AP Research
Spring 2018
Cheryl Henderson Kellogg
“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
- Unknown, Einstein (?)
“Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought”
- Arthur Schopenhauer (1851)
Office: Wagoner 153 Email: Phone: 285-7403
Office Hours:
M,W,F: 8:30-10:00
T, R: 2:00- 3:00
*Please note other hours are available by appointment.
Attendance:
You are required to attend every class session, in accordance with Indiana Academy attendance policies. Please understand, if you arrive 5 or more minutes after the hour; you are officially “Tardy” and after 15 minutes you are officially “Absent.” Sleeping in class, as well as inappropriate use of phones and or computers will result in an unexcused absence without notice.
Course Description:
I. Introduction
The College Board describes the AP Research course as follows:
AP Research, the second course in the AP Capstone experience, allows students to deeply explore an academic topic, problem, issue, or idea of individual interest. Students design, plan, and implement a yearlong investigation to address a research question. Through this inquiry, they further the skills they acquired in the AP Seminar course by learning research methodology, employing ethical research practices, and accessing, analyzing, and synthesizing information. Students reflect on their skill development, document their processes, and curate the artifacts of their scholarly work through a process and reflection portfolio. The course culminates in an academic paper and a presentation with an oral defense.
Academic Paper:
Students will write an academic research paper as the culmination of a year-long inquiry based research on a topic of the student’s choosing. The academic paper is an original 4000-5000 word report that analyzes, evaluates, and synthesizes a broad range of literature. The specific requirements will be passed out on a separate handout.
Presentation and Oral Defense:
Students will make a 15-20 minute presentation, using appropriate media, to a panel of 3-4 experts. The panel will include the AP Research teacher, faculty, and/or consultants. Students will defend their topic
of inquiry/research question, approach, and findings or products through questions posed by the panel.
The panel will ask questions from three categories: one question pertaining to the research or inquiry process, one question focused on the depth of understanding, and one question about your reflection throughout the inquiry process as evidenced from your PREP journal. The fourth question and any follow up questions are at the discretion of the panel.
II. Course Objectives:
In AP Research, students will build upon the skills from AP Seminar. Students will consider and evaluate multiple points of view as they develop a research question and write an inquiry proposal. They will learn and apply research methodology and employ ethical research practices as they analyze, evaluate and synthesize information to answer their research question. Students will learn that the process of writing a research paper is inquiry based and recursive and that the 5 big ideas (QUEST) in this course lends itself to that recursive process.
Students will maintain a journal referred to as the PREP to document their individual growth and development and continue to develop and practice their reasoning processes from AP Seminar.
The foundation of the course is built upon the following 5 big ideas and associated essential questions:
· Question and Explore (Q)Challenge and expand the boundaries of your current knowledge
· How might others see the problem or issue differently ?
· What questions have yet to be asked?
· What do I want to know, learn, or understand?
· How does my research question shape how I go about trying to answer it?
· How does my project goal shape the research or inquiry I engage in to achieve it?
· Understand and Analyze (U)
Contextualize arguments and comprehend author’s claims
· What strategies will help me comprehend a text?
· What is the main idea of the argument or artistic work and what reasoning does the author use to develop it?
· What biases may the author have that influence his or her perspective?
· Does this argument acknowledge other perspectives?
· How can I assess the quality or strength of others’ research, product, or artistic works?
· Evaluate Multiple Perspectives (E)
Consider individual perspectives and the larger conversation of varied points of interest
· What patterns or trends can be identified among the arguments about this issue?
· What are the implications and/or consequences of accepting or rejecting a particular argument?
· How can I connect multiple arguments? What other issues, questions, or topics do they relate to?
· How can I explain contradictions within or between arguments?
· From whose perspective is this information being presented and how does that affect my evaluation?
· Synthesize Ideas (S)
Combine knowledge, ideas, and your own perspective into an argument
· How do I connect and analyze the evidence in order to develop an argument and support a
conclusion ?
· Are there other conclusions I should consider?
· How does my scholarly work emerge from my perspective, design choices, or aesthetic rationale?
· How do I acknowledge and account for my own biases and assumptions?
· What is the most appropriate way to acknowledge and attribute the work of others that was used to support my argument? How do I ensure the conclusions I present are my own?
· Team, Transform, and Transmit (T)
Collaborate, reflect, and communicate your argument in a method suitable to your audience
· How can I best appeal to and engage my audience?
· What is the best medium or genre through which to reach my audience?
· How might I adapt my written and oral presentation for different audiences and situations?
· How might my communication choices affect my credibility with my audience?
· Which revision strategies are most appropriate to developing and refining my project at different stages?
· How do I provide feedback that is valuable to others? How do I act upon feedback I have received?
· How can I benefit from reflecting on my own work?
Develop and Practice Reasoning Processes:
The AP Capstone program allows students to develop and practice reasoning processes that are embedded within learning objectives tied to the five big ideas. The reasoning skills of situating, choosing, defending, and connecting allow students to make intentional, strategic decisions.
Situating – being aware of the context of one’s own as well as others’ perspectives, realizing that individual bias can lead to assumptions.
Choosing – making intentional and purposeful choices, realizing that choices have both intended and unintended consequences.
Defending – being able to explain and justify personal choices, logic, line of reasoning, and conclusions.
Connecting – seeing similarities within and across disciplines, concepts, and cultures that may at first seem disparate.
III. Instructional Resources:
To meet the course objectives, the following resources will be used. I will make those resources available on Bb.
