Syllabus for Physics 122 Spring 2009

Physics For Life Sciences II

Physics 122 will have three sections with different lecture periods: MWF 8:30-9:25 (section 1), 10:40-11:35 (section 2), and 11:45-12:40 (section 3).  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. Peter Stephens, Physics B134, 632-8156.
 Peter.Stephens (at) stonybrook.edu
Prof. Philip Allen, Physics B146, 632-8179.  Philip.Allen (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
Prof. Matthew Dawber, Physics B105, 632-4978.  Matthew.Dawber (at) stonybrook.edu

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 prerequisites are a C- or better in PHY 121/123.  Additionally, to do well in the course, you should be familiar with elementary algebra, at the same level we used it in PHY 121. 

This course differs from the usual format!! 

No Lectures - no mandatory recitations. "Lecture" time is 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.  Helproom (A131) will be staffed most of the time, and e-mail help given by the instructors.  Homework assignments – pre – workshop and pre-lab quizzes - are distributed on the Course CD (see below).

Your first assignment Ch15_1 is due Wednesday, January 28,  2 hours after your class ends.
Your first class for credit with “clicker” is Wednesday, January 28.

There are no labs in the first week of classes.  Your first lab is the week of February 2-5.

The lab is mandatory.  There are ten lab sessions.  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.  All ten 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 the lab that you have missed.  No excuse is required to do a makeup lab, but you can only make up one lab in each of the makeup sessions.  If you miss more than one lab in a given makeup period, speak with professor Dawber.

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 workshop (meets during the so-called lecture time) will be an interactive REVIEW of the material that you have studied from the CD.  Interactive in the sense that every student has a response pad (commonly called a "clicker", although they do not click) to answer quizzes that will be posed during the workshop.  Your workshop clicker score is 10% of your grade.

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.

The course CD contains all of the lectures, which you will watch at your convenience, as many times as you want, as well as the class quizzes (homework), practice exams, and a wealth of other material. For Instructions to purchase it go to the EDUSOFD web page.  Lectures will be available free of charge on the web for the first 2 weeks, to allow everybody plenty of time to obtain the course CD.

Follow this link to the course calendar.

The scheduled course meetings are not lectures, but rather workshops, held at the scheduled time of your section of the lecture.

There are quizzes before every class meeting, starting Friday September 5.  OK - they are actually due 2 hours after the end of each class, but it would be foolish to wait until then to do them.  The quizzes are on your course CD, but to submit solutions for credit, you have to log in via Blackboard to an on-campus server running Maple TA software.

You come to the workshop prepared because you have viewed the lecture on the CD and completed the quiz on the CD and Blackboard.  The workshop will be used to review material, and for quizzes based on eInstruction response pads ("clickers", although they don't actually click).  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 with your clicker in the workshop, see the lecturer immediately afterward, and, if justified, he will exempt you from the workshop just past.  Such exemptions are only granted immediately after the workshop.  The signal from your clicker will only be received in the section for which you are registered, so you must attend that one in order to receive credit for participation.

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 calculator to 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.

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 approximately thirty hours per week.  The schedule will be posted on the help room and on Blackboard within the first week of classes.  You can also reach your instructors by email; put Physics 123 as the subject line of your message to get their attention.  The help rooms (A129 and A131) are supposed to be staffed by Physics Department faculty and teaching assistants essentially all day, and there will probably be people there who can help you with physics problems, even if they are not associated with this specific course.

Laboratories are administered by the registrar as a separate course, Phys 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 February 2.  If you miss a lab, you will receive a score of zero.  Makeup labs (no penalty) will be scheduled in several weeks during the semester.  Note that only the immediately preceding labs can be made up, and you can only make up labs that you missed.  If you cannot meet this schedule due to exceptional circumstances (such as documented illness or death in the immediate family), discuss with the instructor.  Follow this link to web pages with the lab writeups etc.

Two Midterm exams are scheduled at 8:30 PM on March 2 and March 30   The final exam is May 15, 2:00-4:30 PM.  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% Pre-workshop quizzes (which are basically homework assignments).
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.

DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES (DSS) STATEMENT If you have a physical, psychological, medical, or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Disability Support Services (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. Students who require assistance during emergency evacuation are encouraged to discuss their needs with their professors and Disability Support Services.  For procedures and information go to the following website: http://www.stonybrook.edu/ehs/fire/disabilities/asp. 

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY STATEMENT. 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/

CRITICAL INCIDENT MANAGEMENT Stony Brook University expects students to respect the rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of Judicial Affairs any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, and/or inhibits students' ability to learn.

GOOD LUCK!