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Advanced Placement (AP) Curriculum

Art History

Description

Within AP Art History, students will explore the interconnections between culture, art, and historical context through the critical analysis of art, culture, and purpose. Through the use of a defined art historical skill set and reflective learning, students will analyze relationships across cultures with a global lens. The examination of how people have responded to and communicated their experiences through art will enable students to think conceptually about art ranging from prehistory to contemporary. Students will be active participants, engaging with art and its context as they read, research, and collaborate to learn about art, artists, art making, and responses to and interpretations of art. The AP Art History course is structured around three big ideas, three essential questions, twelve learning objectives, and ten content areas outlined within the College Board Advanced Placement Art History Framework. Each content area is represented by a prescribed image set accompanied by enduring understanding and essential knowledge statements that provide required contextual information to serve as a foundation and catalyst for student learning within the course. The intention is for students to explore art in its historical and cultural contexts.

Pre-Requisites: Due to the mature content, this course is recommended for students in 10th, 11th, and 12th in conjunction with or who have successfully completed World History
Credits: 1.0
Estimated Completion Time: 2 segments / 32-36 weeks

Major Topics and Concepts

Segment One

Gallery One—Introduction to Art History

  • An overview of art history and the purpose and function of the analysis of art within its cultural context
  • Global and chronological themes and subthemes in art history
  • An introduction to the College Board Advanced Placement Art History Framework
  • Formal analysis of the art process through the principles and elements of design
  • The College Board AP Art History Exam breakdown—what to expect, type of assessments on the exam, how the exam assesses the students’ application of art historical skills, and how the exam is scored
  • Understanding how to read and interpret architectural plans
  • Global Prehistory starting with Asia and Africa
  • Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic Periods
  • Human expression of the natural world prior to written record
  • Ceramics, painting, sculpture, and architecture representative of utilitarian art

 Gallery Two—Indigenous Americas

  • Ancient America and Native North America—Olmec, Maya, Mexica (Aztec), and Central Andes
  • Art of the Indigenous Americas as a representation of the retention of pre-Hispanic traditions.
  • Overarching artistic traits of Indigenous Americas—unity with the natural world, cosmic geometry, Shamanism, animal-based media, incorporation of trade materials, and spiritual utilitarianism
  • Integration of terrestrial and plant imagery within architecture to represent power and hierarchy within the culture and community
  • Status, power, gifts, visual memory, and revival represented within the art of Ancient America and Native North American cultures
  • Trade resulting in exotic materials within artistic themes of interdependence and dualism
  • Exploration of Ancient America and Native North America within the context of colonization, persecution, genocide, and marginalization

Gallery Three—Asia

  • Secular and non-secular art produced from West Asia’s dominant Islamic culture
  • Sacred spaces of West and Central Asia as a result of cross-cultural fertilization
  • Connection of West and Central Asia through Buddhist and Islamic traditions
  • Architectural innovations and monuments driven by religious function and pilgrimages
  • Two-dimensional design favored in West Asia, while metalwork thrived in West and Central Asia
  • Visual traditions of South, East, and Southeast Asia among the oldest, identified by the interconnectedness of humans with the natural and spiritual world
  • Universal search for spiritual development within Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, resulting in unified visual representations
  • Buddhist reliquary stupas, ink paintings, pagodas, and rock gardens representing the overlap of secular and non-secular art

 Gallery 4—The Pacific

  • Diversity in the Pacific resulting from ecological situations, social structure, and external influences such as commerce, colonialism, and missionary activity
  • The Pacific as defined by geographical location and its art as representative of materials carried and exchanged
  • Three sections of the Pacific—micro, poly, and mela, each defined by individual ecologies and sociological systems
  • Art of the Pacific as narrative and utilitarian expressing beliefs, social relations, essential truths, and information within the creation, performance, and the destruction of art
  • Wrappings, ritual dress, and tattoos as symbols for human interaction with deities
  • Architectural design and shared and rarified spaces reinforcing social order
  • Sacred spaces announcing and containing legitimacy, power, and life force.

Gallery 5—Ancient Near East and Africa

  • Sumerian, Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Persian cultures
  • Religious art and architecture of the Ancient Near East
  • The emergence of stylistic elements such as hierarchical scale, registers, historical narratives, and formal sculpture of humans interacting with gods
  • The architecture of the Ancient Near East housed places of worship and protection to represent the power and authority of the rulers
  • Predynastic Egypt including the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms
  • Artistic representations of royal figures and divinities serving a funerary function and representing order, stability, and permanence
  • Figural representation correlated with cultural placement, characterizing separation between the deified and lower classes
  • Predynastic Egypt driven by an elaborate funerary sect represented by the incorporation of mythological and religious symbolism
  • The artistic and cultural revolution of the Amarna period
  • African art resulting from human beliefs and interactions motivated by behavior, containing and expressing belief, and validating social organization
  • African art expressing the supernatural and used daily and ritually
  • Art and cultural practices as purposeful, with cultural protocols to ensure the artistic experience (meant to be sung, danced, and presented holistically) and produce expected results
  • Education, civic responsibility, and adulthood as represented by the creation, manipulation, and interpretation of art
  • African art misinterpreted as primitive, anonymous, and static
  • Africa’s global interaction resulting in dynamic intellectual and artistic traditions

