9 Things Every AP Science Teacher Should Know

By Ryan Reardon

Editor’s note: Ryan Reardon is a science content director for A+ College Ready, an A+ initiative to dramatically expand success in college-level Advanced Placement courses. This is adapted from a post he wrote for teachers in the A+ College Ready program. Read the original version here.

There really is no end to the conversations we can have about effectively teaching Advanced Placement (AP) Science classes. This list is not intended to be the end of the dialogue. Quite the contrary, I am getting my thoughts on paper so we have a shared understanding of what effective science education looks like. These are my ideas, most of which were stolen from teachers I admire and learned from. I would love to see this list expand. Perhaps by August 2011, we will have a collaborative page of 100 things AP Science teachers should know.

  1. As you plan each unit, or each learning cycle, or each daily lesson, I want you to keep two guiding questions in mind: “What do I want my students to know?” and, “What do I want my students to be able to do?”
  2. Science education should be a progression. Concepts and skills students learn early should be easier and less complex than the concepts and skills they acquire later in the year. Further, the concepts they learn early should support the concepts they learn later while the concepts they learn later should reinforce the concepts they learned earlier. This is the essence of a Learning Cycle.
  3. Teaching is a social endeavor. We must acknowledge students’ preconceptions and misconceptions, and we have to acknowledge the realities of being a teenager in the 21st century. These are not limits on what we can do in the classroom.
  4. Own the culture of your classroom! Teach bell to bell and engage your students in the learning. You should be pushing and stretching your kids.
  5. Bring Advanced Placement-style questions and especially real Free Response Questions into your classroom. Answering these questions is a learned skill. It requires familiarity and practice.
  6. “3 plus or minus 2” It means on a given day, you can teach somebody three new skills. When conditions are excellent, you can teach them five things. On the worst days, you may only teach them one skill.
  7. AP Science is a marathon, not a sprint. Even if you hit the wall, you will finish, and you will be praised.
  8. Ideal science teachers in the 21st century have command of their content, they know the appropriate pedagogical approaches and they employ appropriate technology to engage their students and teach their lessons.
  9. You have the power. I can model best practices. I can help you with technology integration. We can talk about science and science education until the sun comes up. You can sit through hours of training and professional development. But…you’ve got to implement the things that you learn.
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