Update on AP Research

by Talia Herbst, SSLI ‘25

The AP Research students are working hard as they begin sending out surveys in order to gather information so they can start to conduct their research.

Junior Aviva Wolf shared what she is researching: “I am researching to see if there is a correlation between time spent on social media and Jewish faith within a conservative Jewish high school.”

Wolf shared that she is glad she took AP Research. She elaborated, “This class is very interesting. I love that I am able to gain data and information without using a search engine like Google or Safari.”

Now that we are almost halfway through the school year, Wolf shared that she has learned “different methods of data collection.” Wolf would love to continue conducting research in the future.

The AP Research students have been working hard in class. (R. Rogers)

Another junior in AP Research, Micah Bidner, is researching the correlation between political affiliation and religious observance. He explained, “I’m looking at if someone’s religious values and how often someone engages in religious activities impacts the way they vote and why that occurs.” Bidner just sent out his survey last week when we returned to school from winter break and has gotten around thirty responses. He added that he is hoping for about fifty responses. In order to participate in his research, you must be over eighteen and live in Nassau County.

After taking AP Seminar and now taking AP Research, Bidner stated, “I’ve gathered a deeper understanding on mechanics of writing, research, and credible sources.”

Shir Levenson, another junior in AP Research, is researching parents' perspectives on allergy policies in elementary school. She has been sending out surveys and conducting interviews to see if parents feel that their children with allergies are safe in school.

Levenson added that the AP Research class has been “eye-opening.” She explained that in AP Seminar, the class focuses on gathering data that already exists, while in AP Research “we have to find the data that is missing.”

Levenson concluded, “AP Research is a really amazing opportunity to learn how to do our own research and think in a very different way. Many students begin to do this when they’re in college or later in life, and so to be able to do this in high school with the teacher who is guiding us and with a lot of material to support our efforts, it [AP Research] really helps us get comfortable with researching and writing papers.”

Talia Herbst is a writer for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since December 2021. Talia is currently a senior at the Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: therbst25@schechterli.org