The Karlsruhe Physics Course.

This is the course for secondary school I would have attended when I first met physics. The books and the related material are free (http://www.physikdidaktik.uni-karlsruhe.de). I think the Karlsruhe Physics Course (KPK) is very enlightening and that it can really improve the understanding of physic. I found particularly remarkable the aspects listed below:    

• to present different energy carriers instead of different forms of energy (energy is energy is energy! Think of information: you don’t think of different forms of information depending on what medium carries it);

• to describe Newton’s laws in term of momentum current (from the viewpoint of modern physics the three laws are expression of the conservation of momentum);

•  to introduce the concept of entropy from the very beginning;

•  to point out that electric and magnetic fields are physical systems and not mathematical constructions.

KPK is the only course I know of that teachs physics with the aim of not to “reproduce historical errors ... to learn inappropriate concepts and employ outdated methods" (Historical Burdens on Physics).

The theoretical minimum

The eminent Stanford's physicist Leonard Susskind has taught a series of courses in Continuing Studies program, in which he covers the essential foundations of modern physics. “Theoretical minimum” means just what you need to know in order to proceed to the next level. You can find the lectures and related materials online (http://theoreticalminimum.com). I found it extremely useful as a guide and I use Susskind’s Teheoretical Minimum as the reference frame in my study.