The following courses begin next fall
by Catie Shipp
Loveland High School Roar, Staff Writer
The 2015-2016 school year presents an addition of a variety of new AP courses available to all upcoming juniors and seniors. The following courses begin next fall and will create more opportunities to guide students toward higher academic possibilities.
Art History
One of the first new classes added to the school’s course selections is AP Art History. This course is offered and designed for juniors and seniors who are interested in topics such as the nature of art, creation of art, and responses to art. According to the course selection guide, this course will be one semester in length and will introduce students to the art world as they experience, research, discuss, read, and write about various pieces of arts and artists.
“You don’t have to be an artist to take this course. We will mostly be looking at slides and lectures on the different ways that cultures handle the art elements and connecting that information to art’s history,” Mrs. Grant (art) said.
Calculus
For any seniors interested in taking calculus and earning college credit, there are now two new AP courses to choose from. AP Calculus AB will be a forty-five minute year-long class equivalent to Calculus 1 at the college level. If a student passes the calculus AB test, they may receive up to five hours of college credit, depending on the school that they choose. According to the course selection guide, topics discussed in this course include The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus; position, velocity, and acceleration; area and volume applications; differential equations; use of geometry to find integrals; intermediate value theorem; and the mean value theorem. AP Calculus BC will be a ninety minute year-long class equivalent to Calculus 1 and 2 at the college level. Thus, if a student passes the BC exam they may receive 10-credit hours of mathematics. This would be equivalent to the first two college calculus courses. Topics discussed in this course, as described in the course selection guide, include those learned in AP Calculus AB as well as polar functions with calculus, vectors and derivatives of vector functions, arc length of curves including parametrics convergence tests, taylor polynomials, Eurel’s Method L’Hopital’s Rule, and improper integrals.
“If a student took regular Pre-calculus their junior year, I would say they are a candidate for either honors Calculus or AP Calculus AB. If a student took honors pre-calculus, I would say they would be a strong candidate for BC Calculus,” Mrs. Powers (math) said.
Physics
Also, starting next year there will be two different options offered to students interested in AP physics. AP Physics I is a college-level course designed for juniors and seniors interested in an introduction to the main principles of physics with an emphasis on the development of problem solving. A student must have taken up to Integrated Math III to take this algebra-based physics course. The other option, AP Physics C, is only for seniors who have taken or are in the process of taking calculus. This class is a college-level course designed as a foundation for students planning to major in physical science or engineering. According to the course selection guide, the subject matter includes topics of mechanics, electricity, and magnetism.
“The big difference is that AP physics I is algebra-based, while AP Physics C is calculus based. Both classes will cover the same material, but the math involved will be different,” Mr. Ward (science) said.
Psychology
AP Psychology, transitioning from an online to a classroom course, will now be offered to incoming juniors and seniors. According to the course selection guide, this course will be one semester in length and will introduce students to the systematic and scientific aspects of human behavior and mental processes. Students will explore and apply psychological theories, key concepts, and phenomena associated with topics such as behavior, sensation and perception, learning and cognition, motivation, developmental, and social psychology.
“I would recommend anyone that has any interest in the field of psychology or those who would like to earn some college credit to take the course,” Mr. Reed (psychology) said.
To find more information on the courses offered in the upcoming school year, one can locate the course selection guide at www.lovelandschools.org, or contact a counselor for details.
This article is printed with permission and was previously published in The Roar, the student newspaper of Loveland High School. You can follow The Roar on Twitter.
