AP Curriculum Development & Design 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which curriculum design model emphasizes starting with desired learning outcomes before planning instruction and assessment?
- Tyler Rationale
- Backward Design (UbD) (Correct answer)
- Spiral Curriculum
- Mastery Learning
Correct answer: Backward Design (UbD)
Backward Design, developed by Wiggins and McTighe, begins with identifying desired results before planning assessments and learning experiences.
Question 2: In AP curriculum design, 'vertical alignment' refers to:
- Aligning content across different subjects at the same grade level
- Ensuring content builds progressively across grade levels (Correct answer)
- Matching teacher pacing across parallel classrooms
- Coordinating assessments between AP and honors courses
Correct answer: Ensuring content builds progressively across grade levels
Vertical alignment ensures that curriculum content and skills build coherently and progressively from one grade level to the next.
Question 3: A teacher redesigning an AP unit notices that most instructional time is spent on low-cognitive tasks. Which Bloom's Taxonomy revision levels should be prioritized for AP rigor?
- Remember and Understand
- Understand and Apply
- Analyze, Evaluate, and Create (Correct answer)
- Apply and Remember
Correct answer: Analyze, Evaluate, and Create
AP courses require higher-order thinking; Analyze, Evaluate, and Create represent the top three levels of the revised Bloom's Taxonomy.
Question 4: Which document serves as the primary curricular guide for AP teachers when designing their course?
- State standards framework
- College Board AP Course and Exam Description (CED) (Correct answer)
- District curriculum map
- National common core standards
Correct answer: College Board AP Course and Exam Description (CED)
The College Board's AP Course and Exam Description outlines essential knowledge, skills, and exam expectations that AP teachers must follow.
Question 5: When developing a scope and sequence for an AP course, a teacher should FIRST:
- Select textbooks and instructional resources
- Map all standards to calendar weeks
- Identify the essential questions and enduring understandings (Correct answer)
- Plan summative assessments for each unit
Correct answer: Identify the essential questions and enduring understandings
Identifying essential questions and enduring understandings provides the conceptual framework that guides all subsequent scope and sequence decisions.
Question 6: The concept of 'transfer goals' in curriculum design refers to:
- Moving students from one course level to the next
- Students' ability to independently apply learning to new contexts (Correct answer)
- Transferring curriculum materials between schools
- Aligning goals between AP and IB programs
Correct answer: Students' ability to independently apply learning to new contexts
Transfer goals describe what students should be able to do independently with knowledge and skills in novel situations beyond the course.
Question 7: A curriculum map differs from a lesson plan primarily because it:
- Includes more detailed activity descriptions
- Provides a broad overview of content, skills, and assessments across a time period (Correct answer)
- Focuses exclusively on standards alignment
- Is created by administrators rather than teachers
Correct answer: Provides a broad overview of content, skills, and assessments across a time period
A curriculum map offers a macro-level overview of what will be taught, when, and how it will be assessed across a semester or year.
AP Curriculum Development & Design 2
Which curriculum design model emphasizes starting with desired learning outcomes before planning instruction and assessment?