New Curriculum Review: Applied Practice in Colonial America

Applied Practice in Colonial America is a supplemental resource that supports instruction in Advanced Placement (AP) United States History courses. Materials are available in print and eBook formats and focus on preparing students for the AP U.S. History exam. Resources supplement core instruction across the school year by providing activities that may be adapted to meet a range of instructional needs (e.g., warm-ups, quizzes, assessments, test preparation). Learning List recently reviewed the product’s print materials.

Applied Practice in Colonial America is one volume of a 19-volume series that contains teaching activities, student study aids, and practice questions for the AP exam in U.S. History.  The Colonial America volume, or booklet, addresses content for Period 1 (i.e., 1491-1607) of the AP Course Framework for U.S. History. The booklet contains four teaching activities that involve research tasks and collaborative student work (e.g., Debating a Historical Controversy, Creating an Interactive Timeline). Instruction includes engaging collaborative learning activities.

The booklet contains 80 multiple choice questions, four short-answer questions, two essay questions, and one document-based question (DBQ) to help students prepare for AP exams. Examples of short answer and essay questions as well as answer keys and scoring rubrics are provided. Answer keys include explanations of correct answers and rubrics provide detailed guidance for teachers in scoring students’ written work.

 About Applied Practice*

In 1997, two high school English teachers were inspired to launch Applied Practice while searching for ways to integrate test preparation into their daily curriculum. Today, Applied Practice has a comprehensive catalog of supplemental materials to assist teachers in teaching a topic-based curriculum, while contemporaneously preparing students for standardized tests in today’s exam-driven environment.

Our teaching tools are literature-based for English and topic-based for Science and Social Studies. Each product line provides preparation for the current exam-driven environment by offering test questions presented in the style and format of a particular standardized test, utilizing content typically taught in a planned unit. Our intention is to help teachers utilize their classroom time more efficiently by offering simultaneous content review and critical test-taking practice.

Applied Practice was founded by teachers for teachers. Our tools enrich the classroom experience by motivating teachers and students, enhancing productivity, and improving results.

*The content in this section is provided by or adapted from Applied Practice.

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