PHYS 211 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 

Course Description

Introduction

Welcome to Physics 211, Introduction to Classical Mechanics! In this course we will discuss the basic laws describing forces and motion and we will develop the mathematical framework needed to understand these in some detail. These topics are important, not only because they are extremely interesting in their own right, but also because they form the foundation upon which most physics and engineering is built. It is our goal that at the end of this course you will understand the main concepts of mechanics, be able to apply them quantitatively for solving relevant problems, and appreciate qualitatively how they play a role in many aspects of our lives. The road to understanding is not a particularly easy one, but the journey is well worth the effort. In order to help you, we have devised a multifaceted approach intended to maximize your conceptual understanding and ability to solve practical problems.

The basic philosophy of Physics 211 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. Play with it (labs)
5. Close the loop (discussion)

The order of the above items is very important.

The first exposure you will have to the material will be in the prelecture (1). These are research-based multimedia presentations designed to introduce the key ideas/concepts of the lecture. You will do these on your own prior to each lecture. This first step should be taken very seriously, as all of the following items depend on this pre-exposure.

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 for that lecture, and must be completed by 6am on the day of the lecture 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.

The lecture (2) will take the concepts you have read about and expand/explain them, usually with the aid of demonstrations. The lectures themselves will be interactive, and your participation is strongly recommended. Student questions and comments in class are encouraged, especially related to concepts and problems you found difficult in the checkpoints. 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 you answer correct.

The Web-based homework (3) covering each week's material is due the following week. This means you will have the background of working through the prelecture and checkpoint of two lectures to guide you in finishing each weekly homework assignment. Homework problems are designed to test your understanding of the concepts as well as developing problem-solving skills.

The weekly lab cycle (4) is designed to give you the opportunity to explore the concepts you have encountered in lecture.

To cap things off, a 2-hour weekly Discussion section (5) will go over the concepts you have learned about in the previous week's lectures, lab and homework. Also there will be open office hours every week to give you one-on-one assistance if you need more help; do not be bashful about taking advantage of these!

In order to succeed in Physics 211, you must not fall behind! This course covers a large amount of new material, and the understanding of new topics usually requires mastery of previous material.

Course Components

Prelectures+checkpoints: You are required to complete a web-based prelecture and checkpoint prior to each lecture. The prelectures are web-based multimedia learning activities that include embedded questions. You may attempt each question several times, however you must get the questions correct to complete the activity. You will receive 2 points for each prelecture you complete. Once you have completed the prelecture, the checkpoint will be available. While we don't expect you to get correct answers to all of the checkpoint questions, they will be checked for a good faith effort. Each completed checkpoint is worth 1 point. There is no late credit for prelectures or checkpoints. You can miss up to three unexcused prelectures and checkpoints without penalty.

Lectures: Since you will already have been exposed to the basic concepts through the prelecture, the lectures will spend relatively little time in the traditional lecture format. The primary focus of the lecture will be on expanding your understanding of the material based on your checkpoint responses. This will take the form of interACTive learning segments (ACTs). During these segments students will work in groups on a specific assigned problem and can discuss the results with other students and with the lecturer. This will allow the instructor to pinpoint problems in understanding and deal with them before moving on. The purpose is to help you understand, and your participation is critical.

In order to provide an environment more conducive to participation and interaction, each student will have an "i>clicker" with which to answer various questions during lecture. You will receive one point based on your participation in each lecture. You may also earn up to one additional "bonus" point for each lecture based on the fraction of the ACTs you answer correctly. These bonus points will be directly added to your Homework/Quiz final score. For example, if you get 50% of the ACTs correct in each of the 26 lectures, you would earn 13 "bonus" points that would directly increase your Homework+Discussion score.

The notes from each lecture will be posted on the course webpage. You can miss up to three unexcused lectures without penalty.

Homework: Each week you are responsible for completing a computer-based homework assignment. These assignments are graded and are an important part of the course. The only way to really understand these topics is to work lots of problems.

To start work on a homework assignment, click once on the "smartPhysics" link on the Physics 211 homepage and then click on the assignment you wish to do. You should try to finish each homework assignment before the deadline since this is the only way to earn full credit, but you can still get 80% credit for finishing a problem up to one week after its deadline.

You may work a problem or part of a problem as many times as you like.

Lab Session: The laboratory portion of Physics 211 will consist of eight 2-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. You will complete the lab write-ups during the lab section and hand them in at the end of the lab section. Additionally, all labs (except the Laboratory Orientation) will require completion of pre-labs which are to be handed in at the beginning of the relevant lab section. Your total laboratory score will be worth 15% of your grade. Of the 20 points allotted for each laboratory, 15 points will be awarded for participating in and completing the laboratory, and answering questions in the lab write-up and up to 5 points will be awarded based on the answers to questions in the prelab.

