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FizziksGuy

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Blog Entries posted by FizziksGuy

  3. FizziksGuy
    <p>On Tuesday evening I had the opportunity to attend a professional development seminar on Skills Based Grading at SUNY Geneseo as part of the NYS Master Teacher Program. Below are some of my musings / quick notes as I participated in the seminar. I very much enjoyed hearing about how others have utilized SBG and comparing to my program.</p>
    <p>Goal for the session is for the presenters, George Reuter and Amy to provide a snippet of what Standards Based Grading is and how it can be implemented, coupled with a work session in which a structure is implemented with a SBG philosophy.</p>
    <p>Use SBG as a communication tool — highlight strengths as well as opportunities for improvement.</p>
    <p>SBG as a process. Learn a new skill, practice that skill, test that skill, receive feedback, practice needed skills, etc.</p>
    <p>Analogy — just like runners have multiple opportunities to practice and show their skill, so will students have multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning.</p>
    <p>Work on progressions toward mastery — set up rubric to support your end-goal.</p>
    <p>Ways of determining scores — average all scores, decaying average, most recent, other? (I keep the two most recent).</p>
    <p>Presenter spends hours and hours grading assessments — I mentioned Remark OMR and opportunities to automate that work, specifically how I’ve significantly reduced my workload using SBG. Presenter also spent many hours in parent presentations about the grading system. I side-stepped that by creating a flipped classroom video explaining my grading system.</p>
    <p>After a bit more discussion, we split into various groups to talk about various ramifications, issues, concerns, and successes using SBG. Overall, a valuable evening!</p>
    <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PhysicsInFlux/~4/UCJTlxSVdyc" height="1" width="1"/>

    <a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PhysicsInFlux/~3/UCJTlxSVdyc/" class='bbc_url' rel='nofollow external'>Source</a>
  7. FizziksGuy
    Guess what... November 1st starts the annual month-long NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) extravaganza. Amateur and professional writers across the world will struggle to write 50,000 words during the month, with the support and assistance of thousands of others from the NaNoWriMo.org website. The reason? One month to write 50,000 words is a challenge, and that challenge will keep you moving forward in your writing, saving edits and redrafts for later. Join us and see what you can do!


    http://youtu.be/miBhmLA62O4

    www.NaNoWriMo.org
  9. FizziksGuy
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]308[/ATTACH]Honors Physics Essentials is an easy-to-read guide to algebra-based introductory physics, featuring more than 500 worked-out problems with full solutions and covering topics such as: kinematics, dynamics, momentum, impulse, gravity, uniform circular motion, rotational kinematics, work, energy, power, electrostatics, circuits, magnetism, microelectronics, waves, sound, optics, thermal physics, fluids, and modern physics.

    This book is designed to assist beginning physics students in their high school and introductory college physics courses as an invaluable supplemental resource in class as well as a review guide for standardized physics assessments such as the SAT Subject Test in Physics, PRAXIS Physics, and CST Physics exams.

    Honors Physics Essentials is integrated with the APlusPhysics.com website, which includes online question and answer forums, videos, animations, and supplemental problems to help you master high school physics. Check it out at http://www.aplusphysics.com/honors.
  11. FizziksGuy
    Happy Holidays!

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]315[/ATTACH]I am thrilled to announce the release of Honors Physics Essentials, an algebra-based physics book designed to assist beginning physics students in their high school and introductory college physics courses as an invaluable supplemental resource in class as well as a review guide for standardized physics assessments such as the SAT Subject Test in Physics, PRAXIS Physics, and CST Physics exams. You can find it online at Amazon.com for only $12.95.


    Honors Physics Essentials is an easy-to-read guide to algebra-based introductory physics, featuring more than 500 worked-out problems with full solutions and covering topics such as: kinematics, dynamics, momentum, impulse, gravity, uniform circular motion, rotational kinematics, work, energy, power, electrostatics, circuits, magnetism, microelectronics, waves, sound, optics, thermal physics, fluids, and modern physics.


