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Preparing for AP-Level Learning in Physics: Textbooks
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by Dolores Gende
Parish Episcopal School
Dallas, Texas
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| | The Top Three
The most popular choices for textbooks in a physics course prior to AP Physics are: Conceptual Physics, Physics: Principles and Problems, and Holt Physics.
Conceptual Physics
By Paul G. Hewitt
Student edition: 0131663011
Prentice Hall, 2006
http://phcatalog.pearson.com/
Style of Book: The book follows a traditional physics sequence. The 40 chapters are divided into six units:
1. Mechanics
2. Properties of Matter
3. Heat
4. Sound and Light
5. Electricity and Magnetism
6. Atomic and Nuclear Physics
Ease of Use for Teacher: The teacher's edition contains a good planning guide with suggested labs, and teacher and student resources for every topic. The margins throughout the book include teaching tips and warnings for common misconceptions along with answers to the questions and problems given at the end of the chapters.
Problem Solving: This book is very weak in problem solving. Even though the major equations are introduced, most of the practice at the end of each chapter is pretty simple. Hewitt even labels a section as "Plug and Chug." However, since the 2002 edition, all editions include an appendix with additional problem-solving practice.
One of the ancillaries is fully devoted to problem solving and it comes in a workbook format. Each chapter summarizes the main concepts and equations and includes various solved examples. The end-of-the-chapter problems are divided into two levels of difficulty.
Concept Development: As the title of the textbook indicates, this book is very strong in presenting physics concepts. Hewitt developed an approach consisting of three stages as follows:
1. Explore: The concepts are present in meaningful situations to spark the student's interest.
2. Develop: The concepts are expanded with inquiry and multiple examples.
3. Apply: The concepts are applied to specific situations through critical-thinking questions, labs, and problem solving.
The end of each chapter includes two sections of conceptual questions: "Review Questions" and "Think and Explain." While the former mostly reinforces what is presented in each section of the book, the "Think and Explain" questions challenge the students to apply critical thinking in a variety of situations.
Lab Manual: The Laboratory Manual includes 99 labs and activities with detailed procedures and questions. Even though all of them are the cookbook type, teachers can easily adapt them for more challenging experiences.
Ancillary Materials: The ancillary package of this book includes student and teacher versions of the following: Textbook, Laboratory Manual, Concept-Development Practice Book, and Problem-Solving Exercises in Physics.
Other materials include overhead transparencies, Next Time Questions and ExamView® Test Bank CD-ROM.
Strengths: Definitely the main strengths of this book are its conceptual approach to physics and the fact that it is a very readable book with neat cartoon-type illustrations.
Weaknesses: The biggest weakness of this book is the lack of mathematical analysis of physics concepts.
Overall Recommendation: This textbook is very appropriate for a college-preparatory level, especially for courses taught in the ninth grade, like the Physics First approach.
Physics: Principles and Problems
By Zitzewitz, Elliott, Haase, Harper, Herzog, Nelson, Nelson, Schuler, and Zorn
Student edition: 0078458137
Glencoe McGraw-Hill, 2005
www.glencoe.com/sec/catalog
Style of Book: The book follows a traditional physics sequence. The 30 chapters are divided into six units:
1. The Science of Matter and Energy
2. Mechanics
3. States of Matter
4. Waves and Light
5. Electricity and Magnetism
6. Modern Physics
Ease of Use for Teacher: The teacher's edition contains an outstanding chapter organizer with learning objectives, suggested labs and demos, and technology resources for every topic. Resource Manager Tabs appear at the beginning of every section of the teacher's edition, setting off appropriate teacher and student resources. The margins throughout the book contain multiple teaching tips, quick demos, and additional examples along with answers to the questions and problems.
One of the ancillaries is the TeacherWorksTM CD-ROM that allows teachers to personalize lesson plans and have access to all the resources in PDF files.
In terms of lesson presentation, the Interactive Chalkboard CD-ROM has editable PowerPoint® presentations with interactive graphics and all the images from the textbook.
Problem Solving: This book contains ample opportunities for developing problem-solving skills. Each chapter includes problem-solving strategies.
After a concept is presented the authors have included a solved "Example Problem" followed by a section of "Practice Problems". Full solutions to even-numbered "Practice Problems" are included in one of the appendices.
