Joyful Physics Volume II: Learning by Experiencing - Momentum, Gravitational Force, and Weight Workbook

Presently, 90 percent of students in middle and high schools are fearful of physics. As a result, they keep on avoiding physics till they encounter it in college as a prerequisite, and then feel lost. If nothing is done about it, this trend of feeling helpless will continue to shadow their potential.

The solution is to make students at ease with physics before or during middle and high school by connecting the laws of physics to their world of high-fives, coming down the slides, shooting balls, or simply drinking water from fountains.

In the first volume of the book, the concepts of energy and Newton's three laws of motion were covered. In this second volume, the concepts of momentum, gravitational force and weight are covered. There are no equations in any chapter of both the volumes. Physics has been simplified to pure English with many joyful photos, and simple experiments that can be done with the stuff inside the home or outside in the playgrounds.

Now, can physics be more beautiful or easier than that?

DR. GUNJAN RAIZADA fell in love with physics in a science fair conducted by middle schoolers when she was ten years old. A seed of physics was sown into her that day. After that, in Grade 12 (after six years) she was taught physics by a wonderful teacher, and then she clearly knew she wanted to pursue physics. She continued to earn scholarships to complete her PhD in physics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. She realized during her PhD that physics is everywhere, in the playground and inside homes. Math and equations only complicate the learning of physics. When she was teaching at San Jose State University in the US, she realized the need of teaching physics to elementary graders without math or equations.She followed her children in their schools and did workshops teaching physics concepts with basketball rolling/ shooting and water fountains. Additionally, she regularly wrote about those workshops on a blog after every workshop. She took notes on what worked with Grades 4 to 6 students and what did not. This book is the essence of that blog. It has been written with a lot of passion to educate students. The goal is that every student who reads this book begins observing, thereby tapping into the inherent Newton within themselves. She describes her passion as, "Enthusiastic to sow the seed of loving physics in all students (ages 9 to 20) all over the world." She speaks from her firsthand teaching experience that the simple experiential experiments that work smoothly with age 9 also work very well with college students. And once those students have their fundamentals nailed (in their bodies) using Joyful Physics series as an introductory book, it becomes easy to add the layer of Equations (from their curriculum textbook, whenever they encounter Equations). Guess what? Using Joyful Physics series, physics will become joyful to all students in all school grades and college levels all over the world.