28 Aug 2008
The Penn State Advanced Placement Summer Institute 2008

About the program Dates/Times Fee and Registration Information
About the Instructors Graduate Credit Option Housing Information

AP Biology

In one very intense, but quick week, the institute will have the participants do at least 8 of the required 12 labs in order to experience the pitfalls and learning curve of the students' experience. In addition, tips will be give on course syllabus and book choice, ideas for after the exam, how to prepare for the exam, how to take the exam. Low cost alternatives for the labs will be shared as well as "best practices" among the participants of what works for them. All levels of experience are welcome. This course is great for those who are going to be teaching AP Biology in the future, just started and do not know where to go, or the teacher who is in the middle years of teaching AP and just not sure if "they're doing it right".

Consultant: Maureen L. Nosal

National Science Teacher Association and NJEA member. Has been a teacher for 29 years with over 15 years of teaching AP Biology. She also has 9 years experience as an AP Biology Exam Reader with 4 years of that as a Table Leader. Maureen has 9 years as a Consultant for College Board as an AP Workshop Instructor or 1/2 day and full day seminars as well as Summer Institutes.

AP Chemistry

The institute is a 4.5 day experience for AP teachers with little to no AP teaching experience, although teachers with more expertise are certainly welcome. Both the lecture and lab components are important aspects of the course. Group participation is encouraged and teachers are welcome to bring their ideas, favorite handouts and labs to share. Much time is devoted to covering AP topics (stoichiometry, kinetics, thermodynamics, equilibrium, acids and bases, electrochemistry, etc), student selection, textbooks, testing experiences and the AP exam itself. Every afternoon is devoted to lab experiments (6-7 of them) and lab design. A folder of information and ready to use handouts is supplied to each teacher enrolled in the course.

Consultant: Linda Ann Kruegel

Linda has been a chemistry teacher for over 28 years with just over 25 of them at Princeton High School , Princeton , NJ . She has taught AP Chemistry for just over 20 years. She has a degree in Chemistry from the University of Rhode Island and a MAT in physical science from Fairleigh Dickinson University . She has worked in industry, spent several summers working for professors at Princeton University , and also attending several summer seminars. All of these summer activities have helped to broaden her chemical background. Linda's career with the College Board and ETS began in 1985 as a member for the Chemistry Achievement development committee. In 1988, she was invited to the join the grading session for the AP Chemistry exam, which she has done on and off since then. Linda started giving 1-day seminars in 2001 and 3 years ago began giving one-week institutes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey . Linda feels that sharing her ideas with and learning from other teachers has been a wonderful and rewarding experience.

AP Economics

The course will prepare participants to develop and teach an AP course in Economics. The course will include a thorough review of the content needed to teach AP economics as well as resources that are available for the AP teacher. The course will conclude with a review of past AP exam questions, with emphasis on strategies for teaching AP Economics as well as some common errors on AP Economics Exams.

Consultant:  Anthony O. Gyapong, Ph.D:  Economics
Dr. Anthony O. Gyapong has been an Associate Professor of Economics at Penn State University-Abington Campus for over 15 years where he teaches both Introductory Macroeconomics and Introductory Microeconomics. He is a former Advanced Placement examination Reader in Economics.  Anthony has 10 years as a Consultant for the College Board as an AP Workshop Instructor or 1/2 day and full day seminars as well as Summer Institutes.

AP English Language

The course is designed for both teachers new to teaching AP English Language and those desiring a refresher in light of changes in the AP English Language exam. Participants will leave with a appropriate resources and a plan for a rigorous curriculum designed to (1) prepare students for college-level writing and research and (2) approach the AP exam with confidence. Particular attention will be paid to preparing students for the transition from largely literature-based composition to the broader demands of college-level literacy. In addition, participants will focus on using current resources such as AP Central to support their curriculum and day-to-day course needs.

Consultant:  Donald R. Stoll

An experienced AP English Language exam reader and Consultant for College Board, Stoll has taught college composition for 31 years at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. He is President of the New Jersey Writing Alliance, an organization of High School and College writing instructors dedicated to bridging the gap between these two groups of professionals and has presented and published widely on issues revolving around the articulation of HS and College writing. Stoll is a member of the Advisory Board for the College Board Middle States Region.

AP European History

This course is designed both for teachers new to teaching AP European History and those exploring some of the changes that have occurred in the exam in the recent past.  Participants will explore the themes pertinent to the course, collaborate on constructing syllabi that are coherent and relevant for the course, and review writing skills necessary for the critical essays demanded by the course.  Additionally, participants will review current resources provided by the College Board to support their curricula as well as examining various textual and visual materials pertinent for teaching European History.

Instructor: Helen Grady

Helen Grady is an experienced teacher of both AP European History and AP World History at Springside School in Philadelphia.  She has been an AP Reader for both subjects and serves as a consultant for AP United States History as well as for European and World Histories.  She has participated in a number of panels and presentations at NCSS and AHA conferences and is co-author of a number of articles that function as curricular and pedagogical resources for teaching history.

AP French Language

AP French Course Description

Consultant: Edward Weiss

Ed Weiss is the Chair of the World Language Department at Haverford Township School District  where he has taught French for 27 years. He has been an AP reader for the past nine years and currently serves as a table leader at the French reading.  Ed is a French and World Language consultant for College Board and has presented summer French institutes in Michigan and Delaware.  He has also done consultation on French curriculum at various schools in the tri-state area as well as presenting workshops on curriculum development at the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign languages.

AP Physics B and C

The course is designed for teachers to start AP-B Physics and/or AP-C mechanics in their schools. The instructor will discuss the selection of students, the summer assignments, the selection of texts/supplementary materials, the format and the grading of the examinations. Teachers will learn many teaching strategies that will include time allocation, what to cover and what to skip, developing quizzes and tests. We will discuss the lab experiences students need and perform some the experiments. The course will survey all the essential topics on Mechanics, Electricity/Magnetism, Waves/Sound/Optics, Heat/Thermodynamics, and Atomic/Nuclear Physics. The participants will receive three cds containing more than twenty years of AP Physics examinations with solutions, reviews, and other useful materials.

Instructor: Ray (Hirendra) Chatterjee

Dr Chatterjee has received a Fulbright scholarship to do a Ph.D. in physics at Penn State. He has taught physics at Cherry Hill H.S. West since 1974. He started an AP physics program at Cherry Hill West in 1990 and his students have taken both AP-B and AP-C physics examinations. Since 1990, eight of his students were selected for United States Physics team for International Olympiad. He was a member AP-Physics Test Development Committee from 1995 till 1998. He was a panel member for TV conference in November 1995. He co-authored 2000 AP-Physics Teacher's guide. He was an AP Physics Reader for seven years. He has given over sixty AP physics conferences including many summer institutes in last fifteen years. He wrote a book on AP (B and C) Physics. Raj has taught as an Adjunct Professor in Physics at Camden County College since 1980 and Rutgers State University. at Camden during 1985 to 1994.

AP US Government and Politics

Kathleen C. Hauger is currently the Chair of Social Studies at Abington Senior High School, Abington, PA. Kathleen has been a social studies teacher for 30 years and a teacher of Advanced Placement Government and Politics for since the course inception. She is a past reader of the AP exam and has been an AP Government and Politics consultant for the Middle States College Board for 15 years, providing workshops for new and experienced AP teachers throughout the Northeast. She also was a consultant for the AP Start Up Grant, mentoring a teacher in Boston in 2006. Kathy is also a consultant for the Pre-AP: Interdisciplinary Strategies for English and Social Studies for the College Board and has been recertified as a consultant in May, 2003.

Instructor: Kathleen Hauger