Jan 5, 2014 ... available through the smartPhysics website, and the booklet alone is also ...
portal for viewing prelectures, taking the checkpoint quizzes, and ...
Syllabus, Physics 1500, University of Utah, Spring Semester 2014, Version: January 05, 2014
PHYS1500 - Preparation for College Physics This is a 3 credit hour course which provides a preparation for introductory physics sequences starting with 2010, 2110, 2210. The course covers some foundations of Newtonians mechanics but also problem-solving techniques and non-calculus mathematical prerequisites. The class has no formal prerequisites, but basic knowledge of algebra (as taught in high school) is needed and remembering trigonometry (as usually, but not always sufficiently well taught in high school) is helpful. PHYS1500 is NOT a formal prerequisite for the PHYS2010, PHYS2110, PHYS2210 classes, nor does PHYS1500 cover all prerequisites needed for these classes. For instance, calculus (an important math prerequisite) is not fully covered by PHYS1500. The purpose of PHYS1500 is to close gaps that some lower division undergraduate students who want to take introductory physics classes may have due to the different levels of exposure to math and physics at high school. In order to identify whether students require the PHYS1500 preparation course, we have introduced a screening test for students enrolled in the PHYS2210 classes which is administered during the first week of the semester. The outcome of this test is available by the end of the first semester week. If a student requires PHYS1500, he or she can drop PHYS2210 and instantaneously enroll in PHYS1500. The student can then reenroll for PHYS2210 a semester later. In order to make it easy for students enrolled in PHYS2210 to change into PHYS1500 after the first week assessment test, there will be two sections for PHYS1500 which are scheduled at the exact same times as the two PHYS2210 sections. Furthermore, PHYS1500 will begin on Monday January 13, during the second week of the Spring semester in order to ensure that students of PHYS2210 who identify their need to take PHYS1500 can change without missing the beginning of the PHYS1500 class.
The two section of PHYS1500 are: Section 1: Section 2:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 12:55pm – 01:45pm, JFB B1 Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 02:00pm – 02:50pm, JFB B1
JFB is the James Fletcher Building which is the main Physics Building. Room B1 is on the lower level of the rotunda, the rotunda is the round part of JFB (see lower right hand side of photo).
Instructor: Christoph Boehme, JFB301, 801-581-6806,
[email protected], Office hours: Monday, Wednesday: 3pm – 4pm. Teaching Asssitant: Richard (Chad) Miller, JFB336-2, 801-581-4443
[email protected] Help lab: Physics Rotunda (round part of JFB, upper level), time: Tuesday, Thursday: 3pm – 4pm Important URLs: Canvas course website and gradebook: http://utah.instructure.com On-line prelectures, checkpoint quizzes, homework: http://www.smartphysics.com
How this course works: The teaching philosophy of this course follows a concept that is called reverse teaching, also called flip teaching. The idea is to no lecture unknown materials directly to the class (this would be called traditional teaching) but to make the students review materials online (in the form of sequences of short videos) before they discuss and review these already encountered topics in the classroom. The advantage of this concept is that students may repeat the lecture, the interrupt the lecture as often as they want and therefore determine the pace at which they teach to heir own needs. You can learn more about this concept and its history at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_teaching. The discussions within the class will be mediated by an electronic aid, a so called audience response system, often referred to as “clicker”. In preparation for the class you should acquire such a clicker (more information about this below)>
The Textbook for this class is… …a small booklet that accompanies the on-line course, smartPhysics: Classical Mechanics by Gladding, Selen, and Stelzer, ISBN-13: 978-1-4292-7240-7. This course officially requires this booklet as a textbook, which retails for about $15-$20, although everything in it is also accessible on-line. It is up to you whether you want to buy the booklet, we recommend it because you will be able to reuse it for the PHYS2210 class. There will be a few copies of the book with a bundled access card (which covers the cost of on-line access, as well) available in the campus bookstore. On-line access alone will be available through the smartPhysics website, and the booklet alone is also available through the usual internet sources, as well. There are obviously several ways to obtain the needed course materials; how you do so is up to you.
Supplemental Material Physics for Engineering and Science (Third Edition) by Michael E. Browne, ISBN 978-007-181090-6 is a supplemental book that provides clear and concise explanations of the topics encountered in this course. More importantly it provides many fully solved example problems and supplemental problems w ith answers. We will discuss problems and solutions from this book during class.
