Pre-High School Physics

This physics course on mechanics is designed to help students in grades 6-8 prepare and reach a head start on their high school physics classes. Over 10 lessons, the course will go over the fundamental principles of mechanics, with concepts like displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, and energy. Students will do a few worksheet practice problems for homework and review during class for each unit.

Prerequisite:
Algebra 1, basic trigonometry
Materials:
Conceptual Physics by Paul G. Hewitt
Units:
Mechanics
Constant Velocity
Constant Acceleration
Newton’s Laws
Projectile Motion
Energy
Momentum and Impulse
Circular Motion
Rotational Equilibrium
Rotational Motion
Universal Gravitation

High School Physics

This is a 1st year general physics course in high school and will include topics of kinematics, force & motion, energy, momentum, heat, thermodynamics, light, sound, electricity, magnetism, electromagnetism, and modern physics concepts.
Course Information: The course is an algebra- based physics and use of math is required. The student must have pencils or pens, a scientific calculator, and a note book. This course is going to cover the topics
1_ Force and Motion
2_Fundamental Forces
3_Kepler’s Laws
4_Energy
5_Physics of the Geosphere
6_Wave Properties

7_ Electromagnetic Radiation

8_Electricity and Magnetism

PhysicsBowl Prep

Who is eligible to take this course?
High school students who have taken at least a year of High-school Physics or AP Physics or an equivalent course, including mechanics, thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, and possibly optics. Students should have had at least a year of algebra, geometry, and trigonometry as well. Some science lab experience will be helpful.
What does this course do?
The goal of this course is to help students get ready for the PhysicsBowl competition, to be held every year in March and April. The class will combine quick reviews of major physics concepts / principals and dissections of real problems in the PhysicsBowl exams from previous years.

Week 1  Introduction and Kinematics 

Week 2 Forces and Newton's Laws of Motion 

Week 3 Kepler’s Laws and Gravitation 

Week 4    Work, Energy, Momentum and Collisions 

Week 5  Rotation and Torque 

Week 6     Oscillations and Waves 

Week 7    Thermodynamics 

Week 8      Electricity and Magnetism 

Week 9      Optics  

Week 10     Modern Physics 

Teacher Cao holds a Ph.D. in Physics and a Master’s degree in Statistics from the U.S. Before that, he earned a Master’s degree in Physics. As one of the early contributors to the AP Physics and Mathematics program at New Oriental School, Teacher Cao played a key role in developing a comprehensive curriculum and training new teachers. Over the years, he has dedicated himself to exploring the mysteries of physics and sharing this knowledge with students through teaching. His teaching philosophy focuses on making abstract concepts simple, engaging, and appealing, sparking students' curiosity and confidence. With fifteen years of teaching experience, his students consistently achieve outstanding results in the AP Physics exams, with extremely high satisfaction rates.

Dr. Cai graduated from Peking University and later received his Ph.D. in astrophysics from Indiana University in 2006. He has many years of experience teaching undergraduate physics courses at universities as well as high school AP Physics classes. Since 2017, he has been teaching high-school physics at a Chinese school in the Boston suburbs.