In the beginning...

Overview

For the first time, I need to set my own curriculum to tutor physics.  This is a special case, where I'll
be tutoring a child who has started calculus and desires to learn physics, so there is not a textbook for a guideline.  I didn't find much online already prepared for this situation.

I went to the regional public library and skimmed several books before I brought a stack of physical books home.

For the curriculum outline, I'll be following Easy Physics Step-by-Step by Jonathan Wolf.†  It's in the format of a textbook, but it's only about 250 pages, so it should be easier to do short lessons on many topics.

I picked up a few children's books on introductory topics such as the nature and states of Matter, Estimations, and Measurements.  I tried to avoid ones that were too simplified or cartoonish.  I'm sure my student's reading level is more advanced than these, but it gives me an idea of where to start my explanations, and I may have the student read one such book at the beginning of or before each lesson to ensure some fundamental vocabulary and concepts are introduced in an attainable manner.

The parents have asked me to tutor for three hours with breaks for meals and games.  I plan to incorporate some simplified fun and messy physics labs as games.  To this end, I picked up several "home science experiment" books geared more towards older children who are maybe working with adults.  I will pick and choose experiments from several books, and link which ones I use, as none of these cover all topics contained in the "outline" book.

We'll use this free printable lab notebook format geared towards elementary students, as I don't want my student to spend too much time writing, but I do want to cultivate the Scientific Method.

For any notetaking on reading or questions that arise between sessions, we'll try this free printable Cornell Notes Template.

Lesson 1

For the first meeting, I'll have the student teach me, so then I'll know where to start.  I may delay or advance lessons based on that.  Other than that, this is the plan:

We'll briefly address what science is, the Scientific Method, the Problem Solving Method, the fact that science is persistence in the face of failure, Estimations, Units and Measurements, and Scientific Notation.

Lab 1, Estimations and Measurements:

We'll do some of the examples in Measure It! Fun with Length & Distance and Great Estimations.  

For this we need the books, rulers, hands, and maybe some large numbers of inexpensive household objects like pasta, rice, cereal, and similar-sized toys.

Lab 2, Setting Up a Lab Notebook, Making Observations, and Linear Motion in One Dimension:

To prepare for the following session on Linear Motion (with Graphical Analysis of Data), we'll do "Cherry Tomato Fling" from Smash It! Crash It! Launch It!: 50 Mind-Blowing, Eye-Popping Science Experiments combined with "Paper Drop" from Junk Drawer Physics: 50 Awesome Experiments That Don't Cost a Thing.

For this we'll need a ruler, a smooth surface like a counter or tabletop, and small objects of similar mass and/or size, such as paper muffin cups, stick-on gift bows (that aren't sticky), key rings without fobs, paper clips, coins, paper cut to the same size as any of the objects, and paper crumpled to the same size.  A kitchen scale that measures in grams would be useful.  

Lab 3, Linear Motion in Two Dimensions:

Also from Smash It! Crash It! Launch It!: 50 Mind-Blowing, Eye-Popping Science Experiments, I'll assign (or we'll make) "It's Not a Shoe Box! It's a Catapult" and I may have the student make calculate to predict where objects will land.

For this we'll need packing or duct tape, a long plastic spoon, a shoebox, rubber bands, various small items of varying size, mass, and shape to launch, and a safe place to launch the items, perhaps outdoors.


† (I've linked the book on Overdrive's site.  Overdrive partners with many libraries to offer e-book copies that are downloadable, and usually automatically returned when due, so at least with my library, I'm not charged late fees.  Where possible, I will keep my plan as cheap as I can to make this available to more people.)