    The 384-page 6”x9” paperback book is integrated with the APlusPhysics.com website, which includes online question and answer forums, videos, animations, and supplemental problems to help students master Honors Physics Essentials. You can find more information at http://www.aplusphysics.com/honors. Volume discounts and e-book versions are available, as are class and site licenses for electronic versions starting as low as $3 per student.


    I have so many people to thank for their contributions to this endeavor that I hardly know where to begin. First, I'd like to thank all the fans of the first book, Regents Physics Essentials (RPE), and fans of the APlusPhysics website. It was your requests, feedback, and encouragement that prompted the writing of this book. Following the release of RPE, reader response was tremendous, and your requests for a similar book extending beyond the scope of the NY Regents Curriculum that could be used in physics classrooms across the country as well as for standardized test preparation made the development of this book a personal necessity.


    Second, I must thank my two outstanding editors, Jeff Guercio and Joe Kunz, who graciously took many hours out of their busy lives to help make this book (and Regents Physics Essentials) clear, concise, and readable. I'd also like to thank my student Emily, who first proposed turning our course notes into a review book, and Andrew, who reinforced that you can do anything if you set your mind to it. I'd also like to thank Muse, whose enthusiasm for this book has been contagious.

    Last, but certainly not least, I'd like to thank all the teachers and professors who contributed to this endeavor. In attempting to write a physics book that would serve the needs of Honors Physics students across the country (and beyond), the input of these teachers and professors has been instrumental in tailoring this book to the needs of a majority of students, while at the same time keeping the length (and cost) low enough to remain attractive to its intended audience.


    I've enjoyed working on this project throughout the past two years, but as in any extended project, I'm breathing a sigh of relief to have reached the finish line (at least for now). I hope you find the APlusPhysics website and family of resources a useful tool in your study / instruction of physics, and I look forward to growing our online learning community in the coming years.

    Thank you, thank you, thank you, and best wishes on an amazing 2012!
  12. FizziksGuy
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]316[/ATTACH]The Rochester Area Physics Teacher's Out Reach (RAPTOR) will hold its first meeting of 2012 at the Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday, January 14th from 9 am-noon EST.* Physics education enthusiasts all over the world are welcome to attend this meeting live via this link.

    The meeting will feature a presentation by Dan Fullerton, author of Regents Physics Essentials, Honors Physics Essentials, and developer of APlusPhysics.com, as well as a presentation and discussion centered around physics lessons addressing New York's Common Core State Standards and how these changes will affect physics education.

