Course: Physical Science

Course: Physical Science Teacher: Mrs. Rubalcava Room: 306 Email: [email protected]

COURSE OVERVIEW:

The Physical Science course addresses overarching ideas of two branches of science, chemistry and physics, in accordance to Next Generations Standards (NGSS), which emphasizes critical thinking and engineering practices. Upon completing this course, students will have foundational scientific knowledge of various topics from matter to energy that encourages application of science to real-life contexts.

In the first semester, students will focus on understanding matter through characteristics of subatomic particles, periodic trends and chemical reactions. Students will obtain the knowledge necessary to perform simple lab techniques, such as measuring and practice communicating their thoughts using the scientific method, including hypothesis, research, observations, analysis, and conclusion. Students will incorporate graphs and tables to represent their quantitative and qualitative data and use these evidences to support their claims.

In the second semester students will be exposed to scientific theories and laws that can predict, manipulate and explain interactions. Students will understand Newton’s laws that govern motion, energy transfer, waves, electricity, magnetism and systems. Students will learn about theories behind various technologies and provide suggestions on how to make them better based on the knowledge gained in this class. This course is designed to encourage students’ curiosity and motivate them to be innovative and critical thinkers ready to tackle the challenges of the 21st century.

Course Content:

Unit One: Scientific Method

In the first unit of the course, students will gain a through understanding of the scientific method, setting up an experiment using the necessary variables, using tools for measurements, converting units, and analyzing data using data tables and graphs. Students will also be exposed to basic tools to measure data such as, metric ruler, triple-beam balance, graduated cylinder, beaker, and thermometer.

Unit Two: Matters

The second unit of the course addresses the basic composition of all living things; matter. In this unit, students recognize the differences between atoms, elements, molecules and compounds and how they relate to matter. They are asked to understand the physical and chemical properties of the three states of matter and use them to explain the “why” of common occurrences. This unit also explains and reinforces the understanding of Boyle, Pascal, Charles, and Gay-Lussac laws through demonstrations and experiments .

Unit Three: Periodic Table of Elements

In this unit, students will be able to understand the significance of atomic number, atomic mass, and represent the structure of the elements using Bohr’s model and the Lewis-Dot structure. Students will analyze the similarities and differences of elements in each period and recognize that sections of the periodic table also shows differences in elemental structures that make them metals, non-metal and semiconductors. Students will be able to further use information about the atomic structure they’ve learned to understand bonding, according to the Octet rule, and explain the characteristics of various compounds. In this unit students will gain a deeper understanding of physical and chemical properties of matter and provide and an explanation for their characteristics.

Unit 4: Chemical Reactions

Continuing with the concepts from the previous unit, unit 4 goes deeper into understanding chemical reactions and communicating them through formulas and balanced equations, including their nomenclature. Based on the information given, students should also be able to determine and analyze the effects that a catalyst and enzymes have on chemical reactions. An energy transfer graph will be studied to provide evidences of exothermic and endothermic reactions, while focusing on the law of conservation of energy and understanding that energy can be lost and gained in various forms. This unit also serves to support the physics unit on energy transfer.

Unit 5: Motion

In this unit, students will analyze Newton’s three laws. Students will practice describing motion in relation to a single reference point and understand the significance of perspective when communicating with others. Student will know that velocity is a vector quality and how this is different from speed and acceleration. Students will be able to and understand that all motion has an equal and opposite force and that inertia continues the object’s motion indefinitely unless there is a force such as friction to stop it. In this unit students will perform experiments that demonstrate Newton’s Laws.

Unit 6: Work, Power and Energy

This unit addresses common usages of the word “work” and “power” and comparing them to how they are defined in science. Students will learn about various types of simple machines such as the lever family and inclined plane, and calculate their uses based on their structure and mechanical advantage. Students will also review the different types of energy and understand the process in which they are transferred through motion or time. Students will be able to use the law of conversation of energy to predict and calculate the amount of energy transferred between systems and apply the laws of thermodynamics to observe how they influence the world we live in.

Unit 7-Waves, Sound, and Light

A Wave is an example of a medium that energy is carried by. This allows energy to be transferred to a longer distance, which is how we are able to communicate on our cell phones and how light is able to travel. In this unit, students will learn about different types of energy such as mechanical and electromagnetic waves and how the structure of the waves determines their characteristics such as amplitude wavelength, period, and frequency. Electromagnetic spectrum will be introduced to explain how these waves are received and used in our lives and the pros and cons of these technologies. Students will extend on these concepts to also learn about how sound waves and light waves are received and interpreted by our body.

Unit 8-Electricity and Magnetism

Unit 8 ties to the positive and negative charges to explain the behavior of electricity. Students will be able to explain how charges flow between conductors and insulators and how electric forces can translate to forces of friction. Students will familiarize themselves with how batteries use electrical potential differences or voltage, reserved in electrochemical cells to provide energy and demonstrate their understanding