what constitutes 2 years of high school physics

[Julie of KY]

What exactly would constitute two years of high school physics?

 

I know some people use Apologia Physics and Adv. Physics. That won't work here.

 

I plan on using Knight's College Physics this year. I assumed it would count for a "physics" credit. If we did more physics, I assumed we'd move on to something calculus based for a second year.

 

Now I'm wondering if two physics credits would be Physics 1 - mechanics, and Physics 2 - Electricity and Magnetism, to closer match the AP testing.

 

Any thoughts?

 

In reality, I'll teach whatever physics I think should be taught and then I need to figure out what to call it on a transcript.

[regentrude]

I consider algebra/trig based mechanics and electricity/magnetism, like Knight's College Physics, one year; I would hesitate to spread this material over two years. (I know that the College Board is restructuring the AP B test, but I am skeptical that spending an entire year on mechanics and an entire second year on e&m is a good use of time; there should be a substantial amount of modern physics incorporated to make this worth two years).

 

A second year of physics could be calculus based physics, typically a re-run of mechanics and e&m. You could, however, also spend a year on modern physics (typically containing a basic intro to quantum mechanics, special relativity, nuclear and particle physics). Or a semester of modern and a semester of thermodynamics. Or a few months on modern developments such as nonlinear physics and chaotic systems.

 

My DD will have four physics credits on her transcript:

algebra based college physics (Knight)- one credit (even though this is two semesters of a 3 hour college class, I do not feel two credits justified, since it really is only one year of high school level material)

two semesters of calculus based engineering phyiscs, dual enrollment; 4 hour class plus lab - 1 credit for each semester

one semester Modern Physics, dual enrollment (third course in the physics sequence) - 1 credit

[Julie of KY]

Thanks Regentrude. That is basically what I was thinking.