    Come for the free donuts and stay for the demos, and if you can’t attend in person, join us online! Special thanks to Brendan Noon of Science With Mr. Noon for organizing this event.
  13. FizziksGuy
    <p>Beginning this year, the <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.collegeboard.org/">College Board</a> will be replacing their <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_information/2007.html">AP Physics B</a> algebra-based physics course with two separate algebra-based physics courses, titled <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/2262.html">AP Physics 1</a> and <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/225113.html">AP Physics 2</a>. The two calculus-based courses, <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/2264.html">AP Physics C: Mechanics</a> and <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/2263.html">AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism</a>, will remain the same.</p>
    <h3>Why the Change?</h3>
    <p>So <img style="float: right;" title="professor_of_physics_hg_clr.gif" src="http://aplusphysics.com/flux/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/professor_of_physics_hg_clr.gif" alt="Professor of physics hg clr" width="312" height="312" border="0" />what does this change entail, and why has this change been undertaken? A study by the <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.nationalacademies.org/nrc/">National Research Council</a> concluded that the AP Physics B course “encourages cursory treatment of very important topics in physics rather than a deeper understanding,” according to the <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/exam/exam_information/225589.html">College Board’s FAQ</a>, and that students’ study of mechanics should include rotational dynamics and angular momentum, which are not part of the AP Physics B curriculum. The NRC recommended teaching the course over two years to emphasize inquiry-based instruction and deeper understandings. The College Board agreed.</p>
    <h3>What’s Involved?</h3>
    <p>The new AP Physics 1 course is targeted as equivalent to a one-semester college course in algebra-based physics, though the selection of topics for the course includes some irregularities compared to a standard introductory college physics course. Topics included in AP Physics 1 include kinematics; dynamics; momentum; work, energy, and power; rotation; oscillations; gravity; mechanical waves; and basic electric circuits. Most of these are topics that were previously on the AP-B exam, though the inclusion of rotation and angular momentum are new topics. Further, the emphasis on mechanics in an introductory college course is standard, but the inclusion of electric circuits is rather irregular. According to a committee member involved in the redesign of the course, the inclusion of circuits was forced into the new course to meet the needs of end-of-year state assessments for several large states, and was not originally part of the redesign plans.</p>
    <p>The new AP Physics 2 course is intended as an equivalent to a second-semester college course, covering fluid mechanics, thermal physics, electricity and magnetism, optics, and atomic / modern physics. Most of these topics were included in the previous AP-B course, though the modern physics portion of the course includes several new sub-topics.</p>
    <h3>A New Paradigm</h3>
    <p>Considerably more dramatic than just shifts in content, however, is the overall organization of the course. The new AP–1 and AP–2 courses are organized around seven “big ideas” in physics, coupled with an extensive list of essential knowledge (EK) and learning objectives (LOs) details what students should know and be able to do. Although these EKs and LOs are numerous, they are also quite vague in terms of how “deeply” students are expected to know a topic. As an example, several learning objectives discuss an understanding of springs in various contexts, but whether that also includes combinations of springs is left significantly vague. In the thermal physics arena, heat engines are not specifically covered, but students are expected to understand energy transfer in thermodynamic systems (which could be tested in the context of a heat engine). If it sounds a bit vague, I can’t disagree. Teachers across the country are also struggling to interpret the documentation about the new exams.</p>
    <p><img style="float: right;" title="tourist_map_confusion_hg_clr.gif" src="http://aplusphysics.com/flux/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/tourist_map_confusion_hg_clr.gif" alt="Tourist map confusion hg clr" width="243" height="312" border="0" /></p>
    <p>Also of interest is the focus on science practices. In addition to the 7 big ideas, the College Board has also identified <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/2012advances/11b_4615_AP_Physics_CF_WEB_120910.pdf">7 science practices</a> that are essential for success. These practices are broken down in detail, with course activities designed to verify students can “use mathematics appropriately” and “plan and implement data collection strategies in relation to a particular scientific question,” for example. My detailed breakdown of the course curriculum frameworks can be found on the <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.aplusphysics.com/educators/AP1Outline.html/index.html">AP1 Roadmap</a> and <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.aplusphysics.com/educators/AP2Outline.html/index.html">AP2 Roadmap</a> documents.</p>
    <p>Ultimately, the goal of these changes is to provide an opportunity for students to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying foundational concepts in physics as well as the skills and practices necessary to treat physics as a science activity instead of a body of knowledge, better preparing students for success in further coursework as well as careers in science and engineering.</p>
    <h3>A New Exam</h3>
    <p>In late spring / early summer, the College Board released a secured practice exam to certified AP Physics teachers to better prepare for the new AP–1 and AP–2 exams. The change in style of the exam is quite significant. Questions place a strong emphasis on relational and conceptual problem solving, as well as application of the science practices, coupled with a significant decrease in “math-only” quantitative solutions. The new exam also emphasizes symbolic manipulation, analyzing situations from multiple perspectives, designing experiments, justification of answers, and scientific argumentation.</p>
    <p>Many of these changes are directly in line with the <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://modeling.asu.edu/modeling-HS.html">Modeling Physics</a> method of instruction, which emphasizes ongoing guided inquiry while maintaining consistency in approach and building upon previously-developed models throughout the course, a method strongly recommended by current <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.compadre.org/per/">Physics Education Research</a>.</p>
