This on-demand online workshop distinguishes between traditional and inquiry approaches to the study of scientific reasoning and inquiry.
This event will be available in early 2009.
Register Now for the 2009 AP Annual Conference and take advantage of the Early Bird Savings.
This conference is the centerpiece of the AP Program's professional development efforts. The AP Annual Conference is our annual opportunity to come together from across the world to share our experiences. Each year, more than 3,000 AP professionals attend, taking advantage of relevant and engaging sessions for teachers of all AP courses, including AP Physics. The conference also offers sessions in Pre-AP® strategies.
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Update on the AP Course Audit
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Administrators at your school are responsible for renewing any courses that were authorized last year through the
AP Course Audit process and are being offered again this year. If your course was authorized in 2007–08, and you are teaching the course in 2008–09 but it has yet to be renewed, alert your school administrators immediately. If you are new to teaching the AP course at your school, and haven't yet submitted your course audit materials, you must do so no later than January 31, 2009. The
AP Course Ledger now includes courses authorized for the 2008–09 academic year.
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Resources for AP Physics Teachers
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Practice exams, first released in spring 2008, are available to authorized AP teachers through their AP Course Audit accounts.
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The 2008, 2009 AP Physics Course Description (.pdf/2.7MB)
The new 2010, 2011 AP Physics Course Description will be available as a free download on AP Central in May. Printed copies will be available for purchase from the College Board Store.
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The 2002 AP Physics Teacher's Guide
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Special Focus: Graphical Analysis (.pdf/1.97MB)
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Visit the AP Physics B, Physics C: E&M, and Physics C: Mechanics exam questions pages on AP Central for the 2008 multiple-choice and free-response questions, scoring guidelines, samples of student work with scoring commentary, student performance Q&As, scoring statistics, and grade distributions.
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From the College Board's
online store, AP Physics teachers can purchase the following materials:
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2004 AP Physics B Released Exam and its corresponding packet of 10 exams |
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2008, 2009 AP Physics Course Description |
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2002 AP Physics Teacher's Guide</td>
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AP Physics Lab Guide |
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Professional Development Opportunities
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The College Board offers IACET-certified professional development in hundreds of locations across the United States and around the world. All participants in AP Physics workshops for experienced teachers will receive materials focused on a specific instructional theme, "Special Focus: Electrostatics."
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AP Course and Exam Review |
Every five to seven years, the College Board reviews the content of AP courses and exams to ensure their continued alignment with the standards and expectations of colleges and universities, which in turn grant credit for qualifying AP scores. Currently, the suite of AP science, history, and world language courses is undergoing such a review. The AP Program has conducted dozens of committee meetings, presentations, and conversations with educators in each discipline to determine how best to keep the AP courses and exams up to date and supportive of best practices.
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For science, the discussion has focused on ways to reduce breadth, increase depth, and foster increased emphasis on inquiry-based laboratory experiences. The conversations have encouraged us to focus exam questions on the integration and application of knowledge and skills, rather than simple recall of memorized facts.
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For history, the conversation has emphasized the importance of changing the exam so that teachers have greater flexibility to teach topics of their choice in depth. The input we have received has also stressed the need to help students develop historical thinking skills and enduring understanding of key concepts in history (skills measured by exam items like Document-Based Questions (DBQs)), rather than memorization, so that students enter further college history coursework with the skills and abilities essential to further historical scholarship.
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For world languages, we have revised the curricula to align with 21st century practices focused on the three modes of communication: Interpersonal, Interpretive and Presentational. Also, we are seeking consistency across the suite of AP Exams with regard to the types of assessment tasks.
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AP teachers deserve much appreciation for participating in surveys, focus groups, and committee meetings that have helped define possible changes to AP courses and exams. Now our task is to listen to that feedback and to structure the launch of any changes so that we are focusing on the highest needs for change first, recognizing that it would not be wise to change all AP science, history, and world language courses in the exact same year, as doing so would limit our ability to focus resources and support on each subject area.
We will be ready by September 2009 to announce the 3–4 AP subjects that we'll be focusing on enhancing for the 2011–12 academic year. In September, the AP Program will also provide teachers with a wide array of information about how to structure the revised courses, what knowledge, skills, and abilities students will be expected to demonstrate on the AP Exam, and the types of professional development and instructional resources that will be available prior to the changes. We anticipate announcing several other courses' changes in September 2010 for a 2012–13 academic year implementation. As a matter of practice moving forward, the AP Program will announce any changes, updates, or enhancements to AP courses in the September two years preceding any changes taking effect.
The AP Program applauds the tremendous work classroom teachers do to create powerful curricula that prepare your students for placement and further university studies in your discipline, and we thank you for your ongoing contributions to AP's future.
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