Cavic Physics

My Top AP Physics 1 Resources

December 29, 2021 / dina

Teaching AP Physics can be a challenge, especially if you are just starting out. Fortunately, there are a TON of AP Physics 1 resources, free and paid, to help you and your students have the best AP Physics experience. Here are ten of my tried and true top AP Physics 1 resources.

1. Covering the Basics: AP Central

Though you’ve probably already been to AP Central if you teach AP Physics 1, it’s a resource worth mentioning as it is the official source of information about AP Physics. Here you can find the Course and Exam Description, along with the most recently released free-response questions.

I highly recommend combing through the Course and Exam Description and setting up your AP Physics 1 curriculum before doing anything else when starting to design your course. Read more about setting up your AP Physics 1 curriculum here with my updated for 2021 curriculum guide.

The CED also breaks down the course by unit, the percentage each is covered on the exam, and topics within each unit you need to cover.

2. AP Classroom – another official source of information

Another obvious choice, but AP Classroom has been a true goldmine addition to College Board’s resources. AP Classroom is only available to registered teachers and students, so if you aren’t officially teaching the course yet you will not have access to this.

On AP Classroom, you can find previous exam questions, practice questions sorted by topic, and you can create assessments for students. I am honestly not fond of the assessment feature, so I typically take the questions and create my own paper or online assessments. However, their question bank is populated from real previous exam questions, so these are how I generally make my tests and quizzes.

3. Flipping Physics – top tier videos

I wrote a whole post about my fondness for Flipping Physics, but Mr. P keeps making it better and better. This is a top-tier review source for teachers and students. While the videos may be corny at times, they are MUCH more engaging than other review videos.

Image showing an example of the types of videos Flipping Physics has on their website. — These 5-15 minute review videos on each topic are amazing – great quick overviews for students before the AP national exam!

I use Flipping Physics’ content videos throughout the year as supplemental resources. During our AP exam review time, I typically begin each class period with one of the topic review videos.

4. Albert.io – the best AP Physics 1 problems

Another resource I have mentioned previously, Albert is the best resource I have found for practice questions. Albert requires a paid license and it looks some convincing to get my school to buy in, but it is the BEST out there. Their practice questions are plentiful and have a wide range of difficulties. Outside of the AP Classroom questions, they are the most aligned to the actual national exam questions I have found.

Sample Albert question from their dynamic systems section. These questions are one of the best AP Physics 1 resources out there. — Albert has a plethora of questions on each AP Physics 1 topic, ranging in difficulty from easy to difficult. It is extremely well organized and the questions are a good representation of the AP Physics 1 exam.

I like to use Albert as supplemental practice questions, as well as assign a set of questions each week for practice. Remember that these are AP-style questions, so I highly recommend grading students for completion or on an AP-style scale.

5. Labs and Simulations – favorite three

I’m cheating by combining a few resources in this category, but labs and simulations are invaluable to your course. The AP Physics 1 course relies heavily on students having hands-on experience with Physics. Since many students and courses are still at least partially online or budgets might constrict your lab offerings, simulations are a great way to incorporate more labs.

My personal favorite simulations come from PhET, oPhysics, and SimBucket. You are probably already familiar with PhET – their simulations really set the standard for virtual labs. I love that they are transitioning most of their simulations to HTML5 so they work on any device.

Image depicting a simulation from oPhysics on moment of inertia. Several objects of different shapes are rolling down an incline. — A simple oPhysics simulation on moment of inertia. I love using this one as a POE (Predict-Observe-Explain). Students often go into rotation with the misconception that all objects will reach the bottom at the same time.

oPhysics was a blessing during spring 2020 when I had to transition all of my labs to virtual. They aren’t as flashy as PhET, but they have so many great options and they are simple and easy to use.

SimBucket is another excellent collection of simulations. Many of theirs are hosted on Physics Classroom, which I will talk more about later! I find their simulations simple and easy to use, with graphics in between PhET and oPhysics level.

6. APlusPhysics – abundance of all types of AP Physics 1 resources

I purchased a copy of APlusPhysics’s AP Physics 1 Essentials during my first year teaching AP Physics 1. It was a great resource for me, and I recommended it to students as well.

