Physics Course Overview

Physics is intended to expose students to the design and order in the world that God has created. In preceding years,
students should have developed a basic understanding of the macroscopic and microscopic world of forces, motion,
waves, light, and electricity. The physics course will expand upon that prior knowledge and further develop both. The
curriculum will also seek to teach the symbolic and mathematical world of formulas and symbols used in physics. The
major concepts covered are kinematics, forces and motion, work and energy, sound and light waves, electricity and
magnetism, and nuclear physics.

Students at this level should show development in their ability and understanding of scientific inquiry. The units
contain experiments and projects that seek to develop a deeper conceptual meaning for the student and actively
engage the student. The continued exposure of science concepts and scientific inquiry will serve to improve the
student’s skill and understanding.
Physics should be preceded by Algebra I and II courses and geometry.

• Kinematics: Students will learn to use scalars and vectors to visualize and calculate concepts of motion.
• Dynamics: Students will articulate Newton’s and Kepler’s laws of motion.
• Work and Energy: Students will demonstrate an understanding of how energy is transferred and changed
from one form to another.
• Introduction to Waves: Students will describe wave characteristics such as amplitude, velocity, wavelength,
and frequency.
• Light: Students will describe phenomena that characterize light as a wave and phenomena that characterize it
as a particle.
• Static Electricity: Students will understand that all electric charges produce an electric field around them
• Electric Currents: Students will apply and solve problems using Ohm’s Law and Watt’s Law for both series
and parallel circuits.
• Magnetism: Students will describe the relationship between magnetism and electricity.
• Atomic and Nuclear Physics: Students will acquire a general understanding of atomic theory, including fusion
and fission.