In The Great White North Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 We've been tryig to decide on next year's (11th grade) physics course. Ds did Apologia biology and chem, but we'd like to try something different for physics. Something that will make him love physics. I heard a lot about Conceptual Physics and think it may do the trick. However, I've gotten the impression that there is a high school Conceptual Physics and a college Conceptual Physics. What's the difference? Does it say somewhere on it that it's the high school version or the college version? How does it compare to Giancoli's Physics? I've heard that recommended for AP Physics. Does that mean the 2nd year of physics? There seems to be hundreds of versions of both of these books. Can anyone help narrow it down? TIA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane in NC Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 The high school and college versions of Conceptual Physics seem fairly close in content--at least the editions that I inspected. CP is quite different from Giancoli which assumes more algebra and a knowledge of trig. The Conceptual Physics text serves a couple of purposes in my mind: it is a great book to introduce a younger, science oriented student (8th or 9th grade) to what physics is all about or as a book for a liberal arts sort of student. My son used the high school version of the book in 9th under the assumption that he will eventually take a calculus based physics course. Conceptual Physics helps a student see what physics means beyond the mathematical equations of the subject. It does not replace a real physics course for someone in an engineering sequence, but does help students build more of a common sense foundation. If your student has good math skills, you might want to go with Giancoli; if your 11th grader is out of his comfort zone with trig, I would consider Conceptual as the means to introduce physical concepts. Jane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmittgirlz Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 I agree with Jane! Here is our experience. I have two girls currently in eleventh grade, one math oriented..the other not so much. At the beginning of the year, I gave the girls the option to choose which text they felt inclined to use. The math oriented student clearly stated that she wanted to use the Giancoli text, the other student decided to go with the flow. While the math-oriented student has successfully completed the text and grasped the conceptual framework, the other student struggled so I decided to switch the non-math oriented student to Conceptual Physics to reiterate content because Giancoli was simply making her head spin and eyes gloss over! It has been a much better fit for her. HTH! Clare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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