November, 2010 Blog--Active Learning Strategies in AP Classes

[Greg Timmons]

For some time now, Advanced Placement teachers have experienced challenges incorporating active learning strategies in their classes due to the AP test’s broad coverage of content and focus on factual recall. But AP teachers are making inroads to incorporating active learning strategies into their classes and moving students beyond knowledge/comprehension learning to higher levels of thinking. In the 2008-2009 school year, researchers at the University of Washington and its LIFE Center (Learning in Informal and Formal Environments) teamed up with curriculum specialists and teachers from the Bellevue School District in Bellevue, Washington, to design and implement a project entitled Knowledge in Action incorporating projected-based curricula into their AP U.S. Government and Politics classes.

We know from volumes of studies that students gain a deeper understanding of subject matter from project-based curricula, but these are rarely employed in AP courses. One mitigating factor is the emphasis on how well students will do on the AP tests? To test the theory that students could learn more from a project-based learning approach in advanced placement courses, the Knowledge in Action researchers asked two questions: 1) Could more students pass the AP test? and 2) could students who do well on the AP test do so with a deeper understanding? The study was composed of a large number of students in both project-based classes (referred to as Knowledge in Action students) and classes using traditional AP methods. Student achievement was measured in two ways: students in both groups took the AP U.S. Government and Politics exam and a complex scenario test that measured their strategies for realistically monitoring and influencing public policy.

The results were illuminating. Anecdotal findings from student debriefings and teacher observations showed a dramatic change in student motivation and understanding of their learning. Students testified to having a greater understanding of the materials in real world situations. As important if not more so, tests showed that the Knowledge in Action students performed significantly better on the AP U.S. Government and Politics exam than students in the traditionally taught AP classes. Knowledge and Action students also performed significantly better on the complex scenario test than their traditional AP counterparts. The study also compared tests of students in a moderately achieving school using the Knowledge in Action program with those in a high achieving school using traditional AP course methods. Researchers found that students from the moderately achieving classes performed as well as the high achieving students on the AP U.S. Government and Politics exam and better than the traditional AP students on the complex scenario test.

For more information on this study click to http://www.edutopia.org/research-project-based-learning-approach-ap... and watch the full report.

I invite any AP teacher to add to the discussion with their experiences using active learning strategies in their classes or ask questions on how they might implement these strategies. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.