ADVANCED PLACEMENT MATH AND SCIENCES

Calculus AP (Math AP Program) This program, intended for highly motivated and capable students, prepares them to pursue post secondary studies in a mathematics intensive program.  Mathematics 10AP in Grade 10 and Mathematics 20AP in grade 11 cover the objectives of the Mathematics 10 and 20 programs as outlined by Alberta Learning at an accelerated pace, allowing time for more in-depth work and analysis, as well as a pre-calculus unit. 

The program continues with Mathematics 30 AP and 31 AP Calculus (AB) in grade 12 and culminates in the Advanced Placement Calculus AB exam in May.  The AP Calculus AB course is primarily concerned with developing the student’s understanding of the concepts of calculus and providing experience with its methods and applications.

The AP Biology Program is an intensive program designed as an equivalent to Introductory Biology taken by University students.  In addition to the greater depth of coverage, it differs from regular Biology in that it covers both the Alberta Biology Curriculum and the International AP Biology Curriculum.  The course utilizes a university level textbook and thus high-level reading skills are essential.  The program emphasizes the development of an understanding of biological concepts such as the chemistry of life, cells, cellular energetics, heredity, molecular genetics, evolutionary biology, diversity of organisms, structure and function of plants and animals, populations and ecology.  A set of labs is included to augment learning.

At Bishop Grandin, students begin the AP Biology program in Science 10AP.  Based on successful academic results, students enrol in Biology 20 AP in second semester.  In Grade 11 students enrol in both Biology 35 AP for 3 credits and Biology 30 AP.  Thus in May, students will be prepared to write the AP exam, and in June, the Alberta Diploma Examination.  Although this requires an extra effort in Grade 11, it will significantly reduce the load in Grade 12 for AP students.  A Field Trip to the Bamfield Marine Station on Vancouver Island is part of the Biology 35 AP Program.

AP Chemistry is a general introduction to chemical phenomena, with emphasis on problems and methods in Chemistry.  The goals of the course are: 1) to introduce students to concepts required for solving problems in Chemistry and for understanding chemical reactivity; and 2) to develop analytical and critical thinking skills for potential science majors.

The program begins in Science 10AP with the conceptual development of the atomic-molecular theory, develops a descriptive framework based on the periodic table, and then proceeds with chemical reactions, the mole concept and stoichiometry. 

Chemistry 20AP and 30AP are full semester programs offered in Grade 11 and 12 respectively.   Chemistry 20AP proceeds with a microscopic description of the structures of atoms and molecules, including a description of electronic orbitals and their relationship to chemical properties.  The properties of gases, liquids, solids and solutions are covered, along with organic chemistry.

The topics covered in Chemistry 30AP are organic chemistry, chemical equilibrium, thermochemistry and electrochemistry.  This program is completed first semester and students write their Diploma exam in January.  During the second semester students enrol in Chemistry 35AP (3 credits) where they study thermodynamics, reaction kinetics and prepare to write the AP exam in May.

The Physics curriculum in Alberta closely parallels the Advanced Placement Physics curriculum.  Physics 20 AP and Physics 30 AP are enhanced with field trips and advanced labs. These students will be prepared to write the Advanced Placement in early May.

In March of 2009, seven of our Physics students (Thomas Russell, Alex Mulvenna, Rachel Feddema, Glenn Hamonic, Jeremy Gosselin, Evan Stack, and Erin Kelly) along with two teachers, Duncan Smith and Susanne Czentye, had the opportunity to go to the Canadian Light Source (CLS), a federally sponsored facility located on the campus of the University of Saskatoon. The facility does research into the structure of matter using a synchrotron.   It uses a source of brilliant light that scientists can use to gather information about the structural and chemical properties of materials at the molecular level. The students went to work on a project that investigated the structure of minerals in fruits and commercial manufactured supplements.

The students went to work with Dr. Robert Blyth (a research scientist) to test their hypothesis regarding the chelation minerals supplements.  Chelation is a process in which minerals are attached to organic compounds.  They are found in fruits that we eat every day. The minerals if chelated are much more readily absorbed into the body.  The students tested common fruits and some commercial products that contained chelated minerals.  They wanted to see if there was a difference between chelated minerals in fruit to that of commercial supplements. Since there was no previous work done on this topic they also wanted to see what the synchrotron would show these samples.

On the last day the group did a presentation of the work they did to the CLS community. The director of the facility was impressed with the quality and presentation of the research work the students did on mineral chelation.

With the return of the students back to school they worked on a poster (see above) that was presented by Glenn Hamonic to a student forum at CLS in June. Their work will also result in a paper, Investigating Natural and Synthetic Chelates, to be published 2010.

We wish to thank Tracy Walker (Educational Outreach Coordinator) at CLS and Dr. Robert Blyth for all their work in arranging the trip and the opportunity to experience the research that is done in the scientific community.

THOMAS RUSSELL, ALEX MULVENNA, RACHEL FEDDEMA, GLENN HAMONIC, JEREMY GOSSELIN, EVAN STACK, ERIN KELLY      ¹, ROBERT I. R. BLYTH², DUNCAN SMITH³, TRACY WALKER

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