As a physics teacher, you're always looking for engaging ways to bring the subject to life for your students. One topic that's sure to pique their interest is the connection between physics and skateboarding. Our AP® Physics 1 & 2 Textbook pictured below features professional skateboarder Lizzie Armanto on the cover, highlighting this exciting link between science and sport. Here's how you can use skateboarding to help teach your students fundamental physics concepts and spark their enthusiasm for learning.     1. Perfecting Skateboard Tricks When students watch skateboarders perform impressive tricks like ollies or kickflips, they may not realize that these feats are actually demonstrations of fundamental physics concepts such as force, momentum, and energy. By examining the mechanics of these tricks, students can gain valuable insights into how forces and motion work in the real world. A practical lesson idea would be to have students analyze slow-motion videos of skateboarders performing various tricks. This will help them visualize the forces at play and understand how skateboarders manipulate these forces to achieve their desired outcome.   2. Speed and Control The principles of friction, inertia, and angular momentum are essential for understanding how skateboarders maintain speed and control during their rides2. Teaching these concepts through the lens of skateboarding can make them more relatable and engaging for students. For example, you could demonstrate how different types of wheels and bearings affect a skateboard's speed and grip. By examining the materials and design of various skateboard components, students can see firsthand how physics concepts apply to everyday objects.   3. Exploring Skatepark Physics Skateparks offer a wealth of opportunities to teach students about the physics of curved surfaces, ramps, and transitions3. By analyzing the design of skatepark features such as halfpipes, bowls, and vert ramps, students can explore concepts like gravitational potential energy, centripetal force, and conservation of energy. An interactive lesson idea would be to organize a field trip to a local skatepark, where students can observe skateboarders in action and analyze the physics principles at play. Alternatively, you could use videos or simulations to demonstrate these concepts in the classroom.   4. Engineering Behind Skateboarding Gear Skateboard decks, trucks, and wheels are all designed with physics in mind, making them excellent examples of applied engineering. By studying the craftsmanship behind skateboarding gear, students can learn about material properties, stress distribution, and vibration damping4. Consider inviting a guest speaker from the skateboarding industry to discuss the engineering challenges involved in creating high-performance gear. This can help students appreciate the real-world applications of physics and inspire them to consider careers in engineering or design.   5. Resources for Further Exploration To help you incorporate skateboarding into your physics lessons, here are some resources that offer additional information and lesson ideas: Skateboard Science from the Exploratorium Physics of Skateboarding by Dr. Tae The Physics of Skateboarding Tricks by Neil Cohn By incorporating the physics of skateboarding into your curriculum, you can capture your students' interest and show them how the principles they're learning apply to the real world. So, grab your helmet and knee pads, and get ready to ride the wave of enthusiasm that this exciting topic is sure to generate!   Discover BFW Publishers’ engaging textbook program, College Physics for the AP® Physics 1 & 2 Courses, designed specifically for AP® Physics 1 & 2. This comprehensive resource is fully aligned with the forthcoming AP® Physics 1 & 2 Course and Exam Description (CED) and features real-world examples, including a unique connection between physics and skateboarding. With professional skateboarder Lizzie Armanto on the cover, this program is sure to captivate your AP® students and deepen their understanding of physics principles - while providing one-of-a-kind and essential AP® Practice and features.    Footnotes Frost, J. (2018). The Physics of an Ollie: How Does It Work? Retrieved from https://sciencing.com/physics-ollie-works-18001.html ↩ Exploratorium. (n.d.). Skateboard Science: Friction. Retrieved from https://www.exploratorium.edu/skateboarding/friction.html ↩ Nelson, R. A. (2002). The Physics of Skateboarding. Retrieved from https://www.realskate.com/physics.htm ↩ Aschwanden, C. (2001). The Science of the Skateboard. Retrieved from https://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/sports/a5749/science-of-the-skateboard/ ↩ Follow Lizzie Armanto! ... View more

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Learn more about BFW's AP® Physics 2 Addendum and how to use it with Stewart's College Physics for the AP® Physics 1 Course, Second Edition. College Physics for the AP® Physics 1 Course  ... View more

College Physics for the AP® Physics 1 Course  ... View more

See what your colleagues are saying about Stewart's College Physics for the AP® Physics 1 Course! Attached below.   College Physics for the AP® Physics 1 Course  ... View more

Watch lead author Gay Stewart talk about what makes College Physics for the AP® Physics 1 Course such a special program. College Physics for the AP® Physics 1 Course  ... View more

