SYLLABUS FOR PHYSICS 203–GENERAL PHYSICS, SECTION 201
Term: Spring 2010
Instructor
Dr. Thomas E. Wilson
Office: S153
Lab: S154
Phone: 696-2752
E-mail:
Office Hours
MWF 3:00-4:00
If you are unable to make these times, I am happy to meet with you at any time. You are free to come by my office or lab, but your chances of finding me are better if you make an appointment.
Overview
My lectures will in general not be a repeat of your book but they will be complementary to the book.The book will support my lectures.My lectures will support the book.But I will stress the concepts and I will make you see beyond the equations, beyond the concepts.I will try to show you whether you like it or not, that physics is beautiful and you might even start to like it.I suggest you do not slip up, not even one day, as PHY203 is not easy.We have new concepts every week and before you know you may be too far behind.A detailed course Calendar is attached below.
Electricity and magnetism are all around us.In addition to the basic concepts of electromagnetism, a variety of interesting topics will be discussed such as: Lightening, Pacemakers, Electric Shock Treatment, Electrocardiograms, Metal Detectors, Musical Instruments, Magnetic Levitation, Bullet Trains, Electric Motors, Radios, TV, Car Coils, Superconductivity, Aurora Borealis, Rainbows, Radio Telescopes, Interferometers, Particle Accelerators, Mass Spectrometers, Red Sunsets, Blue Skies, Haloes around the Sun and Moon, Color Perception, Doppler Effect, Big-Bang Cosmology. I assume you will be able to read through and digest the mathematical examples and derivations found in the textbook.
There will also bea build-your-own dc motor contest (kits to be supplied – more detail in future class handout).
Attendance
Attendance of all class meetings is expected, but allowance will be made for extenuating circumstances. Students are responsible for material presented in lecture, whether they are in attendance or not. Students are expected to be on-time and present for all class meetings.Excused absences will also be granted for documented cases for illness or other reasons deemed acceptable by the Office of the Dean of Students (ODS). No excused absences will be given without documentation transmitted from the ODS.
Special Needs
Students with special needs (as documented by the Office of Disability Services) should identify themselves at the beginning of the semester. Every effort will be made to accommodate the special needs of these students.
Disruptive Behavior
Disorderly conduct that interferes with the normal classroom atmosphere will not be tolerated. The classroom instructor is the judge of such behavior and may instruct a disorderly student to leave the room with an unexcused absence. More serious misconduct may result in a complaint to the Office of Judicial Affairs. “Official University action will be taken when a student’s or student group’s behavior violates community standards, interferes either with the University’s educational purpose, or with its duty to protect and preserve individual health, welfare, and property. When the behavior is aggravated or presents a continuing danger to the University community, accused students will be subject to separation from the institution.” In particular, electronic devices (cell phones, pagers, etc.) should be turned off before entering the class.
Academic Integrity
It is expected that students will discuss homework to a certain extent with each other, but completed WebAssignassignments should be your own work. Students are expected to abide by the following statement on academic honesty:
Learning and teaching take place best in an atmosphere of intellectual fair-minded openness. All members of the academic community are responsible for supporting freedom and openness through rigorous personal standards of honesty and fairness. Plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of academic dishonesty undermine the very purpose of the university and the value of an education.
Complete information on the academic dishonesty policy can be obtained from the Office of the Dean of Students. For any student caught cheating on the examinations, finals, or using another student’s ‘clicker’ (as described below, student hand-held transmitterswill be used in PI Problem Solving Sessions), a report of Academic Dishonesty will be filed with the Office of Academic Affairs. Sanctions will include receiving an F for the course.
Withdrawal Policy Reiterated
Students may withdraw from the course with no record by 4 pmJanuary 18th at the Registrar’s office. Students may withdraw from the course and receive a W on their transcript before 4 pm March 19th. Students who are considering withdrawing from the course are encouraged to discuss their standing with me first.
Required Materials
The textbook for the course is College Physics, 8th ed. by Serway and Viulle, Brookes-Cole Publishing. We will usethe online homework management system WebAssign.You will need to purchase an access code (available at MU Bookstore counter at 5th Street entrance) Students must create a WebAssign account and self-enroll into this class. Instructions are given in the "WebAssign Self-Enrollment Instructions” attached below.Note: You are to use your MU #ID as your username (so grades can be uploaded correctly into Blackboard gradebook)
Finally, I will make use of our Blackboard Vistacourse website (vista.marshall.edu) to post notices and calendar updates.
Lecture
There will be 39 lectures. Class meetings will be in S277 from 9:00-9:50 am on MWF.
Problem Solving Sessions involving your peers
Once each week and perhaps more often, I will work a number of problems on the board. I may also assign problems (with approximately a week’s notice) to selected students to present at the board. Such student presentations (typically of 5 minute duration) will be graded on clarity and correctness. In additions, I will pose, in succession, timed (primarily) conceptual (pop-quiz) questions in PowerPoint, via the overhead pc-controlled projector. You will receive a ResponseCard RF ‘clicker’ at the beginning of such classes when you deposit your student ID. For such PowerPoint questions, you will answer the question individually (answers are anonymous from the class perspective) using your clicker and at the end of the timed period, and a bar chart will be displayed with the class distribution. If the problem distribution is not highly centered around the correct answer, then I may give some hints, and will again pose the same question.For the 2nd such attempt, you shoulddiscuss the problem with your peers (limited to 2 or 3 others seated nearby), and then respond. These“Peer Instruction (or PI)” questions are designed to probe and elicit a deeper understanding of the physical concepts via discussions with your peers. The last submitted answer will count towards your grade. To encourage attendance and participation, the minimum score for all submittedPI responses will be 50%. In order to do well with the PIquizzes, it will be very important that you thoroughly read the lecture material prior to lecture.
Homework
There will be 14WebAssign homework assignments with firm due dates. Solutions will be made available shortly after the due date in most cases.
Exams
There will be three in-class closed-book/closed-notes/(some with no-calculators allowed)/exams given during the semester, along with the final.Relevant equations will, in most cases, be provided. The dates for the exams are given below.
Exam 1: Wednesday, February 17th.
Exam 2: Friday, March19th.
Exam 3: Wednesday, April21st
Final Comprehensive Exam: Friday, May 7th, 8:00-10:00 am
A missed exam will count as a zero.
Grades
Grades (thresholds: A 90%, B 80%, C 70%, D 60%) for the course will be determined according to the following component percentages:
WebAssignAssignments: 10%
Problem Solving(PI) Sessions: 10%
In-Class Exams (3) 20%
Final Comprehensive Exam 20%
Bonus Points: Maximum of 3% (for DC Motor Contest - (handout later for details))
Due to variations in the time required to cover certain topics, the availability or functionality of demonstration equipment, and inclement weather conditions, the Calendar attachment(below) may be altered at the discretion of the instructor. In addition, the weighting of the WebAssignments and Problem Solving Sessions may vary depending upon unforeseen software/hardware issues that may occur.