On Tuesday, May 19, 2026, students from the Advanced Placement (AP) Research class at Comsewogue High School presented their capstone projects to visitors at the second annual AP symposium.

The AP Research course, the second course in the AP Capstone experience, allows students to deeply explore an academic topic, problem, issue or idea of individual interest. Students design, plan and implement a yearlong investigation to address a research question. Through this inquiry, they further the skills they acquired in the AP Seminar course by learning research methodology, employing ethical research practices, and accessing, analyzing and synthesizing information. 

Students reflect on their skill development, document their processes and curate the artifacts of their scholarly work through a process and reflection portfolio. The course culminates in an academic paper of 4,000 to 5,000 words and a presentation to a panel of judges with an oral defense.

Projects covered a wide variety of topics. Amongst them, students explored how color found in paintings affects emotions, how someone’s age can affect their heart rate while watching a horror movie, the variation of human trust in rapidly growing artificial intelligence, and how scenery and props used in a musical can change how an audience member interprets a scene.