PHYSICS 4A / 5A  SYLLABUS

(This syllabus is part of a kit you are required to buy at the bookstore.  The homework calendar and the classroom activities calendar will be handed out at your first meeting)

 

 

Course                      Physics 4A / 5A

 

Corequisite                Math 18A concurrent or completion of a first semester course in calculus

 

Meeting Time             4A: M W F at 2:40 - 4:40

                                 5A: M W at 2:40 - 4:40, F at 1:40 - 4:40

 

 

 

Meeting Place            Redbud 8

 

Instructor                   Dr. Dennis L Albers

 

Office & email           Redbud 8C              M - Th     1:30 - 2:30,   ph 588-5138

                                 Juniper (Math Lab)   T & Th    5:30 - 5:55

                                 email: albersd@yosemite.cc.ca.us (checked T,Th, and sometimes M,F)

 

 

 

 

Text                           PHYSICS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH by R. Knight, 2004 ed.

                                 WORKBOOK for PHYSICS: A STRATEGIC APPROACH by Knight

                                 PHYSICS 4A/5A KIT by D L Albers

 

 

 

 

Materials                   Graphing calculator (TI-83 or better)

                                 Large 3-ring binder (2” or 3” D ring preferred) and 1” binder

                                 Clear 4” ruler/protractor or a separate clear ruler and a clear protractor

                                 Optional: toy rocket kit (see Dr. Albers for local & web distributors)

 

 

 

 

Resources                  1)  Call 588-5138 for appointment if you cannot make it to an office hour.

                                 2)  We may have a tutor in the Academic Acheivement Center this semester–stay tuned.

                                 3)  I am arranging for our class to have access to an on-line tutorial–stay tuned.

                                 4)  On certain Fridays there will be no calculus-based work for the 5A group (announced).  Dr. Albers will be in the lab at 1:30 and available for help with homework and for tutoring for both 5A and 4A students.

                                        A TYPICAL CLASS

Before class                  Before the class begins, pick up your graded homework from a standard location near the classroom entrance.  Check your work against the key posted on a corkboard near the classroom entrance.  If there are particular questions in this returned homework (or in the homework you will be handing in today) that you would like the instructor to clarify, go to the right hand edge of the whiteboard and list the question numbers under your initials.  Your questions will be addressed at the beginning of class.

Class begins                 At the beginning of class the instructor will answer returned homework questions you listed on the whiteboard.  Next he will answer current homework questions you listed on the whiteboard.  When all questions have been answered, you are to turn in the currently due homework, possibly stapled and on separate piles, according to instructions.

Classroom activites     There are six types of activity that occur in your physics class.  Your calendar will show the activities planned for the current class by giving the abbreviations for the type of activity.  At the end of this COURSE INFORMATION is a brief description of each type of activity along with its abbreviation.  Suppose that what happens next in our hypothetical typical class is a conceptual exercise (CE).  You will work with two or three other students, one of whom will be the group manager.  Each person in the group will have a 3-ring binder in which a prepunched kit (bought from the bookstore) has been inserted along with partitions labelled notes, classroom/exercises, homework, returned homework, returned exams, and blank templates.  You will turn to the particular CE worksheet that will be used this time.  It has, say, 3 tasks you are to carry out.  The classroom protocol your group is required to adhere to is always the same for CEs, QREs, IDs, and EEs (see descriptions at end of COURSE INFORMATION).  Here is the protocol:

1.     You complete task #1 on your own.

2.     The group manager checks that all have done task #1 and asks each person to share what she/he wrote down.  The idea is for the group to come to consensus on what is correct for task#1.

3.     The instructor selects a group at random by using a spinner or dice.  Let us say that your group is selected.  Your group has a spinner for selecting a spokesperson.  Suppose you are selected.  You must stand and present what your group decided is correct for task #1.  Sometimes you may need to use the whiteboard for this.  Sometimes the instructor may ask you for further clarification.  At no time while you are spokesperson is anyone allowed to interrupt or answer for you.  It is OK for you to say “I’m going to take a moment to reconsult with my group.”  After a brief huddle, you will either complete the answer or say “We are not sure about this.”  If its the latter, the instructor will provide hints until you get to the answer.

4.     Next, everyone does task #2, a new group is selected, etc.

After the CE the instructor may present a ten-minute minilecture that ties up loose ends, points out pitfalls, and/or gives an overview of the new idea.  This will be followed by another activity, etc. until break time (10 minutes at midpoint of class).  After break, more activities.  At the end of class we pause to confirm that the homework due for the next class will be as scheduled.  If not, we reschedule.

