The Project Physics w/ Astronomy

Prerequisite: The student has successfully completed Algebra I plus one more year of higher mathematics whether Geometry, Algebra II, or Calculus for Everyone.

NOTE: While this is a 2-year course, the first year stands alone as an excellent and rigorous high school Physics I course with a dual enrollment option for college credit. Tentatively, the Project Physics II would be available in fall 2024 as the sequel to The Project Physics I (or most any first year high school physics course) with additional dual enrollment option.

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

The Project Physics w/ Astronomy course is preparatory for the AP Physics 1 exam and likewise The Project Physics II course for the AP Physics 2 exam. Also, both courses offer dual enrollment credit through Colorado Christian University, namely PHY 210-211-212 and PHY 310-311-312, respectively.

The Project Physics is an integrated and classical course in physics, astronomy, chemistry (atom, nucleus, Periodic Table), and science processing skills with six units spanning two years in high school. The Project Physics w/ Astronomy includes historical astronomy and observational astronomy as its middle "semester" (Quarters 2-3) between Kinematics/Mechanics (Quarter 1) and Dynamics/Thermodynamics (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. Thus, chemistry is substantially included in the second year, like astronomy is in the first, making both years unique in comparison to the standard high school fare.

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, philosophical emphasis, 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).

Importantly, 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 (Matt. 24: 37-39; 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; 1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5, 3:3-6), 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) and Genesis chapters 6-9 describe a catastrophic global flood that profoundly impacted the earth's geology and in which all land animals and mankind perished save those on the ark.

Course Objectives for The Project Physics w/ Astronomy:

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). There is a Kindle edition available on Amazon at significantly reduced cost but the hardback version is preferred because it includes a planisphere in its back jacket pocket.