It is important to come to your lab section on time. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late your will get zero on the lab.

Since there are only 9 labs during the whole semester (including Lab 0 which is an orientation), you can not miss more than 3 of these. After 3 excused labs, any additional missed lab will receive zero, even if you have an excuse.

Discussion Sessions: Each week you will attend a two-hour discussion section conducted by a TA. These sections will be active learning sessions in which you will work in small groups solving problems provided to you by your TA. Discussion sessions are designed to aid you in the understanding of the course material. You will find them beneficial in preparation for the hour exams.

During the discussion sessions we often do one of the exercises in Tutorials in Introductory Physics. It is important that you bring this book to each discussion session.

At the end of each discussion session, your TA will administer a short quiz (usually about 20 minutes in length) based on past material. The quiz covers the previous weeks discussion material, or, when following an exam week, the last two weeks material.This quiz will be graded and recorded in the gradebook. It is important to bring your calculators to each discussion session.

It is important to come to your discussion section on time. If you arrive more than 10 minutes late your will get zero on the quiz. Since there are only 9 quizzes during the whole semester, you can not miss more than 3 of these. After 3 excused quizzes, any additional missed quiz will receive zero, even if you have an excuse.

Exams: Three 90 minute multiple-choice exams will be given. (See the syllabus for the dates.) You will be assigned a room for each exam based on your discussion section, and attendance will be taken by your discussion TA. Bring a calculator and a #2 pencil to all exams. In addition, bring your official university identification card to show upon request.

Conflict exams will be scheduled for those with a legitimate (documented) schedule conflict. These are usually on the same evening but earlier than the regular exam. Actual times will be announced in lecture.

Exam scores will be posted in the web gradebook within 24 hours of the exam.

Grading

Your final grade for Physics 211 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:

Course Component	Points
Prelectures	50
Checkpoints	25
Lectures	25
Homework	150
Discussion Quizzes	100
Labs	150
Hour Exams (100 each)	300
Final Exam	200

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 and checkpoint assignments. You should also be able to do very well on labs and quizzes.

Prelectures: There are 26 prelectures, each worth 2 points. The lowest 3 prelecture scores are dropped, and the remaining are scaled to be worth 50 points toward your course grade.

Labs: All 8 lab scores will be used in calculating your total lab points at the end of the semester. (No lab scores will be dropped.) Scores used in this calculation will be adjusted to compensate for grading differences among lab section instructors.

Gradebook

You will be able to view your grades on all components of the course using the course gradebook. During the semester, you should check that your lab and quiz grades are correctly entered in the gradebook; any problems here should be brought to the attention of your section instructor immediately.

Final Exam

The final exam will be three hours in length and will cover material from the whole semester. A combined final exam (for all three lectures) and a conflict exam will be given.

All questions about your course letter grade should be directed to the main lecturer.

Unexcused Absences, Excused Absences, and Course Credit

There will be no make-ups for missed exams, quizzes or laboratory work in Physics 211. 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. As previously noted, there is a limit of THREE EX quiz grades and THREE EX lab grades.

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 U of I 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.

There are deadlines for getting missed assignments excused so you must not leave this to the end of the semester: Excuse documentation (doctors notes etc) must be turned in within two weeks of the absence.  Excuses from the emergency dean must be turned in within one week of the date on the letter. No excuses will be accepted after the semester is over.

In case (b) contact the Dean of Students' Office 217-333-0050. (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 211 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 211, 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 ABS 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 U of I Code of Policies and Regulations Applying to All Students.

If you miss a considerable number of quizzes and labs in the course, you may choose to either receive a letter grade for the course by accepting the grades of zero in those assignments that are in excess of the three allowed EX grades for each component, or you may request an INC (incomplete) grade in the course from your Dean, in which case you will receive a letter grade in the course when those missed activities are made up in the following semester. Only the Dean of students can authorize an extension of time for course completion (i.e. change the F to an INC). See Article 3, part 1 of the Student Code.

Academic Integrity

All activities in this course are subject to the Academic Integrity rules as described in Article 1, Part 4. Of the Student Code. Infractions include, but are not limited to: cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, academic interference, computer-related infractions, unauthorized use of university resources, sale of class materials or notes, and facilitating infractions of academic integrity. Violations of any of these rules will be prosecuted and reported to the home college of the student. All aspects of the course are covered by these rules, including quizzes, homework, i>clickers, exams and labs.

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If you have questions about this page, please e-mail Sandra Johnson (sdjhnsn@illinois.edu).