Sample practice problems from APlusPhysics. Practice problems are just one of the great AP Physics 1 resources this site offers! — APlusPhysics has a wide selection of worksheets and sample AP Physics 1 problems. Here is an example of their Impulse and Momentum problems offered on their website.

Since then, they have vastly expanded their offerings and website. It is an excellent source of videos, worksheets, review guides, practice questions, and pretty much any other AP Physics 1 resource you could want.

7. Bozeman Science – videos and concept maps

Bozeman Science is another resource that has done an excellent job of expanding their offerings in the last year. They have videos on pretty much every topic in AP Physics 1. I’m also a big fan of the organization of their website – topics are sorted by Big Idea and include concepts maps and slides to help you and students organize information.

Sample AP Physics 1 resources from Bozeman Science, depicting their videos for AP Physics 1 Big Ideas 1, 2, and 3. — AP Physics 1 video list from Bozeman Science. Love that the videos are sorted by Big Idea.

Bozeman Science also has videos on many other science subjects, so share this one with your other science friends!

8. Teachers Pay Teachers – created by your peers!

While Teachers Pay Teachers contains paid resources, it is a great place to find ideas and resources created by your peers. All stores contain at least one free resource as well, so even if you are on a tight budget you can still find some quality resources.

Teachers Pay Teachers also offers district licenses, so it is worth checking if this is something your district has or is interested in!

While yours truly is just getting started on Teachers Pay Teachers, there are teacher-authors out there with entire an entire course-worth of material. Some of my favorite stores for AP Physics 1 resources:

9. Khan Academy – old reliable

You’re probably familiar with Khan Academy. Your students are probably familiar with Khan Academy. Your grandma is probably familiar with Khan Academy. Heck, Sal’s first videos were on Physics, so it’s trusty old reliable in the Physics world.

However, their videos are still great and the additional features added more recently are pretty neat too. Khan Academy now has the ability to create a classroom, assign videos and problems, check-in on students’ progress, and earn Mastery Points. There are also articles, practice questions, and course challenge quizzes. It’s definitely a tool that keeps evolving and getting better.

Image showing an example of a Khan Academy Course Challenge, a skills based set of problems. — Course Challenges are just one of the newer, more engaging AP Physics 1 resources added to Khan Academy.

I would like to see Khan Academy move away from classic Physics problems and move in a more aligned-with-the-AP-exam direction, but it’s still a tried and true resource.

10. Physics Classroom – a true classic

I mentioned Physics Classroom earlier as they host many of SimBucket’s simulations. The content on Physics Classroom is generally geared more towards a standard or honors level Physics course, but it is still a great supplement to your course content.

When I have students struggling with concepts or more basic Physics content, I usually direct them to Physics Classroom. I have also assigned lessons in Physics Classroom as sub plans, as unit openers, and as concept reviews. They have simulations, worksheets, and videos in addition to their classic tutorials.

Image depicting a section of Physic Classroom's tutorial on projectile motion. — Sample tutorial from Physics Classroom on projectile motion. I find their simple graphics very helpful and easy to understand.

While the tutorials can be wordy and have big blocks of text, I love their images, embedded videos, and simulations. It’s a great “one-stop shop” for a TON of AP Physics 1 resources. If you also teach other levels of Physics, keep this one handy especially handy!

Wrapping up AP Physics 1 resources

Whew. That was a list! Those are my top ten, tried-and-true, I-actually-use resources to help enhance your AP Physics 1 course. Remember that no resource is perfect and should be used exclusively – I find the best results from using a wide variety of resources in my course. Variety is the spice of AP Physics!

If you’re new to teaching AP Physics 1, make sure to check out my 5 Tips for New AP Physics Teachers.

Setting Up Your High School Astronomy Curriculum

December 8, 2021 / dina

I’ve had a lifelong passion for Astronomy. I was extremely fortunate that in my third year teaching, I was able to petition my school to add an Astronomy course to our curriculum offerings. The challenge, though, was setting up a high school Astronomy curriculum from scratch. I previously wrote about my top resources for teaching Astronomy, but let’s take a look at the basics. What should you teach in a high school Astronomy course?

