Twolittleboys Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 So, son is in public school (overseas) and apparently struggling in physics. Unfortunately, that is the only subject I never really "got" myself. They mostly did electricity/magnetism/optics last year and are working on energy this year. He is in eight grade so they are not doing anything with calculus etc. Unfortunately the book he is using in school is absolutely horrible - doesn't explain a thing but only offers open ended questions etc. This might work well if used in class but for whatever reason didn't do the trick for him. Son is actually quite math-y but the class is very loud/inattentive and the class tends to just jump from experiment to experiment etc. He probably has a fair understanding of the content (or thinks he does) but flounders when it comes down to actual problems/questions. So I was wondering whether anybody could recommend some books/online classes/resources to help with this? Preferably either free or fairly inexpensive (say no more than $50 or so)? I am not really looking for anything that would require a huge investment of time (e.g. complicated experiments etc.) as there isn't a lot of time for this and it is just supposed to fill in gaps/strengthen the foundations. Actually, it would probably be me working/looking through it for the most part and then explaining it to him/working through problems with him. At this point I just don't know/remember enough about the subject myself (should have paid more attention to it when I was in school...) Anyway, any recommendations highly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 For starters, I would get a used copy of Hewitt's "Conceptual Physics". Does not have to be a current edition as there have been no changes in the actual physics in the last fifty years. This one is available for under $10 including shipping: http://www.amazon.com/Conceptual-Physics-9th-Paul-Hewitt/dp/0321052021/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1446033083&sr=1-3&keywords=hewitt+physics 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Yup to what regentrude said. My 10th grade daughter is using it. You can also watch free videos on conceptualacademy.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cintinative Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Personally I have really enjoyed the Coursera "How Things Work" course (it's free). It is really better for understanding the concepts though because it is purposefully light on the math. So I am not sure if that is what you want. And time-wise, you can't flip through it to find the right stuff like you can with a book. The text the professor (Louis Bloomfield) wrote for his college course (also called How Things Work) is also very good. It is heavy on the concepts and low on the math/problem sets compared to stuff I did in college, which is why i like it for myself as a physics refresher. I bought an earlier edition to save money. However, if you ever find that you are just not grasping the concepts of gravity, force/motion, energy, etc. the Coursera course is excellent. I highly recommend it. You can also stream his actual class at the University of VA. I have heard that this book by him is also good: http://www.amazon.com/How-Everything-Works-Physics-Ordinary/dp/0470170662/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1446061867&sr=1-3&keywords=louis+bloomfield but I don't own it and I would think it is going to be again very conceptual and light on problem sets and examples of how to do calculations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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