Segment Two

Gallery Six—Ancient Mediterranean

  • Art of the Aegean—Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean cultures as driving influences in Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art and architecture
  • Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art and architecture identified by stylistic changes categorized according to styles, governments, or dynasties
  • Ancient Greek art throughout the Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods characterized by proportions and spatial relationships, expression of societal values, and harmony and order
  • Humanism
  • Roman art, including the Republican, Early Imperial, Late Imperial, and Late Antique Periods
  • Etruscan and Roman art characterized by iconographical eclecticism and portraiture that represent imperial values and power
  • Ancient Greek and Roman art as foundational for later Europe artistic and cultural traditions

Gallery Seven—Early Europe and Colonial Americas

  • Medieval art divided geographically by regions, governing cultures, and identifiable styles
  • Medieval art, including Late Antique, early Christian, Byzantine, Islamic, Migratory, Carolingian, Romanesque, and Gothic
  • Medieval art motivated by the requirements of Jewish, Christian, or Islamic worship, elite or court culture, and learning
  • Icons and reliquaries facilitating a divine connection
  • Cross-cultural fertilization facilitated through trade and conquest
  • Religiously functional architecture with ground plans and elevations designed around worship and including symbolic numbers, shapes, and ornament
  • Theological rejection of figural imagery on and within religious structures or objects as prevalent in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity
  • Romanesque and Gothic periods marking the initiation of globalization and the emergence of the Atlantic World in conjunction with the development of the Americas
  • The Atlantic World, comprising Western Europe—Italy, Spain, France, Germany, England, Belgium, and the Netherlands
  • The Americas, comprising the Caribbean, the Western and Southwestern regions of the U.S., Mexico, Central America, and South America
  • Pilgrimages driving new patronage and architectural innovations in the Romanesque and Gothic periods

Gallery Eight—Early Modern Atlantic World

  • A revival of antiquity defining the Renaissance with the incorporation of classical models, enhanced naturalism, Christianity, pageantry, and more formalized artistic training
  • The rise of the academy
  • Artistic production determined by corporate and individual patronage
  • Development of linear and atmospheric perspective, composition, color, figuration, and narrative all increasing the illusion of naturalism
  • Art as propaganda, commemorative, didactic, devotional, ritual, recreational, and decorative
  • Baroque art representing the polarization of north and southwestern European due to the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation
  • Art production in the Spanish viceroyalties representing a hybridization of European and indigenous ideas, forms, and materials
  • Industrialization, urbanization, scientific inquiry, economic upheaval, migrations, and wars concluding the 18th century
  • The Enlightenment, characterized by belief in progress, the Industrial Revolution, and the emergence of a newly wealthy middle class, and satirical expressions within art
  • Rococo as evidence of the infiltration of aristocratic art, prompting the call for moral art and Neoclassicism as a reaction and new emphasis on human rights expressed in Romanticism

Gallery Nine—Later Europe and Americas

  • Artists gravitating to new roles in society, leading artistic movements that shifted quickly as a reaction and rejection to the previous movement
  • Modernism as an umbrella term enabling new roles and functions and giving audiences opportunities to experience art in new ways
  • Modernism, including Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism Expressionism, Cubism, Constructivism, Suprematism, Abstraction, Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Performance Art, and Environmental Art
  • Photography as art within the context of the Industrial Revolution, with increased popularity within the middle class
  • Criticism of the new industrial age leading to the rise of Realism and sympathy toward the working class
  • Evolving perception of women as the “male gaze” is applied to images of women outside of religious contexts
  • Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, and Expressionism as a rejection of the Modern
  • Architectural innovations driven by the evolution of needs, materials, and nationalism
  • Abstraction giving way to Cubism and non-objectivity as shape and color are intended to communicate meaning and represent Sigmund Freud’s philosophical declarations
  • Expression, Dadaism, and Surrealism as social commentary
  • Work of individual artists such as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Jacob Lawrence as a personal commentary on cultural conventions
  • Modern visions of architectural space embracing the machine and nature
  • The depiction of women in a modern world and the evolution of the portrayal of women within Gestural Abstraction, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop Art
  • Modern and Postmodern architecture as defined through the exploration of the modern skyscraper and simplicity vs. complexity, anonymity vs. individuality, less is more vs. less is a bore
  • The duality of Modernism opening the art world and simultaneously becoming challenging for audiences and patrons to understand as individualism replaced church and corporate patronage
  • Public sale of art as non-elitists collect art
  • America dominated the art market after the devastation of World War II

Gallery Ten—Global Contemporary

  • Global contemporary art as a combination of tradition, technological advancements, and global awareness
  • Materials, function, style, and presentation inviting contemplation of how art is defined and valued
  • 1980–present categorized by digital works, video-captured performances, graffiti, online museums and galleries, the decline in natural materials, rise in disposable materials, and the digital divide
  • Existential investigations, sociopolitical critiques, the natural world, and technical innovations unifying the vast diversity
  • Appropriation of cultural and/or sacred objects defying traditional classification by region, culture, or time
  • Architecture representing a city’s trademark to embody aspiration and idealism
  • Exploration of themes of contemplation, race, identify, stereotypes, appropriation, power, mass production, spiritual journey, migration, and unification

Biology

Description

This challenging course is designed to provide a college-level experience and prepare students for the AP exam in early May. Over two semesters, the students are engaged in a wide variety of activities, with substantial emphasis on interpreting and collecting data in virtual labs, writing analytical essays and mastering Biology concepts and connections. The key themes of the AP Biology course are the scientific processes, the effects of science on technology and society, the chemistry and makeup of living organisms, genetics, diversity, and evolution. Throughout this course you will be expected to answer questions, reflect on issues and complete lab activities. The primary emphasis is to develop an understanding of concepts rather than memorizing terms and technical details. The course will successfully prepare you for the AP Exam in May.

