PHYS 101 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
James Scholar Credit
Page Contents
James Scholar Project Eligibility
Project Description - Track 1 - Track 2
Eligibility
In order to obtain James Scholars credit in Physics 101, you must:
- Be admitted to the James Scholar program in your college.
- Complete an Honors Credit Learning Agreement and submit it to your college by your college's deadline.
- Submit a project proposal and get it approved by the James Scholar grader.
- Submit a project paper and revise it based on grader feedback until all criteria are satisfied.
Please note that the grades on these assignments DO NOT affect your overall PHYS 101 grade IN ANY WAY.
Timeline and Deadlines
|
Deadline |
Where to turn in | Project component |
|---|---|---|
| College dependent | Your College | Honors Credit Learning Agreement |
| 5:00pm on September 29, 2023 | Gradescope | Proposal (web form) |
| October 2 through Ocbober 20 | Gradescope | Proposal feedback and resubmission |
| 5:00pm on November 10, 2023 | Gradescope | Paper First Draft due(document upload) |
| November 15 through December 6 | Gradescope | Paper feedback and resubmission |
| 5:00pm on December 7 | Gradescope | Final deadline for papers |
This semester, your James Scholar grader is John Slimak (slimak2@illinois.edu).
Please join the Gradescope course for this semester using the code: 3J4E5B
Office hours will be held via zoom and are available by request.
James Scholar Project Description
This semester we are offering two tracks for the James Scholar Assignment: (1) Physics History and (2) Current Physics.
Your honors credit will be based on an assignment that involves:
- Choosing one of the two tracks and identifying your topic and/or article that is relevant to Physics 101 material.
- writing a <1000 word summary of the topic or article with your interpretation that is relevant to Physics 101 material.
Track 1: Physics History
In this first option, you will choose a concept related to Physics 101 and do some research related to the history of that concept. By the end of the semester, you will turn in a >1000 word paper summarizing the history of the concept at the level a high school student can understand, explaining the ideas involved, how they changed over time and why, and who was involved in these ideas. Wikipedia can be a great resource to get started with these topics, but your research should utilize other reputable and citable resources such as the Center for History of Physics, journals like History of Science, Science in Context, and Perspectives on Science, or books like Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
Some options you may wish to investigate include:
- Development of ideas about force and motion in Ancient Greece and/or the Islamic Golden Age and how they are similar and/or different from the ideas we hold today.
- Development of physics concepts or physics-related inventions from non-Western cultures, including China and India, Africa, and Indigenous peoples in North and South America. This list provides some ideas of where to get started.
- The evolution of specific concepts over time. Some ideas include:
- Free fall occurring with constant acceleration
- Establishment and refinement of the concept of inertia
- Determining that gravitational mass is the same as inertial mass
- Measuring g (acceleration due to gravity, near the Earth's surface) and the engineering that went into developing new measurement methods
- Measuring G (Universal Gravitational Constant)
- Theories about momentum and collisions
- Theories about angular momentum
- Definition and quantification of heat
The proposal must identify the topic you wish to cover, summarize how it is of historical interest, and provide at least three resources you plan to use for that topic.
Track 2: Current Physics
In this second option, you will find a recent journal article that contains material related to the concepts covered in Physics 101. By the end of the semester, you will turn in a >1000 word paper summarizing the article at the level a high school student can understand, explaining the ideas involved and identifying how the work in the article connects to Physics 101.
The article must:
- come from a science-focused source such as Scientific American, the American Journal of Physics, European Journal of Physics, Science Magazine, Nature, or other peer-reviewed journals.
- be more than 500 words long
- be less than 5 years old
- be approved by your instructor.
The proposal must include a link to or pdf copy of the article and at least one paragraph explaining how it is relevant to Physics 101.
Paperwork
If you are already a James Scholar, you should complete an Honors Credit Learning Agreement form, get it signed, and submit it to your college office.
- College of LAS: https://my.atlas.illinois.edu/james-scholar/
- College of AHS: http://ahs.illinois.edu/james-scholar
- College of ACES: https://academics.aces.illinois.edu/honors/james-scholars/guide
- College of Engineering: https://my.engr.illinois.edu/james-scholar/
- Division of General Studies: https://dgs.illinois.edu/james-scholar-honors
How do I get the form signed?
- College of LAS: Your instructor will be notified through the portfolio tool.
- College of AHS: http://ahs.illinois.edu/james-scholar
- College of ACES: https://academics.aces.illinois.edu/honors/james-scholars/guide
- College of Engineering: Your instructor will be notified through the portfolio tool.
Proposal Evaluation
Your James Scholar Project proposal will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Clear indication of the track you are choosing
- A clear title is provided
- A summary of the topic is provided and is consistent with the resources provided
- You have identified how the topic is related to Physics 101
- The resources provided are appropriate for the proposal:
- For an article: The topic is related to Physics 101, the article is less than five years old, and it comes from a peer-reviewed journal
- For a history topic: At least three credible resources are provided that are on-topic and that show you have enough information to coherently begin explaining the historical development
Proposals that satisfy all these criteria will be approved to move forward with a James Scholar Paper. If your proposal does not satisfy these criteria you will have an opportunity to respond to feedback and resubmit your proposal in Gradescope for approval.
Paper Evaluation
Your paper will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Fulfilling the length requirements
- Formatting and clarity
- Completeness and correctness of content
- Appropriate level of explanation of content
We will require you to satisfy all paper criteria in order to earn honors credit for Physics 101. We are using a revise and resubmit approach to this project: We will provide feedback on each draft you submit and you will be able to make revisions and resubmit in Gradescope until either (1) all criteria are satisfied or (2) the final deadline passes. If your first draft satisfies all the paper criteria you will not need to resubmit. Papers submitted after the first draft deadline will have reduced opportunities to receive feedback. Please work with the grader if you run into any difficulties.