Grading Policy:

As described in the course proficiency

• Assessments: Major 40%  
• Lab & Quiz: 50 %  
• Homework/Classwork:   10%

Structure of the Course: AP Chemistry is built around six big ideas and seven science practices.  The big ideas are:

• Big Idea 1:  The chemical elements are fundamental building materials of matter, and all matter can be understood in terms of arrangements of atoms.  These atoms retain their identity in chemical reactions. 
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• Big Idea 2:  Chemical and physical properties of materials can b explained by the structure and the arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules and the forces between them.
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• Big Idea 3:  Changes in matter involve the rearrangement and/or reorganization of atoms and/or the transfer of electrons.
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• Big Idea 4:  Rates of chemical reactions are determined details of the molecular collisions. 
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• Big Idea 5:  The laws of thermodynamics describe the essential role of energy and explain and predict the direction if changes in matter.
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• Big Idea 6:  Any bond or intermolecular attraction that can be formed can be broken.  These two processes are in dynamic competition, sensitive to initial conditions and external perturbations.  

The science practices for AP Chemistry are designed to get the students to think and act like scientist.  The science practices are:

• Science Practice 1:  The student can use representations and models to communicate scientific phenomena and solve scientific problems. 
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• Science Practice 2:  The student can use mathematics appropriately.
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• Science Practice 3:  The student can engage in scientific questioning to extend thinking or to guide investigations within the context of the AP course.
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• Science Practice 4:  The student can plan and implement data collection strategies in relations to a particular scientific question.
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• Science Practice 5:  The student can perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence.
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• Science Practice 6:  The student can work with scientific explanations and theories.
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• Science Practice 7:  The student is able to connect and relate knowledge across various scales, concepts, and representations in and across domains. 

Laboratory Investigations:

The laboratory portion of this class is designed to be the equivalent of a college laboratory experience.  Because some colleges require proof of the laboratory portion of the course prior to granting credit, all students will use a bound student carbonless duplicate lab notebook and will keep a three ring laboratory binder, which will be used as a portfolio.  All completed lab reports documenting all lab experiments must be included in the notebook. 

All the laboratory experiments in this course are “hands-on”.  Students work individually or in small groups depending on the lab.  They collect, process, manipulate, and graph data from both quantitative and qualitative observations.  Inquiry is emphasizes in many of the experiments that students complete.  The laboratory works requires students to design, carry out, and analyze data using guided inquiry principles.  For each lab the students are required to report the purpose, procedure, equipment needed, all data, data analysis, error analysis, questions for the students to answer, results, and conclusion