Brigid in NC Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 (edited) When students take online science classes, how hard is it to follow through on the labs? My ds is signed up to take Advanced Chemistry with Apologia Academy next year, because it has gotten to be almost impossible to take dual-enrolled classes at our local community college (I could seriously rant on that topic). So I am concerned about the quality of the lab experience, and about the grading of lab reports. I'm sure that mileage will vary, but do online classes provide sufficient lab experience and lab report feedback? Any tips or things to look out for would be greatly appreciated. I want my ds to take the AP Chem exam at the end of the year, but if he gets a 3+ but doesn't have an adequate lab experience, I worry about him placing out of chemistry in college -- but not really having the lab-learning he should have had. Thanks for any wisdom! Edited July 23, 2010 by Brigid in NC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in AL Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 Dd took an online course for AP Biology. We completed very extensive labs at home, a good portion of which were from the AP Lab manual. This required a lot of extra ordering of doo-dads. We were able to complete a good many at home. There were very specific ?'s on the AP test that you one could only answer if you completed the lab or at the very least watched a virtual lab and completed a lab report on it to cement what was done. I would hope the teacher could direct you in regards as to what labs to do for the AP test. The labs did require a good chunk of time (2 hrs ave). If she can't direct you to a resource, and if AP was really important to you, I would recommend a specific Bio AP course. For dd's class, labs were scheduled and we were responsible for getting supplies and completing them in a timely manner. A complete lab report was needed for each lab. The teacher only graded and returned one to us, but it was pretty easy to tell if the form was completed correctly or not as I was the one who had to supervise the labs. The rest of her lab reports were graded after the class was over. :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in AL Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 I guess what I meant to say in my long rambling post, is in my experience the quality of the labs in our experience is left up to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holdoll Posted July 23, 2010 Share Posted July 23, 2010 :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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