General Physics

2017-2018
10th Grade
Teacher: Kasia Ciolek
Contact: (989) 964-8740
Rationale
Everything movesatoms and molecules; jumping dolphins, all living things and parts of living things;
mountains and clouds; stars, planets, galaxies, and even the universe itself. Understanding motion,
therefore, is important in all areas of science. Do objects start moving spontaneously, or is a force
required to make them move? Do they stop moving on their own, or is a force required to make them
stop? How do objects interact through forces? How does friction operate? By answering questions like
these, we can begin to understand many types of motionfrom the blowing wind, to your car on a
freeway, to the path of a crawling bug. This general physics course begins by exploring the ways in
which we can answer these questions by investigating the laws of force and motion. Throughout this
class we will begin by exploring static equilibrium as a way to focus on forces before studying velocity
and acceleration. After covering simple forces we will cover kinematics in preparation for Newtonian
laws of motion. Next the course will explore electricity and magnetism. The course will conclude with
an overview of sound and light waves.

Overview
Students will be evaluated on a mastery-based scale. Because of this, students will be assessed over the
course of a term and their final grade will reflect how the student has progressed over the term. All
assessments over the course of the term will be taken into account when determining the student's final
grade. Assessments will vary from tests, to labs, to papers, to presentations, as well as other projects so
that a wide range of skills and practices will be developed.

Rather than solely assessing a student's understanding of content, students will have to demonstrate
proficiency in overarching essential practices. The essential practices will be assessed multiple times
during the term as students explore them further. The final grade at the end of the term will based on
demonstration of ability regarding the essential practices of the course.
To complete and receive credit for each trimester, students must complete all essential assignments and
show proficiency in all of the essential competencies. The essential competencies are drawn from the
Next Generation Science standards (NGSS) Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) and Cross Cutting
Concepts (CCC).

Course Essential Competencies:

During this trimester students will be expected to reach proficiency in the following course
competencies. Proficiency will be shown by repeatedly demonstrating proficiency on multiple
assessments during the trimester. Proficiency in ALL of the following competencies are required to
pass this class.

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Designing- Students can define problems and propose solutions to these problems that are testable and
allow for continued refinement. Students can design solutions that are supported by multiple and
independent student-generated sources of evidence consistent with scientific ideas, principles, and
theories.

Reasoning- Student begin to think quantitatively through measuring the properties of the world and
then analyzing this data to identify patterns using mathematical functions. Student can use algebraic
thinking and analysis, a range of linear and nonlinear functions including trigonometric functions,
exponentials and logarithms, and computational tools for statistical analysis to analyze, represent, and
model data. Simple computational simulations are created and used based on mathematical models of
basic assumptions.

Systems and System Models- Students can investigate or analyze a system by defining its boundaries
and initial conditions, as well as its inputs and outputs. Student uses models (e.g., physical,
mathematical, computer models) to simulate the flow of energy, matter, and interactions within and
between systems at different scales. Student uses models and simulations to predict the behavior of a
system, and recognize that these predictions have limited precision and reliability due to the
assumptions and approximations inherent in the models. Student designs systems to do specific tasks.

Cause & Effect- Student understands that empirical evidence is required to differentiate between cause
and correlation and to make claims about specific causes and effects. Student uses cause and effect
relationships to explain and predict behaviors in complex natural and designed systems. Student can
propose causal relationships by examining what is known about smaller scale mechanisms within the
system. Student can recognize changes in systems may have various causes that may not have equal
effects.

Matter & Energy- Student demonstrates an understanding that the total amount of energy and matter
in closed systems is conserved. Student can describe changes of energy and matter in a system in terms
of energy and matter flows into, out of, and within that system. Student demonstrates an understanding
that energy cannot be created or destroyed. Student can track the movement of energy between one
place and another place, between objects and/or fields, or between systems. Student shows how energy
drives the cycling of matter within and between systems. Student demonstrates how In nuclear
processes, atoms are not conserved, but the total number of protons plus neutrons is conserved.

