Message-Id: <l03102800b0addb4e7b39@[153.90.236.25]>
In-Reply-To: <v01510103b0ad0f9ac726@[205.134.240.112]>
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 09:36:23 -0700
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
From: Steven Eiger <eiger@montana.edu>
Subject: Re: AP Science courses
>Earlier I had expressed displeasure with AP Bio courses. The folllowing
>course taught at B. Kessler's school looks outstanding to me. It would be
>an excellent platform for doing the sort of experimentation that Karen
>suggested earlier., and that I think ought to be the core of any science
>course. I suppose my hesitation with the AP bio curriculum is that there
>is a tendency to teach towards the test, which I think is largely
>descriptive and leads towards a quick and superficial run through of a
>college bio text. We do that at our college,and the course stinks, it
>completely lacks anything beyond memorization. Students change majors in
>droves after taking Bio 101. I had to teach it one semester, ugh. The
>teaching of the course has gravitated to where professors who like
>descriptive studies now teach it, and others teach something else. So I
>still think staying away from AP bio is a good idea, however I can not say
>enough on how great the courses below look to me.
We also have decided to not offer AP courses in the science dept. We offer
>an Advanced Biology course which is essentially molecular biology. The
>first semester lays the ground work with biochemistry and cell biology.
>The second semester is devoted to genetics, DNA, and biotechnology. Topics
>such as reproduction and development, evolution, and the immune system are
>addressed at the molecular level. I believe we actually go into more depth
>than an AP course permits because we limit the scope of the course.
>
>Other departments at the school offer AP courses and the students want the
>"credit" for college applications. The students who sign up for Adv.Bio
>are the same ones who take AP English or AP Govt.
>
>We also offer Physiology. This is not an advanced or even honors level
>course. It is a human bilogy course which holds inherent interest for the
>students. More students qualify for and take this course than the Advanced
>Bio which is an honors course.
>
>"THINGS ARE MORE LIKE THEY ARE NOW THAN THEY EVER WERE BEFORE."
> Dwight D. Eisenhower