Pre-Requisites: Biology I, Chemistry I, Algebra I
Credits: 1.0
Estimated Completion Time: 2 segments / 32-36 weeks

Major Topics and Concepts

Segment 1

  • Science as a Process
  • Relationship of Structure to Function
  • Energy Transfer
  • Regulation
  • Science
  • Technology & Society
  • Continuity and Change
  • Evolution
  • Interdependence in Nature
  • Scientific method
  • Basic chemistry
  • Organic chemistry
  • Polymerization
  • Isomers
  • Functional groups
  • Biochemistry
  • Properties of water
  • Metabolism
  • Enzymes
  • Cell structure and function
  • Cell processes
  • Cell division
  • Cell research including information on cancer cells, and gametogenesis
  • Inheritance and genetics
  • Mendel’s work in genetics
  • Statistical analysis of genetic information
  • Non-Mendelian patterns of inheritance
  • Nuclear processes, role of DNA and/or RNA in replication, transcription and translation
  • Mutations and how these can be seen in populations
  • DNA technology
  • Evolution
  • Genetic drift and gene flow
  • Mutations in populations
  • Non-random mating
  • Natural selection
  • Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
  • Macroevolution

Segment 2

  • Relationship of Structure to Function
  • Continuity and Change
  • Interdependence in Nature
  • Evolution
  • Energy Transfer
  • Regulation
  • Systematics
  • Viruses, bacteria, and fungi
  • Plant evolution and diversity
  • Alternation of generations/plant life cycles
  • Plant structure and function
  • Plant growth and reproduction
  • Plant nutrients and hormones
  • Photosynthesis
  • Phylogeny and animal diversity
  • Transport in animal systems
  • Immunology
  • Osmoregulation
  • Chemical regulation
  • Reproduction and development
  • Nervous system
  • Muscular and skeletal system
  • Levels of organization
  • Biotic and abiotic factors
  • Ecosystems, populations, and communities
  • Symbiosis, food webs, and keystone predators
  • Biogeochemical cycles in the environment

Calculus AB

Description

Students in this course will walk in the footsteps of Newton and Leibnitz. An interactive course framework combines with exciting online course delivery to make calculus an adventure. The course includes a study of limits, continuity, differentiation, and the integration of algebraic, trigonometric, and transcendental functions, as well as the applications of derivatives and integrals.

Pre-Requisites: Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus or Trigonometry/Analytical Geometry.
Credits: 1.0
Estimated Completion Time: 2 segments/32-36 weeks

Major Topics and Concepts

Segment 1

Module 1

  • Review of Function Terminology and More
  • Graphing Calculators
  • Compositions and Transformations of Functions
  • Some Common Functions

Module 2

  • Introduction to Limits
  • Properties of Limits
  • Limits Involving Infinity
  • Continuity
  • Applications of Limits

Module 3

  • The Derivative
  • Rules of Differentiation
  • Trigonometric Derivatives and the Chain Rule
  • Inverse Functions
  • Exponential and Logarithmic Functions
  • Derivatives of Exponential, Logarithmic, and Inverse Trig Functions
  • Implicit Differentiation

Module 4

  • Analyzing Functions Part I: Curve Sketching
  • Analyzing Functions Part II: Maximums and Minimums
  • Applied Maximum and Minimum Problems
  • Distance, Velocity, Acceleration, Rectilinear Motion, and Related Rates
  • The Mean-Value Theorem and L’Hôpital’s Rule
  • Linearization

Segment 2

Module 5

  • Area Approximation and Riemann Sums
  • Introduction to the Definite Integral
  • The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus
  • Integrals and Antiderivatives
  • Integration by Substitution
  • The Definite Integral

Module 6

  • Volume by Discs (Slicing)
  • Finding the Area Under and Between Curves
  • Average Value of a Function and Rectilinear Motion Revisited

Module 7

  • Differential Equations – An Introduction
  • Initial Value Problems and Slope Fields
  • Numerical Approximation Methods with Integrals

Module 8

  • Exploring the Graphs of f, f Prime, and f Double Prime
  • Using Calculus with Data in a Table
  • Functions Defined By Integrals

Module 9

  • Test Format—MC Part
  • Using a Calculator—MC Part B
  • The Free Response Section
  • Common Mistakes. How Is the Exam Scored?

