California High
School Physics Standards:
This page is an experienced
teacher's discussion of each of the California High School Physics
Standards.
To obtain a copy of the original
California Standards, simply type "California Science Standards" into
your browser and probably the first listing will be a PDF copy of the entire
document.
The original California
Science Framework is a more complete discussion of the Standards. As with the Standards, you can obtain a
copy of the Framework by typing "California Science Framework" into
you browser and the 310 paged PDF document can then be easily downloaded.
The original California Science
Standards document simply states each Science Standard. The Framework states each Science
Standard for grades K--12 and includes a more detailed discussion of the
content of each Standard.
What this web
page attempts to do:
The content of this web page was
inspired after several careful readings of the High School Physics section of
the California Science Framework.
Although the presentation there seems quite clear, some new teachers
have suggested that perhaps a document should be created that includes more
information on how to teach the content of each Standard. This web page attempts to be a
collection of documents that discusses each California Physics Standard with
ideas that might be useful to the new or inexperienced physics teacher.
In the following, each physics
Standard is addressed separately with attention to possible misconceptions,
ideas for presenting the topic, including suggested demonstrations and
activities. Every effort was made
to make the presentation as brief as possible with just enough information to
guide a teacher's thinking when preparing to teach the particular Physics
Standard.
Guiding principles
used here for addressing each California Physics Standard:
1. We will focus the discussion on a particular Standard and
confine the discussion to about two pages. (Sometimes cramming the required material into two pages was
too difficult. However, five
pages/standard is a maximum.)
2. A crude illustration is better than no illustration.
3. Specific and detailed lesson plans should be left to the
individual teacher.
4. Detailed lab and activity descriptions, with student
directions, will be addressed in a later version of this web page, through
links.
5. An experienced physics teacher will probably find little of
value here. However, we are very
willing to receive corrections and better suggestions on how to present the
material from all experienced teachers.
Send these suggestions to: Bill
Laytonlayton@physics.ucla.edu.
Notes to
students who might come across this page:
1. Each Standard has been discussed briefly. However, you must read and think about what is being said. This material cannot be explained in a
"tweet".
2. Physics is more than memorizing formulas. Formulas highlight relationships but
should not be a substitute for understanding. Use formulas more as guides to help you
understand the physics and less as something to plug into while solving
problems.
3. Although physics may require less memorizing than other
sciences, there is a certain minimum material that must be memorized and
kept handy in your brain in order to understand other material.
Table of
Contents:
This table will list each of the
Standards and give a link to our discussion of this standard. These will be links to our MS Word
documents that can be downloaded and edited for individual use. At the beginning of each major Standard
Set, there will be a link to a composite PDF document that will include all of
our individual MS Word documents in a single PDF document.
Standard Set 1. Motion and Forces. Link to PDF copy of entire Standard
Set 1.
1a. Constant speed and average speed. Link to MS Word document 1a
1b. Balanced forces lead to no
acceleration. Link to MSWord document 1b
1c. F = ma and one-dimensional constant
force problems. Link to MSWord document 1c
1d. Forces of interaction and Newton's
third law. Link to MSWord document 1d
1e. Law of gravity acting near the Earth's
surface. Link to MSWord document 1e
1f. A perpendicular force changes velocity
but not speed. Link to MSWord document 1f
1g. Perpendicular forces and circular
motion. Link to MSWord document 1g
1h*
Limitations on Newton's laws. Link to MSWord document 1h*
1i*
Two dimensional trajectory problems.
