HS Main | Courses | IB | IGCSE | Awards | Activities

PHYSICS

IGCSE PHYSICS
The IGCSE Physics is a two year course which includes many different categories. Students start the first year by learning general physics, consisting of length and time, speed velocity and acceleration, mass and weight, density, forces energy, work, power, and pressure. In the second semester, students learn thermal physics which includes the states of matter, molecular model, evaporation, thermal expansion, of solids, liquids, gases, and measurement of temperature, thermal capacity and the transfer of thermal energy. After that, they learn properties of waves, light and sound. More specifically, students, learn general wave properties, reflection of light, refraction of light, converging lens, dispersion of light and electromagnetic spectrum. They also learn the different sound properties such as frequency, compression, and rarefaction.

 The second year of IGCSE Physics introduces electricity and other topics. In the first semester, students, learn electric and magnetism, electric charge, current, electromotive force, potential difference and resistance. After this knowledge, students learn electric circuits. Students go on to learn the uses of electricity and the dangers of electricity as well as electromagnetic effects. The second semester includes the introduction of electronics such as cathode rays, atomic physics (radioactivity) and the nuclear atoms. The students spend most of the fourth quarter revising all they had learned.

IB Standard/Higher Level PHYSICS
The IB SL/HL Physics course is a 2 year course that is broken down into 8 quarters. In the first quarter students learn Measurement, which consists of standards of measurement, vectors and scalars, graphical techniques, uncertainties and errors. Then they learn Mechanics which is the study of kinematical concepts, linear motion with constant acceleration, concepts of force and mass, Newton’s first law of motion, Newton’s second law of motion, Newton’s third law of motion, Projectile, simple harmonic motion and uniform circular motion, linear momentum, work , energy, power, Universal Gravitation, momentum and energy. In the second quarter, students learn Thermal Physics, atomic model of matter and states of matter, thermal concepts, specific heat, latent heat, heat transmission and thermal properties of gases. After that, students learn waves, traveling wave characteristics, behavior of waves and standing waves. Students also learn Optics, ray optics, wave optics, electromagnetic optics, corpuscular optics, and contemporary optics. In the third quarter, students learn electricity and magnetism, electric charge, force, field, potential, current, circuits, magnetic fields and electromagnetic induction. They also learn atomic and nuclear physics which includes atoms and their constituents, nuclei and their constituents. Finally in the fourth quarter, students learn Special and General relativity, frames of reference, historical context, postulates and fundamental concepts of special relativity, development and experimental support of basic effects of special relativity. After that, they revise until the IB exam. In the sixth quarter, students learn measurement including, units and mathematical techniques, graphical techniques, uncertainties and errors. They also learn mechanics which includes dynamics, projectile motion, simple harmonic motion, circular motion, universal gravitation, momentum and energy and rotational motion of a rigid body. A Students learn thermal physics and properties of matter, thermal concepts and intermolecular interactions, evaporation and thermal expansions and thermodynamics. They also learn waves, traveling waves, interference and diffraction, source/detector movement and standing waves. Students also learn optics, ray optics, wave optics, electromagnetic optics, corpuscular optics and contemporary optics. In the seventh quarter, students learn electricity and magnetism, electric force, field, potential, magnetic fields, electromagnetic induction and the cathode ray oscilloscope. Students also learn atomic and nuclear physics, atoms and their constituents, nuclei and their constituents, energy changes within atoms, energy changes within nuclei, interaction of matter and energy and particle physics.  In the final quarter, students learn special and general relativity, frames of reference, historical context, postulates and fundamental concepts of special relativity, development and experimental support of basic effects of special relativity. The content of the program is subject to revisions by the IB Organization.

Back to course listing