***This course is not available for the Track C July/August learning period.***
AP (Advanced Placement) Research allows learners to deeply explore an academic topic, problem, or issue of individual interest. Through this exploration, learners design, plan, and conduct a year-long research-based investigation to address a research question. In the AP Research course, learners further their skills acquired in the AP Seminar course by understanding research methodology; employing ethical research practices; and accessing, analyzing, and synthesizing information as they address a research question. Learners explore their skill development, document their processes, and curate the artifacts of the development of their scholarly work in a portfolio. The course culminates in an academic paper of approximately 4000–5000 words (accompanied by a performance or exhibition of product where applicable) and a presentation with an oral defense.AP Research is not tied to a specific content area, rather it emphasizes and strives for competency in core academic skills. Learners gain Essential Knowledge (EK; “What students will know…”) and develop and apply discrete skills identified in the Learning Objectives (LO; “What students will demonstrate…”) of the Enduring Understandings (EU; “What students will remember in the long term…”) within the five big ideas represented by the acronym QUEST introduced in the prerequisite AP Seminar course:
- Question and Explore: Read critically; pose questions and identify issues that compel you to want to explore further.
- Understand and Analyze: Use specific tools – such as re-reading, questioning in the text, and considering multiple perspectives – to break down an idea or argument into parts that make sense to you.
- Evaluate Multiple Perspectives: Identify a variety of perspectives, viewpoints, and/or arguments of an issue and consider any bias to determine the validity of that point of view.
- Synthesize Ideas: Create new perspectives after evaluating other varying perspectives and establishing a unique position or claim using a variety of resources designed for a specific audience.
- Team, Transform, and Transmit: Communicate the message clearly and effectively so as to transform both participants and audience.
Learners will devise their own unique research question, draft a research plan, conduct said research using college-level database access, generate new findings and share data, analyze the results, reflect on the limitations of their conclusions/flaws in their research methods, revise the draft of the academic paper, and then finally submit the paper for review by the College Board. They will also have to present their paper and its conclusion orally to a panel and defend it against questioning from the panelists. Many of the projects completed by AP Research students are eligible to be published in academic journals and/or trade publications.It is a genuine upper-level undergraduate, lower-level graduate student experience that learners can undertake after they have taken and passed AP Seminar.
Prereq: AP Seminar
Recommended Grade Level: 11-12
This course fee does not include the cost of the AP College Board test