Advanced Placement Physics 369                                                                             Matt Zimolzak   

                                                                                                                                    Joe Rodino

Advanced Placement Physics at Fremd High School is a rigorous, first exposure high school physics class.  The course has been designed to prepare students to take an advanced placement exam that may earn college credit in non-calculus physics.

Because of the rigorous nature of the course, class meets five times a week for eighty minutes each day.  This is, to be sure, a large time commitment on the part of the students, but it seems to be ideal in preparing for the exam in May.

Physics 369 is a lab-based course.  This means students discover most of the fundamental principals we discuss in the course in the lab first before they are asked to use them in homework or test questions.  About half of the points available to the students come from labs and homework with the balance coming from tests or quizzes.

Topics covered in the class are typical of a first time high school physics course and include the following areas of physics.  While a thorough discussion of the topics covered might require several pages, this list may remind you of some of the physics you studied or have recently read about.

Topic                                                                           Including

     Kinematics                                                             constant acceleration and velocity

     Vectors                                                                  useful applications in physics

     Graphing                                                                moving between kinematics graphs

     Newton's Laws                                                      free body diagrams, rotational motion

     Two Dimensional Motion                                        projectiles, centripetal acceleration

     Momentum                                                 two dimension conservation experiments

     Energy                                                                    impulse graphs, conservation experiments

     Heat and Kinetic Theory                                         superconductors, entropy

     Waves and Sound                                                  resonance, interference

     Light                                                                       optical instruments, lasers, and holography

     Electricity                                                               Kirchhoff's rules, ac and dc circuits

     Magnetism                                                  field lines, induction, force

     Relativity                                                                time, length, mass, synchronization effects

     Atomic Theory                                                       Bohr model, spectral lines

     Nuclear physics                                                      decay, radiation, fission and fusion

As you can see, we have a rather ambitious agenda.  Fortunately, we have ambitious students as well.  Please do your part to encourage them when they seem a bit overwhelmed.  The support you offer from home is absolutely essential and never goes unnoticed.