AP Chemistry

Online for the 2023-2024 School Year

Teacher: Mark Kernion

Email: mkernion@gmail.com

For School Year 2023-2024

Textbook (required):

Chemistry, Tenth Edition, AP^® Edition by Zumdahl, Zumdahl and DeCoste © 2018 Cengage Learning.  ISBN: 978-1-305-95773-2. (Currently, a digital copy of this text is provided with a paid subscription to Cengage Learning.  A hard copy of the textbook is not supplied with the subscription.  More on Cengage Learning can be found below.)

Who should apply:

This class is designed for students who have successfully completed one year of high school Chemistry* as well as Algebra II.   Additionally, students should be motivated enough to want to learn the subject, disciplined enough to do the required work, and organized enough to handle the day-to-day rigors of the class and subject.  To determine an individual’s readiness for the class, a pre-test is available here that should guide the student in the course selection process. Keep in mind, if you are currently taking a high school chemistry class you may not be able to answer all the questions yet.  If you take the pre-test prior to the conclusion of your high school class, you might judge your readiness on how you have done answering those questions with which you have familiarity.  Getting 100% on the pre-test is not mandatory for signing up for the class! The pre-test should be used solely as a guide letting you know what would be generally good to know before the start of the AP Class. If you miss a question but are able to realize why you missed it, that should indicate to you that you are familiar enough with the concept. To meet the needs of those students who might need a focused review of the pre-requisite concepts, PA Homeschoolers is offering an 8 session (over 4 weeks with 2 sessions per week)) summer enrichment class for those who have not yet taken a high school chemistry course or those who might need a refresher prior to engaging in chemistry at the AP level. Please see the summer enrichment offerings at www.aphomeschoolers.com.  This summer enrichment class is not mandatory for application towards the AP course but is offered as an option for those who might benefit from it.

A typical student who meets the requirements above should have about 12 hours per week to devote to the course. (Some may require a bit less and some a bit more.)

*The instructor will consider highly motivated and gifted students who have not formally taken a high school chemistry class but have invested time in learning the basic fundamental concepts of such a course on their own.  Students who fit this description should take the pre-test described above to determine their readiness or might consider the Pre-AP chemistry summer enrichment course mentioned above.

How to apply:

The application for this class can be found here.

Course Fees:

The tuition for this course is $850 prior to June 30, 2023, and $875 after June 30, 2023.

Schedule:

The course begins on August 28, 2023, and ends on May 7, 2024*.  *This ending date is the tentative date of the A.P. Chemistry Examination given by the College Board.

Technical requirements:

Students will need a computer with high-speed internet access, a device for scanning materials (smartphone or scanner), a scientific or graphing calculator, and a Google account for email and other applications.

Course supplies (each student must obtain) :

Two notebooks – one for taking course notes and one for doing lab work.

One 3-ringed binder – to house course materials that will be printed off by the student.

Lab kit – AP Chemistry Lab Kit by Chemistry-Prep which can be purchased here.  Current price: $269.95 (this includes the laboratory manual.)

Course Description:

This A.P. Chemistry course is designed to be the equivalent of the general chemistry courses usually taken during a student’s first year in college and focuses on the big ideas and important scientific practices in chemistry.  As such, the student should attain a depth of understanding concerning fundamental chemical concepts and a reasonable competence in solving chemical problems with which they could be associated.  Additionally, this course will help develop the student’s scientific skills as a substantial portion of the course (25%) is spent on practical laboratory work.   Although the main goal of this course is to provide an opportunity for students to learn chemistry at the college level, a secondary, but important goal, is to prepare students to take the A.P. Chemistry Exam so that credit for the learning that has occurred can be recognized. 

How the course will be run:

The content of the course will be delivered to the student in a variety of ways:

1. Live video sessions with the instructor. These will occur once per week on Monday for 1 hour (12:00 PM to 1:00 PM ET.) and should be considered valuable by those students who find live interaction with the instructor helpful considering their personal learning style. Although attendance at these sessions is encouraged it is not required as the meetings will be recorded. Those unable to attend will be able to access the recorded sessions through the class website soon after their live conclusion.
2. Instructor-produced, student-paced, presentations students will view independently using Google Slides.  These will occur on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (except when lab work is assigned) and will take about 45 minutes to view.
3. Instructor-produced video lessons (different from the recorded "live" sessions.) These will occur once per week on Thursdays and will last about 1 hour.
4. Self-study using multiple course resources supplied through Cengage Learning. Specifically, Cengage Learning offers a digital subscription that provides on-demand access to an electronic version of the textbook, an online homework system called OWLv2, and other electronic study tools.  OWLv2 is an outstanding digital learning platform that empowers properly guided students to learn through richly dynamic problems, detailed and immediate feedback on their work, and interactive learning modules.  The current subscription price for one year of access is $64.75.  This is a special price given to students of PA Homeschoolers (the regular price is $179.99.) and may be subject to change. The subscription can be purchased through a special web page set up by Cengage for our class that will be available prior to the start of the course and provided to students who enroll.
5. Self-study through the AP Classroom. The AP Classroom is a resource provided by The College Board which allows students to evaluate their own learning in a formative manner.
6. Information (e.g. pacing guides, links to presentations, note-taking documents, etc…) and other resources found on the class website (chemistry-prep.com). 
7. A web-based discussion forum where student-to-student or instructor-to-student interaction can occur. The forum will also allow for student questions to be addressed outside of the live sessions.

