The Project Physics w/ Astronomy

Prerequisite: The student has successfully completed Algebra I. The entire course uses algebra, so competence is presumed. Calculus for Everyone makes an excellent optional prerequisite or course pairing.

NOTE: This is a 2-year course. Each year can stand alone, though taking both years is recommended. The Project Physics II will be available for Fall 2023.

• The first year is worth 1.5 credits: 0.5 Physical Science, 0.5 Astronomy, and 0.5 Math.
• The second year is worth 1.5 credits: 1.0 Physical Science, and 0.5 Math.

The Project Physics I course is preparatory for the AP Physics 1 exam and likewise The Project Physics II course for the AP Physics 2 exam. Also, The Project Physics I course offers dual enrollment credit through Colorado Christian University, namely PHY 210-211-212, and tentatively, The Project Physics II course as well as PHY 310-311-312.

The Project Physics I-II is an integrated course in physics, astronomy, chemistry (atom, nucleus, Periodic Table), and applied mathematics (science processing skills) with six units spanning two years in high school. The Project Physics I includes astronomy as its middle unit (Quarters 2-3) between kinematics (Quarter 1) and mechanics (Quarter 4). The Project Physics II includes units on the atom and the nucleus, recognizing the latter as particles moving within the former, both finding order in the Periodic Table and involving radiation so building on light as the first unit.

The Project Physics Course text is superior to anything else I have encountered, rightly framing physics as man's humble exploration of the physical world rather than as a source of absolute truth. Designed for the college freshman pursuing a liberal arts degree, the text is beautifully written and a pleasure to read with its implicitly empirical approach, historical context, and academic rigor, and is supplemented by selections from each unit’s Reader (a collection of related articles and essays by well-known physicists). – Dr. Helmkamp

“A humanistically oriented physics course … useful and interesting to students with widely differing skills, backgrounds and career plans … designed to help students increase their knowledge of the physical world by concentrating on ideas that characterize physics as a science at its best rather than concentrating on isolated bits of information … [thus also] presenting the subject in historical and cultural perspective” (from Preface to The Project Physics Course Text 1970).

Here, all course content is normed to the Holy Scriptures by a teacher who acknowledges the historicity of the Genesis account as does the Lord Himself (Mark 10:6; Luke 3:38, 11:50-1, 17:26-7) and his apostles (Acts 17:24-7; Rom. 1:18-20; 5:12, 8:19-20; I Cor. 15: 21-2; 2 Pet. 3:5-6), albeit implicitly. That is, Genesis chapter one is God’s own account (penned by Moses) of His Creation Ex Nihilo in six natural days some 6000 years ago (Gen. 5, 11; Luke 3).

Course Objectives for The Project Physics I:

1. Concepts of Motion with "Equations and Vectors" in Quarter 1: Language of Motion; Free Fall – Galileo Describes Motion; Birth of Dynamics – Newton Explains Motion; Understanding Motion
2. Motion in the Heavens (astronomy) with "Celestial Coordinates" in Quarters 2-3: Where is the Earth? – The Greeks’ Answers; Does the Earth Move? – Work of Copernicus and Tycho; A New Universe Appears – Work of Kepler and Galileo; The Unity of Earth and Sky – Work of Newton; Greater and Lesser Lights (Lisle); New Findings in the Heavens – Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (Unit B); Stargazing (Lisle); Hubble and Beyond*
3. Triumph of Mechanics with "Waves" in Quarter 4: Conservation of Mass and Momentum, Energy; The Kinetic Theory of Gases; Waves

*Significant scientific advances since 1970 will be noted here and in context, chiefly for astronomy.

Texts:

• The Project Physics Course materials (Holt, Rinehart and Winston: 1970).
  • Project Physics Collection. Primary student resources are the Text and Handbook and the Reader for Units 1-3.
• The Stargazer’s Guide to the Night Sky by Dr. Jason Lisle (Master Books: 2012).