Physics 100 Course Information

This course is designed for students who plan to take Physics 211 but who lack the necessary physics and math preparation. The main focus of the course is to teach the problem solving skills and physical reasoning that are at the core of the Physics 211-214 curriculum. We have found that even after one semester of calculus and one year of high school physics many students do not know how to turn word problems into mathematical expressions, solve the math, and understand the physical significance of the result. The large range of student preparation means that Physics 211 cannot address the needs of many students. It is too easy for some and too difficult for others. We want the latter group to take Physics 100 in order to increase their chances of success.

The first exposure you will have to any material will be when you, on your own and prior to discussion, read about it (1). Check out the "online interactive lecture" first. This lecture is composed of slides with audio commentary. The purpose of this lecture is to present the material for the week. The "Interactive" part refers to the addition of multiple-choice conceptual questions throughout the lecture to test your understanding. In order to proceed to the next slide, you will need to answer the question correctly. If you do not answer the question correctly on the first try, you will be given feedback and presented with another question that should help give you the understanding needed to answer the initial question. Once you have answered this follow-up question correctly, you will be presented the initial question again. This process continues until you answer the initial question correctly.

The Web-based homework (2) covering each week's material is due at 8am on Monday. Homework problems are designed to test your understanding of the concepts as well as basic problem-solving skills. An important part of the homework is the Discussion Section "Preflight". You can access the Preflight only after you have completed the lecture. You will be given full credit for the Preflight if you answer the questions in good faith. i.e., the purpose of the Preflight is to give the Physics 100 staff information on the state of your knowledge of the week's material so that we can design appropriate materials for that week's discussion section. Our plan is to use the results of these Preflights each week to ensure that we spend time in discussion sections on the topics that most of you are having trouble with.

To cap things off, a 2-hour weekly Discussion section (3) will go over the concepts you have learned about in the lectures, text and homework. The materials that are used in the discussion sections are determined by the students' responses to the Preflight that was done as a part of the homework assignment. We expect to address both qualitative and quantitative problems in these sections.

Finally, to test your understanding of the material, we ask you to take an on-line quiz (4). This quiz is due at 8am each Friday. You may feel free to discuss the quiz with other students if you wish. You may submit answers to the quiz at any time; we will grade only your last answers. In two of the weeks, we will replace the on-line quiz with an in class quiz to help you prepare for such exam situations.

To help you keep track of "what is due when" we have put together a handy Web based syllabus. You can link to it here, or from the main Physics 100 homepage.

Textbook:
The textbook for this course is the custom notebook available at the bookstores. This notebook contains a text version of the interactive online lectures and a listing of the preflights for the course. You may find it helpful to bring this notebook to class.

Computer Homework:
Each week you will be responsible for completing a computer-based homework assignment. These assignments are graded and are an integral part of the course.

Each homework set must be completed by the time indicated. For each homework, there are two due dates to keep in mind. To receive full credit, the homework must be completed by the assigned due date. Homework completed after the assigned due date but prior to one week following the assigned due date will be penalized by 5%. No credit is given for homework completed after this second due date.

You may work a problem as many times as you like and only the highest grade is recorded in the gradebook. You can never lower your score by reworking a problem.

Discussion Sessions:
Discussion sections are held in 143 Loomis. These sessions will emphasize collaborative learning of topics which have been covered in readings and in homework. Students will work in teams of three or four on advanced physics problems to help them master the concepts and problem solving techniques required for the exams.

A Web-based discussion Pre-Flight is due each week as a part of the regular homework assignment (usually at 8am on Monday mornings).

Your final grade for Physics 100 will be based upon your total score on all the components of the course. The total possible score is 1000 points, broken down as follows:

Online Interactive Lectures	100
Web-based Homework	200
Discussion Section Preflights	100
Discussion Section Participation	200
On-Line Quizzes	200
Final Exam	200

Gradebook:
The web-based gradebook will show, for all aspects of the class, exactly how you are progressing. At the end of the course, all components will be put together to obtain the final grade. During the term, you should regularly check that the homework and discussion grades are correctly entered in the gradebook. It is your responsibility to bring any problems with your assigned grades to the attention of your section instructor immediately.