Prerequisites: For PHYS1500 you will need no prerequisites other than the core high school math skills, in essence, arithmetic, algebra of real numbers and variables, and geometry. Trigonometry and experience with word problems are expected as well, however, these topics will be reviewed again in the course of this class.
Use of the internet via the Canvas course website and smartPhysics: This course makes extensive use of internet resources; the main course page is is set up via the canvas system (http://utah.instructure.com) and maintained by the instructor. It contains all course information, including the syllabus, file downloads, supplementary material, and announcements. Please consult this page regularly! Updates will be posted there as soon as the information becomes available. The smartPhysics website (http://www.smartphysics.com) is your portal for viewing prelectures, taking the checkpoint quizzes, and doing homework. You will also be able to view your scores in smartPhysics, but only for these three assignment categories. You are required to pay $25 to register for and view these materials for my course in smartPhysics. All scores, including those from smartPhysics, will be posted on the Canvas site. We will be using Canvas exclusively as a communication toll and as a gradebook; no assignments will be posted or accomplished on Canvas. We will make extensive use of Canvas for course announcements and information on how to contact the course instructor and TA. Course Schedule Please consult the SmartPhysics calendar to see the tentative dates for assignments, lectures and other activities of this course at https://www.smartphysics.com/Course/Calendar?enrollmentID=49701.
Office Hours The instructor will have office hours between 3:00 pm and 4:00 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. Outside of these you can meet the instructor by appointment. The TA will also be available during the help lab hours. This is an important resource for students. If you have questions that you have not been able to get answered in the discussion sections or during the lectures be sure to attend the help lab.
Help Lab There will be a help lab in the physics rotunda (round part of JFB) on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3pm to 4pm that is run by the TAs. The ”help lab” is to help you with the current homework assignment, discuss results and solutions of exams, and give you a chance to ask questions about the course material.
Course Objectives The most important objectives of this course are: • • • •
Develop proficiency in describing physical phenomena quantitatively. Develop problem solving skills that can be applied to physics as well as other areas of science/engineering. Develop a good conceptual understanding of the fundamental principles of classical mechanics. Develop comfort and confidence in problem solving.
The achievement of these objectives will require the following: • Sufficient ability in applying mathematical concepts. • A methodical approach to problem solving. • Disciplined study and practice!!! Study and practice will be provided by: • Reading the textbook and supplemental material. • Viewing and understanding the pre-lecture video material • Performing the checkpoint exercises before class to check your understanding. • Attending and participating in lectures. • Working through example problems. • Discussing questions with the TA and other students. (Teaching/helping other students may be the best way to develop an excellent understanding of the material). • Solving the assigned homework problems is absolutely necessary!!! The saying “practice makes perfect” definitely applies to learning physics! The only way to understand physics concepts well enough to use them is to practice on problems. Just as with music or sports, you must practice to be able to perform. Do the assigned homework problems, review problems (before exams), and other related problems in the textbook. Practice problems by mimicking the exam situation: start with a blank sheet of paper and work the problem through as far as possible without looking for help from the text, notes, or solutions until absolutely necessary.
On-line Access Much of the course materials can be accessed on-line. Your homework assignments will be accessed, turned in and graded electronically. They can be found on the Web through the smartPhysics website. You can purchase smartPhysics directly from the smartPhysics website or purchase from the Campus Bookstore. However, in either case you must enter the smartPhysics access key for our course, which is DeC25_1642 . SmartPhysics also offers a video that will acquaint you with the features of smartPhysics. It is found at the following web address: http://www.smartphysics.com/Content/About/student-support-videos.html You should familiarize yourself with the websites of smartPhysics and the Canvas course webpage for your section, and learn how to turn in your homework on-line and find your homework assignments. Solutions, important notices, and other information will also be posted via Canvas. It is essential that you check the Canvas and smartPhysics sites regularly, because essential course information will be posted and updated there from time to time.
Course Content Currently the schedule is such that we will study most of the material in units 1-13 of smartPhysics. Depending upon the pace of development of student understanding we may add additional units or reduce the number of units covered. Any excluded or additional sections will be announced ahead of time. The schedule on smartphysics will be adjusted accordingly. Unless specifically announced, you are responsible for understanding all material in the covered units, whether it is discussed in the lecture or not, as well as any supplemental material actually covered in the lectures. Please see the Course Schedule for details. Here, the topics to be covered in each lecture and the corresponding sections of smartPhysics are listed. The actual due dates of the prelectures, checkpoints and homework of SmartPhysics can be found on the SmartPhysics Calendar. Supplemental assignment will have due dates posted separately. Supplemental material from the Schaum’s outline as well as other online sources may also be discussed.