Graff, G., Birkenstein, C., & Durst, R. K. (2009). "They say/I say": The moves that matter in academic writing with readings. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Leedy, P. D., & Ormrod, J. E. (2013).Practical research: Planning and design. Boston: Pearson.
Supplemental readings will come from the following resource texts:
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008). The craft of research (3rd Ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Christensen, L. B., Johnson, R. B., & Turner, L. A. (2014). Research Methods, Design, and Analysis. Boston: Pearson.
Palmquist, Mike. The Bedford Researcher. 4th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012.
IV. Evaluation and Grading:
There will be much individual work being accomplished this second semester of AP Research. Your assignment may be somewhat different than your classmates. determining your grade for this semester. You will have individualized reports of your progress which will be available at the end of the first quarter.
Quarter Grade:
The quarter grade will be based on a total points system. All assessments will be awarded a point value and the quarter grade will be calculated based on the number of points received for all assignments.
Assessments could include, but not be limited to, the following:
· Annotated Bibliographies:
Students will complete an annotated bibliography in 3 stages to support the writing of a literature review. (Note: you have already completed stage 1 of this assignment.) Corrections will be expected.
· Literature Reviews:
Students will develop an understanding of what constitutes good literature review. Literature review is not just a review and reporting of the related literature; but it evaluates, organizes, and synthesizes what others have done. Students will pull together the multiple perspectives from the articles into a cohesive whole.
Students will use the concept of “LEADS” to synthesize what others have discovered about the topic and verify the existence of a gap to form the basis of their research.
Students will:
Compare and contrast theoretical perspectives within the articles
Identify and describe common themes and contradictory findings
Identify methodologies used in the research
Use validity and reliability criteria to evaluate the credibility of an article
Make frequent connections to the student’s own research and include the student’s perspective
· Research Proposal Poster and Presentation:
After students write, revise, and refine their research question and begin their literature review, students will complete an inquiry proposal. Prior to submission of the Inquiry Proposal Form, we will review its requirements and students will peer review their proposals and make adjustments. Students will submit the proposal to the AP Research teacher for approval. After the proposal is approved, students can continue their research project by contacting consultants, expanding their literature review, and beginning their research paper. If a student needs to submit an IRB (Institutional Review Board) form, students will be guided through that process before continuing their research. The poster will be formally presented.
· Presentations:
Students will build upon past experiences (including AP Seminar) with giving presentations. Students will have time during the year to practice presenting their research in a variety of ways including elevator speeches and peer review opportunities. Students will watch and analyze sample presentations based on the rubric to identify areas of strength and weakness. Students will be given the list of possible questions that the panel could ask so they are adequately prepared to defend their research.
· Process and Reflection Portfolio (PREP):
Students will maintain a PREP journal to document their own development as they investigate their research question. Students will document their communication with teachers and consultants and reflect on that feedback. Students will document their thinking, writing, and creative processes from beginning with a topic of interest to finishing their research paper and oral presentation. The journal will provide evidence of sustained effort throughout the entire inquiry process. The combined group of questions and tasks in the PREP should address all five big ideas in the curriculum framework (QUEST), with specific attention paid to:
· Choice of the research question and interest in the subject matter
· Research process, including resources (documents, people, multimedia); analysis of evidence; directions in which the inquiry or project seems to lead; changes to initial assumptions.
· Ways students have worked both on their own and as part of a larger community
· Challenges and solutions
Initial PREP activities will include question and prompts to encourage development of questions and appropriate methodology for the inquiry process.
Semester Grade:
Quarter 40% Quarter 40% Final 20%
As the focus of this course is on student development of a specific selection of skills, the majority of classroom assessments will be graded using variations of the following ten-point rubric:
Exemplary 10 / Proficient 8 / Approaching 7 / Does not meet standard 6Student performs all components at a superior level beyond what is required for proficiency.
Exemplary work implies that the student has exceeded expectations and has presented work worthy of showcasing and emulating.
Student work is characterized by an in-depth understanding of the subject-area content related to the task and demonstrates excellence in essential skills. / Student performs all components at a consistent level and demonstrates competency.
Proficient work implies that the student has met the expectations of the assignment and its corresponding standards.
Student work is characterized by a solid understanding of the subject-area content related to the task and demonstrates proficiency in essential skills. / Student has not demonstrated proficiency in all components.
Approaching implies that the student is working towards meeting assignment expectations and corresponding standards.
Student work is characterized by a general understanding of subject-area content related to the task and demonstrates a basic grasp of essential skills. / Student has not met or demonstrated proficiency in the minimum standards for completion of the assignment.
Student work is characterized by insufficient understanding of subject-area content and demonstrates deficiencies in essential skills.
In addition to the four-point rubric, individual rubrics created by the College Board will be used to evaluate summative assessments that support the AP Research graded assessments.
Make-Up Work Policy
All work is assigned a due date. This means that written work must be turned in at the beginning of class on the day that it is due. Homework passed in one day late is counted off 50%. After 1 week, late homework receives no credit. As stated previously, we will not all be working on the same assignments at the same time. Please find a way to keep track of your work.
The following scale determines letter grades:
93-100 A
90-92 A-
87-89 B+
83-86 B
80-82 B-
77-79 C+
73-76 C
70-72 C-
69 and below D*
V. Integrity and Plagiarism Policy:
AP Research students will learn proper citation methods and be held to high standards of integrity, academic honesty, and ethics. Students will have lessons designed to teach the importance of academic honesty and whether examples within a lesson require citation and used proper citation methods. Student’s individual work should be evident, whereas the work and ideas of others must be quoted, attributed and/or cited. Students will not falsify citations or fabricate data.