Volume 21, Number 4, April 2016

Lesson plan

Obsessive-compulsive disorder
(OCD)
Matt Jarvis

Helping you use the article on pp. 18–21 of the magazine in class.

The big picture AQA 4.1.4 Psychopathology. Edexcel 5.1.3 Health & clinical psychology (optional)

OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) is a core part of AQA AS and A-level psychology
and an option in OCR A-level.

Learning objectives To practice graph interpretation (numeracy).

To improve understanding of technical terms around psychopathology (literacy).

To practice working in groups (employability).

To improve understanding of the experience of a serious mental health problem

(diversity, British values).

To improve ability to produce AO1 answers on the psychopathology topic.

Starter activity Numeracy exercise:

1 Look at Box 1, p. 18. Draw a bar chart showing these results. Make sure you pay
attention to the conventions of bar charts.
2 For which intrusive thought is there the greatest gender disparity?

3 Estimate whether overall there is likely to be a significant difference in the

percentages of men and women experiencing intrusive thoughts

Lesson activities 1 In pairs, students identify key technical terms from the article and record them in a
glossary.

2 Class is given the task of producing a public awareness campaign on the experience
of suffering from OCD. Groups can choose between a poster, leaflet or Wiki for their
campaign.

3 Differentiation:

 high-ability group(s) to use the article, a textbook and internet

 medium-ability group(s) to use article and textbook

 lower-ability group(s) to work from PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW article only

4 Extension: students peer review each other’s campaigns.

Plenary Around the room, each student to identify one feature of OCD.

Philip Allan Publishers © 2016 www.hoddereducation.co.uk/psychologyreview

Homework task All learners to prepare a practice A-level question to complete under exam conditions
next lesson.

Assessment Targeted questions in starter.

opportunities
Teacher assessment of participation in group task.

Peer assessment of awareness campaigns.

Teacher assessment of responses to plenary.

Differentiation Targeting of questions in starter.

Teacher and peer prompts and targeted elaboration questions in response to

awareness campaigns.

Preparation for formal exam-style assessment in homework task.

This resource is part of PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW a magazine written for A-level students by subject
experts. To subscribe to the full magazine go to
www.hoddereducation.co.uk/psychologyreview

Philip Allan Publishers © 2016 www.hoddereducation.co.uk/psychologyreview