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Advanced Placement Classes

Badin High School is very proud to offer our students the opportunity to take Advanced Placement classes at our school. Badin High School currently offers eleven AP courses for our junior and senior level students. Students who sign up for AP courses have the opportunity to experience a college level course while still in high school. It is the chance to put into practice the skills and attributes that will lead to success in college.

One primary benefit is the opportunity for students to earn college level credit based on the score they receive on the AP test taken in May of each school year. In this area it is important for parents and students to be well informed regarding the individual criteria used by colleges and universities when it comes to awarding advance credit. Each college and university uses a different standard. In fact, various colleges within the same university can have a different minimum score requirement to earn credit. For example, the college of engineering at Ohio State may have one standard and the college of Education another. Students and parents are urged to research and consider this information carefully when planning and pursuing AP coursework and then applying to college in the fall of their senior year.

The second, and most important benefit, is the opportunity to take a challenging and rigorous class while still in high school. To be successful, students quickly understand the outside work requirement is not an option. Being fully prepared for class means students will be doing a lot of reading and other work outside of class, in order to fully participate and engage in the learning during class time. This is the same recipe for success students will need to follow in college.

And finally, our AP teachers, while teaching college level course work, are also high school teachers. They truly have a passion for the subject and want all their students to be successful. They work with students and provide a supportive and rigorous classroom environment where students can rise to meet the challenge of Advanced Placement course work.

Sara Ransom
Dean of Academics

AP Exam Cost for 2020-21 school year is $96 per test

                             

AP Biology

Instructor: Mrs. Angela Breetz
abreetz@BadinHS.org

AP Biology is the equivalent to an introductory college level course for potential biology majors. The curriculum demands highly motivated students who are willing to commit a large amount of time and effort. The contract (found HERE) is intended to explain the course and the requirements of the students.

Curriculum
AP Biology is a year long course. If you would like to see a full course description and syllabus, you can request one by seeing or emailing Mrs. Breetz or visit in room 206.

Cost
Student will be required to take the AP exam in May at their own expense. There is a $25.00 fee for laboratory materials, which will be charged to the student’s FACTs account.

                             

AP Art: 2D-Design

Instructor: Mrs. Sarah Daniels
sdaniels@BadinHS.org

Prerequisite – Art III, Portfolio review, teacher recommendation and acceptance to continue into the course.
Students must display a strong commitment to developing skills and creating meaningful and well-crafted artwork. All artwork created by the student is to be 100% original by the student. AP 2-D Art and Design is an intensive study of art and design. This course requires students to present works of art demonstrating skillful synthesis of materials, processes and ideas. This course requires students to write about each piece, as well as a formal response to the questions which guide their Sustained Investigation. Students should be able to articulate their ideas, processes, revisions and development using strong visual literacy.

The AP 2-D Art and Design Portfolio Exams contain two sections. The Selected Works section requires students to demonstrate skillful synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas. The Sustained Investigation section requires students to conduct a sustained investigation based on questions, through practice, experimentation, and revision. Both sections of the portfolios require students to articulate information about their work.Both sections are required. Students earn a score for each section, and sections scores are combined to produce an overall portfolio score that may offer opportunities for college credit and/or advanced placement. Throughout their sustained investigation, students need to document—with images and words—practice, experimentation, and revision using materials, processes, and ideas as well as skillful synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas. From their documentation of thinking and making, students select images and writing to include in their portfolio that most effectively demonstrate sustained investigation according to AP Art and Design Portfolio Exam assessment criteria. Process documentation images included in the portfolio should show evidence of practice, experimentation, and revision using materials, processes, and ideas and/or of skillful synthesis of materials, processes, and ideas, providing insight on students’ inquiry, thinking, and making.

  • Students enrolled in this AP course are required to sign a course/attendance contract and to submit their AP Artwork and Final Portfolio by the required deadlines and to pay for the required AP Course fee.
  • Students who create digital pieces are responsible for having the pieces professionally printed. Students will also be expected to purchase art supplies to work on pieces outside of class.

                             

AP English Language and Composition

Instructor: Mrs. Ann Gazin
agazin@BadinHS.org

AP English Language and Composition Course Overview
The AP English Language and Composition course aligns to an introductory college-level rhetoric and writing curriculum, which requires students to develop evidence-based analytic and argumentative essays that proceed through several stages or drafts. Students evaluate, synthesize, and cite research to support their arguments. Throughout the course, students develop a personal style by making appropriate grammatical choices. Additionally, students read and analyze the rhetorical elements and their effects in non-fiction texts, including graphic images as forms of text, from many disciplines and historical periods.

