AP course teachers know the challenges that come with covering all the content necessary to prepare students for an AP exam. This often leads to reliance on classroom strategies that stress memorization like lecture and notetaking rather than those that foster sophisticated thinking and communication – skills that students need to be successful in college and beyond. Some schools and districts across the country have been experimenting with employing PBL strategies to help teachers move beyond the traditional “transmission” approach to teaching.

Together with researchers at the University of Southern California’s Center for Economic and Social Research (USC CESR), our research team at Gibson is conducting a Randomized Controlled Trial of Knowledge in Action (KIA), a PBL approach to AP (US Government and Environmental Science) funded by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, and led by Dr. Anna Saavedra.

A recent article describes the project:

Saavedra leads a team of researchers at CESR and several other partnering institutions who are investigating whether the Knowledge in Action (KIA) project-based approach to teaching Advanced Placement (AP) courses in high school might improve student learning outcomes. Results from a pilot study conducted during the 2015-16 school year are promising.

Click here or on the image to the right to learn more about the project.