Physics 1 APSI
June 29-July 2, 2015
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Region 16 ESC - 5800 Bell Street - Amarillo, TX
Instructor Biography:
Jeff Funkhouser has been teaching physics at the academic, Pre-AP and AP levels for more than a quarter century in the
North Texas area. He currently serves as the science department chair at Greenhill School in Addison, TX. He has worked
as Exam Leader, Question Leader, Table Leader and Reader at the annual AP Physics Reading in June since summer 2002.
He served on the AP Physics B test development committee from 2009 – 2013 including as the co-chair of that
committee during the last three years of its existence. While performing consulting duties in the areas of Pre-AP Physics,
AP Physics B and AP Physics C since 1999, Jeff has delivered workshop sessions, full-day trainings and week long summer
institutes throughout the Southwest Region as well as in Seattle, WA, at the AP Annual Conference, and in Dubai, UAE.
Course Description:
This institute is designed for teachers of the AP Physics 1 course. Participants at this summer institute will focus their
efforts on understanding the forms of response students are expected to provide on both Free Response questions and
Multiple Choice questions. They will investigate a question from the 2015 AP 1 test in detail developing a comprehensive
answer to all parts, designing a scoring rubric, comparing that rubric to the officially released version, and using the
official rubric to score students samples from the 2015 Reading. Additional work will allow participants to develop a
sense of the scope of the Physics 1 course and develop and use basic mechanics, simple waves, and electric circuits lab
exercises both in the classroom and using simulation websites. A comprehensive set of ancillary resources will be shared
with all participants that will include editable versions of all released free response questions from 1976 through 2013 as
well as the complete multiple choice tests from 1984, 88, 93, 98, and 2004 for both Physics B and C and the 1 & 2 Practice
Exams from 2014.