Expectations and Rules

Student Responsibilities
Classroom Policies:
Students will follow the Falcon Code (Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe) at all times- in the
classroom, in the hallway, one the college campus, ect.

Computers are seen as a privilege, not a right. If students are misusing their laptops (games,
inappropriate websites, music during instruction, ect.) then they will not be permitted to use laptops in
class.

Students are expected to use the bathroom and get a drink if necessary during the passing period.
Bathroom breaks are permitted, but should be kept to a minimum and only used if it is an emergency.

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Students must sign in and out of class with the departure and return times and carry a hall pass when
traveling in the hallways.

Our classroom will be used as a science lab. Therefore No Food or Drinks will be brought into the
classroom by students. Students will not be allowed to leave class to eat or drink during class time. Each
lab group will clean their lab station daily before leaving the lab.

Classroom Expectations:
Warm Up- I will enter class quietly and immediately begin my warm up so that I can practice my
mathematical and computational thinking skills and have the ability to effectively obtain, evaluate, and
communicate information as a college student.

Note Taking- I will attentively take detailed notes in class and maintain a studious environment by
raising my hand to ask and answer questions so that a conducive learning environment is created.

Class Discussion- I will listen attentively and contribute to class discussions by asking questions and
sharing my experiences and viewpoint so that my voice is heard and my needs met in class.

Group Work- I will participate fully in my group by seeking and providing help to my coworkers so that I
will be prepared to work as a contributing team member in my future educational endeavors and
profession.

Lab Work- I will practice my skills as a citizen scientist by preparing for lab, conducting experiments
safely, contributing my fair share of the lab work, and cleaning up after myself so that I can nurture a
sense of wonder of the world.

Home Work- I will stay on task throughout class and accomplish all assignments with thoroughness and
exactness so that I can demonstrate my knowledge.

Faculty Responsibilities:
During this trimester students will be expected to reach proficiency in the all of the course
competencies. Proficiency will be shown by repeatedly demonstrating proficiency on multiple
assessments during the trimester. Proficiency in ALL competencies is required to pass the course.
Evaluations and feedback will be provided on a weekly basis and students are encouraged to revise their
work for resubmission.

Discipline Policy
If a student is not following the Falcon Code (Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe) and/or the above
policies, then the following actions will be taken:

1st Offense: ClassDojo, verbal warning from teacher, and/or one-on-one conversation between teacher
and student. (This step may be skipped for serious offences.)

2nd Offense: Student will fill out Reflection Sheet or discuss the rule infraction with me individually.
Once this process has been followed, details will be recorded in the student's file in PoweSchool. After a
second offense parents/guardians will most likely may be contacted by me. The incident will be noted in
ClassDojo. Failure to fully reflect on on the incident will result in the same consequences as below.

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3rd Offense: If the student continues to repeat an offense, OR for more serious offenses (fighting,
extremely disruptive behavior, extreme disrespect, etc.), then student will be sent to office to speak
with JPEC President or Dean to determine a consequence for behavior. At this point, suspension from
school is likely.

Cell Phone Policy

Students are free to check their cell phones for messages during passing periods, lunch break, and other
breaks. Cell phones are not allowed to be out in our classroom unless specified by the teacher. If we do
use our phones for a learning activity, students are to stay on task and refrain from checking email,
Facebook, etc. Any problems regarding cell phone use in class will be handled according to the policy
described in the JPEC student handbook.
Homework
Students will be given time to work on assignments in class, however, if a student does not finish an
assignment in class before the due date, then he/she needs to make a plan to finish the assignment
outside of class, whether that is at home or during free time/study hall during the school day.
Extra Materials
The majority of our work in class will be done on laptops. Students are expected to charge their laptops
each night and to come to school with a fully charged laptop. If your laptop is not functioning, you are
expected to obtain a replacement laptop from the office, share a laptop with a classmate, or use the
classroom computer. Not having a laptop is not an acceptable excuse.