 

CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR

If there is a joke or story you are itching to tell, save it for break time.  In this class if you tell that story while a learning activity is in progress your behavior will be taken as disrespect for (1) students’ right to a distraction-free learning environment and (2) the instructor and his carefully designed learning activity.  Dr.A speaks: “The fact that I am soft-spoken and run a casual classroom is not an invitation to disrespect the learning process.  I don’t tolerate it and in fact I deal with it via a 3 strikes your out rule should it become necessary.  On the other hand I love a good joke, so if you have one somewhat related to science or the current topic, I’d love to hear it.”

SUCCESS RATE

During the period 1986-1993 the instructor taught this class in the traditional fashion—4 lectures and one 3-hour cookbook laboratory each week—the same as most current university versions of this class.  The student success rate averaged  65%, somewhat better than a typical university introductory physics course.  In 1994 the course was radically redesigned.  Instead of listening passively to 64 hours of lecture and plodding through 48 hours of lab recipes, students now participate in 86 hours of active learning exercises (includes hands-on exercises) peppered with a mere 20 hours of minilectures (10-15 min each).  From 1994 to the present the success rate has averaged 89%, this in spite of the fact that the Columbia College course takes a more rigorous approach to the key objective of an introductory physics course—learn Newtonian modeling.

HOMEWORK

There is another reason for the now high success rate in the CC course.  Rather than a large lump of end-of-chapter homework due each friday, the CC course has specially-designed homework tied to the classroom exercises, due every class period, and graded and discussed at the very next class period—almost immediate feedback.  In order to ensure this quick feedback we will all share the grading.  The instructor will do the tougher conceptual and Newtonian modeling exercises and the students will take turns doing the rest, using the instructor’s grading keys.  The perk for the grader is that she/he gets a recorded 100% on that assignment, regardless of her/his actual score.  Here are the guidlines for grading an assignment:

1.      If the grading key does not already count how many tasks for each question, do so yourself.  Suppose you decide question #1 is composed of 3 tasks; put a circled 3 to the left of the “1.” on the grading key.  Follow the same procedure for the remaining questions on the grading key.

2.      Count up the total number of tasks (say its 12) and write “total=12” at the top of the grading key.

3.      Now you are ready to grade the students’ work.  The method that takes the least amount of time is to grade one question on all the students’ papers, then go to the next question.  Have your text open so you can read the first question to be graded.  Look at the answer on the answer key and be prepared for the possibility that the student may be able to give a correct answer in a way that looks different from what you see on the key.  If you are not sure about the student’s answer, put a large question mark over it and ask me before class to make a judgement.  When the answer is incorrect, write in the correct final answer (don’t carry out steps).  Suppose question #1 has 3 tasks and Joe did 2 of the tasks correctly.  Put a “2//3” to the left of Joe’s  “1.”, meaning that he got 2 out of 3 tasks right.

4.      When you’ve graded all the questions, total up the number of correctly done tasks on each paper (say Joe got 9 out of 12 correct).  For Joe you would write “total=9//12=75%” at the bottom of his last page.

5.      You will have been given a photocopy of just the list of student names.  Write the name of the exercise at the top of the list and write the appropriate percent score by each name (remember, 100% for you) and give this list to the instructor so that he can put the data in his records.  Arrive five minutes early and place the graded papers at the Returned Homework location near the classroom entrance. 

At the end of the semester the instructor’s grading program will automatically drop the lowest homework score per unit.  In that way, you can have one bad day each unit without jeopordizing your homework average.

EXAMS

Exams always require you to complete 1.5 to 2.0 Newtonian models.  They also require you to answer a number of conceptual questions similar in style to classroom and homework exercises.  In the instructor’s grading program each exam score is recorded twice because exams count two quizzes.  At the end of the semester the program will automatically drop the lowest quiz score or half of the lowest exam score , whichever is lower.

QUIZZES

Quizzes are collections of conceptual and qualitative reasoning exercises similar in style to homework and some classroom exercises.  Your first quiz covers the important topic Languages of Motion.  It is not OK to get a low score on the first quiz because the concepts in this unit are applied again and again throughout both semesters of this introductory physics course.  Because of a simple misjudgement regarding college-level work versus highschool-level work, typically 10% of the class will score low on this first quiz.  Low-score students will take a second version of the quiz receiving a recorded score of 89% of their actual score.  The idea is that you learn and practice the material so thoroughly on this second try that you ace the second try at quiz #1 .

GRADES

Every quiz, exam, and homework assignment has a maximum score of 100.  Your final letter grade is determined by your course score as follows:

A (90 - 100)            B (80 - 89)              C (70 - 79)

Your course score S is determined by the following formula which you can use at any time during the semester to get a rough idea of where you currently stand:

S = 0.8 (quiz, exam)* + 0.1(homework, ID, EE, CS) + 0.1(final exam)

*In calculating this average, weight exam scores twice quiz scores and drop lowest quiz score or half of lowest exam score.

