By Yuka Noda
Staff Writer
Mira Costa High School’s Advanced Placement Biology teachers altered the course’s curriculum this year in response to changes in the AP test, which the College Board administered for the first time last year.
According to AP Biology teacher Danny Sponaugle, the AP test in the past was primarily based on facts, which led to curriculums based on memorization instead of application. With the new test, the AP Biology curriculum is now based on five main ideas: evolution, cellular processes, genetics, information transfer and interactions.
“The new curriculum for AP Biology is the same material taught in a more general, interconnecting way,” Sponaugle said.
According to Sponaugle, the College Board determined that students were unable to keep up with new scientific discoveries and other detailed biology concepts that were on previous AP tests. This concern prompted the College Board to change the AP exam last year.
“With all the information today, there is way too much information for students to memorize it all,” Sponaugle said. “The change is good because students can now understand what they’re learning instead of memorizing details.”
The new curriculum, which incorporates 11 new labs, focuses on teaching students to analyze graphs and information.
“The new labs take students deeper into the understanding of each of the concepts that we study,” AP Biology teacher Jessica Bledsoe said. “They are beneficial and very detailed. The students will be spending more time in the lab this year than they did last year.”
To encourage communication between students, students are put into groups during class.
“I think that the labs we do in AP biology are inclusive and thought-intriguing,” junior Ally Togle said.
The overall pass rate in 2013 for the new AP exam has gone up to 63.1% from 50.6% from the previous year. However, the percentage of students who got a 5 on the exam went down from 19.4% to 5.4%. Last year, the AP Biology teachers were not told the content of the new test so many students felt unprepared.
“Before the new AP Bio exam last year, our teachers gave us some prep for the test that was very different from the new exam,” senior Jolynn Yeh said. “The new curriculum helps you understand the big picture as opposed to a class you’re just taking for credit.”
Variables for the AP Biology curriculum can be changed every year. As of now it is too early to determine whether or not the students are able to connect the main concepts of biology with this new curriculum.
“I think by covering less material but covering it in a deeper way, the students will benefit,” Bledsoe said. “They’ll have a greater appreciation for the science they’ll learn because they’re actually doing the science.”
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