Exploring Physics

Curriculum based on inquiry and modeling: We believe that students learn by doing. Activities within the Exploring Physics Curriculum take students through a pre-lab discovery process, makes them design an experiment, and provides questions for a post-lab discussion so they can arrive at the concept by analyzing their own data. Students then apply the concept through practice problems, reading pages and further experimentation.

Hands-on labs, Reading Pages, Practice Problems, Student Summaries: coherently arranged to learn physics through a concept-building process, deep content background, and concept deployment. Student discussion, whiteboarding and Socratic dialogue are an integral part of this curriculum. Just-in-time definitions, problem-solving movies and animations. Use the power of the web access.

Resources for the teacher: Teacher pages for each activity includes learning objectives, a movie on the lab setup and analysis, help with conducting the activity using a modeling-based pedagogy, and a summary of the concepts addressed in the practice problems. But there’s more – each unit includes a story line, learning goals and objectives, big ideas, Next Generation Science Standards and Mathematics Common Core alignment for each activity, materials lists, and problem sets for assessment. Teachers may contact us by email if you have questions regarding these resources.

Pedagogy: Based on inquiry and modeling pedagogies, the curriculum is structured to allow students to construct their own learning with teacher guidance. Students learn physics concepts by exploring the concept with familiar materials, designing and then conducting an laboratory experiment, and then analyzing the data they obtain to learn the concept. Each mathematical formula is derived by the student by conducting an experiment. The process is guided by questions that students answer and discuss based on their observations. Thus each lab allows students to construct a mental model of the concept. They then deploy the concept through further activities or practice problems. Reading pages guide the student to more complex analysis. Practice problem sets can be used as assessments or practices.

Alignment to Standards: Next Generation Science Standards | Mathematics Common Core Standards for US users; Alignment to

System Requirements: Any device with website access. Works best on larger screen devices such as tablets and computers. May not be as easy to use on small devices such as phones.

Access to the app for your classroom: The app is available at no cost to all. Owing to the wide access, teacher resources will also be visible to students. However, problem solutions are not included in the web access.