Welcome to the first full week of what will surely be a great school year! Please be sure to subscribe to this blog by entering your email address on the right side of this page and clicking “Subscribe.” (You will then need to activate the subscription by clicking the link sent to you in an email message.)

This Week in AP Physics
Please be sure to bring in the course policy/procedure acknowledgement page by Friday. (You only need to bring in the last page of the packet.) On Monday we will begin Unit 1: Newtonian Mechanics – Motion in One Dimension. You will do homeworks 1 & 2 when assigned. We will also get our hands on some lab equipment this week as we perform graphical analysis of uniform and non-uniform motion in our first experiment. Expect a quiz by the end of the week.

This Week in Physics
Please go to our main class webpage and familiarize yourself with the resources there. In particular, please read the Physics Course Policies and Procedures document and then print and sign the last page. This signed page is due on Friday. If you are in sixth period, you will take the math skills assessment on Monday, so please bring a calculator and a #2 pencil. (Tenth period, you’ve already done the math skills assessment, so you are all set.) By Monday please read my Introduction page. It is important that you read this page so that you understand what you have to do to be successful using our unique flipped classroom approach. After reading the Introduction page, please take notes on Motion in One Dimension Podcast 1 – Distance v. Displacement and Motion in One Dimension Podcast 2 – Displacement & Direction. We will work through that material and do some practice problems followed by a quiz as announced. Next please take notes on Motion in One Dimension Podcast 3 – Speed vs. Velocity and Motion in One Dimension Podcast 4 – Slope of Position vs. Time Equals Velocity when I assign them. After going over these podcasts we’ll get our hands on some lab equipment by performing our first experiment, the Analysis of Uniform Motion Lab.
P.S. My blog entries for this class won’t usually be this long. 🙂

This Week in Astronomy
Please go to our main class webpage and read the course policies and procedures document. Please print and sign the last page and turn it in by Friday. This is a fun week because we’ll spend a lot of time in the planetarium learning how to find stars and constellations. Our focus is Unit 1: The Celestial Sphere. Celestial Sphere Podcast 1 – Star Mapping and Celestial Sphere Podcast 2 – Celestial Equator and Celestial North Pole. You don’t have to watch these podcasts before class, but they will help you if you are confused, absent, or wish to review.

Cool Science of the Week
Lizards regrowing their tails is pretty cool stuff, right? It’d be awesome if we knew how they do it so that we can maybe do it too, right? Well, scientists are closer than ever to the answer. Check out this article about how geneticists are cracking the lizard-tail-regrowing-awesomeness code.