AP Physics

Abstract: Professor R. Shankar, a well-known physicist and contagiously enthusiastic educator, was among the first to offer a course through the innovative Open Yale Course program. His popular online video lectures on introductory physics have been viewed over a million times. In this concise and self-contained book based on his online Yale course, Shankar explains the fundamental concepts of physics from Galileo's and Newton's discoveries to the twentieth-century's revolutionary ideas on relativity and quantum mechanics. The book begins at the simplest level, develops the basics, and reinforces fundamentals, ensuring a solid foundation in the principles and methods of physics. It provides an ideal introduction for college-level students of physics, chemistry, and engineering, for motivated AP Physics students, and for general readers interested in advances in the sciences. Instructor resources--including problem sets and sample examinations--and more information about Professor Shankar's course are available at http://oyc.yale.edu/physics/phys-200.

Abstract: This research investigated students’ transfer of learning from calculus courses to an introductory physics course. We used semi-structured think aloud interviews to assess the extent to which students transfer their calculus knowledge when solving problems in a physics course. Results indicate that students do transfer their knowledge from calculus class to physics class. However, during the transfer process they needed specific scaffolding to connect the calculus knowledge with the physics problem.

Abstract: Transfer learning is the ability of an agent to apply knowledge learned in previous tasks to new problems or domains. We approach this problem by focusing on model formulation, i.e., how to move from the unruly, broad set of concepts used in everyday life to a concise, formal vocabulary of abstractions that can be used effectively for problem solving. This paper describes how the Companions cognitive architecture uses analogical model formulation to learn to solve AP Physics problems. Our system starts with some basic mathematical skills, a broad common sense ontology, and some qualitative mechanics, but no equations. Our system uses worked solutions to learn how to use equations and modeling assumptions to solve AP Physics problems. We show that this process of analogical model formulation can facilitate learning over a range of types of transfer, in an experiment administered by the Educational Testing Service.