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Course Overview
A solid fundamental background in science is essential to the complete education of any citizen and or any young scientist. Toward that end, science classes at SHS are designed to accommodate the needs of a broad range of student backgrounds, interests, goals and skill levels. In their science classes, students will develop critical thinking and inquiry skills that are the basis for modern scientific investigation and for the daily decision-making needs of any citizen in any occupation. All science courses integrate and expand students' mathematical, reading, writing, critical thinking and technological skills in keeping with school-wide learning goals. Many science courses further cultivate high-level mathematical and reasoning skills. The extent of mathematical skill developed in and required to succeed in science courses is level and course-dependent.
SCIENCE MCAS
Science MCAS exams are offered in Introductory Physics and Biology. All 9th grade students at Sharon High School are enrolled in Physics and will take the Introductory Physics MCAS at the end of their Freshman year.
Kinematics (Understanding Motion)
Learning Targets
Learning Targets
Create and interpret graphs of motion.
Define, identify, and provide examples of vector and scalar quantities.
Apply an understanding of vectors graphically and mathematically.
Define and solve problems involving displacement, velocity, and acceleration of an object.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
How can graphs and vectors be used as tools to describe and analyze all of the different ways objects move in space?
Instructional Snapshot
Instructional Snapshot
Students will:
Use a variety of tools to track positions and times of motorized carts, analyzing the data to estimate velocity and/or acceleration.
Produce various graphs for other students to analyze the specific types of motion.
Analyze real-world scenarios that require students to extrapolate and interpolate how an object moves based on a limited data set.
Force (Explaining Motion)
Learning Targets
Learning Targets
Identify and calculate the forces acting on an object
Recognize when an object is experiencing balanced or unbalanced forces based on how it’s moving
Draw accurate force diagrams for objects in various situations
Use Newton’s 2nd law to relate acceleration, mass, and force.
Distinguish between a Newton’s 3rd law “force pair” and forces that cause equilibrium.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
How do forces interact to change the motion states of objects?
How do the amount of matter in an object and the space it takes up determine how it interacts with the world around it?
Instructional Snapshot
Instructional Snapshot
Students will:
Use sensors and simulations to explore relationships between force and motion.
Make and test predictions about motion and friction from measurements or calculations of force.
Analyze real-world scenarios that require students to extrapolate and interpolate how objects will accelerate based on a limited data set.
Mechanical Energy
Learning Targets
Learning Targets
Define a system for the purpose of analyzing conservation of energy and energy transfers experienced during some process (both qualitatively and quantitatively).
Identify and calculate the forms of energy present in a system, and identify the individual objects or fields storing that energy.
Apply the definition of work and the work-energy theorem to calculate the work done and changes in energy on objects in a system.
Apply the definitions of power and efficiency to calculate power consumption and evaluate efficiency.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
How does energy cause change and what are the various ways we get energy?
Instructional Snapshot
Instructional Snapshot
Students will:
Analyze machines that do work and then estimate its efficiency.
Use conservation of energy to make predictions about the motion of an object.
Analyze real-world scenarios that require students to extrapolate and interpolate how energy changes based on a limited data set.
Conservation of Momentum
Learning Targets
Learning Targets
Calculate an object’s momentum and evaluate the velocity of objects in different types of collisions.
Apply the concept of impulse to aspects of auto safety construction.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
Why are seat belts, airbags, and crumple zones crucial for automobiles?
Instructional Snapshot
Instructional Snapshot
Students will:
Analyze momentum's role in the physics of crashes through building a device intended to minimize impact forces.
Analyze real-world scenarios that require students to extrapolate and interpolate changes in motion based on a limited data set.
Thermal and Nuclear Energy
Learning Targets
Learning Targets
Differentiate between temperature, heat, thermal energy, and kinetic energy.
Identify the primary method of heat transfer in a situation and predict the equilibrium temperature.
Identify the temperature change or type of phase change an object is experiencing and calculate the amount of heat exchanged.
Identify different types of radioactive decay.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
How is nuclear power utilized, and is it a safe alternative to fossil fuels?
How do atoms achieve balance between opposing forces within their nucleus?
Instructional Snapshot
Instructional Snapshot
Students will:
Analyze changes in temperature vs time for various substances as they go through phase changes and use this data to identify unknown substances.
Analyze real-world scenarios that require students to extrapolate and interpolate changes in temperature based on a limited data set.
Electricity and Magnetism
Learning Targets
Learning Targets
Identify materials that act as conductors or insulators of electricity and explain their effectiveness.
Evaluate and calculate electrostatic and gravitational forces.
Identify the key components of a circuit, draw schematics, and apply Ohm’s Law to calculate values for current, voltage, and resistance.
Calculate the power rating of appliances and calculate the cost of running them.
Draw the magnetic and electric field lines surrounding different configurations of bar magnets and electric charges.
Explain how a magnet and wire must interact to induce a current and how it can be used to transfer energy in speakers and microphones.
Explain how an electromagnet works and predict how factors like number of coils or the current passing through the wire could affect its strength.
Explain how motors, electromagnets, transformers, generators, and solenoids can be applied to electrical systems and used to do work.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
How can we use electricity, magnets, and charges to do work?
Instructional Snapshot
Instructional Snapshot
Students will:
Explore how the arrangement of a circuit affects its behavior.
Physically construct circuits, electromagnets and/or motors.
Analyze real-world scenarios that require students to extrapolate and interpolate electrical outputs and circuit design based on a limited data set.
Mechanical and Electromagnetic Waves
Learning Targets
Learning Targets
Identify examples of simple harmonic motion (both mechanical and electromagnetic) and identify the measurable properties of waves.
Explain how waves are able to transfer energy and carry information from source to receiver.
Identify devices that produce or transport mechanical and/or electromagnetic waves.
Describe the relative speeds of sound and electromagnetic waves and use the wave speed equation to calculate relevant values.
Describe the relative speed of a mechanical wave based on the medium it travels through.
Explain how a sound changes its frequency based on the motion of the sound source relative to the receiver.
Discuss how reflection, refraction, and diffraction affect wave motion and how it can be applied.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
How can the energy of waves be applied to technology in order to do work and facilitate communication?
How can we transfer energy through non-translational motion?
Instructional Snapshot
Instructional Snapshot
Students will:
Measure refraction angle for light traveling through materials in a variety of applications.
Use various techniques to collect data used to analyze the speed of waves.
Research devices that produce/transport mechanical and electromagnetic waves.
Analyze real-world scenarios that require students to extrapolate and interpolate the behavior of waves based on a limited data set.
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