Calculus BC

Pre-Requisites: Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, Pre-Calculus or Trigonometry/Analytical Geometry.
Credits: 1.0
Estimated Completion Time: 2 segments/32-36 weeks

Computer Science A

Description

The AP Computer Science A course is an introductory computer science course. A large part of the course involves developing the skills to write programs or parts of programs that correctly solve specific problems. The course also emphasizes the design issues that make programs understandable, adaptable, and when appropriate, reusable. At the same time, the development of useful computer programs and classes is used as a context for introducing other important concepts in computer science, including the development and analysis of algorithms, the development and use of fundamental data structures, and the study of standard algorithms and typical applications. In addition, an understanding of the basic hardware and software components of computer systems and the responsible use of these systems are integral parts of the course.
Pre-Requisites: Algebra I and II recommended.
Credits: 1.0

Major Topics and Concepts

Segment 1:

  • Variables and Expressions
  • Strings and User Input
  • Condition Statements
  • Loops
  • Arrays: one and two-dimensional
  • Methods
  • Introduction to OOP and Classes
  • Simple Objects
  • Computer Systems and History

Segment 2

  • Technology and Society
  • Recursion
  • Inheritance & Polymorphism
  • Classes Revisited
  • Abstraction & Interfaces
  • Standard Algorithms to manipulate Arrays
  • Sorting Algorithms
  • Searching Algorithms
  • Program Analysis & Exceptions

English Language and Composition

Description

An AP course in English Language and Composition engages students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes. Both their writing and their reading should make students aware of the interactions among a writer’s purposes, audience expectations, and subjects as well as the way generic conventions and the resources of language contribute to effectiveness in writing. The college composition course for which the AP English Language and Composition course substitutes is one of the most varied in the curriculum.

Pre-Requisites: Teacher recommendation, English I, II (honors), with a B+ average
Credits: 1.0
Estimated Completion Time: 2 segments / 32-36 weeks

Major Topics and Concepts

Module 1: Early Edition

  • AP Exam Overview
  • Plagiarism
  • MLA Documentation
  • Critical Reading
  • Arthur Miller’s The Crucible
  • Rhetorical Analysis
  • The AP Language Rhetorical Essay

Module 2: Revolutionary Edition

  • Multiple-Choice practice
  • Nonfiction: Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin
  • Rhetorical devices: structure, tone, and attitude
  • Composition: argument writing, logical fallacies, compound, and complex sentence structures

Module 3: Romantic Edition

  • Multiple-Choice Practice
  • Nonfiction: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Fiction: Great Expectations, chapter one
  • Rhetorical devices: diction, syntax, and figurative language
  • Composition: Argumentation, Rhetorical Analysis, periodic and loose sentence structure

Module 4: Civil War Edition

  • Multiple-Choice practice
  • Speech Analysis
  • Reading and synthesis
  • Nonfiction: Abraham Lincoln, African-American Spirituals
  • Major Work: Choice of Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing or William Zinsser’s On Writing Well
  • Composition: Elements of style, imagery and detail analysis, essay construction, language, periodic and balanced sentences

Semester 1 Exam: Comprehensive exam testing skills in reading, writing, and literary devices presented throughout the four modules in semester one.

Module 5: Realism Edition

  • Multiple-Choice Practice
  • Introduction to Satire and Irony
  • Nonfiction: Jonathan Swift “Modest Proposal”, Mark Twain “Advice to Youth”, William Lloyd Garrison “The Anti-Suffragist”
  • Political Cartoons
  • Short Stories: “The Revolt of Mother”
  • Rhetorical Composition: Style analysis, argumentation, chiasmus and anaphora

Module 6:  Modern Edition

  • Multiple-Choice Practice
  • Nonfiction: John Steinbeck, President Kennedy “Civil Rights Address”
  • Poetry: Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay
  • Major Work:  excerpt from The Grapes of Wrath
  • Visual Literacy/Image Analysis
  • Composition: claim writing, argument, style analysis, commentary, synthesis essay, purposeful structure

Module 7: Contemporary Edition

  • Multiple-Choice Practice
  • Visual Literacy
  • Nonfiction: President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
      Major Work: choice of memoir from this list:
  • A Work in Progress by Connor Franta
  • The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride
  • The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass
  • Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
  • The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida
  • Composition: Style analysis, synthesis/research essay construction, argumentation, sentence variety

Module 8: Student Edition

In this module students will construct a nonfiction portfolio based on their choice of a book from this list:

  • Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
  • Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich
  • Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder
  • The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Eric Larson
  • Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
  • Up from Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington
  • I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai

Semester 2 Exam: Comprehensive exam testing skills in reading, writing, and literary devices presented throughout the four modules in semester two.

English Literature and Composition

Description

For a year, participate in an AP upscale dining experience in the AP Literature and Composition course. Students act as food critics of exquisite literary cuisine. Menu items include reading, analyzing, writing, rewriting, and discussing creations by the master chefs, renowned authors. With intensive concentration on composition skills and on authors’ narrative techniques, this dining experience equips students with recipes for success in college, in a career and the AP exam.

