Scope and sequence · Science
Physics
A full high-school physics course built on the experiments that discovered it: Galileo’s ramps, Newton’s moon, Cavendish’s balance, Joule’s paddle wheel, Young’s two slits and Faraday’s coil, each one worked with real equations and repeated in a kitchen-table lab.
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What to cover
45 of 50 lessons are MUST COVER. They are tested on the unit tests and exams, or are skills the SAT/ACT relies on. OPTIONAL lessons are enrichment. Do them if time allows. The course is complete when the MUST COVER lessons are done.
Unit 1: Measurement and the Scientific Method
- MUST COVER 1.1 Galileo, Kepler and Data-Driven Science · exam
- MUST COVER 1.2 SI Units: The Meter, the Kilogram and the Lost Mars Orbiter · exam
- MUST COVER 1.3 Uncertainty and Significant Figures: Michelson Measures Light · exam
- MUST COVER 1.4 Graphs and Best-Fit Lines: Hooke’s Law · exam
- MUST COVER 1.5 Vectors and Right-Triangle Trigonometry: Stevin’s Wreath of Spheres · exam
Unit 2: Motion in One and Two Dimensions
- MUST COVER 2.1 Galileo’s Inclined Plane · exam
- MUST COVER 2.2 Velocity and Acceleration: Stapp’s Rocket Sled · exam
- MUST COVER 2.3 Free Fall: From Pisa to the Hammer and the Feather · exam
- MUST COVER 2.4 Motion Graphs: Marey’s Chronophotographs · exam
- MUST COVER 2.5 Projectiles: Galileo’s Parabola · exam
Unit 3: Newton’s Laws
- MUST COVER 3.1 The Principia and Newton’s Three Laws · exam
- OPTIONAL 3.2 Inertia and Mass: Weighing Astronauts on Skylab
- MUST COVER 3.3 F = ma and Free-Body Diagrams: Otis and the Elevator · exam
- MUST COVER 3.4 Friction: From Leonardo to Coulomb · exam
- MUST COVER 3.5 Inclines, Tension and the Atwood Machine · exam
Unit 4: Circular Motion and Gravitation
- MUST COVER 4.1 Centripetal Acceleration: Huygens and the Curve · exam
- MUST COVER 4.2 The Moon and the Apple: Universal Gravitation · exam
- MUST COVER 4.3 Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion · exam
- MUST COVER 4.4 Cavendish Weighs the Earth · exam
- MUST COVER 4.5 Orbits: From Newton’s Mountain to Apollo · exam
Unit 5: Work, Energy and Power
- MUST COVER 5.1 Joule’s Paddle Wheel: Energy Is Conserved · exam
- MUST COVER 5.2 Work and Kinetic Energy: Balls Dropped into Clay · exam
- MUST COVER 5.3 Potential Energy and Conservation: Galileo’s Interrupted Pendulum · exam
- MUST COVER 5.4 Power and Watt’s Horsepower · exam
- MUST COVER 5.5 Roller Coasters, Loops and Efficiency · exam
Unit 6: Momentum
- MUST COVER 6.1 Impulse and the Seat Belt · exam
- MUST COVER 6.2 Conservation of Momentum and Newton’s Cradle · exam
- MUST COVER 6.3 Elastic and Inelastic Collisions: The Super Ball · exam
- MUST COVER 6.4 Rockets: Goddard and the Rocket Equation · exam
- MUST COVER 6.5 Momentum in Two Dimensions: Billiards and Accident Reconstruction · exam
Unit 7: Rotation and Statics
- MUST COVER 7.1 Torque: Archimedes’ Lever · exam
- OPTIONAL 7.2 Center of Mass and the Leaning Tower
- MUST COVER 7.3 Equilibrium: Cranes and the Forth Bridge · exam
- MUST COVER 7.4 Rotational Inertia: The Yo-Yo and the Flywheel · exam
- MUST COVER 7.5 Angular Momentum: Tops, Gyroscopes and Foucault · exam
Unit 8: Fluids and Heat
- MUST COVER 8.1 Pressure: Pascal and the Puy de Dôme · exam
- MUST COVER 8.2 Buoyancy: Archimedes’ Principle · exam
- MUST COVER 8.3 Moving Fluids: Bernoulli, Torricelli and the Wing · exam
- MUST COVER 8.4 Temperature and Heat: Joseph Black and the Calorimeter · exam
- MUST COVER 8.5 Thermodynamics and Engines: Carnot and Kelvin · exam
Unit 9: Waves, Sound and Light
- MUST COVER 9.1 Oscillations: Huygens and the Pendulum Clock · exam
- OPTIONAL 9.2 Waves and Sound: The Slinky and Chladni’s Plates
- MUST COVER 9.3 The Doppler Effect: Horns on a Train · exam
- MUST COVER 9.4 Reflection, Refraction and Lenses: Newton’s Telescope · exam
- MUST COVER 9.5 Light as a Wave: Young’s Double Slit · exam
Unit 10: Electricity and Magnetism
- OPTIONAL 10.1 Charge and Coulomb’s Law
- MUST COVER 10.2 Circuits and Ohm’s Law · exam
- OPTIONAL 10.3 Magnetism: Gilbert, Oersted and the Electric Current
- MUST COVER 10.4 Faraday’s Induction: Generators, Motors and Transformers · exam
- MUST COVER 10.5 Maxwell, Light and the Photon · exam
36-week pacing calendar
From the course’s own 33-week pacing guide, with catch-up and review weeks added to fill a 36-week (180-day) year.
