News — physics teacher resources

Newton's three laws of motion explain almost every force problem your students will ever see — yet most high schoolers finish the unit still confusing inertia with weight and getting action-reaction pairs backwards. A better lesson plan doesn't just define the laws. It gives students a reason to care before you introduce the vocabulary. This post walks through a classroom-tested sequence for teaching Newton's first, second, and third laws to high school physics students. You'll get a hook that actually creates curiosity, a structure that keeps thinking level high, and a ready-to-run engagement activity at the end. NGSS standards HS-PS2-1...

Most physics formative assessment ideas on the internet were written for English class. They tell you to use "exit tickets" and "thumbs up/thumbs down" — which work fine when the answer is a sentence, not a vector diagram. Here are the ones that actually tell you where your physics students are. Formative assessment is the fastest feedback loop you have. Done right, it takes 5-10 minutes at the start or end of class and tells you exactly which students are still multiplying mass by velocity instead of force. Done wrong, it's busywork that generates data you never look at. This...