AP Capstone is a diploma program based on two yearlong AP courses: AP Seminar and AP Research. These courses are designed to complement other AP courses that the AP Capstone student may take.
Instead of teaching specific subject knowledge, AP Seminar and AP Research use an interdisciplinary approach to develop the critical thinking, research, collaboration, time management, and presentation skills students need for college-level work. The College Board developed the AP Capstone Diploma program at the request of higher education professionals, who saw a need for a systematic way for high school students to begin mastering these skills before college.
Students typically take AP Seminar in Grade 11, followed by AP Research in Grade 12. AP Seminar is a prerequisite for AP Research. In both courses, students investigate a variety of topics in multiple disciplines. Students may choose to explore topics related to other AP courses they’re taking. Both courses guide students through completing a research project, writing an academic paper, and making a presentation on their project.
Over the course of the two-year program, students are required to:
Analyze topics through multiple lenses to construct meaning or gain understanding.
Plan and conduct a study or investigation.
Propose solutions to real-world problems.
Plan and produce communication in various forms.
Collaborate to solve a problem.
Integrate, synthesize, and make cross-curricular connections.
The AP Computer Science “A” course is equivalent to a first-semester, college-level course in computer science. The course introduces students to computer science with fundamental topics that include problem-solving, design strategies and methodologies, organization of data (data structures), approaches to processing data (algorithms), analysis of potential solutions, and the ethical and social implications of computing.
The AP Studio Art: Drawing program allows students to develop a portfolio during their three years at the school. Portfolios allow flexibility of coursework while guiding students to produce college-level quality, artistic investigation, and breadth of work. The Drawing portfolio addresses issues such as line quality, light and shade, rendering of form, composition, surface manipulation, the illusion of depth, and mark-making. Students' portfolios demonstrate skills and ideas developed, refined, and applied throughout the course to produce visual compositions.
The AP English Literature and Composition course aligns to an introductory college-level literary analysis course. The course engages students in the close reading and critical analysis of imaginative literature to deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure. As they read, students consider a work’s structure, style, and themes, as well as its use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone. Writing assignments include expository, analytical, and argumentative essays that require students to analyze and interpret literary works.
Depending on post-secondary plans, students can follow the Math AP route towards completing either AP Calculus or AP Statistics.
AP Calculus AB focuses on students’ understanding of calculus concepts and provide experience with methods and applications. Although computational competence is an important outcome, the main emphasis is on a multirepresentational approach to calculus, with concepts, results, and problems being expressed graphically, numerically, analytically, and verbally. The connections among these representations are important.
The AP Statistics course is equivalent to a one-semester, introductory, non-calculus-based college course in statistics. The course introduces students to the major concepts and tools for collecting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data. There are four themes in the AP Statistics course: exploring data, sampling and experimentation, anticipating patterns, and statistical inference. Students use technology, investigations, problem solving, and writing as they build conceptual understanding
There are multiple science courses that interested AP students can explore, including Biology, Chemistry, and Psychology.
AP Biology is an introductory college-level biology course. Students cultivate their understanding of biology through inquiry-based investigations as they explore the following topics: evolution, cellular processes — energy and communication, genetics, information transfer, ecology, and interactions.
The AP Chemistry course provides students with a college-level foundation to support future advanced coursework in chemistry. Students cultivate their understanding of chemistry through inquiry based investigations, as they explore content such as: atomic structure, intermolecular forces and bonding, chemical reactions, kinetics, thermodynamics, and equilibrium. We also have an agreement with Concordia University that allows our students to use their lab facilities to perform a series of chemistry labs.
The AP Psychology course introduces students to the systematic and scientific study of human behavior and mental processes. While considering the psychologists and studies that have shaped the field, students explore and apply psychological theories, key concepts, and phenomena associated with such topics as the biological basis of behavior, sensation, and perception, learning and cognition, motivation, developmental psychology, testing and individual differences, treatment of abnormal behavior, and social psychology. Throughout the course students employ psychological research methods, including ethical considerations, as they use the scientific method, analyze bias, evaluate claims and evidence and effectively communicate ideas.
Please note that we do not offer AP Social Studies as a course at O'Leary. This is because the AP program is based out of the United States, so their AP Social Studies program is very heavily focused on US history.
Instead, we recommend that academic students complete our Fast Track Social program, allowing them to complete the entire Social 10-1, 20-1, and 30-1 program over their Grade 10 year.
Contact the O'Leary AP Coordinator at bryan.clintberg@ecsd.net