Unit 1: Kinematics
Note: The quizzes and test for this unit are available in the workflow menu for registered users only. Sign up here for access to all the resources.



     The first unit in this course will provide a foundation for the study of motion, one of the most important topics in physics. When you are ready (notebook and pen in hand) click the "Presentation: Introduction to Physics 1" button on the left menu for the first activity. Work your way through each item slowly and deliberately. Do not skip any activity, as information you need to know is found in each item. The activities build on each other. The unit review prior to the test is VERY IMPORTANT, especially when preparing for the unit test AND for the AP* Physics 1 exam at the end of the year. Please do not skim over the review as it contains a list of objectives that the College Board has identified as the ONLY objectives from which exam questions are derived.  Oh, and don't forget to have fun!

Suggested timeframe: 5 weeks
Note: If a student wants to take Physics 2 in the same school year, the timeframe should be adjusted to be about two-thirds as long.

     IMPORTANT: As you will often hear in the presentations, in order to do well in this course you must practice using the concepts in a wide variety of ways to truly internalize them. One of the ways to do that is to practice solving problems and answering conceptual questions that one easily finds in a physics textbook. The time needed to do this practice is built into the suggested timeframe that you will see at the start of each new unit. Moving through the material too quickly, and not spending time investigating the ideas from many persectives, may be detrimental to long-term retention. That said, every individual student can determine for themselves when mastery of a concept occurs, and is aided in this effort by the assessments (quizzes and tests) that are a part of the workflow in each unit. To see information about obtaining a companion book online, click here. 

Big Ideas :
•Physical systems (that may have internal structure) and objects (that do not have internal structure) can be characterized by certain properties.
•Interactions (between objects in systems or between systems themselves) can be explained using an idea called a field.
•The concept of force can be used to describe the interactions between objects in systems or between systems themselves.