Well, that might depend on your district/state standards. My state does have standards for Astronomy, but they are mostly Physics or general science standards. However, this meant I had a lot of flexibility in what to teach and how to organize my course.

My school is a daily 50 minute period. We marketed Astronomy to primarily seniors, so I had approximately 8 weeks of instruction in quarters 1-3 and 6 weeks in quarter 4.

Quarter 1 – Observational Astronomy

I begin my high school Astronomy curriculum with some basics of Astronomy and focusing on what we can observe in the night sky. As my state standards are based on Physics standards, we hit a lot of the motion and Kepler’s/Newton’s laws standards here in the first quarter. For instance, I invested in some simple Galileoscopes to have students practice building a telescope and use them outside. Also, check out my lesson plan and activity on the Moon phases I use in this unit.

Image of an assembled and unassembled telescope called a Galileoscope. — Galileoscopes are easy to use and assemble, as well as affordable, refracting telescopes. Image courtesy of Galileoscope.

We typically spend 1-2 days practicing using the telescopes in the daytime and recording what we can observe just around the school courtyard. Since this is in the fall/winter and sunrise isn’t usually until after school starts, we also typically have at least a week of before-school observations. As a result, the timing is perfect to usually observe some major known constellations and the Orion Nebula, Pleiades, and other easy-to-find celestial objects.

The Night Sky
- Celestial sphere, constellations, orbital motion, moon phases, eclipses

History of Astronomy
- Ancient astronomy, Copernicus and Galileo, Brahe and Kepler, Newton

Light and Telescopes
- Early telescopes, light and electromagnetic spectrum, practice using telescopes, space telescopes

Quarter 2 – The Solar System

Here we focus on all aspects of the solar system, starting with the solar system as a whole, then Earth, then each group of planets. I try to focus on comparative planetology – comparing the planets and their properties to each other, rather than memorizing facts about each planet.

Image of a data sheet to be filled out about each planet. — Here is a sample data sheet I have used to help students organize their notes about each planet.

For the Jovian planets, I also like to include some information about the major moons. We typically discuss the Galilean moons, along with Titan, Enceladus, and Triton (sorry, Uranus).

The Solar System and Earth
- Layout of the solar system, solar nebular theory, Earth as a planet, Earth’s interior and atmosphere

Terrestrial Planets
- Moon and Mercury: comparisons, surfaces, atmospheres; Venus: greenhouse effect, volcanism, atmosphere, interior; Mars: atmosphere, interior, volcanism, missions and rovers

Jovian Planets
- Jupiter and Saturn: comparisons, atmospheres, interiors, missions, major moons; Uranus and Saturn: comparisons, atmospheres, interiors, missions, major moons

Beyond Planets
- asteroid belt, Kuiper belt, Oort Cloud, major asteroids and dwarf planets

Quarter 3 – Stars

Stars are definitely my favorite topic, and it is also usually a big hit with students. We spend a lot of time on the different life cycles. First, we look at the Sun and its properties as a star. In the low mass stars section, we focus on stars that end as white dwarfs. I typically spend the most time in the high mass stars section, as nuclear fusion, supernovae, and black holes tend to be high-interest areas.

Image of questions gathered from students about black holes. I try to dedicate ample time in my Astronomy curriculum to high-interest topics. — Real questions from students about black holes. I always try to dedicate 2-3 days to a black holes research project as its a high-interest topic.

We usually wrap up this quarter with galaxies, though time-dependent I have moved it to quarter 4.

The Sun as a Star
- Sun surface, interior, properties, sunspots

Low Mass Stars
- Red dwarf and Sun-like main sequence stars, Sun-like star life cycle

High Mass Stars
- High mass main sequence, supernovae, black holes

Galaxies
- Galaxy types, galaxy classification, Milky Way galaxy properties

Quarter 4 – Cosmology and Spaceflight

Cosmology is the outlier here, but it fits where it fits, especially as we have just studied galaxies. We focus on the history of Cosmology and how the model of the Universe has changed over time.

Image of a sample assignment on the origin of the Universe. — Sample from an assignment on the origin of the Universe. Students read an excerpt from Stephen Hawking’s “Origin of the Universe” speech to gather their evidence.

