COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 1
Objective(s):
To have the students oriented to the requirements of the Computer
Physics class.
Strategies/activities:
Hand out syllabus and discuss class requirements.
Briefly review the material which they need to know from their
previous classes.
Evaluation(s):
None (class only meets one period the first week)
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 2
Objective(s):
Refresh the students' understanding of counting.
Recognize the difference between numbering systems.
Understand how to convert from any base to base ten.
Strategies/activities:
Ask the students to count to twenty AND explain how they did it.
Introduce the difference between the number of digits in a base
and the counting in that base.
Review standard mathematical notation relative to place value for
'ordinary' numbers.
Introduce the concept that place values is almost independent of the
numbering system.
Talk about doing arithmetic on Roman numerals.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 3
Objective(s):
The students will increase their understanding of HOW arithmetic
operations occur.
The students will be able to build an adding machine in any base.
The students will be able to add and subtract numbers in any base.
Strategies/activities:
Show how two rulers can be used to add numbers.
Create two 'rulers' in some base other than 10 and use them to add
two numbers.
Demonstrate HOW carrying occurs in addition.
Demonstrate how to add more than two numbers by starting with only
two.
Demonstrate how to use the rulers to subtract two numbers.
Discuss the concept of borrowing when subtracting.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 4
Objective(s):
To understand HOW multiplication and division are done.
To understand introductory computer terms such as bit, byte,
nibble, word and character.
Strategies/activities:
Demonstrate multiplication by repeated addition.
Demonstrate division by repeated subtraction.
Present practice problems.
Define terms and give examples.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Friday quiz.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 5
Objective(s):
To understand how to convert between any two bases.
Strategies/activities:
Review how place value is used to represent the value of a number.
Demonstrate how to convert to base 10 by place value
multiplication.
Demonstrate how to convert from base 10 by repeated division using
the remainder as the place digit.
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Friday quiz.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 6
Objective(s):
To understand how to convert between two bases which are powers of
2.
Strategies/activities:
Review how place value is used to represent the value of a number
in base 2.
Demonstrate how to convert to base 2 by power.
Demonstrate how to convert from base 2 by root.
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Friday quiz.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 7
Objective(s):
To understand Ven diagrams and logical operators.
To understand Boolean operators.
Strategies/activities:
Review inclusive AND and OR and exclusive OR operators.
Present practice problems of logic and combinatorial math.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 8
Objective(s):
To understand what is needed for a complete electrical circuit.
To understand how simple switches work in a logic circuit box.
To be able to create simple circuits on the logic circuit box.
Strategies/activities:
Demonstrate with a battery, bulb, switch and wires how a simple
circuit operates and which are the necessary components.
Distribute the logic circuit boxes and necessary wires.
Wire a simple circuit to check the bulbs in the logic circuit box.
Alter the circuit to include a switch in the circuit.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 9
Objective(s):
To understand how switches can be used to create an AND circuit.
Strategies/activities:
Present several examples of AND wiring (i.e. a safety interlock).
Demonstrate how the students can wire various switches in an AND
configuration.
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion (wiring) of all of the practice problems.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 10
Objective(s):
To understand how switches can be used to create an OR circuit.
Strategies/activities:
Present several examples of OR wiring (i.e. the interior lights in
a car).
Demonstrate how the students can wire various switches in an OR
configuration.
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion (wiring) of all of the practice problems.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 11
Objective(s):
To understand how switches can be used to create an exclusive OR
(XOR) circuit.
Strategies/activities:
Present several examples of XOR wiring (i.e. the home hall light).
Demonstrate how the students can wire various switches in a XOR
configuration.
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion (wiring) of all of the practice problems.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 12
Objective(s):
To understand how to wire a technical circuit requiring the use of
more than one type of logic.
Strategies/activities:
Present the problem of the ejection seat on a jet aircraft as an
example.
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
All students successfully complete the projects.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 13
Objective(s):
To understand how to wire additional technical circuits requiring
the use of more than one type of logic.
Strategies/activities:
Present the problem of the electronic majority voting system using
three switches.
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
All students successfully complete the projects.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 14
Objective(s):
To understand how to wire a additional technical circuits requiring
the use of more than one type of logic.
Strategies/activities:
Present the problem of the electronic majority voting system using
four switches with an indicator for a tie and another for three
or more (a majority is greater than two).
