Course Syllabus PHY 007

Foundations of Physical Science

Dr. Beverley Taylor

Office: 539 Mosler

Phone:  785-3239

Email: taylorba@miamioh.edu

Please feel free to come and see me about problems you are having anytime I am in the office, not just during office hours. In general, I am on campus all day every day.   You can make an appointment or just drop by.  My other classes meet at 9:30 MWF, 10:00 - 10:50 MTWRF, and 3:15- 5:05 R, so I will not be available at these times.

Catalog Description: PHY 007 Foundations of Physical Science (3) Through laboratory study of a small number of important concepts, students develop the skills necessary for success in more advanced science classes. Emphasis is placed on key issues such as proportional reasoning, interpreting graphs, observation and inference, uncertainties in measurement and reasoning by analogy. The topics for the course have been carefully chosen to address many of the underpining concepts for the physical sciences as well basic ideas from the processes of science such as operational definitions and control of variables.

Prerequisites: None

Objectives: The major goal of Foundations of Physical Science is to help students develop a sound understanding of basic physical concepts and a good command of the scientific reasoning skills needed to apply these concepts to the real world. The ability to transfer knowledge and skills acquired during study of one topic to others is a long-range goal. More specifically, the objectives are: 1) to foster a thorough understanding of some of the most basic concepts in physics as a foundation to further study; 2) to allow students to confront and resolve confusion which often arises between closely related concepts such as heat and temperature; 3) to develop facility with abstract representations - such as, graphs, equations and diagrams - and their connection to the real world; and 4) to develop specific reasoning skills, such as, use of analogies, proportional reasoning, and hypothetico-deductive reasoning, which are fundamental to learning science.

Class Meetings: The class will meet for 1 50-minute lecture/discussion session and 2 laboratory sessions of 110 minutes each per week.

Textbook: Physics by Inquiry, L. C. McDermott, P. S. Shaffer and M. L. Rosenquist, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York, 1996.

Target Student Population: This course is intended for students needing developmental work before attempting traditional first-year science courses. The course will help students develop the reasoning skills and basic concepts in science needed to be successful in further science courses.

Course Description: This course is taught primarily in the laboratory. Students work in cooperative groups to complete experiments and exercises designed to build concept understanding and reasoning skills. Cooperative groups participate in frequent Socratic dialogues with the instructor to probe their understanding of current material. Each group works at its own pace guided by weekly goals and fixed exam dates. Homework assignments stress explanations of the reasoning used in solving problems. Homework will continue to be assigned on a given topic until the student has mastered it. In addition to the topics taught through laboratory inquiry, a few topics which cross the boundaries of all sciences will be addressed in the lecture/discussion part of the course. Some examples of these topics are atoms and molecules, energy, and the electromagnetic spectrum.

Attendance: Since much of the work of the course takes place in the laboratory, attendance is required and will be checked every class. You will find it is impossible to keep up without being in class every day. If you do miss class due to an occasional illness, missed lab work will need to be made up as soon as possible. Students who miss more than 4 classes may be dropped from the course. Because this course meets 5 hours per week instead of 3 hours per week, you will not need to spend as much time outside of class working on the material as for a normal 3 hour lecture course. However, you will need to spend some out of class time doing homework and studying the material.

Notebooks: A spiral bound notebook should be used to record all the experiments performed in class and ideas developed in the text. You may use this notebook during all quizzes and tests, so it is in your best interest to keep it complete and up to date. Many students find it helpful to write a summary of the week’s work at the end of each week. Notebooks will occasionally be collected and assessed for both content and form.

Homework: You will have a short homework assignment due every class. This helps you pace yourself rather than procrastinating your studying until right before the exam. You are not permitted to work on your homework during class. There will be a homework box at the front of the room. You should place your homework in the box as you come in each day. Late homework will not be accepted. Homework will be graded and returned to you the next class period. Homework questions will be graded on the following scale:

3 points	correct in all important points
2 points	essentially correct but with minor errors
1 point	significant errors
0 points	not turned in

If you receive a 1 on a homework question, you will be asked to complete a different, but similar, question in addition to the normal assignment for the following day. You may find it is helpful to work with other students in the class on the homework questions. This is acceptable and even encouraged. However, I do not expect to get multiple papers that are identical. If you discuss the question with someone else, you should still write the answer in your own words afterwards. I will also be happy to help you with any homework with which you are having trouble during office hours or most any other time.

Quizzes: Ten-minute quizzes will be given at least once per week over material that has recently been completely. The purpose of these quizzes is to help you know if you have mastered the material. If you have not, the quizzes let you find this out in time to correct the deficiency before the exam.

Exams: There will be four hour exams and a final exam. The emphasis on exams is conceptual understanding and reasoning processes not memorized facts and formulas. You may use your notebook (but not your textbook) during all exams. Exams may not be made-up unless arrangements are made in advance. Exceptions for emergencies will be handled on an individual basis.

Grading: To be successful in this course you must do careful work consistently over a long period of time. Your grade will not depend heavily on any one event such as an exam. Rather your grade will represent a cumulative measure of your performance in many aspects of the course such as examinations, notebook, homework assignments and quizzes. The numerical grading scheme for the course is outlined below. Participation grades are earned by active participation in the laboratory work. Habitual tardiness or absences will have a negative impact on your overall grade.