Welcome to Physics 122 Spring 2007 

The makeup final exam will be Wednesday, April 2nd, 8:30 - 10:30 PM.  Available only to students with a documented medical or religious excuse.  If you plan to take the exam, please email me.  This is the last opportunity you have to turn your grade of "I" into something else, before it decays to an "F".

Physics For Life Sciences II

Prof. Peter Stephens, B134, 632-8156, email

If you email me with a question, I will answer you as soon as I can, certainly within 24 hours (usually much faster).  If you don't get an answer in 24 hours, send another email.  Put "Physics 122" as the subject of your email, to help me separate it from spam and the tsunami of other emails I receive each day.  But please write with specific questions.  I'll be able to help you more if you tell me where you're stuck, or what you're putting in for an assignment solution which is being rejected, than if you say, "I don't get this Kirchhoff's law stuff."

The best advice I can give for studying for the final exam is to review all homework problems and "clicker" quizzes.

Please check your grades in web assign and make sure there are no errors.  Check against excused absences available from the button above.

Review sessions: Tuesday, Dec. 18 @ 11:00 AM and Thursday, Dec. 20 @ 2:00 PM.  Both sessions in Physics P116.  Note that I said 10:00 AM when we discussed this in class on Dec. 13, but that does not fit with the schedule of room availability.

I am keeping the help room hours 9:00 to 10:30 every morning this week except for Thursday.

Class December 13 was a review of the course material.  No clicker questions.  Find it in Lecture Download.

The final exam is Friday, December 21, from 8:00 to 10:30 AM.  It is being given in three rooms!  (None of this was my idea.)

    Students with last names A through G:  HUM 1003

    Students  H through P:  HUM 1006

    Students  R through Z:  PSYCH A 137

I have added problems in S&F Chapters 27 through 30 to the practice problems in the library.

Students interested in working next semester as help-room TA's in Phy121 should get in touch with me.  Academic credit for Phy475.  Minimum grade A- when you took 121.

I have misplaced some of my records of people who borrowed clickers in lecture. If you have a zero for the in-class quiz on a day when you borrowed a clicker, please let me know (by email, of course).

You should make any requests you have regarding the homework problems, etc., to me directly by email.   Requests sent via WebAssign go to a dead letter mailbox that I do not read.  

This course differs from the usual format!!  It also differs from the way that Professor Engelmann taught Physics 121.  

No Lectures - no mandatory recitations. "Lecture" time used for workshops with quizzes in class for credit (10% of grade). Pre-Workshop Assignments on web for credit are due before workshop (actually, just after the workshop, but don't wait until after the workshop to submit). Pre-Lab Quizzes on web for credit due before lab.  Ten lab sessions.  Helproom (A131) staffed part of the time and e-mail help given by PWS.  There is a textbook (Serway & Faughn, College Physics - Vol. 2, 7th edition).  We will be using WebAssign for the homework assignments.  Also, the lectures will be distributed over the web, at no cost to you.   This is the same textbook used in the other semester of Physics 122, so you may be able to find a used copy.  If you do, you still have to go to the publisher and obtain a WebAssign code.

The lab is mandatory.  You must register for a lab in Physics 124.  Your grade for the "lecture" part of the course and for the lab will be the same.

We are using two things in this class that require you to go on the web to get started:  CPS response pads (clickers) from eInstruction and WebAssign for all class assignments.

These are the same clickers that were used last semester in Physics 121.  Whether you use your old one, purchase your clicker new this semester at the bookstore, or you find one that fell off a truck, you need to go to the eInstruction web site and register it.  The class key for your response pad (clicker) from eInstruction is K32615L828.   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.

Course Syllabus

The sceduled course meetings are not lectures, but rather workshops, held TuTh 3:50-5:10 in Old Chemistry 116.

Recorded lectures, prepared by Professor Engelmann, will be distributed through the Lecture Download section of the web page, and you are responsible for viewing them before the relevant workshop.   In addition to recorded lectures, deistributed as zip files, there will be .ppt files of all of the images from each lecture.  The Lecture Download page will also have the screen images of each workshop, posted immediately after the workshop.

Assignments and Lab Quizzes will be conducted using WebAssign.  You have to register and get an account with WebAssign, using either the code in your textbook when you purchased it, or by going directly to www.webassign.net/login.html.  Assignments will generally be due before the relevant workshop.

You come to the workshop prepared because you have viewed the lecture, read the textbook, and completed the assignment.  The workshop will be used to review material, and for quizzes based on response pads from eInstruction.  Go to www.einstruction.com and register your response pad for this course.  Our class key is K32615L828.  Your class participation using the response pads counts for a total of 10% of your grade.  You are responsible for having a functioning response pad.  If you have trouble in the workshop, see me immediately afterward, and, if justified, I will exempt you from the workshop just passed. 

During the workshop, when you are working on one of the quizzes, you may discsuss 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 yourslef 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.

The textbook is Serway and Faughn, 7^th edition.  If you buy it from the campus bookstore, it comes with an access code for WebAssign.

Bring a calculator to the workshop.  It should be able to do trig functions, square root, log, exponential notation.  Calculators with alphanumeric capabilities will not be allowed in the exams.  For a list of approved calculators, see http://skipper.physics.sunysb.edu/phy122/ApprovedCalculators.shtml.

There are no recitations.

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 for fifteen hours per week.  The schedule is posted on the help room and the course web page (see the Staff button above) within the first week of classes.  You can also reach your instructor by email (peter.stephens@sunysb.edu); put Physics 122 as the subject line of your message.  Outside of posted help room hours, you can come to my office, B131, and see if I am available.  Or get in touch by email if you want to make a specific appointment.  The help room is supposed to be staffed essentially all day, and there will probably be people there who can help you with physics problems, even if they are not familiar with this specific course.

Laboratories are administered by the registrar as a separate course, Phy 124.  But you have to register for the course and the lab together, and you will receive the same letter grade for the course and the lab.  Labs start in the week of September 17^th.  If you miss a lab, you will receive a score of zero.  If you miss more than one, they will continue to count as zeros in computing your average and your letter grade in the course will drop by one tick (e.g., from A- to B+) for each lab missed after the first.  (Not good.)  Makeup labs (no penalty) will be scheduled in the weeks of October 1^st for the first two labs, November 5^th for the next four, and December 10^th for the last three.  Note that only the immediately preceding labs can be made up.  If you cannot meet this schedule due to exceptional circumstances (documented illness or death in the immediate family), discuss with the instructor.  There will be a lab quiz via WebAssign due 15 minutes before the start of your lab session, and the lab quizzes count 20% of your score in the lab. 

Midterm exams will be at 8:30 PM on October 4^th and November 6^th.  The final exam is December 21^st at 8:00 AM.  (Don’t blame me – I didn’t select the times.)  You have to make sure there are no conflicts in your schedule – I cannot grant a makeup exam for any foreseeable circumstances.  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, you will receive an Incomplete in the course and a makeup final will be scheduled at the beginning of the next semester.

You are invited to bring one page of notes (8.5" x 11", written both sides) to each exam.

Your final grade will be based on the following.
15% Homework assignments.
10% Workshop score
15% Each of two midterms
25% Labs
20% Final Exam

If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact on your ability to carry out assigned course work, you are urged to contact the staff in the Disabled Student Services office (DSS), Room 133 Humanities, 632-6748/TDD. DSS will review your concerns and determine, with you, what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation of disability is confidential.

GOOD LUCK!