The AP College Board will be changing the structure of AP science courses in the upcoming years. The shift in focus will change the way these classes are taught, as well as how the information is applied by students.
“It’ll be different,” biology teacher Mr. Wieten said. “AP Biology was the first science they changed, they went from being more science biology content, to being more ACT style.”
This shift in style is a common trend to see, as the College Board strives to encourage critical thinking and reasoning skills with science courses that allow students to cultivate their understanding of different science practices.
“For some students it was easier, for some it was harder,” Mr. Wieten said when asked how he thinks the change has affected his students.
One of the primary AP science courses changing this year is AP Physics. The course AP Physics B underwent a split in curriculum and became AP Physics 1 & 2 starting in September of 2014. The College Board, as well as AP Physics students, believe that the change has made things easier on students.
“The new AP Physics curriculum is for the AP Physics we don’t teach, so the AP Physics we do teach is actually unchanged,” said Mr. Lohr
The AP Physics course currently offered at Rochester Adams is AP Physics C, which remains unchanged in 2014. However, it is possible that there may be changes to the AP Physics C course in the future. For now, Adams AP Physics students can rest easy knowing that AP Physics is currently the same monster of a class it has always been.