A Learner based Perspective on STEM Learning in AP Courses

Abstract

STEM fields are at the core of 21st Century Innovation. However only a small number of American students pursue STEM disciplines as their future careers. In high school, AP STEM courses provide unique opportunities to improve students’ awareness, interests, and access to STEM learning in the school environment. A positive experience in these AP courses can be a catalyst to shaping a student’s career interests and preferences towards STEM fields. However, these courses are also the most challenging among all high school curricula, and the situation is even more complicated by the shortage of teachers skilled in STEM subjects. It is then important to help students develop effective learning strategies for these courses. Through surveying high school students who have studied AP STEM courses, this study has found that students highly value learning physics with a concept-based approach, chemistry and calculus with a procedure-based strategy, and biology with a mix between memorization and concept. Additionally, students prepared best with a mix between concept-based activities, such as labs, and procedure-based activities, such as practice problems, in both physics and chemistry. Students who took biology found memorization-based preparations to be the most useful, and calculus was prepared best with procedure.