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Re: Advanced Placement Physics



See below:
On Wed, 7 Feb 2001, SSHS KPHOX wrote:

PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu writes:
A first year AP physics unfortunately tends to lead to weak understanding
of
the concepts.

Not just the "concepts" (in the sense that the word has been used
on this list). But students need an appreciation of the <contexts> in
which physics questions arise.


It should only be a second year course. A good first year
interactive engagement course is highly recommended. I do know of one
person who is using Workshop Physics for an AP course, but I do not know
if
it is a first or second year course. A good pairing would be Workshop
Physics and Workshop Calculus. Both of these have Priscilla Laws as one
of
the authors.

There are schools which do teach AP as a first year course, but that is
extremely unwise.

I agree whole-heartedly that conceptual development is essential in any
science course. The success of the program relies on the philosophy and
skill of the teacher and the abilities of the students. Some learn inspite
of us, others because of our common work. More than half of my AP
students are 1st year. I see little difference in the achievement of the
1st and 2nd year students.

But that is not the test of whether they are ready to focus on the
computational skills of AP physics. See my above remark on "contexts".
Before getting into thermodynamics, the student might be introduced to a
qualitative appreciation of weather dynamics and refrigerators. Before
getting into kinematics and dynamics the student might be introduced to a
qualitative understanding of automobiles, the structure of the solar
system, the distances to the stars (I thank the powers that be for
"Buck Rogers" in my childhood), gymnastics, and the functioning of musical
instruments (or at least some of these).


If the course is taught simply as a set of algorythms it is not serving
the student well whether they are in their nth year (n>1) or not.

Ken Fox
AP/IB Physics Teacher
Smoky Hill High School
Aurora, CO


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