Physics A — Motion, Forces, Momentum and Gravitation is the first semester of a full-year laboratory physics course for grades 11-12 (UC A-G area D). It is built on the California NGSS performance expectations HS-PS2-1 to HS-PS2-6 and HS-ETS1-1 to HS-ETS1-4, with RST.11-12 literacy standards and the Mathematical Practices. Algebra 2 and right-triangle trigonometry are the co-requisite level.
Four units: Motion in One and Two Dimensions, Forces and Newton’s Laws, Momentum, Collisions and Crash Safety, and Gravitation, Circular Motion and Orbits. Each unit opens with a California phenomenon, includes hands-on labs with inexpensive materials (ramps and phone video, a ruler launcher, carts and hanging masses, collisions, pendulums), and closes with a written and presented performance task.
Sources: OpenStax Physics (high school) and College Physics 2e (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; referenced, not reproduced) as reference texts; public-domain NASA, NIST and NOAA data; PhET Interactive Simulations (CC BY 4.0) as optional modeling tools and as the alternative route for students who cannot do a lab in person. Labs follow the CDE Science Safety Handbook for California Public Schools. A simulation never replaces a hands-on lab.
Curriculum
- 4 Sections
- 20 Lessons
- Lifetime
- Unit 1: Motion in One and Two Dimensions5
- 1.1Can the Car Stop? Position, Velocity and Motion Graphs50 mins
- 1.2Ramp Lab: Measuring Acceleration Frame by Frame100 mins
- 1.3Reaction Time or Braking Distance? Arguing from the Equations50 mins
- 1.4Vectors and Projectiles: Predicting Where It Lands100 mins
- 1.5Performance Task — Time to Stop: Yellow Lights and School Zones150 mins
- Unit 2: Forces and Newton’s Laws5
- 2.1Runaway Trucks on the Grapevine: Forces, Free-Body Diagrams and Newton’s Laws50 mins
- 2.2Cart Lab: Testing Newton’s Second Law with Data100 mins
- 2.3Does Area Matter? Arguing About Friction from Data50 mins
- 2.4Inclines, Pulleys and Elevators: Modeling with Newton’s Second Law100 mins
- 2.5Performance Task — Design a Runaway-Truck Escape Ramp150 mins
- Unit 3: Momentum, Collisions and Crash Safety5
- 3.1Helmets, Airbags and the Impulse-Momentum Theorem50 mins
- 3.2Collision Carts and the Conservation of Momentum100 mins
- 3.3Where Did the Momentum Go? Arguing from Collision Data50 mins
- 3.4Crumple Zones, Foam and Designed Materials100 mins
- 3.5Performance Task — Design, Test and Defend a Crash-Safety Device50 mins
- Unit 4: Gravitation, Circular Motion and Orbits5
- 4.1Staying Up: Circular Motion and the Centripetal Force100 mins
- 4.2Pendulum Lab: Measuring the Strength of Earth’s Gravity100 mins
- 4.3The Apple and the Moon: Arguing for the Inverse-Square Law50 mins
- 4.4Orbits by the Numbers: GPS, Geostationary Satellites and Kepler’s Third Law100 mins
- 4.5Performance Task — Choose an Orbit for a California Fire-Watch Satellite150 mins
Instructor
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