So you just found out you are teaching AP Physics for the first time? Or maybe you are a veteran teacher that needs some new resources? We have all been there. Beginning to teach a new subject can be difficult, especially if it is an AP course. Here are my tips for new AP Physics teachers.
What to do before the school year begins
1. Attend an AP Summer Institute
I attended the APSI at the University of South Florida the summer before I began teaching AP, and it was the single most valuable thing I did to prepare. The presenter gave us a wealth of resources, performed sample labs, and really delved in-depth into the expectations for the course and national exam. Hopefully, your school will pay for your attendance, because it is expensive. However, even if you have to pay out of pocket I would still recommend attending. The resources and knowledge you gain are far worth it – this is the number one thing all AP Physics teachers should do!
2. Join Pretty Good Physics
The previous AP teacher at my school told be about this site, and then I learned about it again at the APSI. It is a great place to find resources, share resources, and get ideas for your course.
There is a general wiki that has labs, activities, and various problem sets. This site is publicly view-able. There is also a secure site in which you must prove you are a teacher – secure includes test questions, FRQs, practice national exams, and so much more. I recommend joining both wikis.
Resources for AP Physics teachers during the school year
3. TIPERs are your best friend
TIPERs, or Tasks Inspired by Physics Education Research, are a life saver. I find that these exercises tend to be pretty close to what students encounter on the national exam, and they are also just great problems. My students get an FRQ every week, and many times that FRQ is actually a TIPER. There are so many to choose from.
One type of exercise is a ranking task, in which students analyze six or so different scenarios and have to organize them based on most velocity, most kinetic energy, etc. The national exam has included these types of questions, as evident by 2017 AP Physics 1 FRQ #1.
You can find the book on Amazon, but I recommend getting an electronic version.
Here is an article on College Board’s website on using TIPERs and similar ranking tasks in your classroom. They also included this sample ranking task on projectiles.
4. Use the released practice exams
The released exams are my exams. Make sure you get access to the AP Audit website and secure documents. These documents can be used for in-class use, but may not be posted online or provided for students to take home. This makes they excellent test questions – they are secure and have actually been on the national.
The first thing my students said to me after the national was that it was not any harder than what we did in class. Sure, it was hard, but they were adequately prepared. Released exams are your best resource for preparing your students.
5. Do all the labs
Seriously, all of them. Okay, maybe not all, but at least 1-2 a week. 25% of your class should be time spent in laboratory experiences. This may sound like a lot and you may say that you don’t have time, but it is absolutely necessary. I teach in a school with 50 minute class periods. It is possible.
It is important to vary between the types of labs students perform. You can do inquiry-based labs, traditional step-by-step labs, design challenges, virtual labs, create models, whatever – the point is that students need their hands on things for Physics to make sense. I posted about how I use labs in my AP Physics course to help with the experimental design FRQ – check it out here!