The AP® Physics 1 course meets every day  for 50 minutes. It is a stand-alone course. The course is an inquiry-based course that focuses on experimentation and also conceptual understanding. Lessons that are teacher oriented will include the derivation of equations, demonstrations of physical phenomena, vocabulary associated with the content, and addressing any questions from the students based upon the material covered. The content of this course is based upon 6 big ideas:

Big Idea 1 – Objects and systems have properties such as mass and charge. Systems may have internal structure.

Big Idea 2 – Fields existing in space can be used to explain interactions.

Big Idea 3 – The interactions of an object with other objects can be described by forces.

Big Idea 4 – Interactions between systems can result in charges in those systems.

Big Idea 5 – Changes that occur as a result of interactions are constrained by conservation laws.

Big Idea 6 – Waves can transfer energy and momentum from one location to another without the permanent transfer of mass and serve as a mathematical model for the discretion of other phenomena.