As I am based in Florida, we have A LOT of state standards related to the space program. As a result, I decided to end the year with this as we wind down the year by building bottle rockets. The history of human spaceflight is a topic I am very passionate about and it’s a little less rigorous, so it’s a great way to send off the year. We focus on the different eras of the US Space Program and the major achievements of each.

Cosmology
- Expansion of the Universe, Big Bang, eras of the early Universe, Universe models

Rocketry
- Principles of rocketry, aerodynamics, Newton’s laws revisited, building a rocket

Human Spaceflight
- Early spaceflight, projects Mercury and Gemini, project Apollo, Space Shuttle and beyond

Building your high school Astronomy curriculum

I hope this breakdown is helpful as you build your own high school Astronomy curriculum. Depending on your state and standards you may have different focus areas, but these are the major topics any Astronomy course should address.

Don’t forget to check out my tips and resources for teaching Astronomy, as well as my ideas for teaching a more engaging Astronomy course. Good luck and ad astra!

Setting Up Your AP Physics 1 Curriculum – Revised for 2021

December 2, 2021 / dina

One of the most common questions I get about teaching AP Physics comes from new teachers: “Where do I start?!” Setting up your AP Physics 1 curriculum can be a challenge. Let’s take a look at the major content areas in AP Physics 1 and how to organize them into a curriculum plan for your course.

Hopefully, this guide will help you figure out how College Board organizes their course. In addition, I’ll show you how that translates into real timing and order of instruction in a classroom.

AP Physics 1 official units

College Board breaks AP Physics 1 down into seven units. These are, including their approximate weight on the AP exam:

Kinematics (12-18%)
Dynamics (16-20%)
Circular Motion and Gravitation (6-8%)
Energy (20-28%)
Momentum (12-18%)
Simple Harmonic Motion (4-6%)
Torque and Rotational Motion (12-18%)

Previously, AP Physics 1 also included waves and electricity, but as of the 2021 Course and Exam Description, these have been removed from the course to streamline the AP Physics 1 curriculum to only include mechanics.

Also, note that a lot of these topics overlap with each other. Though circular motion and gravitation is only 6-8% of the national exam, you could absolutely see a free-response question on gravitation that also includes parts on energy, momentum, etc. This would make gravitation technically jump up in percentage. I don’t interpret these numbers as hard and fast cut-offs for each topic, but more of a general guide.

Image of 2018 FRQ #5 from the AP Physics 1 National Exam. Copyright College Board. — Many questions, especially the free-response questions, encompass multiple units. This question from the 2018 National Exam incorporated simple harmonic motion, energy, and momentum.

AP Physics 1 curriculum in the classroom

Like most teachers, I tend to have a preferred way of doing things. These unit breakdowns are a little newer to the AP Physics curriculum, so I created my own order of topics. My order of instruction looks more like this:

One dimensional kinematics
One dimensional forces
Dynamics (including two dimensional kinematics and forces)
Circular motion and gravitation
Momentum
Energy
Torque and rotational motion
Simple harmonic motion

This is updated from my previous order of instruction to reflect the 2021 changes. I may move simple harmonic motion to before rotational motion now that the AP Physics 1 curriculum does not include waves. We’ll see after testing it out with students.

I like breaking kinematics and dynamics up into 1D and 2D sections as it eases students into the course with simpler topics. That way, we can also work on how the course is set up, types of FRQs, etc. as we work on the first two units. Then by the time we get to 2D motion, which is typically much more difficult for students, they have a grasp on the course and how questions are structured.

Image titled "Know Your National" explaining the types of questions on the AP Physics 1 National Exam. — Focusing on 1D motion in the first two units helps students also have time to learn the ropes of the course before the content amps up in difficulty. We practice the different types of FRQs in the first couple of months of the year.

Also, I also got into doing momentum before energy as that’s what my textbook did and I decided to try it out. It worked well so I stuck with it! I think momentum and energy *can* be taught in either order, so it is up to your preference.

