Skip To Main Content

AP Physics

Course Description

The AP Physics 1 course is a college-level physics course to help students develop a deep understanding of the foundational principles that shape classical mechanics. By confronting complex physical situations or scenarios, the course is designed to enable students to develop the ability to reason about physical phenomena using important science practices, such as explaining relationships, applying and justifying the use of mathematical routines, designing experiments, analyzing data, and making connections across multiple topics within the course.

Course Big Ideas

  • Objects and systems have properties such as mass and charge with systems having internal structure.
  • The interaction between two objects is known as force.
  • Fields that exist in physical space can be used to explain interactions.
  • Changes that occur as a result of interactions are constrained by conservation laws.
  • Mathematical models can be used to predict the behavior of objects or systems.

Course Essential Questions

  • How do various phenomena manifest themselves as force?
  • In what ways does force affect the motion of macroscopic objects?
  • How do conservation laws explain observed phenomena?
  • How do we apply mathematical models to quantify unknown quantities?

Course Competencies

  • Create qualitative sketches of graphs that represent features of a model or the behavior of a physical system.
  • Calculate or estimate an unknown quantity with units from known quantities, by selecting and following a logical computational pathway.
  • Justify or support a claim using evidence from experimental data, physical representations, or physical principles or laws.
  • Derive a symbolic expression from known quantities by selecting and following a logical mathematical pathway

Course Assessments

  • Course final assessment
  • Formative Assessments
  • Summative Assessments
  • Common Assessments
  • Performance-based lab assessments

Course Units