Prelectures and Checkpoints (using smartPhysics) After registering for smartPhysics (remember to use the access key code, “boehme2014”) you should look at the “Calendar” There you will see various entries, some in blue (prelectures), some in green (checkpoints). These are all due by 8:00 AM on the date specified. The checkpoint exercises are due at the same day and time that the last pre-lecture on a particular subject is due. Performance of these in a timely manner will acquaint you with the
topic of each lecture. Also, you should be prepared to discuss the checkpoints in the corresponding lecture. If you read all the pre-lecture slides and answer the pre-lecture quizzes prior to the due time/date, you will receive full credit for that particular pre-lecture. Similarly, if you do the checkpoint problems prior to the due date/time, you will receive full credit for that particular checkpoint assignment. Full credit will be given for reading the slides and attempting the quiz and checkpoint problems, even if you do not provide the correct answer. The purpose here is not to penalize you, but rather to reward you for becoming acquainted with a lecture topic ahead of time. You must watch the whole time required in the pre-lectures to get credit for them.
Lectures The class meets three times a week for lectures (M,W,F) at 12:55 - 1:45 pm for section 001 and again at 2:00 2:50 pm for section 002. We will discuss the physics underlying the smartPhysics prelectures and checkpoint problems during the lecture periods. Additional worked examples and supplemental material from the Schaum’s outline and online sources will be presented for discussion. The lecture is intended to be interactive and will be adjusted in accordance to student performance on checkpoints and homework. Extensive use of an audience response system (clickers) will be utilized during the lecture.
Class Participation and Attendance Your participation in the form of lecture attendance as well as completion of assigned exercises by deadline are an essential component in your success in meeting the objectives of this course. Roll will not be taken explicitly during lecture. However the clicker system does record student participation.
Homework This class will use the web-based homework assignments and grading system provided by SmartPhysics. You will complete all homework assignments over the web and get feedback (grading) online typically after the deadline. The deadline for homework submission is posted on the SmartPhysics schedule. Please note that Canvas provides on-line forums for homework that you may use to discuss problems with fellow students. These forums will also be regularly monitored by the instructor at times to be determined. You are encouraged to participate actively in the forums, to seek help and to offer advice to your classmates on how to approach problems. However, the forums are not to be used for the purpose of posting explicit solutions to the assigned problems in any form.
Midterms and Final Exam There will be three (3) midterm exams and a final exam. The final exam will be comprehensive. All exams are closed book. You may not bring any materials to the exams but a single 8.5” x 11” sheet, with helpful equations and relationships on it, and a calculator. Normal scientific and graphing calculators are allowed during exams. We do not allow laptop PCs, handheld computer, webbooks, palm pilots, smart phones, chromebooks, iphones, or other devices with significant text (alphanumeric) storage capability, or wireless communication devices. If there is any doubt as to whether an item is allowed, ask your instructor. You must take the midterm exams with your lecture section. There will be no make-up tests or exams. The only exceptions to this rule are (a) absence due to a University sponsored activity or to military duty, and (b) serious medical emergencies. In either case the student must provide complete documentation. Midterm exams are tentatively scheduled for Wednesdays, February 5, March 3, and April 9. The final exam dates for section 001 is Tuesday 04/29/2014, 1pm to 3pm and for section 002 is Wednesday, 04/30/2014, 1pm to 3pm. These are governed by a University scheduled exam time. There will be no early final exams! Note that all exams will take place in the regular class room (JFB).
Determination of Course Grade Your grade for the course will be based on the pre-lectures and checkpoints, homework , midterm and final exam scores. The prelectures and check points count for 20%, homework counts 25%, the midterms exams 30%, and the final exam will count for 25%. The lowest three (3) homework scores will automatically be dropped. The lowest midterm exam score will be automatically dropped. The final score will range between 0 and 100. It will translate into the university grade point system through the following table Score Grade points: Grade:
95≤ ≤100 4.0≥ >3.7 A
90≤ 3.3 A-
86≤ 3.0 B+
82≤ 2.7 B
78≤ 2.3 B-
74≤ 2.0 C+
70≤ 1.7 C
64≤ 1.3 C-
58≤ 1.0 D+
50≤ 0.7 D
42≤ 0.0 D-