While the vast majority of classwork will be done on the computer, all note taking in class will be done
by hand with pencil/pen and paper. A large amount of academic research shows that cognitive
understanding and retention is vastly improved through such methodologies. Students are expected to
bring paper and writing material to class daily.
Academic Help
Students are encouraged to seek help with class material if they are struggling. If you would like
additional help with anything we are working on in class, please see or email me to set up an
appointment to meet before or after school. Alternately, if you have a quick question about course
material, please feel free to email me and I will endeavor to respond within 24 hours.
Attendance Policy
Students who miss class are still responsible for the material that they missed while they were gone.
Furthermore, they are encouraged to complete their missing work as soon as possible, as often times
progression to the next lesson/activity is dependent on success in previous lessons. Students should first
check on Moodle to see if there are any presentations, assignments, or other resources that need to be
reviewed and/or completed. Next, students should check in with their teacher as soon as possible (in
person or via email) to see if there were any in-class activities that are not a part of Moodle.

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Grading Procedures
Traditional Grade Scale JPEC Mastery Point Scale JPEC Competency Evaluation

A+ 4.0 Advanced

A 3.5-3.9 Mastery

B 3.0-3.5 Proficient

C 2.0-2.9 Partial Demonstration

D 1.0-1.9 Minimal Demonstration

Schedule of Topic
Unit Topic Learning Objectives/NGSS Standards
Unit 1: Laws of Force and Engaging Force and Motion DCIs
Motion PS2.A: Forces and Motion
Motion, Inertia, and Net Force PS2.B: Types of Interactions
Equilibrium, Support Force, and Friction PS2.C: Stability and Instability in Physical Systems
Speed, Velocity, and Acceleration Practices
Newtons Laws of Motion The Science and Engineering practices and
Crosscutting Concepts that are highlighted include
those that have been selected as the competencies
Vectors and Projectiles for this course: Designing, Reasoning, Systems and
System Models, Cause & Effect, and Matter and
Energy.
Unit 2: Momentum & Engaging Momentum & Energy DCIs
Energy PS3.A: Definitions of Energy
Impulse-Momentum Relationship and Conservation PS3.B: Conservation of Energy and Energy Transfer
of Momentum
Practices
Energy and Power
The Science and Engineering practices and
Potential and Kinetic Energy Crosscutting Concepts that are highlighted include
The Work-Energy Theorem those that have been selected as the competencies
for this course: Designing, Reasoning, Systems and
Conservation of Energy and Machines System Models, Cause & Effect, and Matter and
Energy.
Unit 3: Electricity & Engaging Electricity & Magnetism DCIs
Magnetism PS3.C: Relationships Between Energy and Forces
Electrical Force and Charge and Coulombs Law PS4.A: Wave Properties
Electric Field and Electric Potential PS4.B: Electromagnetic Radiation
Conductors, Insulators, and Voltage Sources Practices
Electric Current, Electrical Resistance, and Ohms The Science and Engineering practices and
Law Crosscutting Concepts that are highlighted include
Electric Circuits and Electric Power those that have been selected as the competencies
for this course: Designing, Reasoning, Systems and
Magnetic Force, Magnetic Fields, and System Models, Cause & Effect, and Matter and
Electromagnetic Induction Energy.

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Unit 4: Sound & LIght Engaging Sound & Light Waves
Waves
Vibrations, Waves, and Wave Motion
Transverse and Longitudinal Waves
The Nature of Sound and Resonance
The Nature of Light and Reflection
Transparent Materials, Opaque Materials, and Color
Refraction, Diffraction, and Interference
The Doppler Effect and the Wave-Particle Duality
DCIs
PS3.C: Relationships Between Energy and Forces
PS4.A: Wave Properties
PS4.B: Electromagnetic Radiation
Practices
The Science and Engineering practices and
Crosscutting Concepts that are highlighted include
those that have been selected as the competencies
for this course: Designing, Reasoning, Systems and
System Models, Cause & Effect, and Matter and
Energy.

