Now that the Advanced Placement Testing has concluded, what will the various AP courses be doing for the remainder of the year?  One might logically concluded that since the purpose of an AP course is to prepare for the AP exam, once the exam has been taken, there is no point to covering additional content.  However, test tortured students in these classes will apparently still be expected to learn through the end of the school year.

Art History

According to AP Art History teacher Molly Kerr, the class will begin with “book groups.” Students will read different biographies about famous artists and will meet and discuss what they have learned in small groups. After, they will give short, informal presentations about current and modern art. Finally, the class will watch classic movies that are considered artistically significant films.

Biology

According to AP Biology teacher Rene Gillibert, the class will watch a video series on human evolution the week after their AP test. Then, they will do a fetal pig dissection to learn about internal anatomy for a practical test. Gillibert said he will have pigs set out on tables with different parts labeled. The students will have to correctly identify each part of the pig. During the weeks of the dissection, the students will also read a non-fiction biology book that they purchase or check out from the library.

Calculus AB

The Calculus AB classes will complete a mini unit on code-breaking, also known as cryptography. Following the code breaking, teacher Petro Petreas said the class will be working on projects in which students teach the class a mathematical concept they have mastered.

Calculus BC

Nita Madra’s Calculus BC class is currently creating calculus place mats that will include the name of their own restaurant and a menu all relating to mathematics concepts covered throughout this year. Afterwards, the class will be split into groups of 3 to create hot air balloons. A lesson will be taught by each student, followed by the viewing of a film on how to play Cricket.  After the viewing, the class will attempt to play the game on the lower field. 

Chemistry

According to AP Chemistry teacher Rachel Eaton, this was the first year of a redesigned AP Chemistry curriculum. This meant the class did not do the labs preceding the exam that they have typically done in the past. As a result, Eaton said the class will now be doing a series of labs to “give them a broader chemistry background than just the AP curriculum.”

Each lab will last somewhere between a couple days and a week. There will be a total of 3 labs and following that will be a couple of projects to wrap up the year. Eaton said she is looking forward to one specific lab because it “pulls together everything that they’ve done in the lab all year long.” The students are given 14 bottles of mystery solutions and they must conduct several tests to figure out what each substance is.

Comparative Government (2)

According to AP Comparative Government teacher Tom Renno, his classes have two projects planned for the remainder of the year. The stock market game allows students to research the stock market, pick their own stocks, and then see who can make the most money. They will also participate in the “comp. gov. olympics” which Renno said is a series of contests related to the countries that they study in comparative government politics.

According to Dino Petrocco, his students are currently doing a stock market simulation which will continue until the Friday before finals. Petrocco will follow the stock market simulation project with a presentation on finals day. Petrocco will be finishing off the year by showing his students a documentary about death squads in Indonesia called The Act of Killing. 

Computer Science

Carol Paymer’s AP Computer Science class will be doing “larger scale projects” with programming to finish off the year.

English 4

Dan Doyle has a creative writing project set up for his AP English 4 class. About 1o different prompts will be given to each student who will then write about them and post them to Schoolloop as well as recite them to their classmates. All of the responses will comprise a portfolio.

Environmental Science

Since many of his students were taking other AP tests, Tren Kauzer decided to have them create 1 to 2 minute movies on iPads relating to topics from the course. After viewing the iPad movies, students will compete to see who can build the best solar cooker out of aluminum foil and cardboard.

European History

The AP European History class will be watching movies that focus on conflict in Northern Ireland. After, they will work on current events that focus on Europe. European History teacher Molly Kerr said, “We’ve been looking at European history so we’re going to be looking at current events by country and what is going on in respective countries in Europe.”

French

The AP French class will do 2 art projects, watch 2 films, and will prepare for their semester final exam. According to AP French teacher Ed Willy, the students will each find a 19th century artist and research their background. Then, they will present their findings to the class. He said the artists will most likely be impressionists, post-impressionists, or romanticists. The class will watch 2 different movies and then compare them to American movies. Finally, if there is enough time, they will participate in a cultural unit.

German

According to AP German teacher David Blumberg, his students will be watching a couple german films and discussing them, reading some poetry, listening to German music, and analyzing a text. He said the rest of the year will be “pretty low-key, but not totally done with work.” Blumberg also said his class still has to take their final, which, unlike other AP teachers, he gives at the very end of the year. However, it is not on specifics but instead tests students on “their general knowledge and ability in the language.”

Photo

The AP Photo class will finish up printing their pictures during the next month. After that, according to teacher Collette Sweeney, the students will have time to hang out and celebrate a year of hard work.

Physics

Betty Watson’s AP Physics students will hold a bridge building competition, where groups will be graded on the strength to weight ratio as well as the total weight the bridge can hold.

Psychology(2)

Both Paul Verbansky and Carol Paymer’s AP Psycholgy classes will take part in the “AP Psychology Film Festival” which entails watching various movies about “psychological concepts” that range from Schizophrenia to Autism. Afterwards, students will create a project in which they will experience life without their normal senses. Verbansky’s class will end the year with a project where students will receive a psychological condition and then become the therapist and analyze and treat their “patient.”

Spanish 5

After the AP test, Charlotte Taylor’s Spanish 5 class watched a romantic movie about teenagers in love. They are currently reading a simplified version of  Don Quixote, a classic Spanish novel, as well as watching the movie. Following Don Quixote, students will be taking their finals which, according to Taylor, are “practical” and do not require studying. Lastly, there will be a final project that the students create themselves that relates to Spanish.

Statistics

The AP Statistic classes will utilize the remainder of the year to learning new material. According to teacher Ken Ingersoll, his students will go back through the book and learn a couple of leftover sections. They will also participate in a data project that incorporates their personal interest. Ingersoll said that students will choose a topic and have it approved by him. Then, they will research, collect data, and create a visual to represent their findings.

United States History

After some time to relax and cool off, Lisa Herzig’s AP U.S. History will begin a conspiracy theory project, where students will split into groups and pick a theory which they will present to the class.