Pre-Requisites: Successful completion of English I, II, & III. Student will be exposed to college-level composition and literature.
Credits: 1.0
Estimated Completion Time: 2 segments/32-36 weeks

Major Topics and Concepts

Segment 1

  • Composition—analysis essay—comparison/ contrast or symbolism
  • Identification/ explanation of literary terms
  • Research—mythological and Biblical allusions
  • Identification of authors
  • Plagiarism
  • AP Exam expectations
  • Identification of poetic terms
  • Composition—AP® essay (diagnostic)
  • Heroism
  • Poetry Analysis—characterization
  • Comparison/ contrast—poetry and novel—imagery, alliteration
  • Poetry Analysis—theme, tone, mood, allusion, metaphor, allegory
  • Short Story Analysis—irony
  • Epic Poetry
  • Composition—resumes, analysis, comparison/ contrast, AP® essay, style emulation
  • Poetry Analysis—imagery, symbolism
  • Research Process
  • Short Story Analysis—diction, imagery, tone, mood, suspense
  • Short Story Analysis—plot, theme, setting, characterization, point of view
  • Characteristics of Romanticism
  • Concept of Bibliotherapy
  • Listening skills
  • Composition—college essay, analysis, letter to editor, AP® essay
  • Poetry Analysis—lyric poetry, odes, elegies, sonnets, iambic pentameter
  • Metaphysical poetry
  • Poetry Analysis—paradox, repetition, imagery, allusion
  • Short Story Analysis—comparison/ contrast, characterization, setting, theme, tone, mood, plot, point of view
  • Characteristics of Romanticism
  • Composition—AP® essay, literary analysis, creative writing, poetry rebuttal, persuasive letter writing, art connection
  • Novel analysis—theme, motif, setting, structure, social and psychological issues
  • Peer Editing

Segment 2

  • Definition of family, “family values”
  • Poetry analysis—mood, tone, imagery, repetition, metaphor, simile, allusion, song lyrics
  • Novel analysis—social issues, theme, point of view
  • Research Skills
  • Composition—analysis of tone, definition, comparison/contrast, reader’s journal, personal reflective response, poetic response
  • Drama—Shakespeare—language, theme, syntax, characterization, soliloquy, tragedy, text and film, quotation analysis
  • Evaluation of Oral Presentation
  • Soliloquy recitation
  • Poetry analysis–odes
  • Composition—description, literary analysis, creative response, AP® essay
  • Poetry analysis—irony, imagery, personification, figurative language, rhyme, rhythm, repetition, alliteration, comparison/ contrast
  • Satire, elements of satire
  • Drama—comedy and farce, comedic devices
  • Composition—literary analysis, poetry analysis, AP® essay
  • Theme
  • Composition—Poetry Analysis—poetic elements—TOASTTT
  • Major Work: Students select novel or play for project
  • Composition—MLA Works Cited Page

Environmental Science

Description

AP Environmental Science provides students with the scientific principles, concepts, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world. Students identify and analyze environmental problems that are natural and human-made. They evaluate the relative risks associated with these problems and examine alternative solutions for resolving or preventing problems. Laboratories support student content mastery in both hands-on and virtual experiences.

Pre-Requisites: Algebra I and two-years of high-school Science, with labs
Credits: 1.0
Estimated Completion Time: 2 Segments/ 32-36 weeks

Major Topics and Concepts

Segment 1:

  • Strategies for sustainability
  • Sustainable land and resource use
  • Agricultural Revolution
  • Industrial Revolution
  • Tragedy of the Commons
  • Public land use
  • Science as a process
  • Scientific method
  • Economic impacts of environmental problems
  • Cost-benefit analysis
  • External and marginal costs
  • Laws, treaties, and organizations relevant to sustainability
  • Biological populations and communities
  • Interactions among species
  • Photosynthesis and cellular respiration
  • First and second laws of thermodynamics
  • Food chains and food webs
  • Trophic levels and ecological pyramids
  • Natural biogeochemical cycles
  • Evolution and natural selection
  • Primary and secondary succession
  • Ecological niches
  • Biodiversity and loss of biodiversity
  • Extinctions
  • Endangered and threatened species
  • Weather and climates
  • Seasons
  • Solar intensities and latitudes
  • Major terrestrial and aquatic biomes
  • Ocean circulation and currents
  • Earth’s layers
  • Plate tectonics
  • Rock cycle
  • Mineral formation and extraction
  • Global mining reserves
  • Forests and forest management
  • Human population distribution and movement
  • Historical population sizes
  • Fertility rates
  • Demographic transition
  • Age-structure diagrams
  • Controlling human population growth: Case studies
  • Urbanization
  • Energy resources and consumption
  • Fossil fuels
  • Nuclear energy
  • Hydroelectric energy
  • Renewable and alternative energy resources
  • Energy conservation
  • Sustainable energy policies

Segment 2:

  • Composition of Earth’s atmosphere
  • Stratospheric Ozone
  • Primary and secondary air pollution
  • Thermal inversions
  • Indoor air pollution
  • Acid deposition
  • Greenhouse gases and the greenhouse effect
  • Climate change
  • Ozone loss
  • Clean Air Act
  • Soil formation and composition
  • Physical and chemical properties of different soil types
  • Erosion, deforestation, and desertification
  • Soil conservation
  • Types of agriculture
  • Irrigation
  • Green Revolution
  • Sustainable agriculture
  • Fish farming and ranching
  • Food production and distribution
  • Human nutritional requirements
  • Agricultural subsidies and international food relief
  • Pesticides and pesticide use
  • Alternative pest management strategies
  • Physical properties of water
  • Water use and resources
  • Groundwater and watersheds
  • Water supply and quality problems
  • Water pollution types and prevention
  • Water quality indicators
  • Wastewater treatment and water purification
  • Water quality legislation
  • Risk and risk assessment
  • Risk-benefit analysis
  • Transmissible and non-transmissible diseases
  • Smoking
  • Diet and human health
  • Medicine and population growth
  • Toxicology
  • Dose-response relationships
  • Solid and hazardous waste
  • Cleanup of contaminated sites
  • Waste disposal and reduction
  • Landfills
  • Recycling, reusing and composting
  • Carbon footprints
  • Global change and sustainability

Human Geography

Description

The AP® Human Geography course is designed to provide college-level instruction on the patterns and processes that impact the way humans understand, use, and change Earth’s surface. Students use geographic models, methods, and tools to examine human social organization and its effect on the world in which we live. Students are challenged to use maps and geographical data to examine spatial patterns and analyze the changing interconnections among people and places.

