My 9th and 10th grade ap students don’t write research papers for my class- they are not on the ap exam. We do write an essay every week. My upperclassmen do a larger research paper
Ah, yes, the solar cooker. We had that one. I vaguely remember a bobble-head of an American hero assignment too. For a summer assignment S had to design, construct and calibrate a home-made thermometer, which was not hard in itself, but if I recall the large temperature ranges it needed to measure made the assignment tricky.
That AP World project sounds awful. And, as a person with a history degree, I can safely say that it is nit representative of a college history class.
My D is taking AP world next year. Pretty sure she won’t have any such nonsense–the teacher is great. He actually used to teach middle school and taught bith my kids in 7th grade. He didn’t even give goofy projects like that to middle schoolers. He’s very low on the busywork continuum. He had to be for my son to do well in his class. :).
The worst busywork my kids have had in HS was in geometry. Crafts in honors math class. Ugh.
See, my D is the kid who THRIVED on those arts and crafts projects, because she just loves doing crafts and is good at drawing and visual arts anyway! lol She had to do war propaganda posters for AP World History, and she made extra ones. And they had to make and decorate stuffed moles - the animals, mind you - for Honors Chemistry - I kid you not. My husband and I were a bit astounded that these were projects for AP and Honors classes… (I was especially surprised at the moles project. They even showcased the best ones in the school’s main lobby display case. Yep. My daughter did Powerpuff Moles where she made them look like the Powerpuff Girls.)
But, it’s the daily busywork/worksheets that she either refuses to do, or does half and gets bored or frustrated and stops doing it. Like @wis75 's kid, she’d had an A this semester in AP Calc but she only turned in half of the homework problems. In her mind, she’s mastered the material, regardless of whether her report card says she got a ‘B’. Too bad the AP Calculus teacher wasn’t crafty, and didn’t have them make a mobile of equations or something…
Come to think of it, she struggled with AP Physics this year; too bad the teacher couldn’t have assigned an extra-credit craft project there, as well…
(I’m not entirely serious about that, but, hey… hands-on creative work seems to motivate my own kid, anyway.)
This is the sort of thing that goes on in lower level classes, and in middle school, but not so much in our AP classes. I think parents should raise the issue with the school as to whether such assignments are appropriate for a supposedly college-level class, and whether something that may be intended as “fun” by the teacher is in fact creating a lot of stress for students who aren’t inclined towards crafts etc. or who are simply too busy to spend a lot of time on a “fun” activity where little learning actually takes place.
^^ I actually agree with you, and find it inappropriate for academic classes at this level. I also feel for the kids who simply aren’t crafty or good at visual arts.
Hey I had fun with those arts and crafts, my daughter won best costume for AP lang and I made it. She bought a wig online.
“imagine requiring a team of 4 17-18 year olds to drive all over the state when legally they are not supposed to have more than one underage passenger”. Imagine if your child isn’t licensed when they take APUSH and you wouldn’t trust another child, a minor, who has been licensed for what, two months, to drive them all over the state. I would have complained also.
A friend’s son is not artistic and detested the “creative” assignments in middle school social studies. “Not coloring well” is what he says brought his grade down just enough to bar him from placement in the honors track in high school. Same middle school as my kids, so I believe it. For a while, the love affair with tecnology and the advent of free computer graphics alleviated this problem somewhat, but by the time my youngest came through the teachers had decided everything had to be hand made because printing out stuff is lazy.
mathyone - for my daughter’s group (where one did not have a license since she had a seizure disorder) 3 parents did the driving for the kids - each of us having to spend most of a Saturday playing chauffeur !
Assigning grades based on “neatness” or arts and crafts that later affected a student’s prospects for moving into academically appropriate levels became less of an issue in our district as a result of advocacy on the part of parents of students with dual exceptionalities. Students on iep might be given the option of submitting a written essay in lieu of a diorama for an a English class, for example, or assigned a separate grade for content, leaving neatness ungraded for a student on iep trying their best. After a while, I think it just became easier for teachers to allow this sort of thing as an option for any student. (It was the same with keyboard use in the classroom.)
Iirc, however, @TheGFG 's district, students on iep for a disability are not permitted to sign up for AP classes. I was surprised to read this, and also somewhat surprised that this has not been challenged. Perhaps this is one example of how college can be easier - in some cases, accomodations that are available in high school only after a lengthy challenge are routinely available at the college level.
I was not too thrilled with any assignment that required a parent to drive a child - not all families have an adult available to do this, even on week-ends.
My kids are not crafty. Luckily, all these craft type projects are typically an easy 100 or occasionally an easy 95. My kids both had an Algebra teacher who had a craft project where 20 percent of the grade was for creativity. It is legendary in my extended family as Algebra 1 is probably the epitome of a class where creativity is not needed. Otherwise that teacher was excellent.
That wasn’t luck. These projects are used by teachers to prop up grades. I think they are also under pressure to be “interdisciplinary” and to teach “creative thinking” etc. Personally, I think there’s something wrong if the most time kids spend writing poetry happens in a class which is not English.
@mathyone In general, I agree. In my kids’ case that project where they each got something like a 90 actually pulled their grades down. They certainly understood Algebra 1 very well, but like me, coloring, gluing, sculpting was not their cup of tea.
Yes, I see a lot of focus in our district for teachers on creativity at the elementary and middle school level. By high school, it seems to be better integrated into the appropriate classes.
In our school the AP creative/project work is on top of the appropriate work not instead. Kids score very well on the tests, no problem there.
I can 100% guarantee you that teachers are required to address all learning styles (which includes kinesthetics and arts) in assignments. I have fought this (to certain extent) with the justification that those items aren’t on the ap exam, but I still throw things in once in a while (like designing propaganda poster) or doing those after the test. And there are absolutely teachers who use those projects to pad grades. Many paths…
I think it varies widely from teacher to teacher and from school to school.
My S’s CalcBC and PhysicsH hw was reasonable - about 30-60 min daily (checked and graded) with plenty of extra problems provided for independent practice should anyone need it. Coincidentally, these classes are considered hardest in his school, the type where it’s way easier to get a 5 on AP test than an A in the class.
On the other hand, APStats in their school is notorious for busy work and I still remember “brilliant” assignments from his WorldLit teacher (“write your credo, decorate it and present to the class” , “create a piece of art called “Human Condition” and relate it to the books you read this semester”)
I guess there are always good, bad and crazy teachers anywhere.