The field of research is ever-evolving and full of innovation at Antioch Community High School. AP Seminar teacher Michael Riggs and AP Research teacher Kelly Taylor make the dream team for the AP Capstone program. Riggs has taught Seminar for eight years, and Taylor has taught Research for seven years. Over the course of these years, inheriting a new group of students each year in the world of research opens the door for limitless creativity. This year’s group of AP Capstone students bring a new set of eyes and innovation to the world of research.
“I feel like this year’s seminar class is actually pretty above average when it comes to the creativity of their research topics,” Riggs said “I’ve observed that there are some interesting topics, and some are involving things I didn’t even know about before talking to the kid.”
Through this program, students have the opportunity to apply their creativity and imagination to their research. Numerous skills are necessary to learn in the beginning stages of AP Seminar that carry over to the real deal; AP Research. The AP Seminar students are currently in the stage of learning the foundational skills of research such as learning how to navigate scholarly databases and asking meaningful questions that will drive their topic of inquiry. These foundational skills are vital to their success over the next two years in the program.
“If the research question fails, the project fails,” Riggs said, “Asking a good question that they will be able to work with is important.”
While the Seminar students are in their introductory stage of the Capstone program, the AP Research students are ready to begin their year-long experiments, which they have been preparing for after successfully making it through AP Seminar.
“We just finished talking about the criteria to draft a research question, and what it means to fill a gap in an academic discipline, in the field of study in which your top is situated,” Taylor said. “They are now working on their first mini project to learn the process.”
The AP Research students are now applying the foundational skills they learned in Seminar to guide their research. Aside from the essential skills, creativity only continues to grow from here on out. Finding a gap of research that has never been explored can be difficult, but these high-achieving students are up for the adverse challenges.
“Understanding that while there are no original ideas anymore, you can look at an idea with an original perspective or from an original lens,” Taylor said. “I love how interdisciplinary the class is, how each project and each year is different. It’s always changing.”
Change is inevitable in this course and the students are shaped to get comfortable with it, which is one of the many life skills taught throughout this program. Through setbacks, and turning rejection into redirection, ACHS Capstone students are ready to dive deeper into their chosen topics of inquiry. Although change is a main factor to this program, one thing that remains constant is the passion of Riggs and Taylor, which inspires students to strive for excellence. They cannot wait to see the growth of their students.