Major Topics and Concepts

Segment 1:

  • Human Geography as a field of study
  • Evolution of geography
  • Key Questions geographers seek to answer
  • Cartography including history, tools and evolution of field of study
  • Types of maps
  • Geographical technologies including GIS and GPS
  • Sources of geographical data
  • Toponymy
  • Interpreting maps
  • Map bias
  • Five themes of geography
  • Absolute and relative location
  • Spatial perspective
  • Physical and human characteristics of place
  • Types of regions
  • Population distribution, density and scale
  • Analyze population trends
  • Population pyramids
  • Population growth theory
  • Demographic transition model
  • Population policy
  • Impact of population growth
  • Population and natural disasters
  • Migration: Push and pull factors
  • Newton’s gravity model
  • Internal and global migration patterns
  • Involuntary and voluntary migration
  • Impacts of migration on home and host country
  • Cultural diffusion, acculturation, assimilation and globalization
  • Cultural differences in language, religion, ethnicity, gender
  • Pop and folk culture
  • Cultural landscape and identity
  • Scales and Interpretation of Data
  • Epidemiological Theory
  • Demographics with Push/Pull Factors

Segment 2:

  • Nationality and nationalism
  • Nation-state concept
  • Territorial morphology
  • Boundaries: Identify, interaction and exchange
  • Federal and Unitary States
  • Electoral geography
  • Imperialism and colonialism
  • International alliances
  • Devolution
  • Political conflict and terrorism
  • Agriculture revolutions
  • Agriculture and place
  • Commercial agriculture
  • Scientific agriculture
  • Economics of agriculture
  • Major agricultural regions
  • Linkages and flows among agricultural regions
  • Rural land use models
  • Rural settlement patterns
  • Environmental impacts of agriculture; deforestation, desertification
  • Green revolution
  • Bioagriculture
  • Economic indicators of development
  • Development models
  • Industrial Revolution
  • Deindustrialization
  • Industrial growth and diffusion
  • Industrial location models
  • Industrial regionalism, economic development and world systems
  • Environmental impact of industrialization
  • Natural resources and environmental concerns
  • Women in development; agribusiness
  • Sustainable development
  • Globalization of industry; trade
  • Commodity chains
  • Industrial interdependence; transnational corporations
  • Millennium development goals
  • Development of cities; origin, growth; suburbanization; megacities;edge;galactic
  • Urban development models
  • Internal city models
  • Urban planning and design
  • Urban housing
  • Urban transportation and infrastructure
  • Changing demographics
  • Urban social structure patterns
  • Ecotourism
  • Rural Settlement Patterns
  • Transnational Environmental Challenges

Macroeconomics

Description

ou have been called upon to assist the leader of the Macro Islands who is running for reelection next year. The economy is in shambles, and you need to come up with some feasible solutions. This will not only help the people of the Macro Islands but will also ensure a victory for your employer. You were hired over the Internet and received a first class ticket to the Macro Islands where you can learn first hand about the situation. You arrive at Pineapple Airport in the middle of the day and are met by a man with a briefcase who is holding a sign with your name on it. You approach the man and introduce yourself. “I’m Mr. Scarcity,” he says. “I’ll be your guide as you learn about the economic situation of the islands. You need to learn everything you can about both macroeconomics and our Macro Islands for your presentation to our island leader in May.” (Your AP Exam.)

Pre-Requisites: None. Students will be exposed to a college-level learning experience.
Credits: 0.5
Estimated Completion Time: 1 segment / 16-18 weeks

Major Topics and Concepts

Segment 1:

  • Overview of Advanced Placement
  • Economic Basics
  • Scarcity and Opportunity Costs
  • Production Possibilities Curves
  • Absolute and Comparative Advantage
  • Demand
  • Supply
  • Equilibrium
  • Government Impact
  • Circular Flow
  • GDP
  • Other Measures of National Income
  • Inflation and Price Indices
  • Business Cycle
  • Unemployment
  • Classical Economics
  • Aggregate Supply
  • Aggregate Demand
  • Propensities and Multipliers
  • Equilibrium
  • Economic Growth
  • The AE Model
  • Understanding the AD/AS Model
  • Comparative Advantage and International Trade
  • Balance of Payments
  • Exchange Rates
  • Graphing Foreign Exchange
  • International Value of Currency
  • Trade Barriers
  • Understanding International Trade and Finance
  • The Money Supply
  • Loanable Funds Market
  • Equation of Exchange
  • Money Creation
  • Fiscal Policy
  • Automatic Stabilizers
  • Debt vs. Deficit Interview
  • Fiscal Policy and Interest Rates
  • The Federal Reserve System
  • Monetary Policy
  • Interest Rates and the Impact on Financial Capital
  • Phillips Curve
  • Modern Theories
  • Understanding Policies
  • Guided Review

Microeconomics

Description

Students must take the Advanced Placement Exam in order to receive Advanced Placement credit. Students who do not take the AP® Exam will be awarded Honors level credit. You traveled to the Macro Islands to assist the leader in winning re-election. You came for a job, but you realized as you were working that you loved the islands and wanted to make your home there. Because you are adept at giving economic advice to the leader, you have been appointed as the new President of the Sunny Seas Shell Company. As part of your role in assuming the leadership duties of the company, you will need to brush up on microeconomics. The Board of Directors has appointed Ms. Equilibrium to act as your personal assistant and advisor as you transition into your new role. You will be learning all you can about microeconomics and will be required to exhibit your knowledge in May at the annual Board of Directors’ meeting (the AP Exam).

