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Honors course includes the foundational phenomena and themes of the standard Physics of the Universe course but increases the conceptual demand on students.

For example, the California NGSS clearly state in the assessment boundary that calculations using Newton’s first law are “limited to one-dimensional motion and to macroscopic objects moving at non-relativistic speeds.” This guideline is followed in the College Prep course, while in the the Honors course, students calculate forces in two dimensions and explore the meaning of Einstein’s famous equation describing special relativity.

Honors students receive less scaffolding for the concepts that are shared with the CP course and move through the content at an accelerated pace in order to achieve a deeper level of conceptual understanding and more sophisticated engagement in the science and engineering practices.

Honors content versus s College Prep

Read for more detail: Physics of the Universe: COS and Honors Physics of the Universe: COS

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Engage with phenomena and design challenges to make sense of abstract principles

Rigor prepares for collegiate studies in physics and for engaging in civic discourse around socio-scientific issues, such as human impacts on the environment.

Average homework: most of our work is done in class activities. If this time is used efficiently, you should expect

~ 45-60 min per class in Honors

~ 0 - 15 min per class in College Prep

Demonstrate content mastery in a wide range of formative and summative assessment tasks including laboratory experiments, quizzes, individual and group projects and exams.

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People LEARN best by DOING.

10% of what we read
20-30% what we hear
70% what we do

Take risks

GET UNCOMFORTABLE

Get the Most out of this year by taking risks

GET UNCOMFORTABLE

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We learn through a variety of experiences:

exploration and modeling • diverse instructional methods

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Gallery walks in Distance Learning

Community

CER

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Regular Formative Assessments

Pear Deck:

Variety of questions

Takeaways emailed to students

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Solar Oven

Honors : calculations for material science

College Prep: trends and models without calculations

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Engineering Design Challenge Thermosiphon

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Why have summative assessments?

to measure understanding through their ability to apply their knowledge to new phenomena.
student expectation summaries will be posted.
comprehension will be measured every 2-3 weeks.
at least two opportunities to assess for understanding will be offered
Open Note/Journal

For 2020.21 Semester grades: Throughout the semester, I plan to assess 15-20 standards. Semester grades depend on the amount of mastery reached overall. There will be no comprehensive final but a final count of scores.

See the Standards Based Grading 4 pt Rubric for descriptions.

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1:2 Assessment Expectations align to NGSS Standards

So far this semester…

#1 : stands for the number of attempts so far