Archive for the Psychology category

Mrs Nikki Newhouse spoke to The Year 12 and 13 Psychology students about how she has combined her previous career in publishing with her more recent research in Psychology, to become Editor of “Psych-Talk” (A British Psychological Society publication for Psychology students). She discussed how to write an engaging Psychology article, relevant to a wide audience of students (from A level students to post-graduates) and encouraged Oxford High School students to submit articles to her for consideration.

We were delighted to be able to help organise this event again.  This was a highlight of the year, as it was an opportunity for around 150 students and teachers from local schools (Bartholomew, Headington, Lord Williams, Cheney, Cherwell, Abingdon-Witney College, Oxford High School) to meet with psychologists and find out about the latest developments in research in a series of workshops and lectures. It was quite an eye-opener to see the range of work taking place. We started the day with Kiera Fines, a Psychology undergraduate, describing her fascinating research project into gender differences in attitudes to organ donation and the implications for advertising campaigns.  It was inspiring for students to see someone just a few years ahead of them producing work with such a potential impact for everyday life.  Other stimulating talks during the day included current research into the use of weighted blankets to aid people with sleep disorders, and philosophical questions about consciousness raised by split brain patients.  Oxford High School students had the chance to talk with psychologists in the smaller workshops on “Reading and its challenges,” “Physical Attraction” and “How do we find out what babies know?” (which included a trip to the BabyLab with Professor Gert Westerman and an opportunity to try out the visual eye tracking equipment).

In the run-up to A level exams, some of the Psychology students (and other interested sixth formers) took a well-earned break from revision to watch “Shutter Island”. I’m not sure whether this Psychological Thriller could be described as relaxing, but while munching on crisps, doughnuts and chocolate cake (thanks to the Year 13s for organising snacks), we did ponder everything from frontal lobotomies to the “criminally insane,” and proposed various interpretations of Martin Scorsese’s ending of the film. Thanks to all involved for a great evening. This was our second film night; in 2010 we watched “A Beautiful Mind” which also provoked interesting discussion. All suggestions for future films welcome- please share your ideas with Dr Squire.

On Tuesday 26th April 2011 Dr Georgina Krebs, a clinical psychologist and a former student of Oxford High School, came to Oxford High School to talk about her work with children with OCD at a specialist clinic at the Maudsley Hospital in London. Dr Krebs gave a fascinating insight into the difficulties experienced by some of the children that she works with, described effective treatments that she helps to deliver and answered questions from the large audience of Sixth form students and staff.

This was organised jointly between Oxford High School and Professor Margaret Harris, Head of the Psychology Department at Oxford Brookes University. We had around 150 Sixth Form Students and teachers attend from nine different schools. The day was a huge success, and included presentations and hands-on sessions from various researchers about topics as diverse as children’s belief in Father Christmas, to sleep disorders, mood, physical attractiveness, how to study whether babies understand emotions and psychological aspects of the design of the MINI E car! The conference was held on a glorious day, which provided a wonderful opportunity for students to picnic together, whilst others sought advice in a drop-in session on UCAS applications in Psychology. In the afternoon we were fortunate to be joined by Dr Simon Green, who is the chief examiner for the A level Psychology course that we follow, and who gave a helpful session on how to make the jump from AS to A2 Psychology. We are currently planning a second conference for June 2011!

We have had psychologists from a wide range of areas come in to tell us about their research. We were delighted that Dr Nenagh Kemp (a lecturer in Psychology at the University of Tasmania) was able to join us to tell us about how she has extended her research in children’s literacy to young people’s reading and writing of text messages: “Texting vs. txting: A study of students reading and writing text messages.” Students were actively encouraged to get out their mobiles and have a go! Dr Morten Kringelbach, from Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry, also gave a fascinating talk on “Finding Pleasure in the Brain,” covering everything from leading treatments involving implanting electrodes in the brain, to brain activity when drinking chocolate milk versus tomato juice!

 

Many congratulations to Rebecca Hewstone who won First Prize in the Cambridge University Psychology Essay Competition! This was a national competition for A level students which ran for the first time this year, and there were around 100 entries. Rebecca wrote an essay entitled: Inoculation against adolescent depression: Reality or Illusion? and she won a prize of £1000. Also congratulations to Nicola Jones, whose entry was short-listed. Oxford High School was the only school to have two essays in the “top ten.” On 12th September, Rebecca, Nicola and Dr Squire were invited to lunch at Newnham College, Cambridge, to celebrate this achievement with various prestigious members of the Faculty of Politics, Psychology, Sociology and International Studies (PPSIS).