Physics Lyceum: Middle School
Real Deep Physics for talented students in grades 7–8. Taught by expert physicists.
- Each course
- Theory, problem solving, labs, and the connection to the real world.
- Formats
- In-person in Princeton, or online from anywhere. Plus optional Physics Day, one Saturday a month.
- Length
- 16-week courses, one topic at a time.
- Weekly commitment
- One 1.5-hour class a week, plus about 2–3 hours on your own.
- Cohort
- Up to 12 students in person, up to 8 online.
- Tuition
- $2,750 per course, in any format. Lab equipment included.
Taught by expert physicists. Meet the instructors.
The four topics also run as two-week summer camps, in Princeton and online. See the Summer Programs page.
Enrollment and Tuition
Tuition
- $2,750per course
- Formats
- In-person in Princeton, or online from anywhere
- Cohort
- Up to 12 in person, up to 8 online
- SoTS Physics Day
- One Saturday a month in Princeton, included and open to every student
- Summer
- Two-week camps in Princeton and online at $2,750 per camp
Payment and refunds
- Payment is due at enrollment
- We cancel, or the minimum cohort does not form: full refund
- You cancel 1+ week before the start: full refund
- You cancel less than 1 week before: no refund
Middle School Physics Lyceum Courses
The middle school program of the SoTS Physics Lyceum offers 16-week courses in Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Electricity & Magnetism, and Optics, each delivering the full Deep Physics experience at a middle school level.
Each course covers theory built in class, problem solving and discussion, and hands-on labs. Results are reasoned out rather than handed over, with reasoning happening out loud with classmates.
Labs. Students design their own experimental procedures: what to measure, how to measure it, and how to interpret the results. The class discusses the approach together before anyone gets to run an experiment at home.
The Lyceum provides all equipment, handing it to in-person students and shipping it to online students.
Demonstrations using videos. Videos showcase phenomena at scales beyond the classroom, from very big or small to very fast or slow. They can slow a phenomenon down, magnify it, or show perspectives impossible in person.
Thought experiments. Much of physics reasoning uses thought experiments (Imagine a windowless train: can you tell it is moving? What if it accelerates?) Students reason through these, debate with classmates, find where intuition breaks, and understand why. This is what Einstein did in Princeton, and what many physicists do regularly.
Physics in everyday life. Students learn to see physics in the world around them.
SoTS Physics Day
One Saturday a month, SoTS students gather in Princeton. It is open across every group, course, and program: a chance to ask questions, discuss ideas, get help with problem solving, and meet new people working on physics.
Physics Day is included in tuition and open to all middle school students, whether they attend in person or online. The program is complete without it. Online students get everything they need remotely, and everyone is welcome to join in Princeton when they can.
Courses
4 coursesPrerequisites
- Grade: Open to students in grades 7–8.
- Math: Comfort with basic algebra. Right-triangle trig (used in Optics for Snell’s law) is introduced as needed. No calculus.
- Physics: No prior physics required. Each course starts from first principles.
Certificates and Transcripts
Tuition covers the teaching, the lab equipment, and one in-person Pass/Fail evaluation. The evaluation is optional. After completing a course, a student may schedule it with the instructor. It may include solving problems and a conversation with the instructor about the material. It may also take into account homework and classwork grades. A passing evaluation earns a certificate for that topic. Students who earn certificates across more than one topic also receive a cumulative transcript listing them, a unique external record useful for any student demonstrating substantial physics study before high school. See Certificates and Transcripts for every credential the Lyceum issues, and the Lyceum overview for our grading philosophy.