Problems of physics assessment: Past papers

Feynman's insights, goofs or...?

In a letter to Miss Cox, Feynman (1975) admits that there is a goof in The Feynman Lectures on Physics and explains that her teacher was right in penalizing her for giving the wrong answer. However, there are both insights and goofs in Feynman’s famous lectures and students should not simply memorize his words for examinations. As another example, Feynman (1994) explains that “you can either have the idea that heat is some kind of a fluid which flows from a hot thing, and leaks into the cold thing; or you can have a deeper understanding, which is closer to the way it is – that the atoms are jiggling, and their jiggling passes their motion on to the others (p. 127).” Feynman’s explanations of heat can be considered incorrect because they are related historical conceptions of heat. Currently, in assessment criteria, physics teachers may define heat as a “process of energy transfer” or “energy in transit by virtue of a temperature difference.”

Furthermore, in Feynman’s words, “the emf is defined as the tangential force per unit charge in the wire integrated over length, once around the complete circuit (Feynman et al., 1964, section 16–1 Motors and generators).” Based on current assessment criteria, the electromotive force is commonly defined as an open-circuit potential difference or work done per unit charge in moving a quantity of charge completely around a circuit. Thus, students could be penalized if they quote Feynman’s definition of electromotive force during an examination. However, Feynman’s lectures and his other works are often insightful. It is worthwhile to analyze Feynman’s discussions of physical concepts that are related to examination questions and assessment criteria. More importantly, the discussions below on Feynman’s lectures (insights or goofs) could be both enlightening and entertaining!

References:

1. Feynman R. P. (1975). Letter to Beulah E. Cox. In Feynman, R. P. (2005). Perfectly reasonable deviations from the Beaten track: The letters of Richard P. Feynman (M. Feynman, ed.). New York: Basic Books.

2. Feynman, R. P. (1994). No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.

3. Feynman, R. P., Leighton, R. B., & Sands, M. (1963). The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol I: Mainly mechanics, radiation, and heat. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

4. Feynman, R. P., Leighton, R. B., & Sands, M. (1964). The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol II: Mainly electromagnetism and matter. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Past papers:

Advanced Placement (Physics 1)

Year 2016

AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based 2016 Free Response Question 1 (Rolling wheel)

AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based 2016 Free Response Question 2 (Ball’s collisions)

AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based 2016 Free Response Question 3 (Cart on tracks)
AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based 2016 Free Response Question 4 (Electrical resistance)

AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based 2016 Free Response Question 5 (Wave speed)

Year 2015

AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based 2015 Free Response Question 1 (Atwood’s machine)

AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based 2015 Free Response Question 2 (Electric current)

AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based 2015 Free Response Question 3 (Horizontal block-spring)

AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based 2015 Free Response Question 4 (Projectile)

AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based 2015 Free Response Question 5 (String: standing waves)