PHYS 100 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Course Description

Introduction

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 basic philosophy of Physics 100 can be summarized as follows:

  1. Introduction and first chance to think about it (prelectures and checkpoints)
  2. Untangle it (lectures)
  3. Challenge yourself (homework)
  4. Close the loop (discussion)
  5. Test your understanding (online and in-class quizzes)

The order of the above items is very important.

The first exposure you will have to the material will be in the prelectures, available on byteShelf. These are new web-based presentations designed to introduce the key ideas/concepts of the lecture. Study these presentations on your own prior to lectures. This first step should be taken very seriously, as all of the following items depend on this initial exposure to the material.

To get the most out of lecture your participation is required both prior to and during each lecture! Before every lecture you will be required to work through a brief checkpoint on the web. Each checkpoint will probe your understanding of the prelecture material and must be completed by 8am on Friday to receive credit. There are no "bad" checkpoint answers. You will receive full credit if you give it your best shot and answer all the questions. We use your responses to the checkpoint questions (including explanations) to create the lecture.

The lecture will be a highly interactive experience in which you will work with the concepts presented in the prelecture. In particular, we will focus on the conceptual difficulties we observe in your checkpoint responses and we will work through some quantitative problems. You will participate using the i>clicker and will get full credit if you give your best shot. You can also earn "extra-credit" for the questions in lecture that you answer correctly.

The web-based homework covering each weeks material is split in two: Homework A and Homework B. Homework A is due at 11pm on Sunday, while Homework B is due at 8am on Tuesday. Homework problems are designed to test your understanding of the concepts as well as basic problem-solving skills.

To cap things off, a weekly discussion section will go over the concepts you have learned about in the prelectures, lectures, and homework. These sections use a collaborative group learning format. You will work together with 2 or 3 other students on qualitative and quantitative problems that are designed to solidify your understanding of the week's material. Your TA will facilitate this learning by regularly visiting each table to help you construct your understanding.

Finally, to test your understanding of the material, we ask you to take a quiz each week. These quizzes are given online and are due at 8pm on Thursday. 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.

There will be one midterm exam and the final in this course will be given during finals week.

Course Credit

All students are initially registered for TWO CREDIT HOURS. Students who score sufficiently high on the midterm exam will be given the option to reduce the course credit to ONE CREDIT HOUR. Those students who take this option will receive a letter grade for ONE CREDIT HOUR and are not required to participate in the remainder of the course.

Excused Absences

Excused absences will be granted and documented in accordance with University policy as described in Article 1, Part 5 Class Attendance, of the Student Code.

Excused absences fall into the following categories as defined by the code:

Procedures

The Excused Absences application will guide students through the procedure for documenting missed classes, including the effects of the absence on students' grades.