Storyline of Topics from the NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education
"5 Dimension 3: Disciplinary Core Ideas - Physical Sciences." National Research Council. 2012.
A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13165.

Unit 1 covers the Laws of Force and Motion. Newtons second law accurately predicts
changes in the motion of macroscopic objects, but it requires revision for subatomic scales or for
speeds close to the speed of light. Momentum is defined for a particular frame of reference; it is
the mass times the velocity of the object. In any system, total momentum is always conserved. If
a system interacts with objects outside itself, the total momentum of the system can change;
however, any such change is balanced by changes in the momentum of objects outside the
system. Newtons law of universal gravitation and Coulombs law provide the mathematical
models to describe and predict the effects of gravitational and electrostatic forces between
distant objects.
Forces at a distance are explained by fields permeating space that can transfer energy through
space. Magnets or changing electric fields cause magnetic fields; electric charges or changing
magnetic fields cause electric fields. Attraction and repulsion between electric charges at the
atomic scale explain the structure, properties, and transformations of matter, as well as the
contact forces between material objects. The strong and weak nuclear interactions are important
inside atomic nucleifor example, they determine the patterns of which nuclear isotopes are
stable and what kind of decays occur for unstable ones. Systems often change in predictable
ways; understanding the forces that drive the transformations and cycles within a system, as
well as the forces imposed on the system from the outside, helps predict its behavior under a
variety of conditions.
When a system has a great number of component pieces, one may not be able to predict much
about its precise future. For such systems (e.g., with very many colliding molecules), one can
often predict average but not detailed properties and behaviors (e.g., average temperature,
motion, and rates of chemical change but not the trajectories or other changes of particular
molecules). Systems may evolve in unpredictable ways when the outcome depends sensitively
on the starting condition and the starting condition cannot be specified precisely enough to
distinguish between different possible outcomes.

Unit 2 covers momentum and energy. Energy is a quantitative property of a system that
depends on the motion and interactions of matter and radiation within that system. That there is
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a single quantity called energy is due to the fact that a systems total energy is conserved, even
as, within the system, energy is continually transferred from one object to another and between
its various possible forms. At the macroscopic scale, energy manifests itself in multiple ways,
such as in motion, sound, light, and thermal energy. Mechanical energy generally refers to
some combination of motion and stored energy in an operating machine. Chemical energy
generally is used to mean the energy that can be released or stored in chemical processes, and
electrical energy may mean energy stored in a battery or energy transmitted by electric
currents. Historically, different units and names were used for the energy present in these
different phenomena, and it took some time before the relationships between them were
recognized. These relationships are better understood at the microscopic scale, at which all of
the different manifestations of energy can be modeled as either motions of particles or energy
stored in fields (which mediate interactions between particles). This last concept includes
radiation, a phenomenon in which energy stored in fields moves across space. Conservation of
energy means that the total change of energy in any system is always equal to the total energy
transferred into or out of the system. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be
transported from one place to another and transferred between systems.
Mathematical expressions, which quantify how the stored energy in a system depends on its
configuration (e.g., relative positions of charged particles, compression of a spring) and how
kinetic energy depends on mass and speed, allow the concept of conservation of energy to be
used to predict and describe system behavior. The availability of energy limits what can occur in
any system.
Uncontrolled systems always evolve toward more stable statesthat is, toward more uniform
energy distribution (e.g., water flows downhill, objects hotter than their surrounding environment
cool down). Any object or system that can degrade with no added energy is unstable. Eventually
it will do so, but if the energy releases throughout the transition are small, the process duration
can be very long (e.g., long-lived radioactive isotopes).

