Physics Lyceum: Middle School
Real Deep Physics for grades 7–8, for students who want to know why. Taught by expert physicists through clear theory and thought experiments. Online from anywhere or in-person in Princeton.
- Open to
- Curious students in grades 7–8 with a talent to wonder and the patience to think hard.
- Formats
- In-person in Princeton, hybrid (one weekly class in person, one online), or online from anywhere.
- Length
- 8-week modules, one topic at a time, year-round.
- Weekly commitment
- Two 1.5-hour classes (theory + seminar), spaced for ideas to settle, plus about 2–3 hours on your own.
- Cohort
- Up to 12 students in person or hybrid, up to 8 online.
- Taught by
- Dr. Sergey Samsonau or other expert physicists.
The four topics also run as two-week summer camps, in Princeton and online. See the Summer Programs page.
Enrollment & Refund Policy
Tuition: this is a tuition-based program. We send an invoice once you enroll — schedule a call or email us.
Where: In-person in Princeton, NJ, or live online from anywhere.
Enrollment: Modules start at the beginning of a month, throughout the year. Schedule a call to find the right entry point and topic.
Payment due at enrollment. Full refund if we cancel or minimum cohort size is not formed. If you need to cancel: full refund 1+ week before start; no refund less than 1 week before.
Lyceum courses are taught by Dr. Sergey Samsonau and other expert physicists. See who leads the Lyceum.
About the Middle School Physics Lyceum
The middle school program of the SoTS Physics Lyceum. Each course is an 8-week module on a single topic: Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Electricity & Magnetism, or Optics. A student takes one topic at a time, usually beginning with Mechanics or Optics.
A motivated student finishes all four topics during 7th and 8th grade and arrives at the high school Lyceum already grounded in classical physics.
Four Physics Topics for Grades 7–8
Each topic stands on its own and starts from first principles, so a student can begin with any of the four. Mechanics and Optics make especially good first topics: Mechanics builds the work, energy, and power ideas that return in Thermodynamics and Electricity & Magnetism, while Optics is fully self-contained. Each topic page shows the phenomena it explains and the six core ideas it covers.
Mechanics
How things move, push, and stay still. Motion and frames of reference; forces (gravity, friction, springs); pressure in solids, liquids, and gases; Archimedes’ principle and buoyancy; work, energy, and power; simple machines and equilibrium.
Read details →Thermodynamics
What heat really is and how it moves. Temperature and thermal motion; the three modes of heat transfer; specific heat and calorimetry; phase transitions with latent heat; an intuitive kinetic picture of matter; a first look at heat engines.
Read details →Electricity & Magnetism
How electricity flows and how magnets work. Charge, conductors, and insulators; current, voltage, resistance, and Ohm’s law; series and parallel circuits; electric power and Joule heating; magnetic fields of currents and permanent magnets; the electric motor.
Read details →Optics
How light behaves and how we see. Light as rays; reflection and mirror images; refraction and Snell’s law; lenses with the thin-lens formula and ray-tracing; color and dispersion; the eye and basic optical instruments.
Read details →Clear Theory and Thought Experiments
Middle school physics is often given as a show. Blow this up, spin that, watch this explode. Exciting in the moment. For some kids, it’s not enough. They want to know why.
We teach through clear theory and thought experiments: theory built up step by step, paired with questions of the form What would happen if...? Students reason through a physical situation in their minds, debate with classmates, discover where their intuition breaks, and find out why. Then they develop new intuition.
Imagine you’re in a train with no windows. Can you tell if you’re moving? How? What if the train accelerates? What do you feel?
This is how Einstein did physics. In Princeton. With pen, paper, and imagination. It’s also how real scientists work today: the demonstration comes after the understanding, not instead of it.
We do show real phenomena, once students have done the reasoning. We use a carefully selected collection of short YouTube clips that demonstrate the physics we’ve just derived: a light ray bending as it enters water, iron filings tracing the field lines of a bar magnet, a Newton’s cradle transferring momentum down the line. The clip confirms the intuition; it doesn’t replace it.
Session Format
Theory class: Concepts built from first principles at the level appropriate to middle school: real ideas, presented honestly, not watered down. Derivations worked out on the board.
Seminar: Problems of increasing difficulty, worked individually and in small groups. Discussion follows: compare approaches, argue, check each other’s reasoning. Students may present solutions on the board. Instructor asks guiding questions and addresses common errors.
Cohort size: Up to 12 students in person or hybrid, up to 8 online.
No phones or computers. We focus on thinking through problems together.
Time commitment. Plan on roughly 2–3 hours of independent work each week alongside the 3 hours of class, working through problems and reviewing what was covered in class. The homework load is intentionally lighter than at the high school level: at this age, the goal is building intuition and problem-solving habits, not pushing through dense derivations.
Prerequisites
- 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 module starts from first principles.
Certificates and Transcripts
Tuition covers the teaching and one in-person Pass/Fail evaluation. The evaluation is optional. After completing a module, 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 the Lyceum overview for our grading philosophy.