Sample Courses & Analyses
This section lists several project-based courses that have been submitted to UC, some of which have been approved to meet the a-g subject requirements. Following each is an analysis of the course description, commenting on its strengths and deficiencies. The courses are divided into two sets, science and humanities.
To view the course description itself, simply click on the course title.
Science Courses
Advanced Topics in Medical Research (CART) [MS Word]
This project-based course focuses quite narrowly on medical research. The prerequisites are clearly defined and appropriate. Although each student will select from among a range of medical research topics, all students are expected to complete medical case studies in predetermined fields, ensuring mastery of a common base of knowledge by all students enrolled in the class. The course description includes a lengthy list of questions that must be addressed by the student in his/her final project. This specificity is helpful. The description clearly identifies several skill areas to be developed by all students (e.g., statistical data analysis, advanced technical reading and writing, research methodology, etc.). The course description would be improved by including greater detail
regarding class activities, assignments, and projects.
Applied Sciences (Athenian School) [MS Word]
This course has an impressive list of prerequisites, indicating the high level of academic rigor. The detailed description of course goals and student outcomes confirms high expectations for students. Although this course primarily expects students to apply knowledge already mastered, students are already at a college level in both math and science. This feature alone distinguishes it from the Product Development course below, which has similar aims (to develop and test a product prototype to solve a real-world problem), but at a lower level academically. Major activities are clearly listed, as are the teacher supervised labs conducted by all students. The description would be improved by including more detail and clarity of evaluation criteria.
Environmental Field Studies (CART) [MS Word]
This project-based course focuses quite narrowly on local environmental issues. The prerequisites are clearly defined and appropriate. Although students will select from among a broad range of environmental topics to conduct their independent research, all students are expected to master a defined set of related topics, as identified in the course outline. Finally, evaluation procedures are fully described at the end.
Product Development (CART) [MS Word]
A course of this nature would unlikely be approved by UC for a-g credit, as it is highly technical and focuses primarily on methods, rather than mastery of academic content. Prerequisites and co-requisites are nebulous. Yet, as a project-based course, it has some merits. All students will master some useful physics concepts and complete practical laboratory activities. The sample project attached helps UC staff to better understand student expectations.
Humanities Courses
BEST Senior Project (Berkeley HS) [MS Word]
For a semester course, the reading list is substantial and the writing expectations adequate. Both are clearly defined. With a general theme of “work in the United States,” a handful of social science topics to be covered are listed, but more detail would be preferred. Likewise, UC would prefer to see more detailed information about expected skill development and evaluation criteria.
Topics in History (Marlborough HS) [MS Word]
The brief course description very nicely describes the characteristics of this course, defining themes, topics and questions that students may address. The topic for each year is narrowly defined (e.g., for 2004-05 “20th Century American Pop Culture”). For 2004-05, a book list is included, yet it is unclear whether all students will be required to read all of these materials or whether they are optional or for reference only. Such clarifications are important. The description clearly states that, although topics will vary from year to year, student expectations will remain constant, yet those expectations are not as clearly defined as UC would hope and expect.
WISE English (Milken Academy) [MS Word]
The course objectives are quite generally stated and the course outline is quite brief. In both areas, specificity would be preferred. Like the BEST Senior Project course above, the reading list is quite impressive, but it is unclear which of the listed works are required, optional, or for reference only. This clarification is important. As with any course with significant writing requirements, it is helpful for UC to know specifically the number, type, and length of written assignments. The relatively detailed description of assessment methods and criteria is helpful for UC staff to better understand expectations.
WISE Social Science (Milken Academy) [MS Word]
As this course seems to also substitute for a traditional 12th grade economics course, a more detailed outline of economics concepts would be preferred. Otherwise, since this course combines components of the BEST Senior Project and WISE English courses above, the comments related to those courses may be applied to this one, as well.
