Getting students genuinely curious about optics can be a challenge. But when they can point to the lens in their smartphone camera, the prescription in their glasses, or the aperture on a DSLR and say "I understand how that works"—that's when the ...

What if your students could build a wind turbine, optimize it through real investigation, and use it to pump water uphill—all while covering circuits, electromagnetism, energy transfer, and engineering design in one connected renewable energy...

Beer’s law is a cornerstone of high school and introductory college chemistry—but it’s often taught with chemicals that require extra safety considerations and disposal planning. After teaching Beer’s law for decades using traditional compou...

For many students, an amusement park trip is more than just a reward at the end of a school year—it can be the real-world experience that actually makes applied physics click. As Vernier physics and engineering specialist Josh Ence recently shared...

Every summer, AP teachers gather for the annual AP exam reading, a week where educators grade thousands of exams, sharpen their understanding of the rubric, and trade stories about what helps students succeed. During a recent Vernier Trendsetters Co...

When I was teaching AP Physics C, I assumed rotational motion would be easy for my students. These were strong math and science learners—most of them were already in calculus. So I used to introduce rotational motion by saying, “You already know...

In my last blog post, I broke down Question 1 from the 2024 AP Chemistry Exam, which focused on where students struggled with titrations and calorimetry. Now, let’s look at Free-Response Question 3—another tough one for students. This...

Every year, the College Board releases a Chief Reader Report that gives a behind-the-scenes look at how students did on the AP Chemistry free-response questions. It highlights the most common misconceptions, errors, and sticking points—and it’s ...

At my school Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron, Ohio, I teach a semester of organic chemistry as an advanced science elective. Students who choose this course learn about carbon-based compounds, from alkanes to arenes, and use a range of Vernier...

As the AP Exam* season approaches, now is a great time to revisit relevant topics that may have been overlooked during your exam preparation. Certain topics, especially those in electrochemistry, thermodynamics, and kinetics, tend to get missed eith...