Biological clocks

Endogenous pacemakers are inbuilt biological clocks. The two we discussed are the SCN and the pineal gland. Both are intricately linked with light, sleep, melatonin production and many other cycles.

The powerpoints are here and here.

Some more info about Kate Aldcroft is here.

Biologicl explanations of gender - exam quetion homework

a) Outline the biological explanation for the development of gender identity. (5 marks AO1)
b) Assess the evidence supporting this explanation. (4 marks AO1 + 16 marks AO2/3)

For part a) you need a fairly brief (one paragraph) summary of the chromosoms/genes > hormones > neuroanatomy explanation of gender development.

Part b) needs to be around 600 words. Organise it into paragraphs dealing with the three strands of evidence we have looked at (animal, case study and correlation). Description of these needs to be very brief - it's all about the evaluation.

You need to include a research methodology issue (e.g. reliability, validity, generalisability, cause & effect) and an IDA (issue, debate or approach) related discussion for higher mark bands.

Word processed and turned in via Edmodo in time for our next lesson on Thursday 29th September please.

Infradian rhythms

Today we discussed infradian (over 24 hrs) and ultradian (under 24 hrs) rhythms including the delights of the menstrual cycle, SAD, sleep/wake and the paradoxy of REM sleep.

The powerpoints are here. and here.

The exam questions that you will need this term are here.

Don't forget we have a TEST next Wednesday. Details on the test page of the blog.

Biological explanations of gender development

Our Gender topic is dominated by the nature nurture debate, where 'nature' means biological and evolutionary explanations for observed gender differences. You need to be able to outline how sex chromosomes and the genes on them lead to hormonal differences (mainly levels of androgens including testosterone) which in turn lead to differences in brain structure at birth (mainly in the hypothalamus). Make sure you can include some evidence for these biological differences - and briefly evaluate this. None of this is really in doubt - the controversy is over whether these biological differences between the sexes are the main reason, or even a contributing reason, for (psychological) gender differences.

We are examining three strands of evidence which aim to answer this question: research involving manipulating sex hormones in animals, case studies of individuals with sex / gender mismatch, and correlation studies looking at hormonal differences and gender differences in normal populations - we will conclude this next Thursday.

Here is the PowerPoint from last Friday's lesson.

TEXTBOOKS

If you have a copy of this at home please return it to me ASAP.

Biological rhythms

Today we started Biological Rhythms and Sleep with some work on circadian rhythms. The powerpoint is here.
The spec content is here.
We also discussed approaches, issues and debates and started to think about AO2. Lots more of this to come.
Great start year13! Please let me know if any of these links don't work.

Gender - Key Terms

On Friday we reviewed key terms associated with Gender and began to discuss psychological gender differences and where their origins might lie. In Thursday's lesson we will look in detail at the biological determination of sex and possibly gender, and the different strands of evidence on which it is based.
Here is the presentation which covers both lessons. It would be useful to have a look ahead at it.

Homework for Thursday which I didn't set in the lesson:
Research human sex chromosome abnormalities. What syndromes / conditions are caused by unusual combinations of sex chromosomes? What are these people like? How useful is this as evidence for tackling the nature / nurture question of gender development? Collect your findings / thoughts on a piece of paper and bring it on Thursday.