Pre-Requisites: None. Students will be exposed to a college-level learning experience.
Credits: 0.5
Estimated Completion Time: 1 segment / 16-18 weeks

Major Topics and Concepts

  • Economic Basics
  • Production Possibilities Frontier
  • Types of Economic Systems
  • Economic Reasoning Activity
  • Absolute vs. Comparative Advantage
  • Understanding Economic Basics
  • Equilibrium
  • Shifts in Supply and Demand
  • Models of Consumer Demand
  • Excise Tax
  • Production Costs
  • Production Curve Graph
  • Perfect Competition
  • Short and Long Run
  • Consumer and Producer Surplus
  • Monopolies
  • Monopolistic Competition
  • Oligopoly
  • Market Structure
  • Circular Flow
  • Marginal Productivity Theory
  • Determinants of Demand and Resources
  • Wages
  • Outsourcing
  • Private vs. Public Goods
  • Externalities
  • Economic Situations: Environment and Government
  • Introduction to Taxes
  • Income Distribution
  • Guided Review

Psychology

Description

AP Psychology is a college-level course providing students with an overview of the development of human behaviors and thoughts. Along with preparation for the AP Psychology exam, the goals of this course are to immerse students in modern psychological investigation techniques, to accentuate the ethics and morality of human and animal research, and to emphasize scientific critical thinking skills in application to the social sciences. Psychology is a diverse social and biological science with multiple perspectives and interpretations. The primary emphasis of this course is to help students develop an understanding of concepts rather than memorize terms and technical details; the ultimate goal is to prepare students to successfully take the AP Psychology examination offered in May.

Pre-Requisites: None
Credits: 1.0

Major Topics and Concepts

Segment 1

  • The history of psychology
  • Major historical figures in psychology
  • Research methods of psychology
  • Biological bases of behavior
  • Influence of drugs on the brain
  • Sensation and perception
  • States of consciousness
  • Types of learning: classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning
  • Compare and contrast cognitive processes

SEGMENT 2

  • Memory
  • Compare and contrast motivational theories
  • Compare and contrast theories of emotion
  • Developmental psychology
  • Nature vs. nurture
  • Compare and contrast theories of personality
  • Intelligence and testing intelligence
  • Abnormal behavior/Psychological disorders
  • Major contributors to the different fields of psychology

Statistics

Description

Advanced Placement Statistics will introduce students to exploring data, sampling and experimentation by planning and conducting studies, anticipating patterns using probability and simulation, and employing statistical inference in order to analyze data and draw conclusions.

http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-statistics-course-description.pdf

Major Topics and Concepts

SEGMENT 1

Module 1: Exploring Data

  • Classifying Variables
  • Describing Data
  • Displaying Data
  • Measuring Position
  • Normal Distribution

Module 2: Exploring Relationships

  • Scatterplots and Correlation
  • Least-Squares Regression
  • Transformations

Module 3: Collecting Data

  • Sampling and Surveys
  • Experiments
  • Correlation Versus Causation

Module 4: Probability and Random Variables

  • Randomness and Simulations
  • Probability
  • Random Variables
  • Binomial Random Variables
  • Geometric Random Variables

SEGMENT 2

Module 5: Sampling Distributions and Confidence Intervals

  • Sampling Distributions and Proportions
  • Sample Means
  • Confidence Intervals for Proportions
  • Confidence Intervals for Means

Module 6: Proportions

  • Hypothesis Testing—One Proportion
  • Errors, Power, and Significance
  • Confidence Intervals—Two Proportions
  • Hypothesis Testing—Two Proportions

Module 7: Means and Slope

  • Hypothesis Testing—One-Sample Mean
  • Comparing Two Means
  • Matched Pairs
  • Linear Regression and Interval for Slope

Module 8: Chi-Square and Summary

  • Chi-Square Goodness-of-Fit Test
  • Chi-Square Tests of Inference
  • Exploring Data and Sampling and Experimentation Review
  • Anticipating Patterns and Statistical Inference Review

U.S. Government and Politics

Description

Within AP U.S. Government and Politics, students develop and use disciplinary practices and reasoning processes to explore political concepts, policies, interactions, roles, and behaviors that characterize the constitutional system and political culture of the United States. Students examine core principles, theories, and processes through direct study of U.S. foundational documents and Supreme Court opinions. They also participate in a civic project in which they research, study, and compile data on a political science topic and create a presentation that exhibits their findings and experiences. The AP U.S. Government and Politics course is structured around five big ideas outlined within the College Board Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics Course Framework. Each big idea is aligned to enduring understanding statements and learning objectives that focus on key concepts and essential knowledge about foundations of American democracy, civil liberties and civil rights, interactions among branches of government, American political participation, ideologies, and beliefs.

