B. Non-material
items (these are all much
harder to come by) TO
TOP......
| |
Enough sleep; at
least 7 to 7 hours/week for study outside of class.
Motivation, smarts
Intellectual flexibility!
and patience! |
III.
THE LECTURE ..TO
TOP..
| |
Except for the first few lecture, you should do the reading BEFORE coming
to the lecture. They will be indicated on the syllabus (hard copy
handed out or assigned in lectures. Periodically,
there could be short in-class quizzes. If we use a PRS (personal response
system) please test your PRS
transmitter before the beginning of relevant classes.
How any quiz grades will be incorporated into the semester grade for the
course will be discussed and clarified further in class.
The lecture will give an overview of the material, and treat many
topics in detail, a few of which may not be in the text. It will NOT be merely a complete repetition of the text.
Boas is written to be comprehensive and serve as both a text and reference . .
. to cover all the material would take about 3 semester. We clearly need
to choose the topics important for the future courses. Thus, I
will take a sequence different from that in the text, and add to the discussion
found in it. Only by attending lectures will you learn what is required.
There will be discussions with answers solicited from each student.
We will sometimes work in small groups and do sample problems. |
| |
Thus, attending
all lectures and taking good notes is extremely important. The
first step in your daily study should be going
over your lecture notes, and integrating them
with the reading you did before lecture! If your notes
are confusing, ask me immediately . . . a day before the exam is too late. |
|
| |
N.B.
I "hold lectures" and tell a long story . . . I do not "give notes." YOU are to take good
notes during lectures so you can study from them to reconstruct our discussions
and extract the understanding. See me immediately if your notes are
confusing. |
|
|
Very good lecture attendance
is important, especially if you want the advantage of having your lowest hour exam
grade count much less than "normal." |
|
I believe strongly that all should be able to hear easily
and to concentrate on the lectures without and distraction.
Therefore, before any session
please remember to set cell
phones, pagers, etc. to
the silent mode. Also, once I start the session, please
observe the courtesy of not
talking.
If I (or any other instructor) ask(s) you to leave a session,
it will be considered an unexcused absence; 3 or more such incidents will
automatically lead to your failure of the course. |
IV.
THE LABORATORY
IRRELEVANT TO THIS COURSE!
..TO
TOP..
| V. STUDY-ASSIGNMENT
SHEETS and HOMEWORK |
V. A. Introduction
| |
1. |
Assigned homework
helps you: |
|
|
| a. |
keep up with and learn
the material; |
| b. |
learn and practice
an integral part of physics: solving problems; |
| c. |
prepare for portions
of the examinations; |
| d. |
(if they are to be
submitted) improve your grade a bit. |
|
|
|
The weekly "assigned
SET" is
| |
up to 8 or more exercises,
not
necessarily numerical problems. |
|
Before
you work on the "assigned set," make sure you have already
done any exercises designated, "Do on your own" that might
appear in a Study Sheet. |
|
|
|
For an assigned
set that is submitted, the grading of an exercise may be anywhere
between the following extremes:
| |
a. |
very carefully, with
points divided among various parts of the answers; |
|
b. |
cursorily, with full
credit for any reasonable attempt at a solution. |
|
Under this system,
it is possible for you to understand little but still "luck into" a good
grade.
Before
you submit an assigned set,
remember to PHOTOCOPY what you submit. This is especially crucial
for a set submitted within a week before an exam.
For every set, EVEN IF your grade was
very good, you must always check your WORK CAREFULLY with the posted
solutions (in the Rotunda area outside the Physics Office).
You are expected to learn from the posted solutions, whatever your
grade. If a set is not returned before an exam, you
should still use your photocopy to see what a complete solution or discussion
would be. The standards in exams are often higher than that for
submitted homework . . . thus, two similar solutions to similar problems will
in general yield a lower grade in the exam than in homework.
Remember: even if you get a correct answer, the method or reasoning
may be wrong, so pay careful attention to the whole solution, not just "the
right answer."
Over the semester, virtue will generally win out . . . those who
work hard and understand the material need much less luck. |
It is foolish to start
assigned homework a few hours before they might be due. Having
time
to think is the only way to assure actually learning from doing
the exercises. I will start some exercises in class and/or
give broad hints (perhaps on Blackboard) on how you should proceed . .
. my hints will be useful for you ONLY IF you have already grappled
with the exercises. |
|
2. |
STUDY SHEETS for a Unit |
|
|
It is possible that there will be documents
posted on the Web (accessible from my home page and perhaps from
TU's Blackboard) to help you work your way through the material for each chapter
or for a Unit (a set of several related chapters). |
V. B.
SUGGESTED METHOD for doing homework exercises ..TO
TOP..
|
The best technique
is an unhurried one.