| Week | Plan | Done | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | Day 1: Lesson 1.1 Galileo, Kepler and Data-Driven Science: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 1.1: lab and notebook Day 3: Lesson 1.1: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 1.2 SI Units: The Meter, the Kilogram and the Lost Mars Orbiter: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 1.2: lab and notebook | ||
| Wk 2 | Day 1: Lesson 1.2: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 1.3 Uncertainty and Significant Figures: Michelson Measures Light: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 1.3: lab and notebook Day 4: Lesson 1.3: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 1.4 Graphs and Best-Fit Lines: Hooke’s Law: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 3 | Day 1: Lesson 1.4: lab and notebook Day 2: Lesson 1.4: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 1.5 Vectors and Right-Triangle Trigonometry: Stevin’s Wreath of Spheres: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 1.5: lab and notebook Day 5: Lesson 1.5: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 4 | Day 1: Unit 1 test Day 2: Lesson 2.1 Galileo’s Inclined Plane: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 2.1: lab and notebook Day 4: Lesson 2.1: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 2.2 Velocity and Acceleration: Stapp’s Rocket Sled: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 5 | Day 1: Lesson 2.2: lab and notebook Day 2: Lesson 2.2: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 2.3 Free Fall: From Pisa to the Hammer and the Feather: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 2.3: lab and notebook Day 5: Lesson 2.3: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 6 | Day 1: Lesson 2.4 Motion Graphs: Marey’s Chronophotographs: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 2.4: lab and notebook Day 3: Lesson 2.4: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 2.5 Projectiles: Galileo’s Parabola: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 2.5: lab and notebook | ||
| Wk 7 | Day 1: Lesson 2.5: practice set and corrections Day 2: Unit 2 test Day 3: Lesson 3.1 The Principia and Newton’s Three Laws: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 3.1: lab and notebook Day 5: Lesson 3.1: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 8 | Day 1: Lesson 3.2 Inertia and Mass: Weighing Astronauts on Skylab: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 3.2: lab and notebook Day 3: Lesson 3.2: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 3.3 F = ma and Free-Body Diagrams: Otis and the Elevator: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 3.3: lab and notebook | ||
| Wk 9 | Day 1: Lesson 3.3: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 3.4 Friction: From Leonardo to Coulomb: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 3.4: lab and notebook Day 4: Lesson 3.4: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 3.5 Inclines, Tension and the Atwood Machine: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 10 | Day 1: Lesson 3.5: lab and notebook Day 2: Lesson 3.5: practice set and corrections Day 3: Unit 3 test Day 4: Lesson 4.1 Centripetal Acceleration: Huygens and the Curve: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 4.1: lab and notebook | ||
| Wk 11 | Day 1: Lesson 4.1: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 4.2 The Moon and the Apple: Universal Gravitation: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 4.2: lab and notebook Day 4: Lesson 4.2: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 4.3 Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 12 | Day 1: Lesson 4.3: lab and notebook Day 2: Lesson 4.3: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 4.4 Cavendish Weighs the Earth: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 4.4: lab and notebook Day 5: Lesson 4.4: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 13 | Day 1: Lesson 4.5 Orbits: From Newton’s Mountain to Apollo: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 4.5: lab and notebook Day 3: Lesson 4.5: practice set and corrections Day 4: Unit 4 test Day 5: Lesson 5.1 Joule’s Paddle Wheel: Energy Is Conserved: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 14 | Day 1: Lesson 5.1: lab and notebook Day 2: Lesson 5.1: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 5.2 Work and Kinetic Energy: Balls Dropped into Clay: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 5.2: lab and notebook Day 5: Lesson 5.2: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 15 | Day 1: Lesson 5.3 Potential Energy and Conservation: Galileo’s Interrupted Pendulum: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 5.3: lab and notebook Day 3: Lesson 5.3: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 5.4 Power and Watt’s Horsepower: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 5.4: lab and notebook | ||
| Wk 16 | Day 1: Lesson 5.4: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 5.5 Roller Coasters, Loops and Efficiency: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 5.5: lab and notebook Day 4: Lesson 5.5: practice set and corrections Day 5: Unit 5 test | ||
| Wk 17 | Catch-up and review week (no new lessons) | ||
