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Course: AP®︎/College Physics 1 > Unit 1
Lesson 1: AP Physics 1 foundationsMeet Sean, a creator of AP Physics on Khan Academy
A physics teacher for seven years, Sean has taught AP Physics 1, AP Physics C, and Conceptual Physics. He’s also a former mechanical engineer. Sean is based in Boise, Idaho, and is Khan Academy’s physics fellow, creating awesome new exercises and articles for AP Physics.
Want to join the conversation?
- Can you give me tips on how to solve physics problems better, please? Do you have methods of resolution that you could share? Thank you.(1 vote)
- First i learn math or physic(1 vote)
- math. because math is the foundation of physics(1 vote)
- I am going into my senior year and have chosen AP Physics. The weird thing is that my school does not specify whether is AP Physics 1 or 2. I have no prior experience with Physics as I was on the chemistry route throughout high school. Should I watch the normal Physics videos or the AP Physics 1 videos? I glanced at it and saw that they cover different things.(1 vote)
- This is a wave related equation:
y(x,t)= 3sin(36t + 0.018x + 3.1416/4)
find 't'
find 'x'(1 vote) - Approximately how long does it take to complete this course? I'm planning on self-studying for the exam.(1 vote)
- would you advise taking AP Physics 1 sophomore year?(1 vote)
- I'm taking it right now as a Junior. There are a few (I'm talking 4-5) sophomores taking it right now where I am. They are challenged (as they are doubling up with equally hard science classes) but they don't seem to have many issues. So, you can take it as a sophomore if you school allows you, just keep in mind that you may be stretched a bit.(1 vote)
- Should I take AP Physics 1 as a sophomore?(1 vote)
- how to work prolems with speed, distance, and time(1 vote)
- You would have to learn rates before you can work with speed, distance, and time. https://www.khanacademy.org/math/pre-algebra/pre-algebra-ratios-rates/pre-algebra-rates/v/introduction-to-rates(1 vote)
- Why this AP physic course is necessary for us?and what are the benifits with the help of this course?(1 vote)
- Hello,
Is this course, AP Physics 1 on Khan Academy, an appropriate course to use as a primary AP Physics 1 class in preparation for the AP Physics 1 test? Or should it be also supplemented with practice problems and other lessons from a textbook? Thanks!(1 vote)
Video transcript
- I have taught AP Physics
classes for the last seven years. AP Physics One, AP Physics B, back in the day, and AP Physics C now. I try to make my lessons personable, relate to the student,
offer them real life examples where things happen, but also focus on, instead of, a bunch of little memorization facts, like, what's the big idea that helps you figure out all these
different situations for, allows you to be a more
robust problem solver. So, we're focusing on the big core ideas of our subject, being physics, and I think you'll find that across all the different AP content subjects. We are finely tuned to what the AP exam is gonna be like, directly. And we are building in
videos for instructions, specific to that, and also we have practice exercises that
I'm really excited about, that, you can assign it to students, and there's hints, and there's feedback, why a certain problem is wrong, and why a certain problem is right. And then it shows you the solution path of how you would get to the solution. So, when you assign a student a problem, they don't have to wait a whole 24 hours, until they get back to class. They can get it wrong, fail early, try another one, fail often, and do a couple times on that. And I actually think my students might actually do more, homework, 'cause they're getting instant feedback on the process, rather than just trying a couple, and getting stuck, and like, "Ah, I'm frustrated, I'm outta here." They can really get in the seat, and stay in it, because they're getting instant feedback and help as they're working through problems. I think that's gonna be really powerful.