Unit 3 covers electricity and magnetism and Unit 4 covers sound and light waves. Force
fields (gravitational, electric, and magnetic) contain energy and can transmit energy across
space from one object to another.
When two objects interacting through a force field change relative position, the energy stored in
the force field is changed. Each force between the two interacting objects acts in the direction
such that motion in that direction would reduce the energy in the force field between the objects.
However, prior motion and other forces also affect the actual direction of motion. The
wavelength and frequency of a wave are related to one another by the speed of travel of the
wave, which depends on the type of wave and the medium through which it is passing. The
reflection, refraction, and transmission of waves at an interface between two media can be
modeled on the basis of these properties.
Combining waves of different frequencies can make a wide variety of patterns and thereby
encode and transmit information. Information can be digitized (e.g., a picture stored as the
values of an array of pixels); in this form, it can be stored reliably in computer memory and sent
over long distances as a series of wave pulses. Resonance is a phenomenon in which waves
add up in phase in a structure, growing in amplitude due to energy input near the natural
vibration frequency. Structures have particular frequencies at which they resonate. This
phenomenon (e.g., waves in a stretched string, vibrating air in a pipe) is used in speech and in
the design of all musical instruments. Electromagnetic radiation (e.g., radio, microwaves, light)
can be modeled as a wave of changing electric and magnetic fields or as particles called

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photons. The wave model is useful for explaining many features of electromagnetic radiation,
and the particle model explains other features. Quantum theory relates the two models.
(Boundary: Quantum theory is not explained further at this grade level.)
Because a wave is not much disturbed by objects that are small compared with its wavelength,
visible light cannot be used to see such objects as individual atoms. All electromagnetic
radiation travels through a vacuum at the same speed, called the speed of light. Its speed in any
other given medium depends on its wavelength and the properties of that medium.
When light or longer wavelength electromagnetic radiation is absorbed in matter, it is generally
converted into thermal energy (heat). Shorter wavelength electromagnetic radiation (ultraviolet,
X-rays, gamma rays) can ionize atoms and cause damage to living cells. Photovoltaic materials
emit electrons when they absorb light of a high-enough frequency.
Atoms of each element emit and absorb characteristic frequencies of light, and nuclear
transitions have distinctive gamma ray wavelengths. These characteristics allow identification of
the presence of an element, even in microscopic quantities.

Academic Integrity
Each student in this course is expected to abide by the Cornell College Code of Academic Integrity. Any
work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit will be the student's own work. Academic
integrity encompasses the core values and basic principles of honesty and responsibility that guide our
practices as scholars, researchers, and students at JPEC. You are encouraged to study together and to
discuss information and concepts covered in lecture and the sections with other students. You can give
"consulting" help to or receive "consulting" help from such students. However, this permissible
cooperation should never involve one student having possession of a copy of all or part of work done by
someone else, in the form of an e-mail, an e-mail attachment file, a diskette, or a hard copy.
Plagiarism is the act, intentional or unintentional, of using other peoples words or ideas as your own. All
students at JPEC are expected to write their own papers and to provide full and accurate citations for
any specific ideas or languagewords, phrases, sentencesthat you take from outside sources,
including the internet. Refer to the district student handbook for JPECs policy on Academic Dishonesty.
Following the guidelines of JPEC policy, any act of academic dishonesty in this class will be reported to
the department and to the Dean of Students and/or Provosts office and may result in receiving an
incomplete on the assignment, retention in the course, and even suspension or expulsion from the
district, depending upon the severity of the violation. Academic integrity is also broken when a student
is found to be cheating, fabricating or falsifying information or sources, improper collaboration, and
submitting the same paper for different classes without permission.

Disability Statement
Any student who feels he/she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability, or has a
documented Individual Education Plan should contact me privately to discuss your specific needs. In
compliance with the JPEC policy and equal access laws, I am available to discuss appropriate academic
accommodations that may be required for students with disabilities. At college, requests for academic
accommodations are to be made during the first three weeks of the semester, except for unusual
circumstances, so arrangements can be made. Dual enrolled students are encouraged to register with
Student Disability Services to verify their eligibility for appropriate accommodations in their college

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courses.