Course description:
Physics 1-2: NGSS is an introductory high school science course that will focus on developing students’ understanding of fundamental scientific knowledge, their ability to think like scientists, and creating arguments from evidence. Semester 1 will cover the basic concepts of motion, energy, and forces. Semester 2 will focus on wave phenomena, light, and electricity and magnetism. Specific attention will be placed on properly collecting, displaying, and analyzing patterns in data. Interesting learning activities will be provided to stimulate comprehension, retention and a sense of valuing of the topics studied. Concept-oriented, hands-on learning activities will be used whenever possible. Cooperative teamwork is a major component of this course. Coursework will be planned to insure that the student reaches or exceeds PPS and Oregon State Science Standards. The Oregon State Science Work Sample will be completed as part of this course.
Units of study:
Patterns and Inquiry
Students learn about data collection, graphing skills (both by hand and computer aided [Desmos]), and the fundamental mathematical patterns of the course: horizontal line, proportional, linear, quadratic, and inverse. Students perform several experiments, each targeting a different pattern and build the mathematical models of physical phenomena. During each experiment, students start with an uninformed wild guess, then through inquiry and making sense through group consensus, can make an accurate data informed prediction.
Texting & Driving (with Computational Thinking)
Students are confronted with a scenario of a student who is texting and driving in the school parking lot and they are tasked to determine the effect of various parameters to see if a student will be involved in a collision. Students must begin by breaking the scenario down into more manageable parts to determine what must be studied about the situation. Through a series of labs and activities, students learn how to model and predict situations with constant velocity and acceleration. Then, coding a spreadsheet, students model the complex situation of a texting driver, reacting, and braking during a potentially hazardous situation to create an evidence-based argument.
Energy and Engineering (with Bungee Jump Project)
In order to contextualize the Energy unit, students are tasked to engineer a bungee cord that will optimize the enjoyment of an individual’s bungee jump. To do this, students first develop the mathematical patterns through inquiry on gravitational energy, kinetic energy, and elastic energy. Once the patterns have been established, students further build on their spreadsheet coding skills, in order to use computational thinking to create a program that will help predict the length of bungee cord necessary for a variety of situations.
Engineering a Shoe (contextualizing Impulse, Forces, and Momentum)
This unit is centered on the art and science of designing a shoe for a customer. Students decide on a type of shoe that they want to design and utilize ideas of force, impulse, and friction to meet the needs of a particular customer. Force plates are used study the relationship between force, time, and impulse to allow students to get the mathematical models that allow them to make data informed decisions about their shoe design.
Waves and Technology (with Sending a Text Message)
The phenomenon that launches this unit is a cell phone call to a student in the class, where the caller on speaker phone asks “How are you hearing me?”. Over the course of the unit, students discover the patterns with waves. Then use that understanding to explain ultrasound medical imaging technology and ultimately how cell phones work. Cell phone communication is operationalized by the engineering challenge of communicating a three letter signal by first coding a spreadsheet to digitize the signal in binary (ASCII), then transmit the digital signal using light and sound (AM and FM), then receive and decode the signal to complete the communication. This project models the sending and receiving of a text message.
Electricity, Magnetism, and Power Production with Wind Turbines
The real world task that propels students through the topics of electricity, magnetism, power production, and climate science is a 50-Year Energy Plan. After the Request for a 50-Year Energy Plan, students jig-saw innovative power solutions. Next, they build and explore motors (starting with speakers which also connect to the Waves & Technology unit) and inefficient generators. The need for more efficient generators leads students to harness energy in nature by engineering a design for wind turbines and optimize solar cells for a local parks use. Creating the rubric to evaluate large scale power production launches us into climate science.
Space and the Universe
Using the topics of Halley’s comet, dark matter, and dark energy students data mine Newton’s Law of Universal Gravity and construct and evaluate arguments for the Big Bang.
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