There is not a lesson in the Student Workbook that goes with this slide deck.

BI5-Teacher and Consultant Roles in the AP Research Course

Role of Teacher Review pp. 52-54 of the AP Research Course and Exam Description Bottom line for teachers: Must provide any necessary assistance to students in finding external consultants/expert advisors Assistance does NOT mean find the expert for them Equip students with skills to: Know when they will or will not need an expert advisor/consultant Find/engage with an expert Document and reflect on engagement with consultant/expert Don’t do the work for the students Guide students through effective questioning techniques Provide students with instruction pertaining to EKs and LOs to get them to the Enduring Understandings of the course and to help them be successful on the performance assessment tasks. Remind teachers to be aware of their district/school policies about students working with outside consultants/expert advisors to make sure you are not putting your students in harm’s way. Teachers of the AP Research course manage the AP Research assessment components and all related processes. Teachers should be transparent with students about the role of the teacher and other consultants in this course and what individuals providing guidance to students should and should not do.

Activity 1: Whose Line Is It?

Do or Do Not A student meets with a consultant and explains her research. The consultant tells her he is interested in the topic and gives her ten articles to read that are essential in the field. A student submits a draft of his paper to his consultant and asks the consultant if the research method he has selected is an appropriate one. After watching a practice run of a student’s presentation, the teacher tells the student that the pace is too fast. The teacher also tells the student that the implications of his research are weak and that he can expect a question about them on the oral defense. DO NOT-The student did not ask for sources. This is unsolicited help and providing articles in this way is not allowed. 2. DO-The student is approaching the consultant with an issue, which is acceptable. As the student has done preliminary work on a method, the consultant can provide guidance on the mechanics of the research process so long as the consultant does not edit or rework the paper for the student. 3. DO or DO NOT-kinda gray-The general feedback a teacher gives is acceptable, though specifying a significant aspect of an individual student’s work is entering somewhat of a gray area. The clear reference to what will be a specific defense question, however, is unacceptable.

Do or Do Not 4. A student finds articles that are unavailable to download because they are behind an Internet paywall that is only available to university students or faculty. She takes down the name of the author and article and decides she will give it to someone else to download for her. 5. Looking over your students’ Process and Reflection Portfolio journals, you notice that their annotated bibliographies are mostly summaries of their sources, with no connection to their own work. A student tells you the next day that he had trouble with the assignment and wants you to show him how to fix one of his own entries. 4. DO-This is acceptable. The student has done her own search and found the articles on her own. As long as the resources are not obtained illegally in some way, helping the student retrieve the sources she found allows for equity and accessibility in keeping with the spirit of the AP program. 5.DO NOT-You cannot “fix” the student’s entry for him. However, this is a good example of teaching the whole class a skill that is clearly required for all the students in this case. It should be made clear, however, that the teacher should do so in a general fashion and not use a single student’s work to show how it can be improved. A better strategy would be to use a past student sample or fictional sample.

Activity 2: I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends

Anticipating Student Challenges Develop a list of possible issues that may arise with students who need assistance with their research. Pair up and exchange lists. Solve the issues provided by your partner by determining how (if at all) the teacher and/or consultant could address the issues.

Role of a Consultant/Expert Advisor Role of Consultants Consultants represent a resource for teachers and students in a variety of areas (i.e., expertise in specific disciplines, fields, or methods). Consultants when asked, should provide feedback and guidance to students regarding their choice of research questions/project goals, data- or information-collection methods, and analysis strategies may hold individual work-in-progress interviews with students to discuss the progress of their papers or presentations, explore issues and/or discuss topics and perspectives, and question students as necessary may provide necessary background for a topic — including suggesting possible resources — so that students are not disadvantaged in their exploration may help students with the mechanics of the research process (e.g., strategizing to find answers to questions or helping them understand how to access resources) may provide general feedback to students about elements of their papers or presentations that need improvement may vary in number, according to the needs of the paper or presentation Guide participants to look at pp. 53-54 of the CED (as well as p. 43).

What a Consultant/Expert Advisor Should NOT DO Consultants may not generate research questions/project goals for students conduct or provide research, articles, or evidence for students write, revise, amend, or correct student work provide or identify the exact questions a student will be asked prior to his or her defense (i.e., students should be prepared to answer every one of the oral defense questions) provide unsolicited help (i.e., students must initiate conversations that call for consultant feedback, such as asking a question to which the consultant can then respond)

Who Should be a Consultant/Expert Advisor Consultants may be drawn from the faculty Other teachers with high content knowledge/skills in discipline of student’s inquiry topic the community Community leaders, pastors, volunteers with knowledge/skills pertaining to student’s topic of inquiry local or nonlocal businesses and industries professionals with knowledge/skills pertaining to student’s topic of inquiry higher education institutions faculty, senior undergrads/grads from community colleges, colleges, universities with content and research method knowledge pertaining to student’s topic of inquiry

Know Your School/District Policies To keep your students/self out of harm’s way, make sure you and your students are aware of the school/district policies of working/interacting/communicating with adults outside of the school faculty and staff.

When Should Students Interact with a Consultant/Expert Advisor? If a student needs specific information pertaining to a research method that is not easily taught to or needed by the whole class If a student requests feedback on a written piece of work to make sure it adheres to discipline-specific styles If a student needs specific information about a population or setting and how to fine-tune the research question to effectively address a problem in that area #1 RULE-student must seek out the information. Consultant/expert advisor must not give unsolicited information (this is cheating). Consultant/expert advisor must not correct student work but may provide constructive criticism Impress upon teachers that the teacher is NOT responsible for finding and maintaining relationships with expert advisors/consultants for students—the onus is on the student—end of list.

Who Should Initiate and Maintain the Student/Consultant Relationship? The onus is on the student The AP Research teacher should provide assistance where needed by giving the student the proper tools to initiate and maintain an effective student/consultant relationship Student may seek out guidance from multiple consultants/expert advisors Relationship does not have to last any longer than the length of time the student needs/requires End of list

Proper Tools? Students should have the skills to know whether or not they even need to consult with an expert advisor. Students should have a general idea about who they can contact (and how) to be a consultant/expert advisor to their research. Students should make sure potential consultants/expert advisors are aware of the course in general, deadlines, and rubrics. Provide students with a form letter (if necessary) to give to expert advisors/consultants which provides links to all course information online and specific dates for presentations (in case they might want to serve on the oral defense panel.