Develop Scientific Habits of Mind

AP Physics C

Mr. Williams

[email protected]

Norco High School

2016-17

Overview: In this course we will explore physics using calculus. A more complete description follows on the latter pages of this syllabus.

Course Goals:

 Develop scientific habits of mind.

 Develop work habits that can translate into success outside this classroom.

 Learn about kinematics, mechanics, gravity, SHM, momentum, energy, rotation, electrostatics, circuits, and waves.

 Gain experience designing, conducting, and reporting on experiments.

 Learn to work collaboratively to solve difficult problems.

Assignments: All student work will be kept in a ½ inch 3-ring rigid binder. This binder will be periodically checked for completeness, organization, and daily work. Students will receive a grade for recording and providing thoughtful responses to warm-ups and cool-downs in their binders. Students will also be graded on a variety of in- class projects, homework assignments, tests, quizzes, and group work. In addition, students will take a final at the end of each semester. The details are laid out in later pages.

Your Binder:

 Be sure to keep a 3-ring binder containing all papers, handouts, notes, and assignments throughout the year.

 Anything I give you that is hole-punched goes in the binder!

 I will collect the complete binder at the end of each grading period. The binder is worth 100 points.

 There will be surprise binder checks randomly throughout the semester worth 25 points. If your binder appears messy or disorganized, I will not waste my time on it. Students will receive an automatic zero for such binders. Students will not be allowed to go to their lockers to get their binders on surprise check days. Keep your binder neat, organized, and current!

Procedures:

 There will be a warm-up every day. You will copy the warm-up into your binder, and record your response in complete sentences.  You will receive 3 bathroom passes each semester. Each unused bathroom pass is worth 15 points extra credit at the end of the semester. If you need to use a pass, bring it to the teacher to sign. If you have special circumstances, see the teacher. Otherwise, your parent or guardian will be contacted if you request excessive bathroom breaks.

 Bring your textbook, binder, pencil, calculator, and 3-hole punched paper to class every day.

 No credit will be given for work done on spiral notebook paper. It will be handed back to you with a zero. You may redo it, but it will be counted late.

 Late work will be accepted as follows: 1 day late = 50% credit. 2 days late =25% credit. 3 or more days late is a 0%. If you have an excused absence, you have one day extra for every excused day you missed.

 There will be a cool-down question at the end of class every day that must be copied into your binder. Respond to the question completely in writing in your binder. You may not leave your desk until the bell has sounded to mark the end of the period.

Rules:

 Be on time! You must be in your seat and ready to work when the bell rings.

 Be respectful! Show respect to everyone and everything.

 Be prepared! Bring daily-required materials to class every day.

 All other school rules and policies are in effect in this classroom as well.

If you choose to break a rule…

 1st Offense: Verbal warning

 2nd Offense: Lunch detention & parental notification

 3rd Offense: Saturday School & parental notification

 4th Offense: Automatic referral to Mr. Ibbetson

How this class will work:

We are in a bit of an unusual situation this year, with many students at different levels of mathematical ability, and many different levels of experience with physics, all in the same classroom. About half the class expected to work primarily independently this year, and about half the class expected a traditional class with the usual structure. Given this unusual situation, I will be running the class on two tracks: An independent study track, and a traditional course track. Both tracks will cover the same material. I will outline how each track will work below. At any point in the year a student can choose to move between tracks by notifying the teacher. All students, no matter which track they are on, will take common assessments at the same time, and will do common labs at the same time. Independent study track: Students on the independent study track will be given a list of all work required for each chapter at some point in the second week of the semester. In additional to the homework required for students on the traditional track, students on the independent track will be required to also do the problems form the supplementary problem set. Students will not be expected to participate in or listen to instructor lectures. Students may work in groups of 3 or 4 to do all the work required for each chapter, while staying focused on the content of the course during the entire period. The instructor will be available each day for about 10 minutes to address questions students on the independent study track might have. Packets of work will be available for each chapter, and students may work well ahead of the traditional track. Students on this track may well finish the course early. It is expected that those finishing the course early will use the extra time they have accrued to prepare for their AP exam. To that end, the instructor will have practice exams, AP release questions, additional appropriate level textbooks, and extra problem sets to prepare for the exam. Students completing the course early will be required to keep a log of their work each day to demonstrate they have used their extra time appropriately. If at any time the instructor feels that a student on the independent study track is not making good use of his or her class time, the instructor will move the student back to the traditional track.

Traditional track: Students on the traditional track will participate each day in the instructor’s lesson plan. Each day the instructor will have prepared a lesson related to the topic under discussion, designed to prepare the student for the upcoming unit test, or the upcoming lab or project. Students on the traditional track will work with the instructor at a pace which will use all available instructional days to maximize exposure time to the topics tested on the AP exam. After the lecture, the instructor will spend about 15-20 minutes each day working with students in the traditional track on problem sets, giving students individual assistance with challenges they face, and doing additional demos to help students understand challenging concepts.

In general: The assigned problems for each chapter are either from the textbook, or from supplementary problem handouts. Problems are chosen to give students experience with a wide range of applications of the subject covered in the unit. When the textbook does not have a problem covering a particular application, I will use one from another text or write one myself. These make up the supplementary problem list, which will also be available for each chapter. When working problems, or in conversation, I will always stress starting from general principles and moving towards a specific application. Instead of spending class time working a problem all the way through to the answer, we will work on building a general-to-specific routine in solving problems. This is an important skill to develop for success in future course work in the long term, and for success on the AP exam in the short term, since most problems students will encounter, in both physics and life, will not be of the specific type they have worked before. Any portion of this syllabus may be changed at any time by the instructor.

