Worldwide, only 2,000 schools participate in the AP Capstone program. This rigorous two-year program teaches students how to conduct and write scholarly research papers through the completion of English III Honors, AP Seminar, AP Lang, and AP Research. At Middle Creek, this program takes place throughout students’ sophomore and junior years. The program is on an A/B schedule so that students have the entirety of the year to learn these skills and then conduct their research during their junior year.
AP Research students' junior year is a “big moment” for them. Students get to pick any research topic of their choosing, conduct research, and learn how to write up to a 5,500-word research paper about it. Topics over the years have ranged from the stock market, body image, and movie analysis, but they can be everything and anything! This allows students to choose something that they are passionate about or interested in, so the time-consuming process that the research paper entails is enjoyable and teaches them important skills!
To prepare them for this task, AP Seminar (sophomore year) is taken to teach students how to write a research paper by using peer-reviewed research papers, and then AP Lang (junior year) is taken to teach students effective word choice and rhetorical strategies that can be applied to their research papers. AP Seminar and AP Lang teacher Lori Wagoner explains how aspects of the program are difficult for students. “Students get to choose what they study and for so many years that it becomes a struggle. It's a lot of writing, and it's a new type of sophisticated college-level writing that a lot of students haven’t had a lot of time doing.”
An AP Research teacher’s job is to teach students skills and strategies to use in their research papers, but it is up to the students how to effectively use these. While there are deadlines to hit, this is somewhat of a self-paced class for students.
Michael Prelaske is the AP Research teacher for the program. Mr. Prelaske greatly values the program. “I tell my students whenever they are frustrated or having a hard time with something that they are doing something that no other kids in the school are learning how to do: conduct and write scholarly research. Most people don't learn to do this until grad school, if ever at all. The tasks that are involved within the Capstone program are not easy by any means but are extremely valuable to learn and can be applied to so many things that they do later in life.”
The students in this program are very dedicated, and the result of their research papers, 20-minute presentation, and oral defense, shows it. Sixth cohort student Issy Jacobus wrote her research paper with the question, “How does external physical stimulation affect a teenage individual’s perception of time?” They think the hardest part of this program was “organizing the data from my experiment and actually analyzing it to come to find final conclusions.” This is true for many students.
Another sixth cohort student in the program is Blyss Briggs. Very different from Issy’s research questions, she is writing their research paper with the question, “Does vaccine hesitancy decline in a population as a virus’ morbidity increases?” by conducting a survey and doing a correlation study. Blyss says, “I think the best part of the program is the ability for students to indulge in any subject of their choice, and [they] are allowed to show their individual personality. While it is still written and presented formally, you can still be authentically you.”
The AP Capstone sixth cohort students will present their research presentations April 25-29th to show off everything they have learned in the program, and throughout their research! This will be a welcome conclusion to all of their hard work!