Pre-Requisites: U.S. History recommended
Credits: 0.5
Estimated Completion Time: 16-18 weeks

Major Topics and Concepts

Divided by module and segment level.

Module 1 – Constitutional Democracy

  • Founding documents, Supreme Court cases
  • Why Government?
  • Founding Principles
  • The Constitution
  • Federalists and Anti-Federalists
  • Separation of Powers
  • Federalism
  • The Power Debate Today

Module 2 – Civil Liberties, Civil Rights

  • Founding Documents, Supreme Court cases
  • The Bill of Rights
  • The First Amendment
  • Security v. Speech
  • Liberty v. Safety
  • The Accused
  • Due Process
  • Equal Protection
  • And Justice for All

Module 3 – Interaction Among Branches

  • Supreme Court cases
  • Congress
  • Congressional Behavior
  • The Presidency
  • Executive Power
  • The Supreme Court
  • The Bureaucracy
  • Checks, Balances, and Accountability

Module 4 – Political Culture and Participation

  • Supreme Court cases
  • Political Socialization
  • Ideology
  • Public Opinion
  • The Media
  • The Parties
  • Interest Groups
  • The Voters
  • Elections
  • Campaigns

AP Practice Exam

US History

Description

AP United States History focuses on developing students’ abilities to think conceptually about U.S. history from approximately 1491 to the present and apply historical thinking skills as they learn about the past. Seven themes of equal importance —American and national identity; politics and power; work, exchange, and technology; culture and society; migration and settlement; geography and the environment; America in the World— provide areas of historical inquiry for investigation throughout the course. These require students to reason historically about continuity and change over time and make comparisons among various historical developments in different times and places.

Pre-Requisites: None required, but strong reading and writing skills are recommended.
Credits: 1.0
Estimated Completion Time: 18 weeks per segment

Major Topics and Concepts

The AP U.S. history course is structured around themes and concepts in nine different chronological periods:

  • Period 1: 1491-1607
  • Period 2: 1607-1754
  • Period 3: 1754-1800
  • Period 4: 1800-1848
  • Period 5: 1844-1877
  • Period 6: 1865-1898
  • Period 7: 1890-1945
  • Period 8: 1945-1980
  • Period 9: 1980-Present

The historical thinking skills provide opportunities for students to learn to think like historians, most notably to analyze evidence about the past and to create persuasive historical arguments. Focusing on these practices enables teachers to create learning opportunities for students that emphasize the conceptual and interpretive nature of history rather than simply memorization of events in the past. Skill types are listed below:

  1. Chronological Reasoning
  2. Comparison and Contextualization
  3. Crafting Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence
  4. Historical Interpretation and Synthesis

Module One: Quest for the Americas

1491-1607

  • North, Central, South American native tribes (corn and government structure)
  • Columbus then Spanish and Portuguese colonization (Columbian exchange, encomienda, Christianity)
  • New cultures of Central America and Caribbean
  • Influx of African slavery

1607-1754

  • Map of Spanish, Dutch, French, and British colonization in N. America
  • British slave system and indentured servants
  • Compare and contrast of British colonies—NE, Middle, Chesapeake and NC, and Southern Atlantic including British isles and West Indies
  • Growing conflict between settlers and native populations
  • “Atlantic World”—mercantilism, Anglicization, early Enlightenment spread

Module Two: Colonies at War

1754-1800

  • Native American conflicts with colonies
  • Seven Years’ War
  • Revolution
  • Articles of Confederation
  • Constitution
  • Washington’s Presidency

Module Three: A New Republic

1800-1848

  • Domestic policy and trade
  • International policy and trade (1812)
  • Migration to U.S. as well as within
  • Manifest Destiny
  • Nullification and political issues, sectionalism
  • Market Revolution

Module Four: American Civil War

1844-1877

  • Effects of Manifest Destiny
  • Abolition—women, social
  • Compromises—1850, Kansas-Nebraska, Dred Scott
  • Election of 1860—sectionalism, secession
  • Civil War
  • Reconstruction—political
  • Reconstruction—social

Module 5: A Growing Nation

1865-1898

  • Industrialization and big business—2nd Industrial Revolution
  • Urbanization—early reform, political machine
  • Western migration
  • Native Americans
  • Gilded Age—social
  • Gilded Age—political

Module 6: Imperialism & Progressivism

1890-1932

  • Effects of industrialization—Progressives
  • Imperialism
  • World War I
  • Post-war 1920s

Module 7: The World at War

1932-1945

  • End of the boom and depression
  • FDR and New Deal
  • End of neutrality
  • World War II—domestic and foreign
  • Effects of World War II

Module 8: Cold War

1945-1980

  • Cold War origins
  • Political and military involvement—Korea, Vietnam, Middle East, Latin America
  • Great Society
  • Civil Rights Movements
  • Changing migration—Immigration Act of 1965
  • Liberal and Conservative society and their effects on politics

Module 9: A Brave New World

1980-Present

  • Failures of the 1970s led to change in 1980s—political, social, economic
  • Reagan’s presidency and the fall of Communism
  • Global marketplace
  • War on Terror
  • Social changes—internet, demographics
  • Testing lesson—practice exam

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