Lab Experiments Approximately 20 percent of class time is taken up by lab work. [SC14] The experience gained by manipulating equipment [SC15], recording and organizing data, and drawing conclusions through data and error analysis should be a vital part of any physics course; most labs extend beyond one class period. Much of the newer technology-based lab equipment does not fit my style because once it is set up, the data is taken and necessary calculations are performed, graphs are produced at the push of a button without much thought by the students. To me, a valuable learning opportunity is lost when students are not required to work with the data and organize it into a form in which a conclusion can be drawn. In my labs, students use simple equipment with a minimum of “black boxes.” Lab experiments are, for the most part, written by me and chosen to provide students with experiences that reinforce concepts being covered in class. Lab reports are required and are kept in a lab notebook. [SC16]

Evaluation Tests are given approximately every chapter. The tests are purposely similar in construction to the AP Exam. Each consists of 8 to 12 multiple-choice questions and a multipart free-response question. A teacher-constructed “anti-memorization” sheet is permitted on all quizzes. While going through the course material, the stress is on developing concepts and problem- solving strategies, not on memorization. The multiple-choice questions come from many sources, such as AP Released Exams, New York Regents Exam review books, and questions I have written. The free-response questions have the same format as those on the AP Exam, and most are modified AP Exam questions. All are constructed to test current material and material previously covered. For example, an energy free- response question might require a free-body diagram and have a part involving a trajectory. The day after the quizzes are given, students score one another’s papers using a rubric similar to those used to score the free- response questions on the AP Exam. The solution is projected on a screen, showing where points are to be given. Before students begin scoring papers, each section of the solution is carefully explained. This requires them to go through the solution carefully, perhaps recognizing their own mistakes and perhaps learning a little from the mistakes of others. The only cumulative examination given before AP Exam review time is the first semester final. It consists of the 35-question multiple-choice section from an AP Physics C: Mechanics Released Exam. This exam is taken, scored, and reviewed during the final exam period.

Grading Lab reports are worth 80 points. Tests are worth 100-120 points, with the multiple- choice questions worth five points apiece and the free-response questions worth the remainder of the points. The homework collected in each unit is worth roughly half a test grade. The semester final and review exams are worth 180 points each. Extra credit — which can range from helping set up labs, building a car within stated design parameters, and working out amusement park problems — is liberally sprinkled throughout the course. All points are added and the percentage of points possible is determined. Grades are assigned according to the following schedule: A = 85–100%; B = 70–84%; C = 55–69%; D = 45–54%; F = below 45% I calibrate the points available to result in half to two-thirds of the students earning grades of A or B.

AP Exam Review Formal review begins six weeks before the beginning of the AP Exam administration. Each student is given an exam review booklet consisting of the multiple-choice sections from two AP Physics C Released Exams and the free-response questions from the last five exams. In the booklet is a listing of the multiple-choice questions sorted by subject (i.e., kinematics, Newton’s laws, and so on). During the early part of the review, several of these subject areas are assigned as homework. The first part of each class period is used to answer questions on the previous day’s assignment. The rest of the period is divided up into 15-minute intervals, and one free-response question is assigned during each interval. Students may work alone or in groups of no more than three. Solution notebooks are available in the classroom for students to check their work. At the end of the first three weeks of review, the mechanics multiple-choice questions from an AP Released Physics C Exam are given for credit.

Unit Topics Number of Days Unit 1 SI Units, Dimensional Analysis, and Vectors 8 Introduction to lab Unit 2 Rectilinear Motion 15 Kinematics with time-varying acceleration Kinematics with constant acceleration [SC1] Unit 3 Planar Motion 15 General motion where x and y vary with time Kinematics of projectiles Kinematics of circular motion [SC1] Unit 4 Introduction to Newton’s Laws [SC2] 15 Newton’s three laws Free-body diagrams Introduction to weight, normal, and friction forces Unit 5 Applications of Newton’s Laws [SC2] 25 Pulley system Uniform circular motion Nonuniform circular motion Nonconstant friction force Unit 6 Vector Multiplication 9 Unit 7 Work, Energy, and Power [SC3, SC4 & SC5] 12 Work by constant force Work by position-varying force Work-energy theorem Power Unit 8 Conservation of Energy 32 Energy conservation Work by nonconservative forces Potential energy functions Potential energy vs. position graphs Unit 9 Impulse, Momentum, and Collisions [SC6 & SC7] 21 Impulse-momentum relationship Conservation of linear momentum Elastic and inelastic collisions Position and velocity of center of mass Unit 10 Rotational Kinematics 12 Kinematics with time-varying angular acceleration Kinematics with constant angular acceleration Introduction to torque and angular momentum Review AP Exam Review 30 Bonus Bonus activities after AP Exam 18 I have read and understood the guidelines and procedures for Mr. William’s AP Physics C class and have shared them with my parents.

Student’s Name:______Period:______

Student’s Signature: ______

Parent’s Signature:______

Parent’s phone #:______

Parent’s email address:______

Thank you! I look forward to working with you and your child this year!