    <p>Although the changes to the courses are numerous, the general message to teachers and students is consistently clear: physics is something you do, not something you know. Success in the new AP–1 and AP–2 courses requires a multi-faceted approach to learning which includes hands-on inquiry and exploration activities, mastery of content and problem-solving principles, and the ability to reason, argue, and justify scientifically.</p>
    <h3>How To Succeed</h3>
    <p>So then how do students succeed in this brave new world? I would humbly recommend a learning plan which includes an ongoing cycle of exploration, refinement, and application. As students work through each unit/topic/model, begin with an opportunity to active explore the model, determine what is known, what is unknown, and what misconceptions might exist. Follow that up with activities that allow students to refine their knowledge through the collection and analysis of data, drawing their own conclusions to discuss and debate. Finally, these conclusions and skills need to be transferred and applied to new and unique situations, allowing students to determine where these models work, and where they fall short (setting the stage for development of the next model!)</p>
    <h3>Supplemental Resources</h3>
    <p>It sounds daunting, but there are tons of great resources available to help students succeed in these endeavors. Besides reading the textbook, a skill which is difficult to master yet extremely valuable, a review of the key material distilled down into a clean easy-to-understand format can be invaluable. I have been teaching online courses with the use of video since 2003, so please let me be clear, I absolutely do <strong>not</strong> believe in passive instruction by video. A little bit of me dies inside everytime I read about classes in which students are placed in front of a computer as the sole means of instruction. Besides being ineffective, how boring! Physics is supposed to be fun, and I have trouble imagining how students can make it through such lonely, soulless courses.</p>
    <p><img style="float: right;" title="image.jpeg" src="http://aplusphysics.com/flux/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/image.jpeg" alt="Image" width="300" height="225" border="0" /></p>
    <p>I do, however, believe that supplemental on-demand video lessons taught by strong instructors such as those at <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://educator.com/">Educator.com</a> and my AP Physics Series at <a href="http://aplusphysics.com">APlusPhysics.com</a> can do wonders for cementing the foundational concepts and demonstrating application of these foundational concepts to problem solving, especially in the refinement and application stages of instruction. Undertaking learning through inquiry and modeling can be messy and confusing. Having an online instructor there to assist in cleaning things up or explaining things in a different manner or from an alternate perspective can make a world of difference.</p>
    <p>Further, review books such as <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://aplusphysics.com/ap1">AP Physics 1 Essentials</a> are designed to assist in these stages of learning, not as a replacement for the oh-so-valuable active learning experiences, but rather as an easily accessible means of solidifying the basic relationships and concepts. I wrote <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://aplusphysics.com/ap1">AP1 Essentials</a> to help students understand essential physical relationships in a manner that is straightforward and easy-to-read, leaving development of in-depth problem solving and lab work for the classroom, where they are most effective. A review book can’t help a student if it’s so complex the student won’t read it. Instead, the goal for this book was to create a resource that students would actually read and enjoy, and help them along their path to a deeper conceptual understanding.</p>
    <h3>Putting It All Together</h3>
    <p>There is no “one-stop shopping” or easy path to success in AP Physics 1 or AP Physics 2, and strategies that may have worked for the previous AP Physics B course may no longer be successful. Instead, these new courses are comprehensive learning experiences combining exploration, experimentation, application, and communication skills. Only by putting in the effort and struggling through the frustrations will students find their way to mastery of the course. But they don’t have to go it alone – these courses are designed around collaboration and teamwork, and there are great supplemental resources to help out as well.</p>
    <p><img style="float: right;" title="APlusPhysics_Logo_HDef.png" src="http://aplusphysics.com/flux/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/APlusPhysics_Logo_HDef.png" alt="APlusPhysics Logo HDef" width="200" height="142" border="0" /><em>About the Author – <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://danfullerton.com/">Dan Fullerton</a> is a physics instructor at <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.westirondequoit.org/ihs/">Irondequoit High School</a> in Rochester, NY, and an adjunct professor of <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://www.rit.edu/kgcoe/eme/MicroEoverview">microelectronic engineering</a> at <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://rit.edu/">Rochester Institute of Technology</a>. He was named a <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.suny.edu/masterteacher/about/">NY State Master Physics Teacher</a> in 2014. Fullerton is featured in the AP Physics C and AP Physics 1 &amp; 2 video courses on <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://educator.com/">Educator.com</a>. He is the author of AP Physics 1 Essentials and creator of the <a style="color: #308bd8; text-decoration: none;" href="http://aplusphysics.com/">APlusPhysics.com</a> website. Fullerton lives in Webster, NY, with his beautiful wife, two indefatigable daughters, and sleepy dog.</em></p>
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  15. FizziksGuy
    <p><a href="http://educator.com"><img style="float: right;" title="image.jpeg" src="http://aplusphysics.com/flux/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/image1.jpeg" alt="Image" width="300" height="225" border="0" /></a></p>
    <p>It’s my last day on the west coast following two weeks of recording at the <a href="http://educator.com">Educator.com</a> studios in Los Angeles. I’ve completed filming of the AP Physics C: Mechanics and the AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism courses, and roughly 18 months ago finished recording the AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2 course sequences. At the conclusion of this massive effort, I thought it fitting to take a few minutes and summarize what I’ve learned from the experience.</p>
    <p>First, I’m amazed at the total amount of content involved in these projects when all was said and done. The AP Physics 1/2 course includes more than 930 slides, and the AP Physics C total is up over 950. Coupled with diagrams, formulas, and illustrations, these represent roughly a year’s worth of full-time effort, squeezed in to an already busy schedule with early morning work, weekends, and middle-of-the-night can’t sleep sessions.</p>