Exam Overview
The AP English Language and Composition exam includes multiple-choice and free-response questions that test essential skills covered in the core curriculum:

  • reading comprehension of rhetorically and topically diverse texts
  • rhetorical analysis of individual texts in isolation
  • synthesis of information from multiple texts
  • written argumentation

Prerequisite
There are no prerequisite courses for AP English Language and Composition. Students should be able to read and comprehend college-level texts and apply conventions of Standard Written English in their writing.

                             

AP English Literature and Composition

Instructor: Mrs. Sara Thompson
sthompson@BadinHS.org

Curriculum
The Advanced Placement [AP] English Literature and Composition course is open to seniors at Badin. In this course, students will be required to do the work of a college freshman. Students will closely read a variety of literary genres, dating from ancient Greece to contemporary times, and write several literary analyses. Students will also write a comprehensive research paper on an approved topic.

Course Goals

  1. Help students grow in their knowledge and love of literature and their regard for the people who create it.
  2. Teach students to read, write, and discuss works within and without the evolving literary canon with precision, sensitivity, energy, and imagination.
  3. Encourage students to develop a deep and abiding resonance with some literary texts.
  4. Allow students to shape their own values and preferences with respect to both the style and substance of others.

A complete course syllabus can be found on the class website:
https://sites.google.com/a/badinhs.org/senior-ap-english-literature-and-composition/

                             

AP United States Government and Politics

Instructor: Mr. Jordan Seitz
jseitz@BadinHS.org

In AP United States Government and Politics, students explore the following topic areas:

  • Constitutional Underpinnings
  • Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
  • Institutions of National Government: Congress, Presidency, Courts, Bureaucracy
  • Political Beliefs and Behaviors
  • Political Parties
  • Interest Groups
  • Mass Media
  • Public Policy

The curriculum is built around these topic areas and covered in the listed sequence.

An important component of the course is in-class discussion and debate over political issues. Students learn to articulate a point of view and to defend it with evidence-based reasoning. This discussion and debate is interspersed throughout the curriculum, providing regular opportunities for students to learn not just about government's parts and their functions, but to reflect and opine on the values that do, or should, underpin our system.

                             

AP Spanish

Instructor: Mrs. Whitney Oliver
woliver@BadinHS.org

Curriculum
AP Spanish Language and Culture is equivalent to an introductory college level course. The curriculum demands highly motivated students who are willing to put forth effort in all areas of language acquisition. Students will be required to speak Spanish during class as well as be encouraged to use Spanish outside of the classroom.

We will be connecting the products, practices and perspectives of the Spanish speaking world through six AP themes:

  1. Global Challenges
  2. Science and Technology
  3. Contemporary Life
  4. Personal and Public Identities
  5. Families and Communities
  6. Beauty and Esthetic

Course objective and goals
The objective of the course is to develop productive abilities in Spanish.
Students are required to speak, read, write and listen in Spanish from day one. Our goal as a class is to develop and refine these communication skills in order to be able to communicate with anyone from the Spanish speaking world.

Cost
Students will be required to take the Spanish Language and Culture AP exam in May.

Links
AP Spanish Language and Culture Contract

                             

AP Computer Science Principles

Online Class offered through Notre Dame Academy
The average AP score for the Computer Science Principles class is 4.5 since we have utilized the Notre Dame Virtual School.

Curriculum
This course will introduce students to the creative aspects of programming, abstractions, algorithms, large data sets, the Internet, cybersecurity concerns, and computing impacts. AP Computer Science Principles gives students the opportunity to use technology to address real-world problems and build relevant solutions. Together, these aspects of the course make up a rigorous and rich curriculum that aims to broaden participation in computer science. Upon completion, students will have a well-developed understanding of the seven Big Ideas of Computer Science and their impact on our daily lives, and a solid foundation in Computation Thinking Practices.

Big Ideas

  • Creativity
  • Abstraction
  • Data and Information
  • Algorithms
  • Programming
  • The Internet
  • Global Impact

Computational Thinking Practices

  • Connecting computing
  • Creating computational artifacts
  • Abstracting
  • Analyzing problems and artifacts
  • Communicating
  • Collaborating

The programming component of the class will develop skills in both text-based (Python and Javascript), and visual (Blockly) programming languages.

AP Exam
Students will be required to take the AP Computer Science Principles exam in May.

