General Info – Workflow – Textbook – Labs – Homework – Exams and Quizzes – Participation – Grading
– Other
General Info
Course Syllabus
(pdf)
Course number: PHYSICS 20806224
Class number: 34660 – Section 1: 62928 – Section 2: 65016
Class Time and Place
- Lecture
- Mon & Wed at 2:30 - 4:20 pm
- Truax room A2029
- Lab
- Truax room B3200D
- Section 1 - Friday 2:30 pm - 4:20 pm
- Section 2 - Thursday 2:30 pm - 4:20 pm
Note: You will be in only one of the lab sections. Check
your schedule at myMadisonCollege
to know which section you are in.
Instructor office hours
Workflow
The course will usually follow this weekly schedule (starting in Week
2):
- Monday
- Reading Quiz due at MyOpenMath at 2:20 pm
- Lecture 2:30 - 4:20
- Wednesday
- Reading Quiz due at MyOpenMath at 2:20 pm
- Lecture 2:30 - 4:20
- Thursday
- Both Lab Sections
- Lab Section 2
- Lab with concept quiz at 2:20 pm
- Friday
- Lab Section 1
- Lab with concept quiz at 2:20 pm
- Sunday
In addition to the above, please do the following on an
ongoing basis:
- Check the home page for announcements and
the calendar (left panel) for upcoming deadlines.
- Keep up with homework. It is not advisable to try to complete the
homework on the night it is due. Find time throughout the week to work
on the problems. See Homework below for notes
and advice on completing homework.
- Keep up with study. Follow these Study
Strategies
Textbook
- We will be using University
Physics by Openstax. It is an open text, free to copy as you
like.
- You can obtain the textbook in several ways:
- Supplemental
documents are available at the Openstax web site, including
- Problem Solutions (zip archive of one docx file per chapter)
- Reading and Notetaking Guide
- Managing Time and Priorities
Labs
- Labs will be run every week, except for those weeks with a midterm
exam.
- Lab Manual
- Physics 2 Lab Manual – whole
manual pdf and individual lab pdf’s are available
- A printed version is available in the bookstore. You may either
purchase it or print from the pdf above. You will be required to turn in
lab reports, either a physical copy or an edited pdf.
- Lab Notebook: You must have a notebook dedicated
for lab work. It can be any type of notebook. Please perform
intermediate calculations in your lab notebook, not on the lab
report.
- For each lab, every student must turn in a lab report, even when
work is done in groups. The report is due one week after the lab work is
done.
- Labs cannot be made up if missed, but one missed lab may be replaced
with work assigned by the instructor. You must arrange this with the
instructor.
- There will be a short conceptual quiz in lab. (See below for more information.)
Homework
- There will be a homework set assigned at MyOpenMath about once per week.
- You are advised to do homework on a regular daily schedule. It is
wise to start a homework set a few days before it is due. Then if you
have questions we can discuss them.
- Register at MyOpenMath following
these instructions.
Due Dates and Extensions
Homework will be due at 11:59 pm on the due date. When you enroll at
MyOpenMath you are granted five LatePasses
for use throughout the semester. If you get behind on a homework set,
you may use a LatePass for a 72 hour extension on the due date
(click “Use LatePass” near the homework date). If you use all five
LatePasses, you may email the instructor to request
another.
Advice on doing homework
Some of the problems are difficult. This is intentional – you must
struggle with the ideas to master them.
Here are some tips:
- Try the easier problems in the book before you attempt the difficult
homework problems. You can do those quickly and they can get you
thinking about the situation correctly. This is not extra work – it will
ultimately save you time because you will know how to approach the
harder problems.
- You shouldn’t spend too much time on one problem in the homework. If
you don’t get it, please post a question to the online discussion forum, that
way others can learn from the discussion too. I will often give a hint
when I see a reasonable question there.
- If you have to spend hours on a single problem it means you are
missing something fundamental.
- Collaboration with peers is permitted and encouraged, but be sure
such collaborations are of mutual benefit.
- The “Calendar” link in the left panel (also at MyOpenMath) is a convenient way to check homework
due dates.
Exams and Quizzes
Exams
- There will be 3 midterm exams (find dates on the upcoming schedule). There will be one
final exam during Finals Week. If you miss an exam, you will receive a
grade of zero. If you pay attention to announcements
you won’t miss it by accident.
- Midterm Exams will cover only the material since the last midterm.
The final exam will cover all semester’s material.
- During the exams you may not use any resources except for a clean
copy of the course equation sheet and a calculator.
- What you have to know and what is provided:
- A course equation
sheet (pdf) will be provided with the exam.
- Physical constants not on the equation sheet will be provided when
needed (for example, the mass of a proton).
- Units: You must know all the units found on the symbols on
the equation
sheet, and how to convert between them. (For example, 1 J = 1 N·m.)
