The first exposure you will have to any material will be when you, on your own and prior to lecture, read about it in the text-book (1). This first step is one that all of the following items rest on, and should be taken very seriously.
The lecture (2) will not simply requrgitate what you have read, rather it will take the concepts you are having difficulty understanding and will expand/explain them, usually with the aid of demonstrations.
This is not a traditional approach. Your participation is required both prior to and during each lecture!
The lectures themselves will be very interactive, and your participation is strongly recommended.
Labs (3) are on Tuesdays and Thursdays and are designed to give you the opportunity to explore the concepts you have read about in the textbook and discussed in lecture.
The Web-based homework (4) covering each weeks material is due at 8am on the day indicated in the daily planner. This means you will have the background of reading the text and the experience of two lectures and a hands-on lab to guide you in finishing each homework assignment. Homework problems are designed to test your understanding of the concepts as well as simple problem-solving skills.
To cap things off, two 2-hour weekly Discussion sections (5) will go over the concepts you have learned about in the text reading, lectures, lab and homework.
To help you keep track of "what is due when" we have put together a handy Web based daily planner. You can link to it here, or from the main Physics 102 homepage.
Plea for Participation
It should be clear to you that the new Physics 102 relies very heavily on student interaction and feedback. The lectures will be extremely interactive. Please participate!
Required Background
The only "official" pre-requisite for this class is Physics 101. As in Physics 101 we will assume you are sufficiently adept with math to solve simple simoultaneous equations and manipulate vectors.
Note for Pre-Med's
For many
of you Physics 101 and 102 will be an important part of your preparation for
the MCAT exam. Rest assured that this has been one of the brightest beacons
guiding the re-design of these classes.
Course Component Details
Textbook:
The required text for this class is College Physics, Vol. 2, 3rdd by Giambattista, Richardson, Richardson. Optional study guides and solution manuals for this text
will be available at the book store, but are not required.
Lectures:
Lectures are held in 151 Loomis on Monday through Thursday mornings at 11am,
and you are strongly encouraged to attend and participate. (you are encouraged
to read the textbook before the lecture).
Lab
Session:
Lab sessions are held in 258 Loomis. The laboratory portion of Physics
102 will consist of ten 3-hour laboratories, each involving a series of activities,
including (i) setting up simple experiments to investigate topics you've studied
in class, (ii) making predictions about the outcome of your experiments, (iii)
performing measurements of different phenomena you've studied in lecture, (iv)
analyzing your experimental results, and (v) answering questions concerning
your results and predictions.
Computer
Homework:
Each week you will be responsible for completing two computer-based homework
assignments. 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 10%. 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 139 Loomis. These sessions will
emphasize collaborative learning of topics which have already been covered in
lecture and homework. Students will work in teams of four on advanced physics
problems to help them master the concepts and problem solving techniques required
for the exams. Quizzes will be given at the end of each discussion section.
The quizzes will be graded for credit, each individuals mastery of the weeks
topics.
Exams:
Three 75 minute multiple-choice "hour" exams will be given (See the Course Schedule).
Bring a calculator and writing utensils to all exams. Bring your official university
identification card to show upon request.
Exam Corrections
After each hour exam you will be required to submit a detailed solution, including worked out equations and explainations for
each problem that you did not receive full credit for on the exam.
The final
exam will be two hours in length and will cover material from the whole semester.
You will be told when and where to take your final exam as soon as that information
becomes available to the Physics 102 staff.
Your final grade for Physics 102 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:
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The breakdown of total points versus course letter grade will be approximately:
A+(950), A(920), A-(900), B+(880), B(860), B-(835), C+(810), C(780), C-(750),
D+(720), D(690), D-(610), and F(<610).
Note that
we will NOT use the common 90/80/70/60 breakdown for letter grades; the
cutoffs are generally higher. The reason for this is that for some parts of
the course the average score is typically very high. For example, there is
no reason you should not be able to score 100% on your web based homework . You should also be able to do very well on Labs, Corrections
and Quizzes.
This means that you cannot compensate for low examination grades by getting
high homework/lab/quiz grades. On the other hand, you can seriously
lower your grade by doing poorly on these. The real payoff for doing
well on the homework, quizzes and labs is a better understanding
of the physics and consequently higher examination scores.
Since the grade "cutoffs" are set at the beginning of the semester, you are not competing with your fellow students for a high position on a "final curve". It is in principle possible for everyone to get an "A" grade in this class.
Gradebook:
The web-based gradebook will show, for all aspects of the class, exactly how
you are progressing. At the end of the course, quiz, homework and lab components
will be put together to obtain the final grade. During the term, you should
regularly check that the exam, homework, lab, and quiz 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.
Absences
and Excused Grades:
There will be no make-ups for missed exams, quizzes or laboratory work in Physics
102. Unexcused absences from hour exams or quizzes will receive a score of AB,
which is numerically equivalent to zero. Similarly, prelabs or lab reports that
are not turned in at the time they are due and in the lab section for which
you are registered will be scored AB, unless an excused absence is granted.
An excused absence from an hour exam will receive the score EX. At the end of the semester, hour-exam EX scores will be replaced by a weighted average of all of your non-EX scores on exams (hour exams and final exam). Similarly, an excused absence from a quiz will receive an EX and such scores will be replaced by the semester average of all non-EX quiz scores. EX scores for prelabs and lab reports will be treated in a similar manner.
Typically, EX scores for exams, quizzes, prelabs and lab reports exams will be granted only in one of the following circumstances: (a) illness; (b) personal crisis (e.g., automobile accident, required court appearance, death of a close relative or friend, weather conditions preventing travel to campus); and (c) required attendance at an official UIUC activity (e.g., varsity athletics, band concert).
In case (a), go to the McKinley Health Center. After you have been seen, you will receive a Visit Confirmation note that you should take to the course secretary in 231/233 Loomis. (Do not take it to an instructor.) She will make a a photocopy of the note for the course record book and will distribute copies to all of your instructors (lecturer, discussion TA, and lab TA). You may choose instead go to a private physician and obtain a written excuse. That excuse should contain your doctor's name and telephone number. Take the excuse note to the course secretary for recording, confirmation, and notification of your instructors.
In case (b) contact the Dean of Students' Office 333-0050. (At night this number is referred to as the Emergency Dean). The Dean's Office will subsequently send you a letter and a copy to the course secretary. She will place it in the course record book and send copies to all of your Physics 102 instructors.
In case (c) inform your lecturer in advance that you will be missing an hour exam and request an EX score. Similarly, inform your discussion TA if you will be missing a quiz or your lab TA if you will be missing a laboratory session. In addition, obtain a written note of confirmation from an official of the sponsoring office and take that note to the course secretary in 231/233 Loomis for recording and distribution to all of your instructors. (Alternatively, request that the note be sent directly to the course secretary.)
If you miss an hour exam for any reason, contact your lecturer and describe the circumstances. He or she will consider the merits of your case and determine whether an EX score is justified.
If you miss a quiz or fail to turn in a prelab or lab report for any reason, contact your TA for that activity and describe the circumstances. Your TA will typically consult with one or more members of the course faculty before deciding whether an EX score is justified
If you fail to take a regular or conflict final exam in Physics 102, you will receive an AB letter grade for the course, which will be interpreted as a failure (F) in your semester grade report. Permission to change an AB letter grade to an EX letter grade can only be granted by an authorized member of the Dean's Office of your college. If an EX grade is granted, you must take a replacement final exam before the deadline specified in UIUC Code of Policies and Regulations Applying to All Students.