Self-knowledge and self-control for adolescents: teaching psychology in Newfoundland high schools

Abstract

The purpose of this study was two-fold: first, to investigate the nature and potential effects of high school psychology, as taught to secondary school students in the United States and, secondly, to experimentally assess the main effects of a six-week high school psychology course on student self-perception and locus of control. - A preliminary study was conducted by visits to twenty selected high schools in the eastern United States. Interviews were conducted with teachers and self-reports obtained from students who were participating in high school psychology courses. The central theme emerging from this data indicated that such courses have a positive effect on student level of self-knowledge and self-directedness. -- Based on the findings of this investigation an experimental study was conducted with a class of-Grade X students at a secondary school in St. John's, Newfoundland. They were taught a six-week psychology course and administered pre and post outcome measures of self-perception and self-directedness using the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale and Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale. The same measures were administered to a comparable Grade X class which served as a control group. -- An analysis of covariance with pre-scores treated as covariates resulted in no significant differences between the experimental and control groups on either outcome measure. These findings are discussed with consideration of their implications and suggestions for subsequent research.