Physics 100 Course Information
Fall 2008

Introduction

This course is designed for students who plan to take Physics 211 but who lack the necessary physics and math preparation. The main focus of the course is to teach the problem solving skills and physical reasoning that are at the core of the Physics 211-214 curriculum. We have found that even after one semester of calculus and one year of high school physics many students do not know how to turn word problems into mathematical expressions, solve the math, and understand the physical significance of the result. The large range of student preparation means that Physics 211 cannot address the needs of many students. It is too easy for some and too difficult for others. We want the latter group to take Physics 100 in order to increase their chances of success.

The basic philosophy of Physics 100 can be summarized as follows:

1. Introduction and first chance to think about it (prelectures and preflights)
2. Untangle it (lectures)
3. Challenge yourself (homework)
4. Close the loop (discussion )
5. Test your understanding (quizzes (online and in-class))

The order of the above items is very important. 

The first exposure you will have to the material will be in the prelecture. These are new web-based presentations designed to introduce the key ideas/concepts of the lecture. Do this on your own prior to lecture (the assigned prelecture is listed for each lecture on the course planner). This first step should be taken very seriously, as all of the following items depend on this pre-exposure.

To get the most out of lecture your participation is required both prior to and during each lecture! Before every lecture you will be required to work through a brief "preflight" on the Web. Each preflight will probe your understanding of the prelecture material and must be completed by Thursday at 8am to receive credit. There are no "bad" preflight answers. You will receive full credit if you give it your best shot and answer all the questions. We use your responses to the preflight questions (including explanations) to create the lecture.
 

The lecture will be a highly interactive experience in which you will work with the concepts presented in the prelecture.  In particular, we will focus on the conceptual difficulties we observe in your preflight responses and we will work through some quantitative problems.  You will participate using the i>clicker and will get full credit if you give your best shot. You can also earn "extra-credit" for the questions in lecture that you answer correctly.

The Web-based homework covering each weeks material is due at 8am on Tuesday. Homework problems are designed to test your understanding of the concepts as well as basic problem-solving skills.

To cap things off, a weekly discussion section will go over the concepts you have learned about in the prelectures, lectures, and homework.  These sections use a collaborative group learning format.  You will work together with 2 or 3 other students on qualitative and quantitative problems that are designed to solidify your understanding of the week's material.  Your TA will facilitate this learning by regularly visiting each table to help you construct your understanding.

Finally, to test your understanding of the material, we ask you to take a quiz each week.  Most weeks this quiz is given online and is due at 8am on Friday.  You may feel free to discuss the quiz with other students if you wish. You may submit answers to the quiz at any time; we will grade only your last answers.  In two of the weeks, we will replace the on-line quiz with an in class quiz to help you prepare for such exam situations.

To help you keep track of "what is due when" we have put together a handy Web based planner.  You can link to it here, or from the main Physics 100 homepage.

The Final Exam in this course will be given on Wednesday evening, October 29.

Grading:

Your final grade for Physics 100 will be based upon your total score on all the components of the course. The total possible score is 1000 points, broken down as follows:

Gradebook:
The web-based gradebook will show, for all aspects of the class, exactly how you are progressing. At the end of the course, all components will be put together to obtain the final grade.  During the term, you should regularly check that the homework and discussion grades are correctly entered in the gradebook.  It is your responsibility to bring any problems with your assigned grades to the attention of your section instructor immediately.

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