Model expected behavior in the classroom.
Discuss school and classroom rules.
Review laboratory procedures and laboratory rules.
Explain and show comprehension of science process skills and the scientific method.
Make use of the metric system and the scientific measurement.
Explain why physics is the basic science.

September

Describe the period of the pendulum.
Describe the characteristics and properties of waves.
Describe wave motion.
Describe factors that affect the speed of a wave.
Distinguish between transverse waves and longitudinal waves.
Distinguish between constructive and destructive interference.
Describe how a standing waves occurs.
Describe the Doppler effect for sound and relate it to the blue and red shifts for light.
Describe bow waves.
Describe sonic booms.
Relate the pitch of a sound to its frequency.
Describe the movement of sound through air.
Compare the transmission of sound through air with that through solids, liquids, and a vacuum.
Describe factors that affect the speed of sound.
Describe loudness and sound intensity.
Give examples of forced vibration.
Describe natural frequency.
Describe resonance.
Describe how sound waves interfere with one another.
Describe beats.
Describe the dual nature of light.
Explain why it is difficult to measure the speed of light.
Describe the relationship among light, radio waves, microwaves, and X-rays.
Explain how the frequency of light affects what happens when it enters a substance.
Describe opaque materials.
Describe solar and lunar eclipses.
Describe the evidence that suggests light waves are transverse.
Describe 3-D vision.
Explain why white and black are not true colors.
Describe how the reflection of light affects an object's color.
Describe what determines whether a material reflects, transmits, or absorbs light of a particular color.
Describe white light.
Explain that color television tubes produce only red, green, and blue light.
Define complementary colors.
Describe color mixing by subtraction and by addition.
Explain why the sky is blue, why sunsets are red, and why water is greenish-blue.
Explain how a spectrum can be used to identify the presence of an element.
Describe what happens to light when it strikes different materials.
Describe the law of reflection.
Explain why a mirror forms a virtual image.
Describe diffuse reflection.
Give examples of ways to control reflected sound.
Explain the change in direction of a wave when it crosses a boundary between media.
Describe the effects of refraction of sound waves.
Describe the effects of refraction of light.
Explain how mirages are formed.
Explain how a prism separates white light into colors.
Describe how a rainbow is formed.
Describe total internal reflection, its effects, and its applications.

October

Explain the idea that motion is relative.
Define speed and distinguish between instantaneous speed and average speed.
Distinguish between speed and velocity, and describe how to tell whether a velocity is changing.
Define acceleration and give examples of its units.
Describe the motion of an object in free fall.
Describe the motion of an object thrown straight up and allowed to fall until it hits the ground.
Determine the speed and the distance fallen at any time after an object is dropped from rest, when air resistance is negligible.
Explain how graphs can be used to describe relationships among time, distance, and speed.
Describe how air resistance affects the motion of falling objects.
Explain why acceleration is a rate of a rate.
Distinguish between a vector quantity and a scalar quantity, and give examples of each.
Draw vector diagrams for velocities and use the parallelogram method to find resultant of two vectors that have different directions. 
Given a vector, resolve it into horizontal and vertical components.
For a projectile, describe the changes in the horizontal and vertical components of its velocity when air resistance is negligible.
Explain why a projectile moves equal distances horizontally in equal time intervals when air resistance is negligible.
Describe satellites as fast-moving projectiles.

