Course Overview
A clear look at how AQR is built.
Applied Quantitative Reasoning is a project-based math elective built around real decisions, real data, real tools, and real communication. This page is the main doorway into the course facts, the year, the quarter plans, the Student Guide, and the vocabulary system. New to the course? Start with what AQR math is and why the pathway exists.
At a glance
One common course, visible progress, and room to extend.
AQR is currently taught to seniors at Vista PEAK Preparatory as a fourth-year mathematics option. It is designed as a serious math option for students who want math to connect more clearly to real decisions, data, tools, and communication.
The course uses one common backbone with different levels of support, challenge, and independence. Students work toward real artifacts, show progress through checkpoints, and revise based on evidence.
Each quarter has one main project family and two sequential quantitative-reasoning focus windows. The focus windows appear through warm-ups, short investigations, small artifacts, project prompts, and checkpoints rather than becoming separate full units.
Mathematics Menu of Options: For 2026–27, AQR performance assessments are approved as a way to demonstrate the district mathematics competency required for graduation. A C (70%) or higher on the approved performance task qualifies when the separate performance-task grade is recorded in Infinite Campus. This is not the same as earning required math course credits.
Q1 recovery: An independent pathway exists for students who did not pass Quarter 1. Successful completion requires showing and explaining the work in a teacher Final Check and is capped at a D. Current AQR students can find Credit Recovery under Classwork in Google Classroom. Follow the posted instructions and deadline. A recovered D does not itself meet the C-level Menu of Options threshold.
Course information
- Credit: Math elective
- Counts toward: 4th-year math pathway
- Current classes: Grade 12
- Format: Project-based with checkpoints, artifacts, testing, and revision
- Tools: Google Workspace, Gemini, and source-grounded workflows
- Course lanes: Supported progress, standard successful work, and extension opportunities
- 2026–27 math graduation competency: Approved AQR performance task, C or higher; recorded separately from the course grade
Year at a glance
Know yourself. Track yourself. Build a decision tool. Don't get played.
The year is designed as one connected progression. Each quarter produces a useful artifact while strengthening the same habits: define the problem, use evidence, make the reasoning visible, test the result, and communicate the decision clearly.
- 1Quarter 1Know YourselfPortable learner profile, Before/After baseline, and personalized learning agent
- 2Quarter 2Track YourselfSelf-tracking, time use, survey/data analysis, and pattern finding
- 3Quarter 3Build a Decision ToolStudent-built decision tool, app-like workflow, or Gem
- 4Quarter 4Don't Get PlayedShort anti-BS, media/data reasoning unit
Quarter pages
Open the quarter you need.
Each page explains the main project, the tools, the two sequential focus windows, and the student work in plain language.
Quarter 1
Quarter 1 - Know Yourself
Aug 6 to Oct 8, 2026
Main project: Portable learner profile, Before/After baseline, and personalized learning agent
Tool focus: Drive, Calendar, email, Gemini and Gems, profile files, saved test evidence, and a simple Grade Tracker spreadsheet model
Focus windows:- What are we measuring? Self-data, scales, units, and meaning
- Misleading visuals, claims, and AI confidence
Students build a portable profile of how they learn, what helps, what gets in the way, and what kind of support they need. They first preserve an ordinary-Gemini Before Project baseline, then use profile evidence to create and test personalized support and explain what changes.
Open quarter pageQuarter 2
Quarter 2 - Track Yourself
Oct 19 to Dec 17, 2026
Main project: Self-tracking, time use, survey/data analysis, and pattern finding
Tool focus: Google Forms and Sheets for collecting, cleaning, displaying, and explaining real data
Focus windows:- Sampling, bias, and bad survey questions
- Correlation vs causation
Students compare estimates with evidence, track a manageable question, organize and display real data, and explain what the evidence supports and what they might do next. One question, one manageable dataset, and honest limitations keep the work focused.
Open quarter pageQuarter 3
Quarter 3 - Build a Decision Tool / App
Jan 6 to Mar 11, 2027
Main project: Student-built decision tool, app-like workflow, or Gem
Tool focus: Gemini, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, or structured workflows that make decision logic visible
Focus windows:- Risk, cost, and uncertainty
- Model assumptions, weighting, and sensitivity
Students build a tool that helps a real user compare options, weigh criteria, see tradeoffs, test the logic, and reach a clearer recommendation. The point is not coding prestige. The point is a useful decision process that can be explained, tested, and improved.
Open quarter pageQuarter 4
Quarter 4 - Don't Get Played
Mar 22 to May 24, 2027
Main project: Short anti-BS, media/data reasoning unit
Tool focus: Search, source checks, screenshots, Docs/Slides, and AI as a critique assistant rather than an answer machine
Focus windows:- Claim/evidence critique and misleading displays
- Causation, sampling, risk, source trust, and reasonable belief
Students practice reading claims, graphs, statistics, sources, and AI output more carefully. The year closes with practical skepticism: what should a reasonable person believe, question, or reject?
Open quarter page
Student Guide
One practical guide, organized around how students actually use it.
Daily routines, progress expectations, tool and AI use, discussion norms, and available support live together instead of being scattered across separate documents.
Open Student Guide- Be ready and follow the roomDaily flow, materials, phone and tardy expectations, and visible routines.
- Do real work and show progressCheckpoints, learning process, revision, the Grade Tracker, and responsible tool use.
- Think, talk, and get supportDiscussion moves, vocabulary, language supports, conferencing, scaffolds, and extension.
Vocabulary
The language of the course matches the work.
Core AQR words appear first, followed by quarter-by-quarter vocabulary in the same sequence students encounter it. Each term uses a full definition, plain-language meaning, AQR use, and a useful question or sentence stem.
Open AQR Vocabulary