Lower Secondary Science

[superkiasume]

Hi Dr Daniel,


Your comments have been most insightful.

I gather that there will not be a change in the upper secondary syllabus then? There will be new textbooks, but the contents will be the same right?

Dr.Daniel:

Yes the Secondary 1 Syllabus is being updated for the year 2013. One major textbook that will be in Popular is Publisher: Pearson, Title: All About Science Volume A & B. I have just purchased these two volumes and in reading through them, my first impression is a good one. They are not very wordy. There are lots of pictures, so that students who are very visual should enjoy them. In terms of content, they provide a good foundation in physics, chemistry and biology, although some of the IP and top schools go further than the content of these books. Also, for problems involving mathematics, I have been seeing harder problems than the examples in these books. But as a starting point for a new Sec 1 student, they look good to me.

Another book that will be in use by some schools is Publisher: Marshall Cavendish, Title: Lower Secondary Science Matters (2nd edition). This book was not available yet today in Popular.

My understanding is that for most schools, the 2013 textbooks apply to Sec 1, while Sec 2 continues with the textbooks they have used last year. This is because most of the lower secondary books are written as a two year series covering both Sec 1 and 2.

For Sec 3 there will be some new books out as well. The Physics Matters from Marshall Cavendish isn’t out yet but there will be a new book for 2013.

So you may want to check with your school on which textbook they intend to use for the 2013 year, but for Sec 1, I will be recommending the Pearson books during our December holiday classes for students to read to get ahead.

[Dr.033430Daniel]

superkiasume:

Hi Dr Daniel,


I gather that there will not be a change in the upper secondary syllabus then? There will be new textbooks, but the contents will be the same right?

I was looking at the MOE website, but dont see anything for Upper Seconday Physics yet (or chem or bio). For English they have their new syllabus up because there are major changes.

For Sec 1, I see a new topic on sound energy that was not emphasised as much before. I usually show students how to tune an acoustic guitar in upper secondary, because sound is a standard topic there. Now I suppose I will do some of that material for everyone in lower Sec also.

But the upper Sec Physics books I have not seen yet. I can post later once they are out and I have a better feel.

[superkiasume]

Dr.Daniel:

superkiasume:

Hi Dr Daniel,


I gather that there will not be a change in the upper secondary syllabus then? There will be new textbooks, but the contents will be the same right?

I was looking at the MOE website, but dont see anything for Upper Seconday Physics yet (or chem or bio). For English they have their new syllabus up because there are major changes.

For Sec 1, I see a new topic on sound energy that was not emphasised as much before. I usually show students how to tune an acoustic guitar in upper secondary, because sound is a standard topic there. Now I suppose I will do some of that material for everyone in lower Sec also.

But the upper Sec Physics books I have not seen yet. I can post later once they are out and I have a better feel.

I see. Thanks, Dr Daniel.

I still have some lower secondary guidebooks from my elder child. Since the change in syllabus is minimal, does it mean that these guidebooks can still be used for my younger child, going into secondary 1 next year?

[Dr.033430Daniel]

superkiasume:

Dr.Daniel:

[quote=\"superkiasume\"]Hi Dr Daniel,


I still have some lower secondary guidebooks from my elder child. Since the change in syllabus is minimal, does it mean that these guidebooks can still be used for my younger child, going into secondary 1 next year?

[/quote]Yes I think as a starting point they can be used. There look to be a couple of topical changes within the new textbooks, but the majority of it is the same.

If you have a student going into Sec1 and they are going to start with physics, make sure they know the metric system as soon as possible. How to convert cm to mm, and m to km and speeds like m/s to km/hr. If they are solid on the metric system, then they have a better chance of understanding the rest of the physics that follows.

[Herbie]

Dr Daniel

Under wat circumstances do we use sin r/sin i for calculation of refractive index? Can advise? Tq

[Dr.033430Daniel]

Herbie:

Dr Daniel

Under wat circumstances do we use sin r/sin i for calculation of refractive index? Can advise? Tq

That looks like a special case of Snell’s Law.

I recommend that students learn the full Snell’s law which is ni sin i = nr sin r. Since diagrams are helpful in explaining this, you can see three solved problems at the following link:

http://www.physicsandcalculus.com/2012/snells-law-problems

[weatherbee]

superkiasume:

Does anyone know if there will be a change in the syllabus for lower and upper secondary science for next year?


I am thinking of buying books in advance for my kids.

Yes, there will be a slight change in syllabus.

[bandmate]

Herbie:

Dr Daniel

Under wat circumstances do we use sin r/sin i for calculation of refractive index? Can advise? Tq

The textbook do not show the full version of Snell's law and it is taken that the circumstance only involve water and air(where the refractive index is approximately 1). For sin r/sin i situations, the circumstance is usually when light have to travels from an optically denser medium like water, to an optically less dense medium like air. So in this case, they reversed it so that you have the angle to the normal from the optically less dense medium to be always at the top of the fraction. When light travels from water to air, the angle of incidence (of the water) is always lesser than the angle of refraction (of the air) with respect to the normal. Therefore, by using sin r/sin i, sin r is always bigger than sin i which gives a value of greater than 1 usually. This tallies with the fact that n is always 1 or greater than 1. Hope this helps.

[bandmate]

bandmate:

Herbie:

Dr Daniel

Under wat circumstances do we use sin r/sin i for calculation of refractive index? Can advise? Tq

The textbook do not show the full version of Snell's law and it is taken that the circumstance only involve water and air(where the refractive index is approximately 1). For sin r/sin i situations, the circumstance is usually when light have to travels from an optically denser medium like water, to an optically less dense medium like air. So in this case, they reversed it so that you have the angle to the normal from the optically less dense medium to be always at the top of the fraction. When light travels from water to air, the angle of incidence (of the water) is always lesser than the angle of refraction (of the air) with respect to the normal, unless the light travels perpendicular to the plane on which the light hits. Therefore, by using sin r/sin i, sin r is always bigger than sin i which gives a value of greater than 1 usually. This tallies with the fact that n is always t1 or greater than 1. Hope this helps.

[Herbie]

bandmate:

Herbie:

Dr Daniel

Under wat circumstances do we use sin r/sin i for calculation of refractive index? Can advise? Tq

The textbook do not show the full version of Snell's law and it is taken that the circumstance only involve water and air(where the refractive index is approximately 1). For sin r/sin i situations, the circumstance is usually when light have to travels from an optically denser medium like water, to an optically less dense medium like air. So in this case, they reversed it so that you have the angle to the normal from the optically less dense medium to be always at the top of the fraction. When light travels from water to air, the angle of incidence (of the water) is always lesser than the angle of refraction (of the air) with respect to the normal. Therefore, by using sin r/sin i, sin r is always bigger than sin i which gives a value of greater than 1 usually. This tallies with the fact that n is always 1 or greater than 1. Hope this helps.

Thanks!