Advanced Placement Courses
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AP Biology
Advanced Placement Biology II is a rigorous introductory college biology course following the Advanced Placement curriculum of the College Board. Topics include evolution, cellular processes/ energy and communication, genetics, and information transfer of living systems and interactions of biological systems. It is expected this college level course will require greater amounts of time and effort on the part of the student. Descriptive and experimental laboratory experiences will be assigned to provide maximum opportunity for students to learn a variety of skills and concepts.
More detailed information can be obtained from the College Board website –
Teacher
Tiffany Fletcher -
AP Calculus AB
AP Calculus AB is an introductory college-level calculus course. Students cultivate their understanding of differential and integral calculus through engaging with real-world problems represented graphically, numerically, analytically, and verbally and using definitions and theorems to build arguments and justify conclusions as they explore concepts like change, limits, and the analysis of functions.
Teacher:
Matthew Renegar
mbrenegar@gaston.k12.nc.us -
AP Chemistry II
Advanced Placement Chemistry II is a rigorous college-level, general chemistry course following the Advanced Placement curriculum of the College Board. All topics will involve complex chemical calculations. It is expected this college level course will require greater amounts of time and effort on the part of the student. Descriptive and experimental laboratory experiences will be assigned to provide maximum opportunity for students to learn a variety of skills and concepts.
More information is available on the College Board website:
Course prerequisites:
Recommend final grade of 85 or higher in Biology I Honors, Chemistry I Honors, and NC Math II Honors
Teacher
Bobby Padgett
blpadgett@gaston.k12.nc.us -
AP Computer Science Principles
The AP Computer Science Principles course is designed to be equivalent to a first- semester introductory college computing course. In this course, students will develop computational thinking skills vital for success across all disciplines, such as using computational tools to analyze and study data and working with large data sets to analyze, visualize, and draw conclusions from trends. The course engages students in the creative aspects of the field by allowing them to develop computational artifacts based on their interests. Students will also develop effective communication and collaboration skills by working individually and collaboratively to solve problems, and will discuss and write about the impacts these solutions could have on their community, society, and the world.
Teacher
Victoria Kiser -
AP English Language and Composition
AP English Language and Composition is an introductory college-level composition course. Students cultivate their understanding of writing and rhetorical arguments through reading, analyzing, and writing texts as they explore topics like rhetorical situation, claims and evidence, reasoning and organization, and style.
Teacher
Jamee Webb -
AP European History
AP European History is designed to be the equivalent of a two-semester introductory college or university European history course. In AP European History students investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in four historical periods from approximately 1450 to the present. Students develop and use the same skills, practices, and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making historical comparisons; and utilizing reasoning about contextualization, causation, and continuity and change over time.
Teacher
Jamie Monk
jlmonk@gaston.k12.nc.us -
AP Government and Politics
AP U.S. Government and Politics provides a college-level, nonpartisan introduction to key political concepts, ideas, institutions, policies, interactions, roles, and behaviors that characterize the constitutional system and political culture of the United States. Students will study U.S. foundational documents, Supreme Court decisions, and other texts and visuals to gain an understanding of the relationships and interactions among political institutions, processes, and behaviors. They will also engage in disciplinary practices that require them
to read and interpret data, make comparisons and applications, and develop evidence-based arguments. In addition, they will complete a political science research or applied civics project.
Teacher
Anna Ballard
aaballard@gaston.k12.nc.us -
AP Literature & Composition
AP English Literature and Composition is an introductory college-level literary analysis course. Students cultivate their understanding of literature through reading and analyzing texts as they explore concepts like character, setting, structure, perspective, figurative language, and literary analysis in the context of literary works.
Teacher
Martha Maxwell -
AP Statistics
The AP Statistics course introduces students to the major concepts and tools for collecting, analyzing, and drawing conclusions from data. There are four themes evident in the content, skills, and assessment in the AP Statistics course: exploring data, sampling and experimentation, probability and simulation, and statistical inference. Students use technology, investigations, problem solving, and writing as they build conceptual understanding.
Teacher
Victoria Kiser
vbkiser@gaston.k12.nc.us -
AP U.S. History
Advanced Placement United States History is a rigorous and intensive course that is meant to be the equivalent of an introductory freshman college course in American History. The scope of the course begins with the emergence of Colonial America (1400s), and continues through the end of the Cold War in the 20th Century.The objective of this course is to teach students to think critically while preparing for the AP United States History test to be given in of each school year.
Teacher
Jamie Monk
jlmonk@gaston.k12.nc.us -
AP World History: Modern
In AP World History: Modern, students investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes from 1200 to the present. Students develop and use the same skills, practices, and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making historical connections; and utilizing reasoning about comparison, causation, and continuity and change over time. The course provides six themes that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places: humans and the environment, cultural developments and interactions, governance, economic systems, social interactions and organization, and technology and innovation.
Teacher
Woodrow Boyles