Forums

So I just got a job offer for AP Physics. I took the offer since I was out of a job, but I do not have any physics experience. I have taught regular physical science, biology, and chemistry but AP is a whole new level. I am grateful for the job, but I am hoping I can keep up. I start next week, but I was wondering if anyone had some good resources for new AP teachers (especially for diverse students or low income classrooms). I'm not sure what section the current teacher is on, I'll be meeting with them later this week. It's their first year for having AP Physics, so I don't think the expectations for 4's and 5's across the board are high...but I want to do the best I can with what I got. Any help or advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Hi Katrina! Wow - how wonderful that you have landed a job in your field. The first year of teaching something is always challenging. I thought maybe seeing a syllabus or two from a nationally acclaimed school district might be a starting point for you. My children went to this particular high school, so I am familiar with the quality of the teaching staff. Here is a link to the AP Physics syllabi. Perhaps some of our AP Physics teachers can chime in and give you some resource links.

Katrina, Are you teaching AP-B or AP-C? The My AP Central sections of the College Board post past free-response questions and graded answers as well as several multiple choice questions. AP Physics B home page: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/2262.html Ditto for AP Physics C home page: Mechanics - http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/2264.html E&M: http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/courses/teachers_corner/2263.html There also is an AP Physics Community that you may join via CB: AP Physics Teacher Community Discuss teaching strategies, share resources, and connect with other educators. Learn more... Try these resources for background material for content and depth. ~patty

Katrina, An integral part of any AP Physics course, B or C, is the lab portion and do not skimp on this. Doing quality labs is the best way for students to apply their understanding and to work through how to interpret the laws of physics. Memorizing really does not help since one earns 4's and 5's by the quality of reasoning and knowing how to explain and document applications. One of the most difficult things to get students to do is to explain what they are thinking and you will see that this is important in the free- response sections of the exam. Even the multiple-choice section relies on critical thinking and deductive reasoning rather than memorizing. Check out the lesson plans and strategies offered in the AP Central pages and check out several of the lab books available for AP Physics courses. Graphical analysis is stressed and students need to know how to manipulate variables and present mathematical relationships among variables. Model building is also stressed. Also, check you area for teacher development days offered by the College Board. Try to attend one, both for the resources that will be shared with you as well as to start building that personal community of learners and teachers that you will wish to join. Enjoy! and be sure to ask more questions. I hope these resources are useful to your lab ideas, too: Free pdf versions of labs using technology ( many may be accomplished with more traditional equipment) Advanced Physics with Vernier - http://www.vernier.com/products/books/phys-am/ Advanced Physics with Vernier - Beyond Mechanics - http://www.vernier.com/products/books/phys-abm/ ~patty

Thanks for the resources! It will be Physics B...I don't start until next Wed, so I have some more time to prepare, but I'm just waiting for the teacher I'm replacing to get back to me so i know what units they are on :) It's going to be interesting...and yes I hope to do many labs, I just hope they have the materials, I may have to seek grants to pay for equipment, we'll see. Thanks, if there's more out there keep it coming :)

Katrina, Gives us a shout when you are able to do a quick inventory of your supply/lab closet and we can talk about string and sticky tape labs, doing labs with traditional equipment; doing labs with digital sensors and interfaces, using video analysis for labs, as well as looking at ggreat simulations. I look forward to hearing from you and learning what you plan on doing. The B course covers a lot of material but the information on the AP site is very helpful and will help to guide you through all of the topics. Many grants are available. Here is just one resource that may help you to get started http://www.vernier.com/grants/ and of course there are the NSTA/ Toyota TAPESTRY grants, too. http://www.nsta.org/pd/tapestry/ Thanks for sharing. I look forward to future conversations. patty

Here's another relevant site for science and engineering that I copied from the STEM forum, shared by Dianh. Here is a web link to “The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics” or (AIAA)https://www.aiaa.org/Secondary.aspx?id=257. This web site has a load of resources that are relevant to all stake holders. The AIAA site even has grant opportunities! Enjoy DW hmm...maybe we need a grant thread again... patty

My supplies are limited, the supply room is not organized, I am going to have to dig through boxes of stuff to see what I have and I will definitely need to get some grants to get equipment! My other challenge is that the students I have did not have regular physics before taking AP, so their background knowledge is limited. I gave them a pre-assessment and many couldn't tell me what mass is. This is going to be tough, thanks for the help!

Katrina, are you teaching AP B or AP C; I assume AP B if the students have not had physics or are they in calculus? Please give a shout about the status of your lab equipment and perhaps there are some teachers listening in who may have options to share with you. I always found that I was about a week ahead of the kids when I was teaching AP for the first time and I set up and ran many, many labs so that I could anticipate things early in the morning and late in the day after the students had left and my meetings were over. I even took materials home over weekends to do things at home. This way, I could really design applicable inquiry to meet my students learning needs with what I had on hand and what I could scrounge or by at the local Lowes or Home Depot. I often found the folks at Lowes to be really helpful. The would cut pipe and boards for me and even put some interesting electrical items together for me for optics and E and M. Also, don't be shy about contacting other local teachers and perhaps borrowing equipment. Check Universities and Colleges, too. Often they will load things. Best of luck and please stay in touch. Patty

Hi, It's Physics B...the school I am teaching at has very little money, but I think there was a grant and some equipment was ordered, but I don't know what yet, I just got an email about it today. There is no organization to our "supply" room. I was digging around today to find stuff and I found some things that look like they could be useful, but there was no directions or other parts to it. I would love a great resource for practice problems, I tried googling it, but am having a hard time finding worksheets. I know I will try to do Phet labs as well...the previous teacher left me with nothing, and the students said that they barely did any work when he was there, he just "checked out" after knowing he got another position. It's very frustrating, but I'm just trying to take it one day at a time and give the students a chance to get a 3 or better on the test. Thanks for the help so far

Katrina, what book are you using? Go to the AP B site for some free response problems and a few multiple choice tests. You can find homework problems from among those shared on the AP site --the worked answers are given, too. These are wonderful since students must learn to authenticate their thinking and supply formulas and steps to their solutions. There are also some great web sites that have background physics content for teachers and for students as well as sample quizzes. Your text book may also have on-line assistance and quizzes for the students. I am sure that readers of this thread can share several web sites in time, too, if you wish. ~patty

Well it looks like that I may not be getting textbooks...but I hope I get some answers soon about that...thanks for the idea of joining a forum, I just signed up for the college board one...I have found some useful sites to help me with content and developing stuff ...this year is going to be crazy I'm teaching AP Physics on top of regular and earth science, and they are all new preps to me, I've done physical science in the past, but this is a whole new level! The school has a hard time finding and keeping teachers because of some of the challenges I have discussed...but i am going to try my best. thanks for the help!