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
All students successfully complete the projects.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 15
Objective(s):
To understand how to wire advanced technical circuits requiring the
use of more than one type of logic.
Strategies/activities:
Present the problem of an odd parity circuit.
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
All students successfully complete the projects.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 16
Objective(s):
To understand how to wire advanced technical circuits requiring the
use of more than one type of logic.
Strategies/activities:
Present the man, goat, wolf and cabbage problem.
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
All students successfully complete the projects.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 17
Objective(s):
To understand how to wire advanced technical circuits requiring the
use of more than one type of logic.
Strategies/activities:
Present the problem of a three bit adder.
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 18
Objective(s):
To understand how to wire advanced technical circuits requiring the
use of more than one type of logic.
Strategies/activities:
Continue the problem of a three bit adder.
Present practice problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Friday - successful completion of the three bit adder.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 19
Objective(s):
To understand how to wire advanced technical circuits requiring the
use of more than one type of logic.
Strategies/activities:
Present practice problems.
Prepare for the semester final exam (a practical with each student
wiring a different part of the circuit).
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Friday - successful completion of the first part of the exam.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 20
Objective(s):
To understand how to wire advanced technical circuits requiring the
use of more than one type of logic.
Strategies/activities:
Continue with the semester final exam (a practical with each student
wiring a different part of the circuit).
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Friday - successful completion of the entire logic problem by the
entire class.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 21
Objective(s):
To understand the concept of a field.
To understand how static electricity is produced.
Strategies/activities:
Define the term field.
Produce static charges through friction.
Show the effects of high voltage on logic circuits.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a quiz on the material.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 22
Objective(s):
To understand the equations for static electrical charges.
Strategies/activities:
Show the electrical forces involved with static charges.
Calculate the magnitude of the forces involved.
Draw field lines for various charge distributions.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a quiz on the material.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 23
Objective(s):
To understand the concept of capacitance and capacitors.
To understand how to calculate the equivalent capacitance of a
capacitor network.
To successfully calculate the charge and voltage on each capacitor
of a capacitor network.
Strategies/activities:
Demonstrate an experimental and physical capacitor.
Define the equations for a capacitor.
Calculate simple series and parallel capacitor circuits.
Calculate all of the parameters involved in a capacitor network.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a quiz on the material.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 24
Objective(s):
To understand the terms voltage (VOLT), current (AMPERE),
conductance (MHO) and resistance (OHM).
To understand the circuit symbols for various electrical devices.
To be able to read the resistance of a resistor from the color
bands painted on it.
Strategies/activities:
Define the terms VOLT, AMPERE (amp), MHO and OHM.
Discuss nerve signals and the magnitude of the electrical currents
involved.
Demonstrate the effects of various voltages and currents.
Draw various circuit symbols and compare the symbols to the actual
physical devices making special note of the difference between a
capacitor and a battery or cell.
Explain the resistor color code.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a quiz on the material.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 25
Objective(s):
To understand how to calculate resistance using the voltmeter-
ammeter method.
To successfully calculate the resistance, current and voltage for a
resistor network.
Strategies/activities:
Demonstrate how to measure resistances and check the measurement
against the resistor color coding.
Demonstrate resistors in series.
Demonstrate resistors in parallel.
Calculate the various parameters of a resistor network.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a quiz on the material.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 26
Objective(s):
To understand Kirchoff's loop rule.
To understand Kirchoff's junction rule.
To successfully calculate various unknowns in a network by using
Kirchoff's laws.
To be able to draw and calculate various parameters of any type of
bridge circuit.
Strategies/activities:
Draw a resistor network, calculate all of the parameters and then
show how Kirchoff's loop and junction rules are derived.
Demonstrate a circuit where neither series nor parallel equations
work and Kirchoff's laws must be used.
Calculate the various parameters of a network using Kirchoff's
laws.
Wire and demonstrate various bridge circuits.
Wire and demonstrate a Wheatstone bridge.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a quiz on the material.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 27
Objective(s):
To understand how a current can exist in a circuit when there is no
power supply.
To understand the theory of a RC circuit and how Kirchoff's laws
must be used to express its operation.
To understand the mathematics behind the natural number e.
To successfully calculate the parameters of an RC circuit and its
associated time constant.
Strategies/activities:
Demonstrate that there is a current in a circuit created by a
capacitor.
Draw the graph of the voltage across the resistor vs. time.
Draw a graph of ln(V/Vo) vs. time, finding both the slope and time
constant.
