This week in AP Research
Sarah Heilbronner’s students honed their primary research question and method. Primary research is like science fair: students develop a unique research question nobody’s ever studied and spend all year collecting data to answer it. Research students already understand secondary research because of their experience in AP Seminar the year before. Secondary research asks them to decide how they feel about an issue by researching what other scholars have said about it.
This week Research students:
- Participated in speed dating.
They explained their research question, purpose, and method to a partner, who, having listed carefully, asked a lot of questions and provided valuable feedback: Have you thought about …? Have you read …? Can you do it by …? Where’s your data going to come from? Then they rotated so that everybody got loads of experience both presenting their topics and getting feedback. It was a loud, fun, and really productive block.
- Presented their thesis poster and made their first elevator speech.
Students described how they were going to structure their research and method, and then got more feedback. This was a warm-up for another round of posters and speeches in a couple of weeks’ time when Ms. Norris and Mr. Finnestead will visit our class.
We’re gearing up to write research proposals in October!
More about the Capstone Program
AP Research is the second in a two-year capstone program organized by the College Board. Students who successfully complete AP Research and Seminar plus four other AP courses are eligible for the AP Capstone Diploma. Thirty-three juniors and seniors are pursuing the diploma in AP Research this year – quite a feather in their cap!
AP Seminar is a foundational course that engages students in cross-curricular conversations that analyze divergent perspectives. Students learn to synthesize information from multiple sources, develop their own perspectives in written essays, and design and deliver oral and visual presentations, both individually and as part of a team. Students are assessed with two through-course performance tasks and one end-of-course exam. If you’re interested in AP Seminar, see Ms. Neufeld.
In AP Research students spend an entire school year pursuing a research topic of interest in any discipline. Every student strikes his or her own curricular path. After collecting and analyzing data, students publish their conclusions in a scholarly paper that’s submitted to the College Board. They also make a presentation and oral defense in front of a panel of experts. If you’ve completed AP Seminar and are interested in AP Research, see Ms. Heilbronner.