Working with others is a good way to learn, but make sure you avoid putting
yourself in a position of cheating! |
|
1. |
Work first on
understanding fundamental concepts, not doing the set. |
|
|
Use
your notes from lecture and integrate it with the reading. Make
sure you understand and can define all the words used. Though math
is the "natural language" of physics, concepts
are really the essence of physics, and exams will include verbal items.
| |
The experience of teaching for
40 years at TU shows me that most students go too soon to the exercises,
without first having really understood the vocabulary and fundamental concepts. |
|
The majority of concerns
addressed to me are resolved by discussing the physical concepts involved in the
equations and not by how to deal with manipulating the mathematics. |
|
| |
2. |
First "run-through"
with an exercise |
|
|
a.
b.
|
Consider what
topic or sub-topic the exercise might involve.
Consider any hints
from my discussion of the exercises.
|
If you have not looked at the exercises until
now, my hints may be not useful. |
|
| c. |
Translate
the (English) words of the exercise to physical symbols/concepts. |
| d. |
An
appropriate drawing
or sketch, even if rather simple, is MANDATORY in both homework and exams.
Start with that.
Then systematically insert all the "known" quantities (symbolic
and/or numerical) into the sketch. |
| e. |
Do not leaf through the text looking
for "the right equation to plug numbers into."
| (1) |
More and more in Physics, your goal will
be conceptual and symbolic answers, NOT numerical ones! |
| (2) |
Though you can profitably use the text to
find model exercises, you will not have access to your text during any
exam, where it really counts! |
Thus, learn immediately to work with your Fact Sheet
as your constant companion. |
| f. |
If necessary, get
clarification from me about the material or the statement/intent of any exercise. |
| g. |
Restudy your notes
and text as necessary. |
Do not spend more
than 10-15 minutes on any exercise. |
|
3. |
Next try: attack the
exercises more seriously, |
|
|
but again, do not spend more than 10-15 min on any exercise. If you
cannot make headway, |
|
4. |
consult me for further details and help. |
|
|
Do not, however, expect
that I can correct a confusion in the few minutes before or between classes
or that I can be at your disposal the hour before the exercises might be
due. |
|
5. |
"Finish" by |
|
|
| a. |
Getting what you think
is the final answer(s) and box/indicate them so in your review, you can
see easily what your conclusions were. |
| b. |
If you are required
to submit the set, make sure your NAME and SECTION NUMBER is in TWO places
(see the next page for the rest of the details of the Format). |
However, if you
are "the ideal student" you have one more step! |
|
6. |
Review explicitly
what you have learned. |
|
|
Ask yourself
| |
From the exercise,
what have I learned about the subject? |
|
What approach in solving
problems have I learned? What technique(s)? |
|
Why was this assigned?
and simple variations can I make to that exercise? |
Now, you are really finished! ..TO
TOP.. |
V. C.
Homework to be submitted
If homework
is to be submitted, details will be on the HW-Main Page
(This may also be given to each student in hard copy.)
Details
of grading are below.
V. D. Posted Solutions Return
to top of V. Homework ..TO
TOP..
|
|
Soon after you have submitted homework, the
complete solutions will be posted: |
|
1. |
in looseleaf
notebook(s) located in the Physics Lounge OR |
|
|
located in the
"Rotunda area" of the 4th floor of Smith Hall (to your left as you face the Physics Office)
|
It is fairest for
all if the solutions stay there all the time, available to all.
A violation of this
policy CHEATS everyone in the class, so honest people should help me maintain
this system. |
Any one labelled "Photocopy"
may be borrowed for up to 15 minutes. |
|
2. |
perhaps on the Web, accessible from my
home page.. |
VI. ABSENCE AND
LATENESS ..TO
TOP....
|
|
It is not possible
to formulate a policy which could explicitly address all the infinite number
of situations that would cause a person to be late or absent. However,
I will be specific enough so that if you are serious about education and
about your responsibility in an academic community, the principles will
be clear. |
VI. A.
Terms
defined ..TO
TOP..
|
1. The
non-debatable
emergency will be undefined, but would include accidents,
cases of sudden documentable illness, and other sudden unforeseen occurrences. |
|
2.
An excusable absence / lateness is one caused by
|
1. a documentable
illness |
|
2. a non-debatable
emergency |
|
3. a situation for
which a student has received prior explicit permission from me
(and the recitation/lab instructor, if relevant). |
|
4. a university-recognized
religious holiday or university-sanctioned event
for which where you have already consulted with me
|
3. To be
excused it is important that you, or your representative, has
|
consulted with
me as soon as possible. |
|
| E.g. |
A student is absent
for 5 days with a horrible attack of allergies,
and informs me of
this when s/he returns to class with a doctor's slip.