Links
Syllabus and Overview

                             

AP Calculus

Instructor: Mr. Donnie Herrington
DHerrington@BadinHS.org

AP Calculus is equivalent to a rigorous college level calculus course for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) majors. The curriculum demands mature, intelligent, well prepared and very strong highly motivated students. Students must have a strong work ethic, and be willing to commit a large amount of time and effort, and to make calculus a major priority.

Curriculum
AP Calculus is a year-long course. The entire AP Calculus AB curriculum, as described on the AP website, will be taught. Students are expected to work a great deal outside of class. Students can benefit a great deal working in productive study groups, and working with online calculus resources.

Falling behind in the course can compound itself very quickly. Students find it very difficult to make up lost ground. Even students who have been very successful to date generally need to make adjustments to their studying approaches in order to deal with the demands of calculus.

AP Exam and class benefits
Students will be required to take the AP Calculus exam in May.

Not all schools, and not all departments, treat AP credits the same way. Some departments, particularly engineering, physics, and math departments, do not give credit and placement for AP Calculus. Some give credit but require the student to retake the course in college, some give credit and allow the student to be placed in the course following Calculus. College credit and/or placement is certainly not the only benefit or factor to be considered in deciding which AP classes to take. However, if it is important to you, you should contact the schools and departments you expect to be considering to clarify their rules.

AP Calculus Contract

                             

AP Statistics

Instructor: Mr. Donnie Herrington
DHerrington@BadinHS.org

AP Statistics is equivalent to a rigorous college level statistics course appropriate for a broad variety of majors. The curriculum demands mature, intelligent, well prepared and very strong highly motivated students. Students must have a strong work ethic, and be willing to commit a large amount of time and effort, and to make statistics a major priority. Strong verbal and reading skills are also essential.

Curriculum
AP Statistics is a year-long course. The entire AP Statistics curriculum, as described on the AP website, will be taught. Students are expected to work a great deal outside of class. Students can benefit a great deal working in productive study groups, and working with online statistics resources.

Falling behind in the course can compound itself very quickly. Students find it very difficult to make up lost ground. Even math students who have been very successful to date generally need to make adjustments to their studying approaches because statistics is much more conceptual and verbal than the math courses previously experienced.

AP Exam and class benefits
Students will be required to take the AP Statistics exam in May.

AP Statistics should be of value to students in a broad variety of majors. Data analysis, estimation and hypothesis testing are of increasing importance in many fields. Technology and globalization among other factors have made statistics the fastest growing field in mathematics.

AP Statistics Contract

                             

AP Physics II

Instructor: Mr. Joel Smith
Jsmith@BadinHS.org

AP Physics II is equivalent to a rigorous college level calculus based mechanics course for engineering and physics majors. The curriculum demands mature, intelligent, well prepared and very strong highly motivated students. Students must have a strong work ethic, and be willing to commit a large amount of time and effort, and to make Physics II a major priority.

Curriculum
AP Physics II is a year-long course. The entire AP Physics II curriculum, as described on the AP website, will be taught. Students are expected to work a great deal outside of class. Students can benefit a great deal working in productive study groups, and working with online Physics II resources. Honors/AP Physics I is a pre-requisite and AP Calculus is a co-requisite for AP Physics II.

Falling behind in the course can compound itself very quickly. Physics II is primarily driven by student activity and small group interaction, with minimal lecturing. Students find it very difficult to make up lost ground. Even students who have been very successful to date generally need to make adjustments to their studying approaches in order to deal with the demands of Physics II.

AP Exam and class benefits
Students will be required to take the AP Physics II exam in May. The cost is approximately $90.00.

Not all schools, and not all departments, treat AP credits the same way. Some departments, particularly engineering, physics, and math departments, do not give credit and placement for AP Physics II. Some give credit but require the student to retake the course in college; some give credit and allow the student to be placed in the course following Physics II. College credit and/or placement are certainly not the only benefit or factor to be considered in deciding which AP classes to take. However, if it is important to you, you should contact the schools and departments you expect to be considering to clarify their rules.

AP Physics II Contract

                             

AP United States History

Instructor: Mr. Adam Schuckman
aschuckman@badinhs.org

Curriculum
The Advanced Placement United States History course is equivalent to a college level survey course in United States history. The course curriculum consists of a complete review of United States history from pre-Columbus through modern times. The course is broken into nine individual units of study, studied chronologically and divided at critical changing points in United States history. Course work is designed to provide students with the opportunity to develop the foundational historical thinking and reasoning skills, while examining primary and secondary sources about United States history.

If you are interested in finding out more, see Mr. Schuckman in room 007 and request a copy of the full syllabus.

AP Exam
The course requires that all students take the AP Exam at the beginning of May.