AP Biology Labs

In my AP Biology class, the curriculum dictates 12 different labs that the students are required to do. Because the students chose to be in the class, they are generally excited about what they are learning. However excited and critical are very different things. They accept what I tell them to do, they read what I ask (kind of), and they blindly participate in the labs, or at least until this last lab we conducted on Tuesday. They were very unenthused and complained, mildly, about what the lab asked. With this change in attitude, it makes me wonder how to meld required curriculum, and what the students want. I know that all curriculums are dictated but AP classes are particularly stringent. I think the new approach would be to make the students aware that they can question what they are doing, but still require them to finish the class.

Next week I have plan to have the students conduct the next lab. Do I still require that we participate in the lab? Or do I change everything to what they want to do? At the beginning of the year, I asked these students what they expected out of the class, and they unanimously replied that they wanted college credit. The only way to get credit is to earn a 3 at the least. So it seems like a disservice to scrap the curriculum, and do what the students want. Somehow there must be a way to put a critical eye on these students, and still complete the course.