Notice that you are not graded by means of a statistical curve.  This means that you are not in competition with your classmates.  It also means that if every student meets the course objectives at the 90% level or better, everyone gets an A.

ABSENCES

If you know that you will have to be absent from a class,

1. check with the instructor that the homework assignments due at the class you will miss and due at the following class are as scheduled;

2. hand in your homework early or arrange for a classmate to bring it on time;

3. get tips from the instructor regarding the in-class exercises you will miss.  Often these exercises are designed to prepare you for doing the homework.  If a case study (CS), interactive demonstration (ID), or an exploration exercise (EE) is to be done, find out if you can make up all or part of it and arrange the time to do it.  Note that these activities count 2, 3, and sometimes 4 times as much as a homework assignment does toward your course score.

If you miss one or more classes and you can call the instructor’s office/voice mail, do so (588-5138).  If you get his voice mail, leave a number at which he can contact you.  Instructor’s mail box: D. Albers,11600 Columbia College Drive, Sonora, CA, 95370.

 

THE “PLEASE DON’T WORRY” NOTE

If you start getting seriously behind, miss classes, miss homework, and your exam scores drop below 75, I begin to worry about you, I worry a lot.  I will talk to you about it.  If it turns out that you need to limit your physics study time because of other priorities (I don’t need to know what these are) and this is, under the circumstances, OK with you, I need you to write me a “Please Don’t Worry” note so that I can stop worrying.  If your scores go below passing, see me, we may be able to work out an efficient study strategy subject to your time constraints.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

CE  = Conceptual Exercise = Introduces a new concept or clarifies some aspect thereof (small group protocol).

QRE = Qualitative Reasoning Exercise = Make use of a change-of-state principle to deduce something qualitative about an event (small group protocol).

ID  =  Interactive Demonstration =As students watch a demonstration, questions are posed that must be answered on the worksheet (small group protocol).

EE = Exploration Exercise = Hands-on exploration that leads to insights regarding, say, a change-of-state principle (small group protocol).

CS = Case Study = A Newtonian model is constructed for predicting the behavior of a real system.  Measurements are made on the real system to check the adequacy of the Newtonian model at mimicing the real system’s behavior.

minilecture = A 10-15 minute lecture.  It could introduce a new idea, tie up loose ends, give an overview of a topic, etc.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

To be a student in this course you must

1. be enrolled in physics 4A or physics 5A.

2. attend 90% of classes.

3. (if 5A) attend the scheduled Friday “calculus sessions.”

4. grade several homework assignments (3, 4, or 5 depending on size of class.  See HOMEWORK topic above.)

To pass this course you must

5. pass all quizzes and exams with scores of 70 or better.

6. earn a final course score of 70 or better.

 

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UNDERSTAND COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

So that the instructor knows you have read and understood the course requirements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,and 6, please sign your name below, tear on the dashed line, and return this slip to the instructor.

I have read and understand course requirements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

SIGNED: .                                                                                  .

BRIEF TOPICAL OUTLINE

 

BASIC SKILLS (Pass/ fail)

1. SI units and subunits, prefixes (like nano-), style rules.

2. How to deal with units and powers of 10 in calculations.

3. How to use conversion ratios.

4. How to test a solution equation for consistency of units.

 

BASIC SKILLS QUIZ (Pass/Fail)

 

LANGUAGES OF MOTION

Introduction to Newtonian modeling, real world motion talk, motion diagrams, motion variables, motion graphs, average velocity theorem.

 

MOTION QUIZ

 

FORCES

Real interactions simulated via model forces, brief intro to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th laws, free-body diagrams, force diagrams, 8 model forces.

 

FORCES QUIZ

 

DYNAMICS I

Single-particle models using constant-mass 2nd law as change-of-state law, 3 forces only (w, Fth, T), 5 stages of model development, constant acceleration kinematics.

 

DYNAMICS I EXAM

 

DYNAMICS II

Single-particle models, 8 forces, circular trajectories.

 

DYNAMICS II EXAM

 

MOMENTUM

Multiparticle and rigid-body models using linear momentum, angular momentum, or both as state variable.

 

MOMENTUM EXAM

 

ENERGY

Single-particle, multiparticle, and rigid-body models using energy as state variable, transfer of energy via work and thermal contact, 5 forms of energy (linear kinetic, rotational kinetic, thermal, gravitational potential, elastic potential).

 

ENERGY EXAM

 

SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION

Single particle subject to Hooke’s law torque or force field.

 

SHM QUIZ

 

FINAL