I hope that you enjoy taking this course as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Pedagogy of the Text

This text contains 16 modules. Each module should take you about 2 weeks to complete, as long as you devote 45 minutes to one hour of every school day to studying physics. At this pace, you will complete the course in 32 weeks. Since most people have school years which are longer than 32 weeks, there is some built-in "flex time." You should not rush through a module just to make sure that you complete it in 2 weeks. Set that as a goal, but be flexible. Some of the modules might come harder to you than others. On those modules, take more time on the subject matter.

To help you guide your study, there are several student exercises which you should complete.

The "on your own" problems should be solved as you read the text. The act of working out these problems will cement in your mind the concepts you are trying to learn. Complete solutions to these problems appear at the end of the module. Once you have solved an "on your own" problem, turn to the back of the module and check your work. If you did not get the correct answer, study the solution to learn why.

The review questions are conceptual in nature and should be answered after you have completed the entire module. They will help you recall the important concepts from the reading.

The practice problems should be solved after the module has been completed, allowing you to review the important quantitative skills from the module.

Your teacher/parent has the solutions to the review questions and practice problems.

Any information that you must memorize is centered in the text and put in boldface type. In addition, all definitions presented in the text need to be memorized. Words that appear in bold-face type (centered or not) in the text are important terms that you should know. Finally, if any student exercise requires the use of a formula or skill, you must have that memorized for the test.

Experiments

The experiments in this course are designed to be done as you are reading the text. I recommend that you keep a notebook of these experiments. This notebook serves two purposes. First, as you write about the experiment in the notebook, you will be forced to think through all of the concepts that were explored in the experiment. This will help you cement them into your mind.

Second, certain colleges might actually ask for some evidence that you did, indeed, have a laboratory component to your physics course. The notebook will not only provide such evidence but will also show the college administrator the quality of your physics instruction. I recommend that you perform your experiments in the following way:

When you get to the experiment during the reading, read through the experiment in its entirety. This will allow you to gain a quick understanding of what you are to do.

Once you have read the experiment, start a new page in your laboratory notebook. The first page should be used to write down all of the data taken during the experiment and perform any calculation explained in the experiment.

When you have finished the experiment, write a brief report in your notebook, right after the page where the data and calculations were written. The report should be a brief discussion of what was done and what was learned. You should not write a step-by-step procedure. Instead, write a brief summary that will allow someone who has never read the text to understand what you did and what you learned.

OBSERVE COMMON SENSE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
The experiments are no more dangerous than most normal, household activity. Chemicals should never be ingested: hot beakers and flames should be regarded with care: and OSHA recommends that all physics experiments be performed while wearing some sort of eye protection such as safety glasses or goggles.