Link to MSWord document 1i*
1j*
Vectors, components and sums. Link to MSWord document 1j*
1k*
Two-dimensional problems involving balanced forces. Link to MSWord document 1k*
1l*
Problems in circular motion. Link to MSWord document 1l*
1m*
Coulomb's Law and Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation. Link to MSWord document 1m*,
Standard Set 2. Conservation of Energy and
Momentum. Link to PDF copy of
entire Standard Set 2
2a. Calculating Kinetic Energy. Link to MSWord document 2a
2b. Calculating Potential Energy near the
Earth's surface. Link to MSWord document 2b
2c. Problems involving the conservation of
energy. Link to MSWord document 2c
2d. Calculating momentum as the product of
mv. Link to MSWord document 2d
2e. Momentum and Energy are separately
conserved. Link to MSWord document 2e
2f. Unbalanced forces produce changes in
momentum. Link to MSWord document 2f
2g. Elastic and inelastic collisions. Link to MSWord document 2g
2h*
Conservation of Potential energy in springs and capacitors. Link to MSWord document 2h*
The following is not a
California Standard but has been added since we deem it to be important.
2i**
Energy and Power. Link to MSWord document 2i**
Standard Set 3. Heat and Thermodynamics, Link to PDF copy of entire Standard Set
3.
3a. Heat and work are forms of energy
transfer. Link to MSWord document 3a
3b. Work done by heat engines working in a
cycle. Link to MSWord document 3b
3c. Thermal energy related to random motion
and temperature. Link to MSWord document 3c
3d. Heat energy distributes over time to
uniform levels. Link to MSWord document 3d
3e. Entropy and the measure of order and
disorder. Link to MSWord document 3e
3f*
Entropy as a statement of statistical probability. Link to MSWord document 3f*
3g*
Problems involving heat flow, work and heat engines. Link to MSWord document 3g*
Standard Set 4. Waves Link to PDF copy of entire Standard Set 4.
4a. Waves carry energy from place to
place. Link to MSWord document 4a
4b. Transverse and longitudinal waves. Link to MSWord document 4b
4c. Problems involving wavelength,
frequency and wave speed. Link to MSWord document 4c
4d. Sound is a longitudinal wave. Link to MSWord document 4d
4e. Electromagnetic waves. Link to MSWord document 4e
4f. Interference, diffraction, refraction,
Doppler effect, polarization. Link to MSWord document 4f
Standard Set 5. Electric and Magnetic Phenomena. Link
to PDF copy of entire Standard Set 5.
5a. Voltage and current in simple DC
electric circuits. Link to MSWord document 5a
5b. Using Ohm's Law. Link to MSWord document 5b
5c. Resistive elements and power
dissipation in DC circuits. Link to MSWord document 5c
5d. Properties and role of
transistors. Link to MSWord document 5d
5e. Electrostatic charge and electric
fields. Link to MSWord document 5e
5f. Sources and effects of magnetic
fields. Link to MSWord document 5f
5g. Currents in wires and coils produce
magnetic fields. Link to MSWord document 5g
5h. Changing magnetic fields produce
electric fields. Link to MSWord document 5h
5i. Plasma basics. Link to MSWord document 5i
5j*
The vector nature of magnetic fields.
Link to MSWord document 5j*
5k*
Calculating forces on charges in E fields. Link to MSWord document 5k*
5l*
Calculating E field from a point charge.
Link to MSWord document 5l*
5m*
Calculating E fields from several point charges. Link to MSWord document 5m*
5n* Forces on charge particles moving in B
fields. Link to MSWord document 5n*
5o* Energy calculations in Electric and
Gravitational fields. Link to MSWord document 5o*
This completes table of contents
to the links of our discussion of the California Physics Standards. The primary intent is to provide a
little more discussion of what a teacher might consider when preparing to teach
the standards. We welcome
suggestions from all teachers on how we can improve our presentations.
The following quote from the historian and
philosopher Ronald Aronson has been an inspiration to us in preparing this web
page:
"Knowing is a matter of humility. It entails allowing oneself to enter
into discussion, to submit what one says to the judgment of others, to be
proven wrong at times, to be seen as fallible, and thus to realize that any
particular piece of knowledge is always tentative, always subject to revision,
always demanding verification.
This in turn implies a commitment to a communicative process in which we
are always in dialogue with others, and in which they are always looking over
our shoulders and commenting on what we claim to be true."1
Please e-mail your comments
to: Bill
Layton:layton@physics.ucla.edu
1 Aronson, Ronald
The Reason
"Everything Happens for a Reason" The Humanist May-June 2009.