The AP research presentations are year-long projects students work on throughout the entirety of the course. Ten MHS students presented their projects in front of a panel of community members and administration on April 26, 2018.
The Malden High AP Research class presented their projects about topics that interested them. The students have been working hard on finding research and cultivating it into their project. The AP Research class has been working on these projects since October.
Senior Cindy Siu’s topic for her project was “Teen Perceptions of the Masculinity of Male Vegetarians”. What struck her attention about the topic was that she noticed there were not many male vegetarians in society. Siu wanted to bring attention to the topic that there were still gendered stereotypes in society about vegetarians. Sui wanted to “focus on male vegetarians, especially teen perceptions because of the lack of studies focusing on the topic”. Sui did studies and analyzed if people know a female or male vegetarian, and asked their perception of their masculinity.
Siu created her presentation in sections over the course of the year. She prioritized practicing and completing her slides, and created a script to memorize it for her presentation. Siu was confident on how she presented her method and her data.
Senior Alicia Tan’s topic for her project is “Totally Feminists: Third-Wave Feminism and The Depiction of Female Characters in TV Cartoons”. Tan chose this topic because she grew up watching cartoons she sees the shows as “empowering as they seem”. Tan choose this topic because it is a “bright and fun topic while still addressing a very real issue in today's society”. This topic is important because it addressed the boom of representation in female leads in movies. Tan states that from 2007 to 2015 out of the 800 films produced in major motion picture companies 30.3% had female speaking characters. However, the percentage is rising. Tan examined if children’s shows accurately represented “modern-day feminism”.
Senior Junjie Kuang’s topic for his project is “The Influence of an Acculturated Chinese-American News Media on Chinese Immigrants’ Political Perception of the Tibet Question: A Correlation Study”. Kuang chose this topic because he is a Chinese-American. Kuang is passionate about his topic, as he noticed there has been a decline in the Free Tibet Movement. It was challenging for Kuang because the Free Tibet Movement is a very politically sensitive topic. Kuang had to find different people to survey because of the complications he went through. Kuang believed his presentation was decent and that he hit the core information.
The AP Research presentation was a long, project that each student had to dedicate much time to. Students felt that their work was good, given the data they collected and their analyses.
