WHS Physics Curriculum Guide

Students will learn important science related skills including experimental design, accurate measurement using a variety of instruments and technologies, quantitative and qualitative observations, interpreting and constructing a variety of models, construction and interpretation of graphs, application of algebra and geometry to science problems, effective communication, and applications of science concepts to the real world. This activity-based course will provide the foundation for all future science courses. Laboratory experiments will examine forces, motion, energy, electricity, magnetism, waves, light, sound and heat. This course engages students in activities that help them to conceptualize key physics concepts while also challenging them to develop and manipulate mathematical models of those concepts. Upon completion of the course, students will take the Introductory Physics MCAS exam.

Unit

Timeframe

Driving Questions

Major Learning Experiences from Unit 

Motion

Sep - Oct


How can we describe the motion of objects and use information to predict the future motion of objects?

How are an object’s position, velocity, or acceleration calculated when given other quantitative information about the object’s motion?

What information about an object’s motion is determined from data on its position vs. time and velocity vs. time graphs?

  • Walk Around Waltham Project

  • Walker Lab

Forces

Oct - Nov

  • Why do objects move in the way that they do?

  • How are Newton’s laws of motion used to predict the behavior of objects?

  • How do objects with mass respond when placed in a gravitational field?

  • Newton’s 1st Law Stations

Energy and momentum

Dec - Jan

  • How can energy and momentum provide an alternative way for us to make predictions about the motions of objects and the evolution of physical systems?

  • Why is the transformation of energy so important to modern society?

  • How are conservation laws used to predict motion?

  • Collision Lab

  • Conservation of Energy Lab

Electricity

Jan - Feb

  • How do charged particles interact and store energy?

  • What are the similarities and differences of series and parallel circuits and how are they used in current technology?

  • What role do different components play in a circuit?

  • What are the relationships between electrical quantities?

  • How do magnets interact with other magnets and other objects?

  • What is the scientific connection between electricity and magnetism?

  • What are the different nuclear reactions and how do they release energy?

  • Wire a Room Project

  • Series and Parallel circuit building labs

Waves

March - April

  • How are energy and information transmitted through space and time?

  • How are waves applied to current technologies and useful to society?

  • What are similarities and differences between sound waves and light waves?

  • Build and Instrument/EM device project

Thermal physics 

May

  • How does energy flow naturally between objects and systems?

  • What are the differences between heat, thermal energy, and temperature?

  • What are the differences between solids, liquids, and gasses, and how do their molecules behave when they experience changes in energy?

  • Heat transfer by conduction lab

MCAS



Final Project

June

MCAS Review

MCAS Prep class offered: Peardceck student paced slides


  • Jognog Review


  • Rube Goldberg Machine end of year Project