The Physics Classroom's Conceptual Physics Course Package

The Physics Classroom has been a long-time proponent of teaching concepts-first Physics. We're not afraid of math. We're just confident that the math of Physics is not the primary obstacle to student understanding and progress. Our perspective is that the biggest obstacle is students' ability to reason conceptually. For many students, once the concepts are understood, the mathematics seems to fall into place. Thus, we have had a long-time interest in the idea of Conceptual Physics.

Over the past couple of decades, "Conceptual Physics" has become a popular course name. This seems to us to be the result of the influence of Paul Hewitt's amazing book that goes by the same name. From our interaction with teachers, there seems to be a strong trend towards starting up a new course or a new level of Physics that is "conceptual in nature." The course may not have the name "Conceptual Physics" but it is referred to as a course that won't have any math (or much math) or will have only concepts. Whatever you wish to call such a course, we believe we have a contribution to make to the cause. And that is what this section of our website is all about. 

Inspired by the growing trend of this new style of Physics course, we have produced what we believe to be an invaluable resource - the Conceptual Physics Course Package. This is a downloadable package of content that can be purchased by teachers for a fair price. The package consists of a large quantity of Think Sheets, Answer Keys, Student Lab Sheets, Teacher Lab Guides with Answer Keys, Image Banks, and a large collection of BONUS items. It is a heavily packed package of resources that makes teaching a conceptual-based Physics course easy work (at least as easy as it can be). We provide source documents (Microsoft Word), PDFs, images (mostly .png), and some slide decks in Microsoft PowerPoint format as BONUS items. It's all ready-to-use. It's all customizable. It can be used as a stand-alone resource or used in coordination with the Tutorials, videos, simulations, and interactive content on our website.

In addition to this large download, there is also a set of publicly available Lesson Plans available on our website that depend upon these resource items. Those Lesson Plans reference the Think Sheets and Labs found in the Course Package. They also reference the Tutorials (written and video), the Simulations and student activity sheets, the Concept Builders and MInds On Physics missions that are present on our website. As mentioned, you can use this Conceptual Physics Course Package with our website, combine it with our website and resources found elsewhere, or use it entirely by itself. If you're looking for a Textbook with a solid curriculum, a collection of web-based activities, and a tracking system that stores student progress, then we have you covered on all bases. If you're just looking for a curriculum that you can use inside the walls of your classroom, then we have those bases covered as well.

If you are preparing to teach a conceptual-styled Physics course, you would be wise to investigate what we have to offer (at the very minimum). We wouldn't be that excited about it if we didn't think it had value. And we wouldn't have started a new section of a website for this tool if we didn't think it was a tool that could impact numerous classrooms. If you're thinking "Nay. I'd rather buy a package from a real teacher on Teachers Pay Teachers", we'd suggest you slow down and think this through. We are teachers (the kind that have spent a career in front of flesh-and-blood teenagers). And we don't charge Teachers Pay Teachers prices.

Before you draw the conclusion that The Physics Classroom is promoting a non-mathematical Physics course (we aren't), please read more about our approach to teaching Physics to those with limited math skills. We believe our approach is unique. And we believe that teachers can use our curriculum and easily amp up the mathematics or soften it as needed. This is a package that is easily customized to your students. Once you purchase the package, you become the boss of it. We've done all that we can to make this package customizable for any classroom. You can make the package what you need to make it. Learn more about ...

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