A study by the National Research Council makes
several recommendations for improving the
Advanced Placement program in the US.
Jerry P. Gollub and Robin Spital
The Advanced Placement (AP) program has a major impact on
the science experience of many high-school students. It can
affect admission to college, course choices and performance
in college, and subsequent career decisions. Therefore, it
is important to understand the consequences of this program
for physics and to ensure its quality.
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In 2000, 433 000 AP exams were taken in math and science, an
increase of almost a factor of three in a decade.
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Recent advances in the understanding of how people learn [ref]
suggest many opportunities to improve the effectiveness...
*) Learning is facilitated when knowledge is
structured around major concepts and principles.
*) A learner's prior knowledge is the starting point
for effective learning.
*) Awareness and self-monitoring of learning ("meta-
cognition") are important for acquiring proficiency.
*) Learners' beliefs about their ability to learn affect
their success.
*) Recognizing and accommodating differences in the ways
people learn are essential.
*) Learning is shaped by the context in which it occurs.
*) Learning can be strengthened through collaboration.
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Effective in-class assessment.
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The College Board should abandon its practice of designing
AP physics courses primarily to replicate typical
introductory college courses with their exhaustive lists of
topics. Instead, the College Board should focus greater
attention on helping students to achieve deep conceptual
understanding.
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A flexible second semester.
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Effective laboratory work must be an essential part of
any high quality advanced physics program.
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In figure 2, we present an example of a question from the
1998 AP Physics B exam that is in accord with this
advice. There is nothing to calculate, yet the problem tests
important concepts involving Newton's laws and projectile
motion.
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15 references