With many APSIs going virtual this year due to COVID-19, publisher's specialist Cindy Rabinowitz walks through our AP® Physics program in this video. College Physics for the AP® Physics 1 Course  I'm attending an APSI®        I'm not attending, but still want resources! ... View more

Bedford, Freeman & Worth High School Publishers has collected a helpful list of free resources for this unexpected period of online learning, ranging from general teaching tips to subject-specific tools. View the attached PDF for the list of resources! ... View more

Students in AP® Physics 1 not only have to be able to explain their reasoning through writing when answering many of the questions on the AP® Exam, but they also have to craft a paragraph-length written response to answer the majority of one of the FRQ types each year. In this webinar, veteran AP® Physics teacher and AP® Exam Reading Question Leader, Martha Lietz, will present strategies that can be used throughout the year to help students clearly present their reasoning, as well as highlight ways the Stewart, College Physics for the AP® Physics 1, 2e program supports writing for AP® Physics 1. College Physics for the AP® Physics 1 Course      About Martha Lietz Martha Lietz (MS in Physics, Carnegie Mellon University) has been teaching AP® Physics at Niles West High School in Skokie, IL since 1990. She earned her National Board Certification in 2009. Martha is an AP® Consultant and has served as a Table Physics Development Committee member from 2001 to 2005 and 2010 to 2012, a Physics 2 Development Committee member from 2012 to 2016, and an AP® Physics Reader since 1997. She has served as the Chair of the American Association of Physics Teachers’ Committee on Physics in High Schools. She has two articles published in The Physics Teacher, and an article entitled “Teaching About Gauss’s Law” in the Special Focus: Electrostatics series published by the College Board. She also served as author and editor for several College Board curriculum modules and for the new AP® Physics 1 & 2 inquiry-based lab guide. She is co-author of the Teacher's Edition for College Physics for the AP® Physics 1 Course, Second Edition. ... View more

Hello APES Teachers!   This is the first of what we hope will be occasional blog posts from Rick Relyea and me.   Rick and I are almost always working on our book, making revisions for the next printing or preparing a new edition. We love hearing from teachers about their successes and challenges. And we are always open to suggestions for improving our book.   Teachers often tell me that they want their students to have the best possible comprehension of environmental science topics and they also want them to build the skills they need to do well on the AP ® exam. I always tell them that they can do both at the same time by focusing on analytical skills.   One of the chief readers for the APES exam a few years back used to say that a stellar student, possessing great factual knowledge of environmental science, could earn a 5 only if the student also possessed the ability to apply analytical reasoning to a problem. It is essential for every APES student to know how to read a story or graph or diagram and extract a few numbers, manipulate them mathematically to calculate an answer or generate a graph, and to produce a conclusion or finding. We’re talking about unit conversions, dimensional analysis and relatively easy addition, subtraction or division. These analytical skills are absolutely necessary for a full understanding of environmental science and for success on the APES exam.   Here’s an example: It’s a hot summer day. You live 100 miles from a nice, sandy beach. Which is less harmful to the environment? Stay at home and run an air conditioner for 8 hours that uses about 500 watts for 30 minutes of every hour? Or, drive 100 miles each way in your Toyota Prius?     There are many ways to answer this question. If you were to do a calculation, you might determine the energy each activity used and conclude that whichever activity uses less energy will be less harmful to the environment.   Or, you might first calculate the gasoline used to drive to the beach and back, and calculate the carbon dioxide emissions from that activity. Then, assuming you turn your air conditioning off when you’re out, you might compare the carbon dioxide emissions generated by your trip to the emissions generated if you stay home all day and run your air conditioner. But to make this calculation, you would have to know how the electricity you are using is generated. If it is all generated by wind or solar, you might conclude that there is little or no carbon dioxide released from staying home and running your air conditioner.   So this seemingly simple question about a day at the beach versus a day at home is actually quite complex. There is no single “correct” answer. And that’s the point. We want our students to understand the issues, to feel comfortable with extracting information from a story or graph, to be able to conduct some sort of analysis with that information. There may not be one single correct answer. We want our students to have a grasp of the breadth and depth of the subject areas and factual material. But it is also essential for them to have a full appreciation of an issue, not just a reflexive, “gut call” on whether or not an action or a choice is “good” for the environment.   How do you teach your students this skill? Practice. Lot’s of practice. If you can take stories from the news or real-life examples from your school, your home or your community, that might interest and motivate your students. And our textbook, Friedland and Relyea’s Environmental Science for AP ® is also a great place for numerous examples of word, graph and analytical problems to give your students practice.   Do you have a favorite problem you like to give your students? Let me know.     Andy Friedland Dartmouth College 1 November 2017 Environmental Science for the AP® Course  ... View more