Support for long-term classroom planning and professional development. Information covering important topics for today's educators and parents. Each module in the course uses a thematic approach in which students learn about physics on a need to know basis as they explore issues in Sports, Medicine, Home, Transportation, and Communication. Each chapter presents students with a problem or task that they will complete using the knowledge they gain in the chapter. The first chapter, for example, challenges students to demonstrate to their parents that they know how to drive an automobile safely and should therefore be allowed to drive the family car to a Friday night rock concert.
Students work with their teacher to develop an assessment rubric for the projects.
Students must support their positions with the experimental results and research or information presented in the chapter. In additional scenarios, students create a working model of a safety system for protecting automobile, airplane, or bicycle passengers, and write a science fiction story about a trip to the Moon or locations beyond. The story should contain annotations that distinguish physics facts from fiction. Each activity is accompanied by brief readings and sample problems designed for grade 9 math and reading levels. The activities conclude with reflective readings that relate the activity to the larger challenge, homework problems, and extensions.