    <p>Second, I’ve recognized how challenging the content truly is for the AP-C course. I had some of the content prepared already from my APlusPhysics videos, yet it still took me more than 5 months to create the more-detailed Educator.com lessons. I designed each lesson in detail, and even made notes on what I would discuss, derive, and explain on each individual slide. When I reached the studios in LA, however, I still had tons of preparation work to do. Each day I rehearsed every lesson three times before filming. I’d go over the lessons in detail (including solving all problems and writing out all derivations in my notebook) over an extended dinner each night in the hotel, then go back to my hotel room and do it all again while listening to a baseball game before bed. Early the following morning, I’d get up around 5 am and go through it once more before our 9- or 10-am filming session would begin. Once filming for the day was complete, I’d do it all again in preparation for the next set of lessons. I wonder if I didn’t do more physics homework in my two weeks of filming in LA than my students do in an entire year.</p>
    <p>I found as I went through this that every time I solved a free response problem or walked through a derivation, I found slightly different methods of solving the problem. Some were smoother than others; some were longer than others. Even though my final passes were usually “cleaner” than my initial solutions, I tried to stick with my initial solutions in the videos to better mirror the approach students might take.</p>
    <p>Even with all that preparation, the recording sessions were still quite stressful. In walking through the lessons, there were technical components to the presentation that were fairly unforgiving. Hit the wrong button in the wrong order and you’d have to start all over again. Switch colors and then switch slides before writing and you’d have to do it all over again. Cough, sneeze, or forget where you are in a lecture or stump yourself — you got it, do it all again. Thankfully, I’d had quite a bit of experience in this sort of thing from my previous trip out to LA to record the AP-1/2 series, so the amount of “re-do” work was kept to a minimum due to all that preparation. But recording four hours of video lessons sure felt like a 12+ hour day.</p>
    <p>In addition, I still found the AP-C material challenging. In my classroom, I prepare with 42-minute lessons, and the longest I ever lecture in a row is one entire 42-minute period (and I try to avoid that like the plague). Here, the lessons are straight lecture, with no breaks, no edits, no room for error. That leaves a lot of material to have down cold while also dealing with technical concerns. My detailed noted were invaluable, and I referred to them throughout my lectures to make sure I covered all the salient points in each slide, as well as having calculations pre-solved, as opposed to making viewers wait while I punched numbed into my calculator. With my preparation, my time between lessons was approximately 10 minutes or so to get a quick drink, review the slides for the next lesson for any last-minute issues, and allow the technical folks to prepare the studio for the next round. Others in the studio, however, would take extended time between recording lessons in order to prepare. They had the luxury as they were fairly local to the studios, and could spread their recording work out over months.</p>
    <p>Working through these courses from start to finish in such a detailed manner in such a compressed time span provides a unique perspective on the course. Each lesson is designed to present a concept as simply as possible, illustrate that concept, and then demonstrate its application in a variety of scenarios. In creating these courses I solved every released AP-C free response problem going back to 1998, as well as a scattering of earlier problems. With the entire breadth of the course fresh in my mind, I’m confident the foundational principles emphasized in the course provide excellent preparation for students taking the AP Physics C exams. </p>
    <p>One of my goals in creating these courses was to provide a more streamlined video series than their previous video series. Their previous courses totaled 48 hours for mechanics, and 41 hours for electricity and magnetism. My goal was to cut each of those at least in half, allowing students to minimize their time watching videos, and instead maximize their time actively working with the material. I haven’t seen the final count for the new courses, but I’m confident we’ll be close, if not under, our target.</p>
    <p><img style="float: right;" title="uncle_bob_has_a_toupee_hg_clr_st.gif" src="http://aplusphysics.com/flux/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/uncle_bob_has_a_toupee_hg_clr_st.gif" alt="Uncle bob has a toupee hg clr st" width="200" height="350" border="0" /></p>
    <p>I’m also excited that the College Board will be allowing students the use of formula sheets and calculators throughout the entire exam next year. Even after studying and preparing all day every day for weeks, I still referenced my formula sheets and notes in solving problems and preparing. Memorizing formulas does not constitute learning or understanding, and removing the requirement to have all these formulas memorized will allow students to better focus on what is important.</p>
    <p>Finally, I knew being gone from my family for two weeks would be difficult. I have a two-year-old and a four-year-old daughter at home, and they are already growing up way too fast. I treasure my time with them, especially our time in the summer when Daddy-Daughter Day Care includes swimming, playing around out back in the sandbox and water table, riding bikes, playground time, and so on. But it’s been even tougher than I expected. I’m so thankful for modern technology which allows me to see them and talk to them each day, but when your little girls says all she wants is you to curl up in bed with her after story time at night, it tugs on your heart strings something fierce.</p>
    <p>I’m proud of what we’ve put together here at Educator.com through these efforts, and hopeful that students across the world will find these videos helpful in their studies. I’m also excited to know that I will be able to use these resources with my students in the coming years. I’m relieved to have finished this project, eager to refocus my efforts on other projects such as revisions to <a href="http://aplusphysics.com/ap1">AP Physics 1 Essentials</a> and completing <a href="http://aplusphysics.com/ap2">AP Physics 2 Essentials</a>, but most importantly, I can’t wait to get home and hug my girls.</p>
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  17. FizziksGuy
    As we close in on the end of our year in high school physics, I thought it'd be helpful to myself (and perhaps to others) to put together a compendium of some of the best Regents/Honors Physics resources to assist students in preparing for their final exams. Without further ado, and in no particular order:

