We only give credit for a non-majors course.  No credit towards majors freshman 
bio.  We just don't trust what the high schools cover.  Lots of schools around 
here teach anatomy as the AP course.  So, we made the decision long ago to not 
give any credit to the incoming bio majors.  If they had a good course, then it 
should help them in our courses.  I took AP bio and did not receive any credit 
from Northwestern, and that was long ago.  
 
Liane
 
****************************************
D. Liane Cochran-Stafira, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
Saint Xavier University
3700 West 103rd Street
Chicago, Illinois  60655

phone:  773-298-3514
fax:    773-298-3536
email:  coch...@sxu.edu
http://faculty.sxu.edu/~cochran/

<http://faculty.sxu.edu/~cochran/> 

________________________________

From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news on behalf of David L. 
McNeely
Sent: Mon 11/21/2011 10:37 AM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Treatment of Ecology in AP classes



I can't speak directly to the question of whether the classes provide adequate
coverage of any given topic.  Consulting the AP web site confirms your 
suspicion that ecology coverage comes last in the course.  And of course, 
whether any given topic is covered adequately is strictly dependent on the 
school and the teacher, not the topical listing on the web site.  I can say, 
from having served as a grader for the AP Biology exam, that ecology is well 
covered on the exam.

That said, I also suspect that ecology may be a subject that gets less than full
coverage in some of the classes because of sequencing.  Also, it is typically
covered in most intro biology courses late in the second semester if a two
semester course.  So, if you are wanting to assign credit according to coverage
(seems to make sense), the proposal to give credit for the ecology portion of
your course may be out of sync with the sequencing in the AP course.

FWIW, I have long had a problem with AP coursework.  Many schools likely do a
good job with it -- but, and I know, I am an old school curmudgeon -- if these
kids are ready for college, just send them to college.  If they are not ready,
don't let a high school offer them college level courses.  But of course, that
is a fight long ago lost.

mcneely
---- "Corbin wrote:
> Hello Ecologgers - My department is trying to figure out how to best assign 
> credit to incoming students who get 4's and 5's on the AP Biology exam. One 
> proposal is to give them credit for the first class in our Intro Bio 
> sequence, which happens to be the one that presents ecology (along with 
> evolution and genetics).
>
> I suggested that this would be a mistake, as ecology is likely given short 
> shrift in many high school classes because it is at the end of all of the 
> textbooks. Quite reasonably, I've been challenged as to whether that is 
> really the case.
>
> Does anyone know of any comparison of the weight given to various biology 
> subjects (e.g. ecology, physiology, cell, etc.) in high school classes and 
> the AP exam? I still have a suspicion that ecology is the most likely to be 
> rushed or dropped, but maybe that's just because it is what happened when I 
> took it. In any case, I'd be on firmer ground if I had even one piece of 
> evidence to back it up!
>
> Thanks!
>
> -Jeff
>
> ***************************
> Jeffrey D. Corbin
> Department of Biological Sciences
> Union College
> Schenectady, NY 12308
> (518) 388-6097
> ***************************

--
David McNeely

Reply via email to