Timing and pacing your course

My school operates on a daily 50 minute class period. I typically have about 30 weeks of instruction time (taking out 3 weeks for after AP exams and 3 weeks for each quarters’ exam week), or around 8 weeks in quarters 1-3 and 6 weeks in quarter 4. My approximate time breakdown looks like this:

Course introduction and skills – 1 week
- Graphing, math skills, laboratory skills

One dimensional kinematics – 3 weeks
- Motion terms, constant velocity, uniform acceleration, motion graphs

One dimensional forces – 3 weeks
- Force terms, free-body diagrams, Newton’s laws

Dynamics – 4 weeks
- Vectors, forces in two dimensions, dynamic systems, kinematics in two dimensions, projectile motion

Circulation motion and gravitation – 2 weeks
- Circular motion, law of gravitation, gravitational fields

Momentum – 3 weeks
- Momentum, impulse, conservation of momentum, collisions

Energy – 4 weeks
- Mechanical work and power, energy and energy transfer, conservation of energy, collisions extension to energy

Rotational motion – 4 weeks
- Rotational kinematics, torque, rotational dynamics, rotational kinetic energy, conservation of angular momentum

Simple harmonic motion – 2 weeks
- period of simple harmonic oscillations, energy in simple harmonic motion

AP exam review – 4 weeks
- 1-2 class period to review each unit, exam review module, labs to reinforce tying units together, full length practice exam

Removing waves and electricity gives a lot more breathing room in the AP Physics 1 curriculum. Before their removal, I still did 4 weeks of review. It definitely gave me less time on energy and momentum. I LOVE having that extra time for those two very important topics!

Some teachers give more or less (or no!) time for review at the end. However, I feel very strongly about having four entire weeks for review. As I work within a 50 minute period, it takes me four class periods to do a full-length practice exam. I previously wrote a bit about how I structure this review, but typically in weeks two and three, we take two days to do half of the full-length exam. This gives us an entire week right before the national exam to dig deep into their exam scores and make last-minute strategy adjustments.

Putting it all together

In conclusion, I hope this breakdown was helpful to you as you work on setting up or adjusting your AP Physics 1 curriculum. If you are a returning AP Physics 1 teacher, I know that revising your course after the unit removals is both a blessing and a curse. I certainly appreciate the extra time to focus on mechanics and save waves and electricity for AP Physics 2!

Teaching Physics Online – One Year Retrospective

November 29, 2021 / dina

There’s been a bit of a lack of content here. Cavic has moved to the teaching Physics online world and it’s been a ride. I started teaching remote, like the rest of the world, during COVID. I loved it so much that I decided to move my career in that direction.

So here we are, a year later. Moving to full-time online teaching is definitely a transition, especially with a course like Physics. Here are five things I’ve learned teaching virtual Physics.

1. Know your course

I know it’s impossible to do everything yourself. Don’t reinvent the wheel and all that. However, it’s important to know the course and content you are teaching. As obvious as that may seem, a lot of schools and districts buy premade programs that teachers had no input in. If this is the case, learn the content and the way it is presented to your students. Write review guides and/or make videos for students to clarify information that needs it and teach things “your way.”

Whether you have the luxury of going through the entire course before teaching it or you simply go through the next unit the week before you start it, make sure you go through all information students receive and experience your course as a student. I have always used resources with this principle: Never assign something to students that you have not completed yourself.

Never assign something to students that you have not completed yourself.
Cavicchia teacher creed

2. Quality resources are essential

In the classroom, you, the teacher, are always there to answer questions and see when students need help. In online spaces, you lose that sense of when students need you. Enter quality, teacher-made resources. Start with identifying areas in your course that students typically have trouble with or have common misconceptions about. Create a help site for students with videos, lab template documents, guided notes, etc. to help them when you aren’t available.

Image of a Google Site students can access to located help resources. Having a place students can go 24/7 for help is a great tool when teaching Physics online. — You can make a simple, easy to create and use help site using Google Sites

If you need help finding quality resources to supplement your course, here are some of my favorite resources for Physics and Astronomy.

Of course, you don’t have to do all of this upfront, but it’s an excellent goal to build towards as you make your way through your first year of online teaching. Try to consistently add to your library of resources as you have time.

3. You can and should still do labs when teaching Physics online!

Hands-on, inquiry-based learning is SO important in Physics. Physics really is a course of doing. Labs are arguably even more important in a virtual setting – students have trouble connecting and engaging with just words and problems.

