Physics
121 has
three sections with different lecture periods: MWF 8:30-9:25 (section
3), 10:40-11:35 (section 2), and 3:25-4:20 (section 1). The
room will accommodate only a certain number of students, and we cannot
register any more into a filled section.
Your clicker will
only work in the section in which you are registered.
The workshop instructors are:
Prof. Roderich
Engelmann, Physics D106, 632-8087. Roderich.Engelmann (at) stonybrook.edu
Prof. Matthew
Dawber, Physics B105, 632-4978. Matthew.Dawber (at) stonybrook.edu
Prof. Peter Stephens, Physics B134, 632-8156. Peter.Stephens (at)
stonybrook.edu
Of course, for the actual
email addresses, substitute @
for (at).
Each of the
instructors will give all of the lectures for one third of the
semester.
The labs are being managed by Professor Dawber.
The best way to reach your instructors is by email; put Physics 121 as the subject line of your message to get their attention.
Most of the course
administration will be done via Blackboard. Please make sure
that you have access to your Stony Brook Blackboard account, that this
course is listed therein (by the week before classes start), and that
the email address listed in your Blackboard account is one
that you monitor. You have to register your
"clicker" via Blackboard; see below.
The laboratory
is mandatory. There are nine lab sessions.
You must
register for a lab in Physics 123. Your grade for the
"lecture"
part of the course and for the lab will be the same. All nine
lab
grades count; if you skip one, your grade will suffer. There
will
be several make-up lab times scheduled through the semester, when you
can make up one lab that you have missed. These will only be
available to people with excused absences from the regularly scheduled
lab period. If you cannot meet this
schedule due to exceptional circumstances (such as documented illness
or death in the immediate family), discuss with the instructor
There is a rigorous cap of 30 students in each lab which will not be
exceeded. If you cannot get the lab you want, we suggest that
you register for an open lab and hope to rearrange with a section
switch once classes start. But you must attend the lab for
which you are registered until you have made such a switch.
The
bookstore sells clickers. Whether you buy one new, reuse one
from a previous semester, or find one that fell off a truck, you need
to register it through Blackboard. See the explanation
“Registering CPS in
Blackboard”. The
first generation clickers will work just fine, although there is a
second generation which is slightly more convenient because you don't
have to "join" the session at the beginning of the workshop.
There have been complaints about the reliability of clickers
that have been in use for several semesters. Your clicker will only
work in the lecture section for which you are registered.
During the workshop, when you are working on one of the quizzes, you may discuss the problem quietly with your immediate neighbors. This is intended to help you understand the problem and solve it. "The answer is C" is not the kind of discussion intended here -- you deprive yourself of the opportunity to learn and prepare yourself for the exams.
One person operating two clickers is clear academic
dishonesty, and will result in a course grade of F for the
owners of both clickers. Really.
Bring a calculatorto
the workshop. It should be able to do trig functions,
square root, log, exponential notation. You will
also need it for the exams. Your calculator is an important
tool for the course, and you should be familiar with it.
Calculators may not be shared in the exams. You may not use
the calculator function of a cell phone or PDA in the exams.
There are no recitations.
The workshop functions as a recitation, insofar as you are guided
towards learning how to solve problems on the material you have studied
in the flash videos and homework assignments.
To help you with questions related to your homework problems and the laboratory, the Help Room, Physics A131, will be staffed by personnel from this course, full time to the extent that we can. The schedule will be posted on the help room and on Blackboard within the first week of classes.
There is also a course blog (link on the main course web page) that will be a useful tool for doing your assignments. It is monitored by your professors, although anybody is welcome to post advice. If you have a question, look there first, as it may have already been answered.
Two Midterm exams
are scheduled 8:30-10:00 PM on October 6 and November 2. The final
exam is December 18, 8:00-10:45 AM. You have to make sure
there are no conflicts in your schedule – we cannot grant a
makeup exam for any foreseeable circumstances. The
registrar's policy that students have responsibility for avoiding exam
conflicts is crystal clear,
and exceptions will not be granted in this course. If you
cannot take a midterm due to exceptional circumstances (documented
illness or death in the immediate family), discuss with the instructor
as soon as possible. We will increase the weights of the
other parts of the course accordingly. If you miss the final
with a valid excuse, you will receive an Incomplete in the course and a
makeup final will be scheduled as promptly as possible after the end of
the semester.
The exams will be multiple choice,
graded via scan-tron
sheets (fill in the bubble with a #2 pencil).
Your final
grade will be based on the following.
15% Homework
10% Workshop "clicker" score
15% Each of two midterms
25% Labs
20% Final Exam
There are no extra credit or other special supplementary assignments available. Your course grade is based on the same exams, workshop, homework, and labs as everybody else. Please do not embarass yourself by coming to the instructors at the end of the semester and saying that you need to receive a particular grade higher than the one you earned. You will have plenty of feedback about your perfomance as the course proceeds.
Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. In this course, the standards are as follows. In workshop, when a "clicker" question is posed, you may discuss it with your neighbors. However, one person operating two clickers is cheating, and will result in a course grade of F for the owners of both clickers. That happened to four students last year; they appealed to the Adacemic Judiciary Committee, who found them guilty. You may work with your colleagues on the pre-workshop quizzes and the preparation parts of the lab reports. However, please note that you only hurt yourself if you submit answers that you get from somebody else and you do not understand. In lab, you and your partner are collecting the same data, and you may discuss subsequent steps of analysis with your partner and other people. However, you may not submit data that you did not participate in collecting as if it were your own. Doing so will result in a course grade of F. In an exam, copying answers from another person or use of materials or communication other than what is allowed by the instructors will result in an F in the course.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY. Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is always wrong. Faculty are required to report any suspected instance of academic dishonesty to the Academic Judiciary. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic judiciary website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/uaa/academicjudiciary/
DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES (DSS). If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Disability Support Services, ECC (Educational Communications Center) Building, room 128, (631) 632-6748 or http://studentaffairs.stonybrook.edu/dss/. They will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential.
GOOD LUCK!