“AP Capstone Research allows students to deeply explore an academic topic, problem, or issue of individual interest.  Through this exploration, students design, plan, and conduct a year-long research based investigation to address a research question.  In the AP Capstone™ Research course students further their skills acquired in the AP Capstone™ Seminar course by understanding research methodology, employing ethical research practices; and accessing, analyzing, and synthesizing information as they address a research question."

-AP Research Course and Exam Description Overview  

Students explore their skill development, document their processes, and curate the artifacts of the development of their scholarly work in [the Process and Reflection Portfolio (PREP)].  The course culminates in an academic paper of approximately 4000-5000 words (accompanied by a performance or exhibition of product where applicable) and a presentation with an oral defense.”

This course is designed as the second year of a two year program by the College Board. Specialty training was required by the College Board to be able to offer this course to our MHS curriculum. This course is unique because it is a skills based course versus a content based course normally found in the AP course curriculum. Because the objective of the course focuses on skills that are useful to have greater success in college, all students, not just students that take other AP courses, can benefit from taking this academically enriching class.

The course is rigorous and it will require students to meet regularly with Ms. Clyne.  The PREP (I will address this in depth in another section) is the key part of the class to monitor progress, log feedback and maintain notes on methodology, results and resources.  The PREP must be kept up-to-date and it will be collected regularly.  It is Ms. Clyne’s goal to monitor, guide and encourage students to keep asking questions, seeking answers and reach the culminating goal of the Academic Paper and the Oral Defense and Presentation at the end of the class.

From the College Board:

Students are permitted to begin work on AP Research before the start of the traditional academic year. The most common example of this is AP Seminar students beginning to investigate AP Research topics and collect resources for a literature review following the AP Seminar exam. Additionally, in cases of student emergencies, a student working on an AP Research project in one year may be forced to pause work on the project until the following academic year. 

To be clear, AP Research is designed for students to succeed within a traditional academic year, and scores from previous years confirm students can achieve at all levels of success in a traditional September to April timeline. Furthermore, the AP Research rubrics focus on skill applications and not length of time devoted to the project.