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]417[/ATTACH]APlusPhysics: Dan Fullerton's (my) site to assist students and educators specifically around the NY Regents Physics curriculum, which has been expanding and generalizing to curricula outside the state as well. The Regents Physics section of the site, however, is by far the strongest and most complete. This site includes online tutorials covering the entire Regents Physics course, interactive quizzes pulling from a database of hundreds of old Regents Physics Exam questions, video tutorials of every major topic covered by the exam, and is also tied in quite closely with the Regents Physics Essentials review book. In addition, every Regents Physics questions from the past 16 exams has been pulled into worksheets by topic to allow for highly directed practice.

    ScienceWithMrNoon: Brendan Noon's physics site has a wide variety of great content, including topic-based interactive quizzes and tons of great physics videos. His course calendar, as well, is loaded with tons of great resources by topic!

    St. Mary's Physics: Tony Mangiacapre's site, full of great lessons and interactive simulations across the entire Regents Physics curriculum. I'm especially fond of the Photoelectric Effect simulation -- makes for a great computer-based lab activity! This site is also closely linked with Tony's 123physics.com, featuring more than 1300 Regents Physics Exam questions broken down by topic for students to practice, as well as more great videos.

    RegentsPrep.org: The Oswego City School District (with Dr. Tom Altman) has pulled together a strong collection of resources broken into Explanations, Demos, Labs, and Quizzes to assist students and educators in preparing for the Regents Physics exam.

