1. Welcome to College Physics
This course will focus on developing skills that will help you be successful in a variety of college programs. These skills include collaboration, communication and problem-solving.
There are six units.

2. 1) Investigation Skills
measurement, calculation, graphing, controlling variables, design, error analysis

3. position time velocity acceleration force
2) Motion
position
time
velocity
acceleration
force

4. 3) Mechanical Systems
gears
levers
pulleys

5. kinetic, potential, chemical, conservation, efficiency
4) Energy Transformations
kinetic, potential, chemical, conservation, efficiency

6. pressure, volume, area, force, flow rate
5) Hydraulics and Pneumatics
pressure, volume, area, force, flow rate

7. circuits, motors, generators, electromagnets
6) Electricity and Magnetism
circuits, motors, generators, electromagnets

8. Let’s Do Some Physics
Your group has a set of 6 plastic cups. Your challenge is to stack them into a pyramid. You may not touch the cups directly. You will use an elastic band with four strings attached. You may only touch the strings at the end.
The following activities are to give them a flavour of the course. Many will be used to science classes where you read textbooks and take notes and come late and skip many classes. They need to be involved and challenged but not threatened.

9. Hands-On Group Work
In this course you will be spending most of your time working with classmates to solve problems together.

10. Communication
You will develop skills in communicating by speaking, listening, drawing and writing.
On the white board draw a diagram to show
how your group had to pull on the elastics.
Add some words in point form to make
the explanation really clear.

11. A Second Physics Problem
Observe the Mystery Tube.
How are the ropes connected inside?
Draw your ideas on the whiteboard.
You can find instructions for this by Googling Perimeter institute Black Box. Give students string and toilet paper tubes and possibly rings for inside and beads or nuts to make stoppers on the outside.

12. Making a Model Use the provided materials to make
a tube that has the same behaviour.
You can find instructions for this by Googling Perimeter institute Black Box. Give students string and toilet paper tubes and possibly rings for inside and beads or nuts to make stoppers on the outside.

13. Comparing Solutions Look at your classmates’ solutions.
Is there more than one way to do this?
You can find instructions for this by Googling Perimeter institute Black Box. Give students string and toilet paper tubes and possibly rings for inside and beads or nuts to make stoppers on the outside.

14. A Third Physics Problem
You have a set of Lego blocks
Use these to build a
structure that reaches the farthest
horizontal distance from the table edge.
You have 5 minutes to discuss and draw your ideas. Then you have 5 minutes to build.
There are two basic solutions. Most will try to balance the Lego sticking out with the Lego that is on the table. (You could introduce the idea of torque or levers.) One group may recognize that the Lego blocks can be connected so that they clamp around the table edge. Both solutions require that the structure be rigid and not sag.
If you don’t have Lego, you can provide popsicle sticks and clothespins/binderclips or paper and tape.

15. Analysing Solutions Look at the solutions of other groups.
Can you use some of their ideas to reach even further?