Tag: resources

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.

High School Astronomy Ideas – Less Lecture, More Engagement!

April 29, 2020 / dina

I’ve talked in previous posts about my hatred of lecturing. I end up doing all the work, while students sit passively. Sure, there are ways to make lectures more engaging. However, I discovered with a particularly challenging Astronomy class last year that lectures simply weren’t working. I stopped lecturing. I stopped pretty much all teacher-led instruction. What did I do instead? I created student-led, student-centered activities. I posted about student-centered instruction before, but now I want to share how I did it in my Astronomy class. Here are five high school Astronomy ideas, along with example lessons you can use in your Astronomy class.

Gallery Walks

Astronomy is definitely a very visually important subject. Looking at photographs is a major part of my class. However, instead of looking at pictures as a class and discussing them, break the discussions into smaller groups with a gallery walk. I call these Astronomy Art Galleries. They are one of my favorite and most engaging high school Astronomy ideas. I have done them virtually with Google Slides/PowerPoint and with physical pictures around the classroom.

Here is my Galaxy Gallery assignment I used this school year. Click here for my full lesson plan. This activity was done with laptops (one laptop per group of 3-4 students)

Here are some easy topics to create your own Astronomy Art Gallery:

Types of galaxies (shown above)
Types of eclipses (check out my free Teachers Pay Teachers lesson plan!)
Moons in the Solar System
Nebulae and supernovae
Planets
Constellations

Station Rotations

Station rotations are not only engaging but a great way to cover a lot of content in a short amount of time. I tend to do four stations in a 50 minute class period (~7-8 minutes per station). There are eight total groups in my classroom, so I do mirrored stations.

I usually have at least one station where students are using a laptop or phone. Some types of stations you can include are:

Watching a short video
Playing a Quizlet game
Coloring/labeling a diagram
Using question dice
Reviewing work with the teacher
Reading a news article
Completing practice questions/problems

One of my favorite high school Astronomy ideas is to incorporate station rotations - get those kids moving! — Here is a brief station overview of an activity I did on the terrestrial planets. Click here for the more in-depth station directions.

I like to have one station with new information, one with review information, one with a video, and one with a group discussion. That’s not a perfect, works-in-every-lesson formula, but it is my skeleton I start with!

Questioning and Research

Students tend to be interested in Astronomy, even if they aren’t always engaged with every lesson. I like to give them the opportunity to ask questions. Then, we structure a research activity based on their research.

For this lesson on black holes, I asked students to write something they want to know about black holes. I used the Nearpod Collaborate tool so I could see who wrote what, but it was anonymous to other students. The next day, I brought out every book I own that mentions black holes, along with laptops. Students were tasked with trying to answer some of the questions they asked. The culminating assignment was to write a news article about black holes.

Sample student work of a news article about black holes — One of the news articles my students produced. I encouraged them to think of a creative, “click bait” title and I love this one!

Simulations and Virtual Labs

Labs in Astronomy can be difficult, but there are many you can do. However, I often use simulations and virtual labs to do what we can’t in class. I’ve talked about PhET simulations many, many times, but a lot of teachers don’t know that they have a lot more than just Physics!

This PhET simulation on blackbody radiation is a great way to introduce stars! — I use this simulation from PhET to introduce the H-R Diagram and different types of stars. Here is a sample worksheet to go along with it.

Some of the more Astronomy appropriate simulations PhET has are:

In addition to PhET, I have also used simulations from UNL, eduMedia, Stellarium, and Celestia.

News Articles

I feel like every single day I find a news article about something we are learning about in Astronomy. There is always new information and celestial events going on! I use news articles all the time in my classroom. This is another one of the most engaging high school Astronomy ideas!

For example, I found a news article about Mars One, and another describing why it won’t work. Students read those two articles and debated whether we should go to Mars. Here is the lesson plan for that activity.

Some other topics you could use news articles with are:

Comparing types of supernovae
Exoplanets
Meteor showers and what causes them
Types of eclipses
Discoveries from probes such as Juno and New Horizons

I hope these ideas have inspired you to rethink your classroom!

Flipping Physics: My Favorite AP Physics 1 Resource

May 19, 2017 / dinacav

Good quality AP Physics resources can be hard to find. I searched for review materials and videos but was overall disappointed by the quality of the content I found. Enter Flipping Physics.

So, I’m not actually a big proponent of flipped classrooms. I don’t believe any teaching strategy should be used all the time. However, the flipped model is an excellent one when used in addition to other strategies. These would fit perfectly in a blended learning classroom (I even used one in a personalized learned menu, shown as an example in this post).

When I was looking for great review videos, I stumbled across Mr. Palmer by accident. I don’t know how I didn’t find him sooner – he was exactly what I was looking for. His mission is to “Make the world a better place through real, fun, and free physics education,” which is exactly what his videos do. The humorous, lecture-discussion style of video is a great addition to a blended learning classroom.

Students sometimes find the videos cheesy, but I find using these to reinforce ideas has been a great tool. Some of my students re-watched every video before the National Exam and said it tremendously helped them remember concepts! They also loved the lecture notes associated with the videos. Additionally, he has slowly been adding more videos to cover every topic in Physics.

If you are looking for an excellent video resource, Flipping Physics is the best out there. He even has videos explaining some of the released FRQs. My only complaint is that he doesn’t have Physics 2!

http://www.flippingphysics.com

Here is one of my favorite videos to show right before the National Exam, his reflections on the 2015 exam. It has some excellent tips to remember. I show this every year before the National Exam.