The hands-on laboratory portion of the course will be accomplished through the use of the laboratory kit mentioned above in the required course materials. Following the introduction of certain concepts, laboratory analyses will be performed by the student to complement the concepts in the unit of study.  The analyses will be reported to the instructor via an electronic laboratory report submission form.  Data and calculations associated with the laboratory work must be kept in a laboratory notebook and recorded in a manner associated with standard college-level practices that will be described prior to the first lab.

How a student will be evaluated:

Throughout a given unit of study, students will be responsible for completing practice problems, weekly quizzes, and unit tests electronically through the OWLv2 system.  Lab reports will also be evaluated. Each of the items will be assigned a certain number of course points.  Grades will be determined by the number of points gained compared to the number of points possible.  A traditional grading scale will be used with a performance of 90% required for an “A” and 80% required for a “B” and so on.  Students will have access to a student dashboard where grades can be found throughout the term on the course website.

• Practice problems (generally 10-16 points. per unit of study) will enhance student understanding of course concepts both qualitatively and quantitatively and will be presented in a variety of formats. These include tutorials, visualizations, simulations, and traditional questions.  The practice problems will differ from quizzes and tests in the number of “takes” a student has to complete an item.  Generally, a student will have ten opportunities to answer a practice problem before the required submission.   If on a given take, a problem is answered incorrectly, the student will receive immediate feedback to help them review their work and then supply a similar (but not the exact same) problem to try again.  In between takes a student can also use other sources of remediation such as the textbook or the discussion forum to help them understand the item missed.
• Quizzes (generally 10 points. per unit of study) will be presented as traditional multiple-choice/fill-in questions and the student will have two "takes" available to complete a quiz. Again, feedback will be provided in between takes if more than one take is required.
• Tests (generally 56 points per unit of study) will be presented as traditional multiple-choice/fill-in and free-response questions typically found on the A.P. Chemistry Exam.  The multiple-choice/fill-in section of the test will be done through OWLv2 with students given only one "take" per question. Each test will contain 20 multiple-choice questions at 2 pts. each. Free-response questions will be accessed through the class website and not graded through OWLv2.  Answers to free-response questions will be registered through the class website and then self-graded by the student using a scoring guide. Each test will have 3 free-response questions.  Two of these will be short (4 points each) and one will be long (8 points).  Scanned responses and self-evaluations will then be submitted by the student to the instructor for review. 
• The Final Exam (100 points at the end of the second semester) will be presented as traditional multiple-choice/fill-in questions.
• Lab reports (generally 7-14 points per unit of study) will be reviewed by the instructor after online registration, student evaluation, and online submission through the class website.  Sections of the lab report include goals, procedures, pre-lab questions, data tables, data analysis, error analysis, and a conclusion.

Instructor Qualifications:

Mark Kernion has been teaching chemistry professionally since 1986. He graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. degree in Ceramic Science and Engineering in 1981. While at Penn State he won the Xerox Research Award for the most outstanding thesis in Material Sciences in his senior year. Following the attainment of his degree, he worked for 4 years as a Research Engineer for Harbison-Walker Refractories Co. developing materials for use in high-temperature industrial applications. He was awarded three U.S. patents for his work. During that time, he took education classes at the University of Pittsburgh attaining his Pennsylvania teaching certificate in Chemistry and Physics. He earned his Master’s degree in 2001 at Duquesne University in Liberal Studies, focusing on the history of science. In 1986 he began his public school teaching career with the Mt. Lebanon School District located near Pittsburgh, PA. He began teaching A.P. Chemistry in the 1998-1999 school year.  While teaching at Mt. Lebanon High School, he was honored with induction into the Cum Laude Society in 2006.  The Cum Laude Society is analogous to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, but at the secondary level as opposed to the university level.  In 2007 he was given the Yale Educator Award which recognizes educators from around the world who have inspired and supported their students. He began teaching this online AP Chemistry course through PA Homeschoolers in 2019 after retiring from his public school job, having taught chemistry for 33 years, at the age of 60. He is the author of three books. One is Barron’s SAT Subject Test: Chemistry (a very popular test preparation book published by Barron’s Educational Series for the now-defunct SAT subject test in chemistry). The second is Chemistry the Easy Way (also published by Barron’s Educational Series) whose new 6^th edition was released in July 2019. The third, and most recently published, is Barron's Science 360: Chemistry (September 2021). Finally, he is the twin brother of Jack Kernion, also an instructor through Pennsylvania Homeschoolers, teaching various levels of A.P. Physics.  Homeschoolers taking both A.P. Chemistry and A.P. Physics in consecutive years will find a commonality in the approaches taken toward instruction that could provide an easy transition from one course to the next if both classes are in the future of any student. You could hear the Kernion brothers discuss science and the scientists who pioneered various concepts in their Chemistry and Physics podcast series at MyScience-Prep's website (www.myscience-prep.com/podcasts) or on most streaming services offering podcasts.