| Wk 18 | Day 1: Review day for the midterm Day 2: Midterm exam Day 3: Lesson 6.1 Impulse and the Seat Belt: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 6.1: lab and notebook Day 5: Lesson 6.1: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 19 | Day 1: Lesson 6.2 Conservation of Momentum and Newton’s Cradle: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 6.2: lab and notebook Day 3: Lesson 6.2: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 6.3 Elastic and Inelastic Collisions: The Super Ball: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 6.3: lab and notebook | ||
| Wk 20 | Day 1: Lesson 6.3: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 6.4 Rockets: Goddard and the Rocket Equation: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 6.4: lab and notebook Day 4: Lesson 6.4: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 6.5 Momentum in Two Dimensions: Billiards and Accident Reconstruction: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 21 | Day 1: Lesson 6.5: lab and notebook Day 2: Lesson 6.5: practice set and corrections Day 3: Unit 6 test Day 4: Lesson 7.1 Torque: Archimedes’ Lever: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 7.1: lab and notebook | ||
| Wk 22 | Day 1: Lesson 7.1: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 7.2 Center of Mass and the Leaning Tower: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 7.2: lab and notebook Day 4: Lesson 7.2: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 7.3 Equilibrium: Cranes and the Forth Bridge: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 23 | Day 1: Lesson 7.3: lab and notebook Day 2: Lesson 7.3: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 7.4 Rotational Inertia: The Yo-Yo and the Flywheel: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 7.4: lab and notebook Day 5: Lesson 7.4: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 24 | Day 1: Lesson 7.5 Angular Momentum: Tops, Gyroscopes and Foucault: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 7.5: lab and notebook Day 3: Lesson 7.5: practice set and corrections Day 4: Unit 7 test Day 5: Lesson 8.1 Pressure: Pascal and the Puy de Dôme: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 25 | Day 1: Lesson 8.1: lab and notebook Day 2: Lesson 8.1: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 8.2 Buoyancy: Archimedes’ Principle: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 8.2: lab and notebook Day 5: Lesson 8.2: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 26 | Day 1: Lesson 8.3 Moving Fluids: Bernoulli, Torricelli and the Wing: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 8.3: lab and notebook Day 3: Lesson 8.3: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 8.4 Temperature and Heat: Joseph Black and the Calorimeter: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 8.4: lab and notebook | ||
| Wk 27 | Day 1: Lesson 8.4: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 8.5 Thermodynamics and Engines: Carnot and Kelvin: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 8.5: lab and notebook Day 4: Lesson 8.5: practice set and corrections Day 5: Unit 8 test | ||
| Wk 28 | Day 1: Lesson 9.1 Oscillations: Huygens and the Pendulum Clock: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 9.1: lab and notebook Day 3: Lesson 9.1: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 9.2 Waves and Sound: The Slinky and Chladni’s Plates: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 9.2: lab and notebook | ||
| Wk 29 | Day 1: Lesson 9.2: practice set and corrections Day 2: Lesson 9.3 The Doppler Effect: Horns on a Train: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 9.3: lab and notebook Day 4: Lesson 9.3: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 9.4 Reflection, Refraction and Lenses: Newton’s Telescope: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 30 | Day 1: Lesson 9.4: lab and notebook Day 2: Lesson 9.4: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 9.5 Light as a Wave: Young’s Double Slit: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 9.5: lab and notebook Day 5: Lesson 9.5: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 31 | Day 1: Unit 9 test Day 2: Lesson 10.1 Charge and Coulomb’s Law: video, teaching and worked examples Day 3: Lesson 10.1: lab and notebook Day 4: Lesson 10.1: practice set and corrections Day 5: Lesson 10.2 Circuits and Ohm’s Law: video, teaching and worked examples | ||
| Wk 32 | Day 1: Lesson 10.2: lab and notebook Day 2: Lesson 10.2: practice set and corrections Day 3: Lesson 10.3 Magnetism: Gilbert, Oersted and the Electric Current: video, teaching and worked examples Day 4: Lesson 10.3: lab and notebook Day 5: Lesson 10.3: practice set and corrections | ||
| Wk 33 | Day 1: Lesson 10.4 Faraday’s Induction: Generators, Motors and Transformers: video, teaching and worked examples Day 2: Lesson 10.4: lab and notebook Day 3: Lesson 10.4: practice set and corrections Day 4: Lesson 10.5 Maxwell, Light and the Photon: video, teaching and worked examples Day 5: Lesson 10.5: lab and notebook | ||
| Wk 34 | Day 1: Lesson 10.5: practice set and corrections Day 2: Unit 10 test Day 3: Review day for the final Day 4: Final exam | ||
| Wk 35 | Catch-up week: finish any MUST COVER lesson not yet done | ||
| Wk 36 | Year-end review, portfolio and records |
Grading: Practice sets (completed and corrected) 15%, Labs (procedure, data, graph, analysis) 25%, Lab notebook (organization, honesty, error discussion) 10%, Unit tests 30%, Midterm exam 10%, Final exam 10%. Scale: A 90–100, B 80–89, C 70–79, D 60–69, F below 60.