Florida High adds Advanced Placement (AP) Research, Seminar and Newton to its range of college-level courses and programs, expanding its options and opportunities for students seeking to challenge themselves academically.
AP Seminar is centered around analyzing articles, gathering evidence from reliable sources and crafting arguments. AP Research is centered around conducting your own studies, writing your own articles and presenting your own findings. AP Capstone is a program that allows students who earn a passing score in Seminar, Research and four other AP classes to earn the AP Capstone Diploma.
“Just this year, the Florida state legislature passed a law that students who earn the AP Capstone Diploma qualify for the Bright Futures program,” AP Research teacher Dr. Haley Mehta said. “I know a lot of our students struggle to meet the SAT requirement, so this is another way to allow students who are really hard-working and have done a lot of high-level scholarship to access Bright Futures funding.”
In addition to student interest in these classes, Florida High’s research-oriented nature also encouraged the addition of AP Seminar and Research to its roster.
“Recently, we’ve pivoted as a school towards research in all aspects, such as teacher-led research, trying to bring FSU folks and other university researchers onto our campus. The third prong of that is student-led research,” Dr. Mehta said. “AP Research offers a much more formalized way to do it and connect students with experts in fields they’re interested in.”
Another program being introduced this year by Dr. Mehta, who teaches AP Physics, and Amanda Dunkelberger, who teaches AP Calculus, is AP Newton. This program is an integrated form of AP Calculus and AP Physics exclusively offered at Florida High, where both teachers are able to collaborate and introduce math and science concepts in tandem with each other.
“We noticed there was a need for a different pacing of calculus for AP Physics,” Dunkelberger said. “We were able to see that need, go to administration and say we think it would be really beneficial for AP Physics students to be in a different room, so they can be treated to the information in a different order, and they were very receptive to that.”
The addition of these new courses and programs has opened up numerous doors for Florida High students to pursue their interests and prepare for college.
“Florida High didn’t previously offer a class that allows students to learn and research a topic of their choosing, as well as gain skills necessary for higher education while still in high school, which I think is great for students of all types,” senior Claire Waterman, who is taking both AP Capstone and AP Newton, said. “I’m most excited to learn the fundamentals of physics and calculus that I will need for college [through AP Newton].”
With these new courses, Florida High is working to break down academic barriers between subjects, often referred to as “silos”. In a siloed curriculum, classes are taught separately, with little emphasis on how they connect. The goal of the new courses is to create stronger links between subjects so that students can see how their learning overlaps and applies in real-world ways.
“I hope that through not only us talking about and teaching these concepts, but us physically being in the same spaces and speaking the same language, it will break down those silos between subject areas and allow students to make connections,” Dr. Mehta said. “They’re making connections all the time, but if we are explicitly trying to pull those barriers down, I think it could be a little bit magical to see students make connections that we don’t even notice.”
Photo courtesy of Dr. Haley Mehta