November

Describe Aristotle's concepts of natural and violent motion.
Describe Copernicus' idea about Earth's motion.
Describe Galileo's contribution to the science of motion.
State Newton's first law of motion.
Distinguish among mass, volume, and weight, and their units of measurement.
Explain how something that is not connected to the ground is able to keep up with the moving Earth.
Explain why a clothesline or wire that can easily support an object when strung vertically may break when strung horizontally and supporting the same object.
Describe how the angle between vectors affects their resultant vector.
State the relationship between acceleration and net force.
State the relationship between acceleration and mass.
State and explain Newton's second law of motion.
Describe the effect of friction on stationary and on moving objects.
Distinguish between force and pressure.
Explain why the acceleration of an object in free fall does not depend upon the mass of the object.
Describe the effect of air resistance on a falling object.
Define force as part of an interaction.
State Newton's third law of motion.
Given an action force, identify the reaction force.
Explain why the accelerations caused by an action force and by a reaction force do not have to be equal.
Explain why an action force is not cancelled by the reaction force.
Describe the horse-cart problem.
Explain why you cannot touch without being touched.
Define momentum.
Define impulse and describe how it affects changes in momentum.
Explain why an impulse is greater when an object bounces than when the same object comes            to a sudden stop.
State the law of conservation of momentum.
Distinguish between an elastic collision and an inelastic collision.
Give an example of how the vector nature of momentum affects the law of conservation of momentum.

December

Distinguish between rotate and revolve.
Describe rotational speed.
Give examples of centripetal force.
Describe the motion of an object if the centripetal force acting on it ceases.
Explain why centrifugal force is “fictitious”.
Describe how a simulated gravitational acceleration can be produced.
Define and describe torque.
Describe the condition required for one torque to balance another.
Given the location of the center of gravity of an object and the position and direction of the forces on it, tell whether the forces will produce rotation.
Describe on what the rotational inertia of an object depends.
Give examples of how a gymnast changes the rotational inertia of the body in order to change the spin rate.
Define angular momentum and describe the conditions under which it (a) remains the same and (b) changes.
Give an example in which rotational speed changes but angular momentum does not.
Define and describe work.
Define and describe power.
Define mechanical energy.
Define potential energy.
Define kinetic energy and describe the work-energy theorem.
State the law of conservation of energy.
Describe simple machines and mechanical advantage.
Explain why no machine can have an efficiency of 100%.
Describe the role of energy in living organisms.

January

Describe center of gravity.
Describe center of mass.
Describe how to find the center of gravity of an irregularly shaped object.
Describe how to predict whether an object will topple.
Distinguish among stable equilibrium, unstable equilibrium, and neutral equilibrium.
Give examples of how people are affected by their centers of gravity.
Explain Newton's idea why the apple falls to Earth.
Explain why the moon does not fall to Earth.
State Newton's law of universal gravitation.
Explain the significance of an inverse-square law.
Explain the connection between gravitation and the idea that the universe may stop expanding and begin to contract.
Describe the gravitational field outside Earth.
Describe the gravitational field inside Earth.
Explain why an astronaut in Earth orbit seems weightless even though there is a gravitational force.
Explain ocean tides.
Give examples of tides other than those in water.
Describe black holes.
Explain how the speed of a satellite in circular orbit around Earth is related to the distance an object falls in the first second due to gravity.
Explain why the force of gravity does not cause a change in the speed of a satellite in circular orbit.
Describe how the speed of a satellite changes in different portions of an elliptical orbit.
Applying the energy conservation law to describe changes in the PE and KE of a satellite in different portions of an elliptical orbit.
Determine the vertical speed required to ensure a projectile can escape” Earth.

February

Define temperature in terms of KE and describe the common temperature scales.
Define heat.
Define thermal equilibrium.
Distinguish between internal energy and heat.
Describe how the quantity of heat that enters or leaves a substance is measured.
Compare the specific heat capacities of different substances.
Describe how water's high specific heat capacity affects climate.
Give examples and applications of thermal expansion of solids.
Describe the behavior of water as it is heated from 0 degrees C to 15 degrees C.
Explain conduction and its effects.
Distinguish between conduction and convection.
Explain how heat can be transmitted through empty space.
Given the color and shininess of two objects, predict which is likely to absorb radiant energy more easily.
Compare the ability of an object to emit radiant energy with its ability to absorb radiant energy.
Relate the temperature difference between an object and its surroundings to the rate at which it cools.
Describe global warming and Earth's greenhouse effect.
State the first law of thermodynamics and relate it to energy conservation.
Describe adiabatic processes and cite examples.
State the second law of thermodynamics.
Define the ideal efficiency of a heat engine in terms of input and output temperatures.
Explain how order tends to disorder.
Define entropy and give examples.