The "Example Problems" use a step-by-step problem solving approach divided into three sections:
1. Analyze and Sketch the Problem
2. Solve for the Unknown
3. Evaluate the Answer
More problems can be found at the end of each chapter, and appendix B has additional problems. Unfortunately, the student edition does not have the answers to any of these problems.
Concept Development: The book does a great job explaining concepts in a clear, straightforward manner. The book offers a wide variety of questions to check for conceptual understanding as is shown in the "Section Reviews." At the end of each chapter there are three sections that help develop critical thinking: "Concept Mapping," "Mastering Concepts," and "Applying Concepts."
Lab Manual: The Laboratory Manual includes 40 labs with detailed procedures, analysis, and extension questions. Even though all of them are the cookbook type, teachers can easily adapt the labs into inquiry-based labs or other more challenging experiences.
Ancillary Materials: The extensive ancillary materials include:
Books: Six Fast File Chapter Resources books; Laboratory Manual; Solutions Manual; three books with additional problems: Supplemental Problems, Additional Challenge Problems, and Pre-AP/Critical Thinking Problems; Standardized Test Practice; and Connecting Math to Physics
CD-ROMs: Interactive Chalkboard, TeacherWorks, and ExamView Pro Test Maker
Strengths: This is a very thorough algebra-based physics textbook. It does a formidable job in preparing the students in both conceptual understanding and problem solving while allowing the teacher the ability to customize the course to various ability levels.
Weaknesses: The book has a few weaknesses. For example, it contains a very superficial discussion of simple harmonic motion and fluid dynamics. Also, I would rather have my students know the answers to the end-of-the-chapter problems.
Overall Recommendation: I strongly recommend this textbook for either a college-preparatory-level or an honors-level course.
Holt Physics
By Serway and Faughn
Student edition: 0030735483
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2006
http://go.hrw.com/hrw.nd/hrw_catalog/
Style of Book: The book follows a traditional physics sequence with 25 chapters.
Ease of Use for Teacher: The teacher's edition contains an excellent planning guide with a pacing chart, suggested labs and demos, overhead transparencies and assignment resources.
The margins throughout the book give multiple teaching tips, demonstrations, misconception alerts, and answers to the section reviews.
The book offers a Web site with great interactive features for every section of the book.
Problem Solving: This book contains several opportunities for developing problem-solving skills. Each section includes a solved "Sample Problem" followed by a section of "Practice." At the end of each chapter more practice problems are given. Answers to selected even-numbered problems are given at the back of the book.
The "Sample Problems" use a step-by-step problem-solving approach divided into four sections:
1. Define
2. Plan
3. Calculate
4. Evaluate
More problems are included in the One-Stop Planner® CD-ROM and are divided between sections called "Problem Bank" and "Problem Workbook." I found that some of the problems are of a higher level of difficulty than that offered by the textbook and some of them involve the use of quadratic equations to find the solutions.
Concept Development: The book does a fair job explaining concepts and relating them to everyday experiences. Each topic has a "Section Review" and "Conceptual Questions" at the end of each chapter.
Laboratory Manual: The book is very strong in terms of lab components. Each chapter of the textbook includes a laboratory exercise and there are two laboratory manuals available: a traditional one and another one titled CBL® Experiments that is to be used with graphing calculators and data probe technology. There are several "Invention Labs" that use an inquiry approach to developing an experiment, most of the "Discovery Labs and the probeware experiments are the cookbook type with detailed procedures and analysis questions.
Ancillary Materials: The ancillary materials include: Chapter Tests with Answer Key, Datasheets for In-Text Labs, Laboratory Experiments, CBL Experiments, Problem Workbook, Solutions Manual, Test Item Listing, and Teaching Transparencies. The One-Stop Planner CD-ROM contains all the resources in PDF files.
Strengths: This is a very good, concise algebra-based physics textbook. The authors do a great job in helping the students develop good problem-solving skills.
Weaknesses: The book has a few weaknesses related to the superficial treatment of some areas. Some examples are: graphical analysis of motion, inclined planes, circular motion, and Doppler effect.
Overall Recommendation: I recommend this textbook for either a college-preparatory-level or an honors-level course.
Dolores Gende is a teacher at the Parish Episcopal School in Dallas, Texas. Although her degree is in chemical engineering, she has taught physics for 22 years. She is a Table Leader for the AP Physics Exam, an AP workshop consultant, and a Web designer. She has been AP Central's content adviser for physics since 2004.
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