PHYS 102 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

James Scholar Assignments

Eligibility

In order to obtain James Scholars credit in PHYS 102, 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.
Complete the James Scholars homework assignment explained below.

Please note that the grades on these assignments DO NOT affect your overall PHYS 102 grade in any way.

This semester, your James Scholar grader is John Slimak (slimak2@illinois.edu).
Please join the Gradescope course for this semester using the code: 57Y85P
Office hours will be held via zoom and are available by request.

James Scholar Assignment

Your honors credit will involve the following activities:

Selecting a physics-based article, of not less than 4 pages, from the last 2 years from a reputable science journal. Examples include (but are not limited to):
- Scientific Americalon
- Physics Today
- The Physics Teacher
- Nature
Writing a short essay (no less than 500 words) summarizing the article in your own words.
- the level of your explanation should be appropriate for teaching the material to junior or senior high school students.
- the explanation should be in your own words, and excerpts from the article should be appropriately cited as such.
- Spelling, grammar, and clarity of exposition will all play a role in the evaluation of your paper.

Due Dates:

Friday, Oct 6 at 5pm:
- You should upload a proposal for the article to the James Scholar page for the course on GradeScope.
- Provide a copy of the article or a link to it if it is available online.
- Your professor or JS grader will get back to you right away (via e-mail) to tell you if your proposal is acceptable, or how to improve it.
Thursday, Dec 7 at 5pm (Reading Day):
- Upload the final written report to the James Scholar page for the course on GradeScope.

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: https://students.grainger.illinois.edu/jscholar/hcla/