March

Describe electrical forces between objects.
Explain how an object becomes (a) positively charged and (b) negatively charged.
Describe Coulomb's law.
Distinguish between a conductor and an insulator.
Describe how an insulator can be charged by friction and by contact.
Describe how a conductor can be charged without contact.
Describe how an insulator can be charged by charge polarization.
Describe how to measure the strength of an electric field at different points.
Describe how electric fields are represented by vectors and by electric field lines.
Describe how objects can be completely shielded from electric fields.
Explain why a charged object in an electric field is considered to have electrical potential energy.
Distinguish between electrical potential energy and electric potential.
Describe how electrical energy can be stored.
Describe the operation of a Van de Graaff generator.
Describe the flow of electric charge.
Describe what is happening inside a current-carrying wire.
Give examples of voltage sources that can maintain a potential difference in a circuit.
Describe the factors that affect the resistance of a wire.
Describe Ohm's law.
Explain the causes of electric shock.
Distinguish between DC and AC and describe how AC is converted to DC.
Compare the drift speed of conduction electrons in a current-carrying wire to the signal speed of changes in current.
Compare the motion of electrons in a wire carrying AC to the flow of energy through the wire.
Relate the electric power used by a device to current and voltage.

April

Describe the configuration of a working circuit.
Distinguish between series and parallel circuits.
Describe the characteristics of series connections and of parallel connections.
Interpret circuit diagrams.
Determine the equivalent resistance of  circuits having two or more resistors.
Explain the cause and prevention of overloading household circuits.
Compare and contrast magnetic poles and electric charges.
Use iron filings to interpret the strength of a magnetic field at different points near a magnet.
Relate the motion of electrons within a material to the ability of the material to become a magnet.
Describe what happens to the magnetic domains of iron in the presence of a strong magnet.
Describe the magnetic field produced by a current-carrying wire.
Describe how a magnetic field exerts a force on a charged particle in the field.
Describe some practical applications of a magnetic field exerting a force on a current-carrying wire.
Describe how a galvanometer and a motor work.
Suggest possible causes for Earth's magnetic field.
Describe how voltage is induced in a coil of wire.
State and explain Faraday's law.
Describe how a generator works.
Compare and contrast motors and generators.
Describe how a transformer works.
Explain why transformers are used for transmission of electric power.
Relate the magnitude and direction of an induced electric field to the inducing magnetic field, and vice versa.
Describe electromagnetic waves.

May

Give examples of models for the atom and for light.
Explain why the energy of light can be considered to be a multiple of small units of energy.
Describe the evidence for the particle nature of light.
Give evidence for the wave nature of electrons.
Describe the wave properties of matter.
Use De Broglie's model of matter waves in the atom to explain the lines seen in atomic structure.
Explain the small differences in the sizes of atoms.
Describe the limits of Newton's laws of motion.
Describe chaos.
Describe atomic nuclei.
Distinguish among the three types of rays given off by radioactive nuclei.
Compare the penetrating powers of the three types of radiation.
Interpret the symbols used to label isotopes of an element.
Predict how much of a given sample of radioactive isotope will remain at the end of some multiple of the half-life.
Given the symbol for a radioactive isotope and the particle it gives off, predict the product of the decay.
Explain the synthesis of transuranic elements.
Describe some uses for radioactive isotopes.
Describe natural background radiation.
Describe the role of neutrons in causing and sustaining nuclear fission.
Explain how nuclear fission can be controlled in a reactor.
Describe the radioactivity of plutonium.
Distinguish between a uranium-based fission reactor and a breeder reactor.
Describe the equivalence of mass and energy.
Distinguish between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion.
Describe the advantages and the problems associated with using fusion as a source of power.