Derive, using Kirchoff's laws, the RC equation.
Plot the theoretical graph for the circuit from class.
Compare the actual values to the theoretically calculated values.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a quiz on the material.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 28
Objective(s):
To understand the molecular structure of a semiconductor.
To understand the physical process of doping and P-N junctions.
To understand how an oscilloscope can be used to display varying
voltages.
To understand how a rectifier works.
To understand how a transistor works.
Strategies/activities:
Demonstrate an oscilloscope display.
Discuss p-type and n-type doping of group VIII elements.
Display V vs t for an AC circuit on an oscilloscope.
Display V vs t for a half wave rectifier.
Display V vs t for a full wave bridge rectifier.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a quiz on the material.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 29
Objective(s):
To understand the current/field relationships in a magnetic field.
To understand the cross product relationships present.
To be able to work with the equations of the magnetic field near
various current configurations.
Strategies/activities:
Demonstrate the field around a straight wire using a dip angle
needle.
Demonstrate the field around various coils using a dip angle
needle.
Derive the equations for the above demonstrations.
Work example problems.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a quiz on the material.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 30
Objective(s):
To understand how to use the logic boxes to produce a four bit
adder.
Strategies/activities:
Review the logic for a majority circuit.
Review the logic for an odd parity circuit.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a four bit adder.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 31
Objective(s):
To understand how to use the logic boxes to produce a shift
register.
To discover a method for a sequential data transmission system.
Strategies/activities:
Review the logic for a storage circuit.
Review the logic for using the relays as storage elements.
Form a feedback loop within a box using the relays.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a four bit shift register.
Successful wiring of a single feedback stage.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 32
Objective(s):
To understand how to use the logic boxes to produce a sequential
data transmission system.
To calculate the operate/release delay time for a single relay.
Strategies/activities:
Review the wiring for a feedback loop.
Connect all boxes in a large feedback loop.
Calculate the delay time for a particular relay by timing one long
cycle using all of the relays on all of the boxes.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a multistage feedback loop.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 33
Objective(s):
To increase the understanding of the electronic circuits which may
be a part of the AP Physics exam.
Strategies/activities:
Review wiring diagrams.
Review passive (resistors, capacitors, etc.) circuit components and
their interaction.
Review non-ohmic (e.g. diodes) circuit components and their
interactions.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a sample exam.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 34
Objective(s):
To increase the understanding of the electronic circuits which may
be a part of the AP Physics exam.
Strategies/activities:
Review additional wiring diagrams.
Review active (transistors, vacuum tubes, etc.) circuit components
and their interaction.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a sample exam.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 35
Objective(s):
To understand the requirements for machine produced visual
displays.
To understand the requirements for object recognition by a
machine.
Strategies/activities:
Review how the human brain and eyes see and recognize various
object independent of their orientation.
Study the edge effects produced by rotating various simple
geometric shapes.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful written completion of a sample algorithm for object
recognition.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 36
Objective(s):
To understand what is meant by signal to noise ratio and its
relationship to human hearing.
To measure the processing time of a typical human brain.
To understand the requirements for machine voice recognition.
To understand the requirements for voice synthesis.
Strategies/activities:
Have something loud happening as you try to talk and explain that
you can be 'heard' even if the noise is louder than your talking.
Have a student listen to both ends of a tube as it is tapped and
determine the minimum distance for discrete hearing.
Review phoneme based sounds and compare the English language to
others, particularly Japanese.
Introduce both linear predictive coding and votrax (phoneme) synthesis.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a sample algorithm for voice analysis.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 37
Objective(s):
To understand the two methods of producing voice synthesis.
Strategies/activities:
Review and experiment with linear predictive coding.
Review and experiment with votrax (phoneme) synthesis.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a sample program for voice analysis.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 38
Objective(s):
To understand how to make a voice synthesizer properly pronounce a
student's name.
Strategies/activities:
Review the programming necessary for the voice synthesizer.
Experiment and practice with the votrax (phoneme) synthesizer.
Evaluation(s):
Continual participation by all members of the class.
Successful completion of a program which will 'speak' the
student's name.
COMPUTER PHYSICS
OBJECTIVES/STRATEGIES/EVALUATION
WEEK 39
Objective(s):
To successfully complete a final exam on the material presented
during the school year.
Strategies/activities:
Review the year's materials.
Evaluation(s):
Successful completion of a final exam.
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