Teacher in Charge: Dr C. Gavin.
Recommended Prior LearningThe Year 11 course builds on the foundational skills taught in Year 10 Philosophy; however Year 10 Philosophy is not a required prerequisite. Philosophy is offered from Year 10 to Year 13 Scholarship.
This class grows changemakers- young people who have the communication and argumentation skills and the Psychology and Philosophy content knowledge to ensure they claim space and are heard in a noisy world.
This is an academic course which challenges and stretches your thinking and where we support and encourage each other to grow. In Year 11 Philosophy you will be empowered to have a voice and learn how to respectfully engage with the ideas and arguments of others too. Lessons have many different interactive and discussion based activities, providing a high interest way to gain valuable communication (oracy) and argumentation knowledge and skills. It will give you tools to help navigate our swiftly changing world, by using current ethical and psychology topics that have real world meaning.
The content knowledge and skills gained are useful across other subjects and in University studies such as Medicine, Law, Psychology, Philosophy any profession where working with others is required, or thinking critically and creatively is needed and strong oracy skills are valued and academic writing is essential.
Year 11 Philosophy offers one Level 2 NCEA Standard. This helps towards gaining your L2 certificate.
Term 1
History of Ideas -Big ideas through the ages with a focus on what makes a good life: Stoicism and Epicureanism.
Metacognition and how to be Right.-Advanced analysis of fallacies and how these can be used to mislead. Construct a coherent and powerful argument.
Term 2
War and Punishment - Explore ethical issues related to War and Punishment.
Term 3
Introduction to Psychology and Human Behaviour.-Learn major theories of human psychology and how these have developed throughout the ages. Explore some of the interesting and disturbing experiments that shaped psychological theories, and investigate the ethical implications of these.
Comparative Religions - Compare the tenets of the six major world religions, such as the fundamental ethical beliefs they are based on.
Term 4
Psychology- Epistemology and Variables
-Validity, Variables (IV, DV), Evaluating evidence, Fair tests. Run a psychology experiments with guidance. NCEA L2 Internal Assessment.
There are 4 credits offered at NCEA L2 in this course. These credits can be used for your NCEA L2 Certificate.
We aim to enable every student to have the course that they prefer, however, some courses have limited places or pre-requisits that may restrict the student's choice.