New approach to teaching college physics concepts!   Giambattista/Richardson/Richardson: College Physics was developed from the notes and experiences of the authors sitting next to students in a Learning Center, explaining physical principles. The authors found that students were able to grasp physics principles much more easily, completely, and remember those principles, if they were discussed with-in the context of something students were already familiar with and could relate to. The "Conceptual Framework" approach was developed to do just that and is implemented throughout the Giambattista/Richardson/Richardson text.

Because of the conceptual framework approach, the authors have integrated kinematics with forces in chapters 2-4.
This presentation uses force as the central theme and presents kinematics as a natural extension that is necessary to provide a mathematical description of motion that results from a force being applied. This prevents the material from becoming compartmentalized and viewed, as something to memorize instead of understand how the two work together. This approach allows for a gradual exposure to one-dimensional forces, two-dimensional and then multi-dimensional forces. Students also benefit from being exposed to vectors and their terminology much sooner, allowing them to sharpen their skills on simpler situations and then gain confidence as they continue through the force chapters.

Chapter 8: Torque and Angular Momentum is another great example of how the “conceptual framework” approach has influenced presentation. Rotational kinetic energy is now introduced first since it usually is the easiest of the rotational quantities for the student to understand. It also leads in a very natural way, to the necessity of rotational inertia. Torque, one of the most difficult concepts for many students, is introduced after the student already has some understanding of other rotational concepts.

Problem Solving Approach: Giambattista/Richardson/Richardson employs a consistent approach to the presentation of examples. Every example includes: strategy, solution, discussion, and practice problem (with answer at end-of-chapter). Care is taken to make sure that students are equipped with tools to solve problems and that they do not just MEMORIZE STEPS to solve that one example problem.

Unparalleled Illustration Program: Giambattista offers an incredible visual program that combines "showcase" pieces with diagrammatic pieces to aid student understanding. Showcase pieces are used with concepts that tend to be difficult for students to understand. These showcase pieces allow students to visualize more difficult situations. The integrated diagrammatic art helps to break that difficult situation into a simple model.

Extensive End-of-Chapter Material which includes:
* Master These Concepts (summary of CONCEPTS as well as the integrated equations)
* Highlighted Figures and Tables

Problems --clearly, one of the most closely scrutinized portions of any college physics textbook is the end-of-chapter material including but not limited to the quality and quantity of problems. The Giambattista/Richardson/Richardson problems have consistently reviewed very well and have been quadruple checked for accuracy. The various problem types are as follows:
* Conceptual Questions
* Multiple Choice Review Questions (with more on the website)
* Problems by Section (featuring paired problems)
* Comprehensive Problems
* Combination Problems (quantitative and conceptual problems combined)

ALEKS for College Physics! This tremendously successful math tutorial system will be available with the Giambattista text. This program designed to deal only with the math operations needed for college physics, is designed to work with students current knowledge base, see where they need help, and then supply that additional information and problems to help students master those math concepts once and for all!

Interactive Applets! These "Interactives" offer a fresh and dynamic method to teach the physics basics by providing students with applets that are completely accurate and work with real data. The Interactives allow students to manipulate parameters and gain a better understanding of 15 of the more difficult physics topics by watching the effect of these manipulations. Each Interactive includes: • Analysis Tool (interactive model) • Tutorial describing its function • Content describing its principle themes • Related Exercises • Solutions to the exercises.