A brand new AP has been added to the Timberlane courses. AP Psychology has started this school year, with more than 30 kids signing up. The community at Timberlane has been looking forward to this addition with many kids requesting the course, and lets see if it sticks.
AP Psychology has become a new course providing two different blocks where you can take this class. Mrs. Stevens, a history teacher at Timberlane Regional High School has been the perfect fit to teach this class, solely because of her passion. “I absolutely am obsessed with everything psychology. Originally for my job I wanted to work in psychology. I have my undergraduate degree in psychology and attended a psychology institute in the summer” stated Mrs. Stevens when asked what her qualifications were to teach this course.
Along with Mrs Stevens’ passion, she also shared with us how awesome the actual AP curriculum is. “It’s been a bit stressful. Because I’ve been creating things as we go. It’s fun because it’s not your typical history class. It promotes itself more for conversation which makes kids come up with more things to say, “ she shares when asked how managing the course was. But, the thing that makes the course the most fun is the students taking the class ‘’I love my students, and both groups are really awesome. I feel like they are really out of the box thinkers and both are in their own energy.” Mrs. Stevens commented on the Psychology class.
We decided to get a look for ourselves at the AP Psych class in room 602. When observing the class, many kids are grouped together at tables of four. The class is going over Multiple Choice Questions and discussing whether an answer is correct or incorrect and why. One can see many kids heavily engaged and asking questions. AP physics MCQ questions seem to be fairly a paragraph long and about brain structures and functions. After this, Mrs. Stevens shares AI tools to help the kids sturdy, like AI generated podcast videos about units.
Ashlee Salafia, a senior at Timberlane High School shared some input on her new class. She described the workload as the same as it is for most AP classes. They don’t get homework every class, but they do get a lot done during class with notes and MCQ practice. When asked what study techniques are most effective for the multiple choice section, Salafia responded by doing more multiple choice questions instead of studying definitions. It’s best to look for key words instead of the concepts.
Nick Vacarezza, a junior, was asked about the class as well. He was even quizzed on his understanding of beginning concepts. He said that the hardest task so far was probably understanding how to learn about concepts, instead of the actual concepts itself. Nick Vazarezza was asked if he knows the difference between a case study, naturalistic observation, and a correlational study. He responded correctly with naturalistic observation by studying people’s natural movements and what they are doing in a normal environment, aka not controlled. He explained that a case study is a study done of a singular person or group with a specific disease going on to understand how they function.
Overall, the new AP Psych class has been a work in progress and looks like a longlasting course at Timberlane. Kids seem to be responding well, and becoming passionate about the work. Being able to offer kids new AP courses like this can help prepare them for their future and explore interests. We look forward to the continuation of AP Psych at Timberlane.