You should know the following metric prefixes: nano (\(10^{-9}\)), micro (\(10^{-6}\)), milli (\(10^{-3}\)), centi (\(10^{-2}\)), kilo (\(10^{3}\)), mega (\(10^{6}\)), and giga (\(10^{9}\)). Non-metric unit conversion
factors will be provided.
- Calculus: You should be able to differentiate and integrate
polynomials, square roots, sine and cosine functions, natural log and
exponential functions. You should be able to use the chain rule when
necessary. (See math
resources to review.)
- Calculator: You may use any calculator as long as
it is not network-capable. That means no phone calculators. If you’re
used to using your phone as your calculator, become familiar with an
allowable calculator before the exam.
- Format: The midterms and final exam generally have
the same format – one section of multiple choice conceptual questions
and one section of long answer problems.
- Multiple Choice:
- These questions will be modeled on the Concept Questions in the review questions.
- A common mistake is to answer these questions too quickly, jumping
to the wrong solution. Make sure you read the question carefully, even
if (especially if) it looks familiar – the wording may be different than
what you expect.
- Long Answers:
- These questions will be be modeled on the Long Answer Questions in
the review questions.
- To obtain full credit for the long answer problems, you must (1)
write your answer in the designated blank (2) include correct units and
(3) show your work in the designated work area.
- Significant partial credit may be earned even if the final answer is
wrong, provided the work is neat and in the designated work area. If you
need more space than what’s provided, you may use another page as long
as you make a note of this fact in the designated work area.
- Be careful to avoid these common errors:
- failure to write vector answers as vectors
- incorrect or missing units
- See the Recommended Study
Strategies for exams.
Concept Quizzes
- Short quizzes consisting of five multiple choice conceptual
questions will be given during lab hours.
- The quiz questions are modeled on the concept questions found (with
their solutions) on the Resources Page.
- You may take the quiz at any time during the lab period but it must
be done alone, with only the course equation
sheet (pdf) (and a calculator, though it will probably not be
helpful). There is no time limit, but please allow 5-10 minutes to take
it. You must complete the quiz right when you pick it up—do not leave it
unattended—and submit it to the Completed Quiz folder when
finished.
- A common mistake is to answer these questions too quickly, jumping
to the wrong solution. Make sure you read the question carefully, even
if (especially if) it looks familiar – the wording may be different than
what you expect.
- One Concept Quiz grade will be dropped to calculate the
end-of-semester grade.
- Though they have small weight in the grade
calculation, these questions closely resemble those you will find on
the exams.
Reading Quizzes
- Before every lecture and lab you must complete a Reading Quiz at MyOpenMath. It will consist of three easy multiple
choice questions covering the reading for the upcoming lecture or the
lab instructions.
- Reading quiz due dates cannot be extended, and LatePasses
are not available for Reading Quizzes. This is because their sole
function is to keep you up to date with the material.
- The questions are multiple-choice. If you don’t get a question right
on the first try, you can try again for 3/4 points.
- The three lowest reading quiz grades of the semester will be
dropped.
Participation
A student’s “participation grade” counts for 2% of the semester
grade. You earn this grade by using your “clicker” in class. Details of
the participation grade calculation may be found on the participation page.
After week 2, the participation
page will also show your clicker’s response rate.
Grading
Grades are recorded on Blackboard. The “total grade” is composed of the
following weighted average:
| Assessment Type |
Weight |
Adjustment |
| Homework Assignments |
22% |
– |
| Midterm Exams (3) |
14% |
– |
| Final Exam |
14% |
– |
| Labs |
14% |
– |
| Concept Quizzes |
3% |
lowest dropped |
| Reading Quizzes |
3% |
3 lowest dropped |
| Participation |
2% |
(see
details) |
At the end of the semester, the total grade is rounded to the nearest
integer then translated to a letter grade as follows:
| A |
AB |
B |
BC |
C |
D |
| 92-100 |
89-91 |
82-88 |
79-81 |
70-78 |
60-69 |
You may use this grade calculator (Google spreadsheet) to enter your
grades or hypothetical grades (you will need to make your own copy to
edit it). The spreadsheet uses the weighted average above to compute the
total grade.
Notes on the Blackboard gradebook:
- The “–” symbol means no grade has been entered and the grade has not
been included in your total.
- Grades in MyOpenMath are manually imported into Blackboard. The
recorded grade at MyOpenMath is the most up-to-date homework grade. If
you used a LatePass on an assignment, your score may appear as
a zero in Blackboard until the grades are next updated (approximately
once per week).
- Assignment names have the week number in them. So, for example, “lab
12” is the lab done in week 12.
Other
Instructor
Contact:
- I promise (to try) to respond to emails within one working day of
receipt. That does not include weekends and breaks.
- Contact Info
Last modified: January 30, 2025
