AP Research seemingly doesn’t exist within MHS, where Authentic Science Research (ASR) II is the preferred name.
Walking into an ASR II class at MHS, scattered petri dishes and plants demonstrate its heavy focus on science. However, College Board’s version of AP Research is a general research class with an equal focus on humanities. This fact is unbeknownst to students and they miss the opportunities offered by the course.
ASR II deserves to be advertised as the all-inclusive AP Research course College Board created it to be. On the College Board website, AP said “In AP Research, you decide what to study. Curious about the impact of AI on society? You can make a project out of that. Are you passionate about social causes? Interested in climate change or mental health? You can research these, as well.”
Dr. Cathay Farrar, ASR teacher, said Authentic Science Research was a course in Rockwood before AP Research was created by college board. The district decided to keep the science-focused name to reflect the previous science-based nature of the course, though humanities topics are welcome to be pursued.
Wangshu Liu, sophomore, is currently in ASR II conducting research about the use of AI models in evaluating historical texts.
While ASR I, the prerequisite for ASR II, does focus primarily on laboratory skills such as microscope usage and identifying bacteria, ASR II is solely a research class with most class time open for students to conduct research and compose their research paper. Even the Course Catalog on the RSD website doesn’t specifically limit the class to using laboratory skills. While the class is a science credit, Dr. Farrar said any research is science, when done correctly, so even a humanities topic would qualify the student to earn the credit.
AP Research is basically an AP version of the Advanced Language and Research/Presentation (ALAR/P) classes offered to freshman and sophomores. As an underclassman, ALAR/P was one of my favorite classes and I mourned not being able to conduct similar research projects in my junior and senior year. Being in ASR II now, I didn’t even realize how open the possibilities of research were until viewing past AP Research projects on the College Board website.
By not using such a specific course title and providing more insight into the course’s purpose, enrollment in the class may boost as students with humanities interests realize the course’s potential.