    Altman Science: The charismatic Dr. Tom Altman provides real-life demonstrations and explanations of physics concepts in action as part of the High School Physics Project. Further, he's broken down a number of old Regents Exams and walked through solutions to each and every question in video format, page by page. In addition, his laser videos are "wicked cool" as well!

    Past Regents Exams: The name says it all -- an amazing archive of old Regents Physics exams!

    Regents Physics Essentials: I'd feel negligent if I didn't point out the Regents Physics Essentials review book I put together at student urging a few years back. *There are a number of great review books to help students get ready for the exam, but this book takes a slightly different twist by providing students a straightforward, clear explanation of the fundamental concepts and more than 500 sample questions with fully-worked out solutions directly integrated in the text.



    As stated by my physics teaching cohort in crime at our high school, "the best review book is the one students will actually use," and this was written to be friendly, fun, and concise. Plus, if students/teachers want extra problems without solutions given, the worksheets are available free online! You can check out the book's free preview on APlusPhysics or use Amazon's "Look Inside" feature!
  22. FizziksGuy
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]433[/ATTACH]I'm thrilled to announce that Physics: Fundamentals and Problem Solving has been released for the iPad today. This book, which is for the iPad only, is an algebra-based physics book featuring hundreds of worked-out problems, video mini-lessons, and other interactive elements designed for the introductory physics student.

    Topics covered include vectors and scalars, kinematics, dynamics, momentum, circular motion, gravity, rotational motion, work, energy, power, fluids, thermal physics, electrostatics, circuits, magnetism, microelectronics, waves, sound, optics, and selected topics in modern physics.

    Physics: Fundamentals and Problem Solving is integrated with the APlusPhysics.com website, which features free online discussion and help forums, student and educator blogs, interactive quizzes, thousands of supplemental problems, and even a student-created physics wiki.

    The book requires an iPad and the iBooks 2 application. The non-interactive version, known as Honors Physics Essentials, is available for other iOS devices through the iBooks store; for the Kindle and other devices running the Kindle App through the Kindle Store; for the Nook through the Barnes and Noble Nook Store; and in hard copy format from Amazon.com as well as Barnes and Noble.
  23. FizziksGuy

    Momentumous's 1st Post

    By FizziksGuy,

    Soooooooooo this is my second day of AP Physics-C. I'm waiting for the day where I hear something and get the "oh-crud-what-did-I-get-myself-into" moment still....
    But for now; Physics!






    Still figuring out this blogging business... so not sure how to make that like a preview... ah well.
  24. FizziksGuy
    I'm pretty sure this isn't the exact video clip I remember seeing explained, but it does recount the basic gist of the story in which a bullet fired randomly into the air comes back down with a high velocity to strike an innocent some distance away, consistent with our physics discussions about the symmetry of free fall (neglecting air resistance). Note that the video is graphic and disturbing, and not for the faint of heart.

    Find more details on annotated Mythbusters.

    [TABLE]

    [TR="bgcolor: #e5e5e5"] [TD]SPIKE[/TD]
    [TD="align: right"][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD="colspan: 2"]Nite Capped[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR="bgcolor: #353535"]
    [TD="colspan: 2, align: right"]www.spike.com[/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD="colspan: 2"][/TD]
    [/TR]
    [TR]
    [TD="colspan: 2"][TABLE]

    [TR] [TD]Spike Full Episodes[/TD]
    [TD]Spike Video Clips[/TD]
    [TD]Spike on Facebook[/TD]
    [/TR]

    [/TABLE] [/TD]
    [/TR]
    [/TABLE]
  25. FizziksGuy
    I took a brief stab at estimating the cost of 4 credit hours worth of freshman physics (assuming a 16-credit-hour load) at a number of institutions for a semester course to help illustrate the value of taking AP Physics in high school. These values are quick estimations and are not guaranteed in any way for validity or accuracy. For better information, please feel free to make your own comparisons.



    http://infogr.am/AP-Physics-C--Mechanics-Cost/

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