There are a ton of resources and simulations out there to help foster that hands-on experience in a virtual setting. Focus on adding and/or creating labs that have students actually manipulate variables, mimicking a real lab setting. PhET has amazing simulations for almost every topic in Physics. I also love oPhysics – they aren’t as flashy, but they have a ton of simulations to work with.

Image of an oPhysics simulation on Uniform Acceleration in One Dimension - one of the many simulations they offer. — Here’s an example of a great GeoGebra-based simulation from oPhysics.

4. Make yourself approachable and available

I know every school and district has different policies in place about how you are allowed to communicate with students. Work within your restraints and make yourself available to your students in as many ways as possible.

Google Voice has truly been game-changing – I love being able to text students from a work-only number. Students tend to see and respond to texts faster than any other method of communication. They also are more open to reaching out to me than through video channels – the camera-shyness is real!

Image of a sample daily teacher schedule created in Google Calendar. Having set times you are available to students will help create expectations and boundaries. — Be open and available, but within reason. Make a schedule for yourself and students to set expectations and boundaries. Here is an example day schedule for how I break up my day.

You can also offer live lessons, Zoom office hours, and hours in which you will quickly respond to emails. Make yourself a schedule to not overwork yourself, but have times when students know they can get a quick response from you.

5. Be understanding and flexible

Virtual learning can be a challenge. Some students thrive in a self-paced environment. Some students need structure and due dates. Be prepared to accommodate different levels of structure for your students.

The same goes for due dates and timelines. Depending on your online Physics situation, you may have students juggling a lot of classes in-person and online. Set realistic expectations and be flexible if things change! Communication really is key for successfully teaching Physics online.

There are my top five things I’ve learned the last year teaching Physics online. If you’ve made the transition to online or blended learning, I hope these tips have been useful in structuring your course and resources for your students. Happy teaching!

Pacing for AP Physics 1: A Basic Timeline for 2021 and Beyond

May 30, 2021 / dinacav

How should you break up your year teaching AP Physics 1? If you are a new or a veteran AP Physics 1 teacher, you may need some guidance on how long to spend on each unit. As I update this in 2021, we are now looking at a refreshed course that has eliminated circuits and waves. In two years, we may have to take a look at this again as College Board plans another refresh. For now, here is my planning and pacing guide for AP Physics 1. It gives an idea of how long I spent on each unit, the order I did units, and the actual units I broke the course into.

Although I have adjusted this over the years, I started by using College Board’s published pacing guide as a reference. It’s definitely difficult to get down the pacing for AP Physics 1 – I will post how I’ve modified it next year (see my revised AP Physics 1 curriculum plan here)

Official units and percentage breakdown of pacing for AP Physics 1 from College Board. — I teach in a slightly different order than College Board recommends in the Course and Exam Description.

Unit 1: Physics Skills – 5 days

Graphing
Laboratory skills

Unit 2: Kinematics – 15 days

Constant velocity
Uniform acceleration
Projectile Motion

Unit 3: Forces – 15 days

Interactions: forces
Newton’s Laws

Unit 4: Forces and Motion in Two Dimensions – 20 days

Applying Newton’s Laws
Circular Motion
Gravitation
Kepler’s Laws

Unit 5: Momentum – 15 days

Impulse and momentum
Conservation of momentum

Unit 6: Energy – 20 days

Energy and energy transfer
Conservation of energy

Unit 7: Rotational Motion – 20 days

Rotational kinematics
Torque
Rotational dynamics
Rotational kinetic energy
Conservation of angular momentum

Unit 8: Simple Harmonic Motion – 10 days

Simple harmonic motion
Mass-spring systems
Simple pendulums

AP Exam Review – About 4 weeks of practice/review time

Hopefully, this pacing for AP Physics 1 is helpful to you. Although it’s not perfect, it gives a realistic idea of how long each unit takes. Note that I teach in a 50 minute period, traditional school year, so these dates would need to be adjusted for block schedule or semester schools. With the removal of electricity and waves from the AP Physics 1 curriculum, I really love having more time for targeted AP review at the end of the year. In 2023, we may be adding fluids over from AP Physics 2, so another revision will need to take place soon. Where will I fit that in and find the time? Only time will tell!