PHYSICS 101 Spring 2007

Class Time: 7:15 - 9:55 Tuesdays
Room:  Mosler 408
Instructor:  Dr. Barney Taylor
Office: 307 Rentschler
Phone: 785-3040  
Email: taylorbe@miamioh.edu

Office Hours:  6:00-7:00 Tuesdays, other times by appointment.

I am doing research at Wright Patterson Air Force Base during the days and cannot receive Miami email.  Your best bet is to  use the PHY 101 discussion group on BlackBoard (when it is active) for general questions and email me (at the above address) for private questions/comments.


Textbook:

Physics: A World View (Sixth edition)  by Kirkpatrick & Francis


Attendance:

You are expected to attend every class for which you are registered. Roll will be taken. If you do miss a class, you are responsible for finding out what you missed. Lectures are intended to clarify and expand upon the text - not repeat it. Thus, reading the text is not a substitute for attending class. Since this is a course that meets only once per week, missing a class is equivalent to missing an entire week in a daytime class.  Repeatedly missing class is cause for you being dropped from the course.   However, please use good judgment in cases of inclement weather.   


Exams:

Exams will tentatively be held on the 4th, 7th, 11th and final class meeting.  If bad weather causes dismissal of classes, the exam will still occur in that order.  Since this course is a one night a week course, new material must also be introduced on the nights of the exams. 
Exams may be made up only if I am notified before the exam is given. Arrangements for make-up exams must be made within one week following the original exam.

Academic Dishonesty:

Academic dishonesty is a very serious offense.  Borderline infractions will be pointed out to the student(s) involved, with the assumption that the problem was due to not understanding the rules.  Repeated or blatant cases will result in formal academic dishonesty proceedings being initiated.


Grading:

3 Hour Exams                             63%
Computer and Group Exercises             10%
Final Exam                               21%
Participation                             6%


Grading will use a 15 point grading scale with 85- 100 being an ‘A’, 70-84 being a ‘B’ and so forth. The upper 5 points of a grade range will be the 'plus' range and the lower points is the 'minus'. For example, an average of 81 will be a 'B+' while a 74 would earn a 'B-'. If you have any questions, please see me. Note: A ‘C-’ will not earn passing credit in a credit/nocredit class!


Each student will start with 3 participation points.  You may earn more points by actively using the discussion group and/or e-mail list, by actively participating in class, or other activities deemed positive by your instructor.  You will loose points for failure to participate, sleeping in class, being disruptive, habitual tardiness, etc.    It is possible to earn a negative participation score due to repeated poor behavior.  Likewise, performance well above that expected can earn more than 6 participation points.


Homework:

The textbook has questions and problems at the end of each chapter. Some of these will be assigned, but usually they will not be turned in for grading. You will find that doing the assigned questions will be good preparation for the exams. Occasionally, you will be asked to do one of the "Physics on Your Own" activities out of class and report your results.

Computer exercises:

There are two kinds of computer assignments for this term:  comprehensive exercises and topical homework.   The comprehensive exercises are more involved and cover a topic rather thoroughly.  They typically require about 1.5 hours at the computer to complete.  The topical homework consists of much shorter problems spread out over the semester as appropriate.  All of the computer exercises will essentially count as much as one-half an exam.

You do not need to know anything about using a computer in order to be able to successfully complete the computer assignments. You will be provided links from the weekly sheets page or have complete instructions on how to begin the exercises.  Further instructions will be given with the each assignment. 


E-Mail and Paperless Handouts


Each student has a unique e-mail / computer access address on MU-Net. You can send electronic mail, browse the net or a multitude of other things with your MU-Net connection. I will be 'publishing' handouts that contain useful information for you the student. Things that will be published electronically include: this document; a description of how PHY 101 fulfills the Miami Plan goals; the reading lists, questions and problems for homework assignments.  Information helping you to prepare for exams will be provided shortly before exams.  This information may include review material or practice tests. Details of how to access these materials will be given in class. It is always possible to print the information out and read it later.


Discussion Group and E-mail List

Continuing this term is a discussion group and an e-mail list server.  The discussion group is web based and allows you to pose questions, answer the questions of others, or just suggest a topic of discussion.  I will check the discussion group regularly, and if others fail to respond, I'll respond to your questions.  Participation points can be earned by using the discussion group.  You will receive credit for posting a question, more credit for trying to answer someone else's question, and still more credit for successfully answering the question of another.  This is an excellent place to post links to something that you have found in the news that is related to physics.   The e-mail list server is a means of sending an e-mail to everyone in the class at one time. You were automatically added to the list when you registered for this class.  However, it usually takes about two weeks for the lists to become active.  More information can be obtained by following the links below:

Weekly Information Sheet http://physics.ham.miamioh.edu/p101s07/weekly.htm

The PHY 101 Discussion Group

To be announced

The E-Mail List Server

To be announced



 



Barney Taylor
Physics Dept. Miami University - Hamilton
307 Rentschler
785-3040
taylorbe@miamioh.edu
Last modified on Wednesday, January 10, 2007