Inquiry & Rigor: Advanced Placement Conference 2011 Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Advanced

Placement Conference 2011 hosted by the College Board. This conference hosted many speakers and workshops for teachers of Advanced Placement (AP) courses in high schools. I met many AP science teachers from across the country and was inspired by several of the speakers. The first workshop I attended was the introduction of the AP Biology Course for new AP Biology teachers. Presented by Isidore Julien, Outreach Coordinator from Purdue University, Mr. Julien discussed the main framework of this course as well as introduced the AP Biology course redesign, which will occur for the 2012- 2013 school year. Since this course is a college level course taught in the high school, our discussion included many ideas to maintain rigor yet provide scaffolding to students who may have some difficulty (especially in the amount or level of reading) without compromising the course. Workshop attendees shared ideas to provide scaffolding at the AP level. For example, discussion of the various textbooks available(some designed with easier layout/reading). Mr. Julien also introduced the course redesign to be rolled out next year (2012-2013). The idea behind the redesign is to emphasize scientific inquiry and student directed while moving away from the lecture, demonstration approach, and cook book labs. Workshop attendees discussed how to rework the twelve specific required labs for AP Biology and make them more student driven and student inquiry. This workshop included an in-depth discussion of student equity and access to AP courses. In the spirit of the College Board Another workshop, From 1 through 55 to Integrated and Inquiry discussed taking a more integrated approach based on the 5E Model. Rather than work through the textbook or typical units in order, Beth Peterson and Kate Silber from Highland Park High School in Illinois discussed integrating curriculum across units while incorporating an inquiry based learning models. For example, covering animal digestion after the topic of biochemistry and enzymes. In most biology textbooks, digestion occurs much later in the book. This helps the student to make connections and encourages active learning. Peterson and Silber discussed their practice of integration with the 5E Learning Model: Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation. For AP Biology, we discussed the ways to slowly introduce the inquiry labs throughout the year (from Level 1 Confirmation to Level-4 Open Inquiry see table below).

Levels of Inquiry 1 Confirmation Inquiry 2 Structured Inquiry 3 Guided Inquiry 4 Open Inquiry

Questions? Provided by teacher Provided by teacher Provided by teacher Student Generated

Procedure? Provided by teacher Provided by teacher Student Generated Student Generated

Solution? Provided by teacher Student Generated Student Generated Student Generated

Two other workshops used laboratory probeware through two of the AP Biology labs. We discussed the specific labs, Dissolved Oxygen and Photosynthesis, and various ways to have the entire lab be driven by the student. Overall, the conference was beneficial to network with other AP Biology teachers and highly motivating. The conferences repeated theme, inquiry, was supported by inspiring ideas to encourage the students to inquire about science and learn to problem solve on their own. I look forward to using many of the ideas presented in my classroom. Thank you for allowing me to attend. -Shari Hunt