnormal Psychology and Anxiety Disorders
Few fields serve to be as interesting and mysterious as the field of abnormal psychology
which studies the science behind abnormal human behavior. Abnormal psychology can serve as
a concentration course for majors, a general education course, or an elective. There are many
ways to make the field of psychology interesting in the classroom. Abnormal psychology is one
of the few subjects that fascinates people by just a simple presentation of information. That does
not mean, however, that effective instructional strategies and activities should not be used to
teach adults. This paper outlines the content of a collegiate lesson plan specifically on anxiety
disorders taken from an independent study course (Psychology 311) and critiques the plan with
new and improved ideas.
Content
Class scheduling conflicts is not a new issue for college students, which has allowed
instructors to offer advantageous tools like independent studies (IS) that many college students
use today for squeezing in required classes prior to graduation. An IS is a class during which a
student does not attend in-seat classes with other students, and instead the student works through
the material independently (California Department of Ed., 2014). This paper dissects a lesson
plan extracted from an independent study abnormal psychology course (PSY 311) from
University of Idaho. The anxiety disorder lesson plan is rather uneventful and targets to one
specific audience, the self-learner, and has very few activities that enrich the material. The
anxiety disorder lesson plan includes reading a chapter, looking at several case studies, and
finally taking a multiple choice and essay exam. The anxiety disorders book in the class will
cover the main common anxiety disorders, their characteristics, and potential courses of
treatment.
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The first and most important issue with this lesson plan is that there is no involvement of
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders version V (DSM). For abnormal
behavior, use of the DSM is vital for helping students understand disorders from a clinical
perspective. Students should have their DSM at all times for reference, and it is not even a
required textbook for this course. The plan simply involves reading a textbook, case studies, and
regurgitating the material in test form. It is indeed important to read the textbook, but also
incorporate activities with the case studies to have studies classify the case studies by using the
DSM. A great option may be giving students the opportunity to read a vignette, and then attempt
to diagnose the individual in the vignette allows them practice diagnosing anxiety disorders.
An additional critique of the anxiety disorder lesson plan is the lack of any interactive
material. The UOPX University Library has a multimedia database called Counseling and
Psychotherapy Transcripts, Client Narratives, and Reference Works. This database allows
students to search through various counseling sessions, narratives, and other works of patients
who have mental illnesses (University of Phoenix, 2014). This is a golden opportunity to view
actual individuals with anxiety disorders and help categorize them and put this information into
practice.
The independent study should also require students to explore the Psychology video
specials on the Alexander Street Press database and find a video related to an anxiety disorder
that they want to dissect. Seeing a real life example can help put what students learn in the
textbook into practice.
Instructional Strategies
An independent study lesson plan is an instructional strategy within itself. This
instructional strategy is a very hands-off one. The instructor serves as more as of a liaison than
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and actual instructor giving lesson plans, and creates the syllabus for the students. The California
Department of Education (2014) describes ISs as a class that students choose to take, versus
have to take, which is why they are helpful for students with packed schedules. Without an
instructor present, it is important that the instructor at least make herself available to students.
Students should do checkpoints throughout the course with the instructor, and should have
deadlines they are required to meet, in order to avoid a cramming session at the end of the
course.
One instructional strategy that does not seem to be present, likely because this is an IS
course, is any collaboration with another IS student. Often, more than one student takes the
course. Because adult learners thrive in group settings, incorporating the strategic group work
once or twice throughout the course is a great idea for diversifying the lesson plan. Students
could collaborate on a project, or even just get together to watch the required videos to create a
sense of togetherness.
Demonstrating Mastery
Sowder (2008) tests her students at the end of each lesson plan module an essay and
multiple choice exam is at the end of the anxiety disorders section. For the anxiety disorders
lesson plan, a multiple choice and essay test is certainly a way to demonstrate mastery, but for
the non-test takers, this could literally cause anxiety for students! For this reason, the lesson plan
should offer options for how the student demonstrates mastery, especially in an IS class.
To critique, the test might be one option for people who excel in a testing environment.
The test can ask questions about anxiety disorders, their characteristics, and how they are
diagnosed. Another option should be for the more project-oriented individuals, like creating a
graphic organizer of 5 anxiety disorders such as agoraphobia, obsessive compulsive, panic
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disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, or generalized anxiety disorder
(American Psychological Association, 2013), and explaining them with speaker notes. There
could also be an option for mastery by writing an essay, diagnosing a series of vignettes and
defending the answers, or reporting an anxiety disorder news special or video found in the
University Library. These three options: test, graphic organizer, and formal essay allow for
students to have options regarding their mastery demonstration for the week.
Environment and Learning Styles
The environment of the lesson plan is obviously wherever the student deems a good place
to study. This could be an instructional strategy, the student chooses where he or she studies
anxiety disorders, and there is nothing that should be changed here. Adult learners thrive in
different locations outside the classroom according to Wlodkowski and Ginsberg (2010). The
ability to have some level of control and choice of the learning location gives students clarity and
openness of mind, trust, and independence. If this were a campus course, the instructor could
make a classroom in the psychology department available during different times of the day to
students who prefer a formal classroom setting. As any instructor should, especially for an IS,
office hours and contact information are vital for student success.
Independent studies are likely to attract a variety of learners because scheduling conflicts
happen to everybody. The original lesson plan only accommodated to verbal, logical, and
solitary learners. Individuals that prefer camaraderie (social), visual, aural, and physical learning
opportunities did not have much of an opportunity in the anxiety disorders lesson plan to
maximize their learning potential. With some of the modification listed above, for example a
group project, graphic organizer project, video project, vignettes, and choosing the learning
environment all help cater to different learning styles.
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Conclusion
Lesson plans become a huge responsibility of an instructor to make sure that they are
accommodating to the needs of their various learners. Especially with adults, it is vital to create
opportunity for different learning styles to thrive. An independent study lesson plan is definitely
a more self-directed path than most, but there are plenty of potential accommodations that make
the class user friendly for adult learners of all learning styles.






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References
American Psychological Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders (5
th
ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
California Department of Education. (2014). Independent study. Retrieved from www.cde.ca.gov
Sowder, R. (2008). Independent study: Abnormal psychology (PSY311). Retrieved from
www.uidaho.edu
Wlodkowski, R. J. & Ginsberg, M. B. (2010). Teaching intensive and accelerated courses:
Instruction that motivates learning. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.