AP classes are viewed as some of the toughest courses that Staples has to offer. However, most have their final in mid-May since the College Board’s AP tests are given then, so teachers have to find some way to fill the last month or so of school.
The answer? Projects.
Joseph Jelen has assigned his AP Government students to choose a local issue and plan a campaign on how to solve it.
“My partner and I are working on making personal finance a mandatory part of the [Staples] curriculum,” Adam Skolnick ’14 said. “We feel that this class is important because it teaches finance skills that everyone needs to know in today’s world.”
Joel Kabak has assigned his AP Biology students a presentation project. The project, according to Avery Wallace ’13, is about “anything of [the student’s] choice as long as it has to do with biology.” Wallace is studying endorphins.
And Michael Aitkenhead has assigned his AP Environmental Science students “a ‘problem-based learning’ project where the students get to choose between several projects,” said Hannah Myers ’14.
All three students reported enjoying their various projects and learning something along the way.
“[Our personal finance project] ties a lot of the things we learned this year together, and we can apply the stuff we did with tangible results rather than hypothetical activities,” Skolnick said.
Wallace agreed but for a different reason.
“I like [the AP Biology project] because it gives us a chance to research about something that we’re personally interested in,” she said.
Overall, the AP projects close the year in a fun, rewarding way.
“I actually really enjoy the project because it’s different from what we normally do in the class, and it brings in our knowledge from many different subject areas,” Myers said.