Though normally
excusable, this absence will NOT be excused because someone
should have spoken with me within a day or two of the incident. |
|
4. Fabrication
|
A fabricated
(made-up) reason for an absence or a lateness is obviously cheating and
will earn you a zero grade for all items
in the relevant category.
E.g. You lie about why you failed to hand in an
assignment on time.
You will receive a zero for all the assignments. |
|
VI. B. Lecture
attendance ..TO
TOP.. .... Back
to "The Lecture"
|
1.
Very good lecture attendance is defined as:
|
< =
2 unexcused absences and |
|
|
< =
4 for the total unexcused (latenesses +absences) |
|
2. I take attendance
for most lectures, generally at the beginning, or by the PRS system.
3. Lateness:
If
you are delayed, attend as much as you can, but
at the end of lecture, it is YOUR responsibility
to:
|
a. see that you are
marked late-but-present. |
|
b. give me an explanation
if your lateness is to be excused; otherwise, it is an unexcused lateness. |
4. Special circumstances:
|
If a previous class/commitment
will make it difficult to be punctual, talk with me immediately. |
5. Asked to leave:
| . |
Anyone asked to leave
the class for any reason has automatically earned an unexcused absence. |
|
VI. C. Laboratory
attendance ..TO
TOP..
IRRELEVANT.
VI. D. Examinations..TO
TOP..
|
|
|
1. If
you are delayed due to a non-debatable
emergency, come anyway;
2. If you
miss the exam completely, you may be out of luck.
|
It is impossible for
an instructor to compose two exams that are truly equivalent; thus,
make-up examinations are intrinsically unfair to someone, probably those who
did not miss the exam. |
a.
For you to have any chance of a makeup for an
excusable absence:
|
(1) |
I must be contacted
very soon after the exam; |
|
(2) |
You must not
spoken with anyone in the class about the exam you missed. |
b.
For an unexcused absence you will receive a grade of zero. |
VI. E.
Missed deadlines ..TO
TOP..
|
1. Excused
absence/lateness: the item will at the instructor's discretion
be |
|
|
a. accepted
without a penalty, or
b. be
considered, your attendance permitting, as one grade that will be dropped. |
2. Otherwise,
at the discretion of the relevant instructor, the item will be
|
a. penalized
one letter grade per ½ day or
b. returned
ungraded with a zero. |
|
|
VII. EVALUATION
of the students ..TO
TOP..
| VII. A. Skills you are
expected to gain in the course ..TO
TOP.. |
|
Be able
to
| 1... |
give important laws
and other relationships in concise verbal statements as well as in mathematical
statement, and the conditions and limits of their applicability. |
2.
. |
identify instances
and examples of basic concepts applied in standard (or model) cases used
in the lecture and text, and to extend this process to slightly different,
real-world situations. |
3.
. |
do problems which
require putting together the smaller pieces of 2., above, and which require
a series of steps in thinking. |
|
| VII. B. Examinations ..TO
TOP.. |
|
Exams are intended
to evaluate the understanding and accompanying skills which you have developed
in lectures, doing
homework sets, and studying. Thus, the types of
questions will reflect those activities:
|
filling in the blanks or multiple choice |
short answers and definitions |
| |
short explanations, essays, or derivations |
of course, problems
(perhaps with computation). |
Do not expect
just numerical problems.
|
Fact Sheet:
You need to memorize
very little because early in the semester you are given a sheet with all the numerical constants
and the quantitative relationships (in the notation used in the course) your should
need. You should use this sheet in doing homework. |
| |
You may/should
| a. |
neatly highlight,
box, and otherwise mark to organize the sheet, as we go along |
| b. |
use it as you do your
homework! bring it with you
to all exams! |
You may NOT add anything to
this sheet,
except what I ask you to do communally!
Violation of this
is considered cheating and will be dealt with
very severely. |
|
Most people working
hard will gradually commit quite a few relationships to memory. |
| Before each exam some
portion of the previous lecture period will be spent as a review /
problem session. Very organized and
bright students may find most of an examination rather prosaic.
I will, however, try to maintain some element of challenge even to the
very best. |
| VII. C.
GRADING scheme
(consult also the Syllabus) ..TO
TOP.. |
|
|
|
|
This
course does NOT use the 90, 80, 70, 60 cut-offs that are often used.
E.g., depending on the difficulty of an exam and how it is graded,
it may be that 83% will be the cut-off line between B+ and A- for
that exam.
The grade for the semester will incorporate the +'s and -'s permitted by
the TU system.
|
1. Examinations...TO
TOP...
| . |
I intend them to have
a median of about 60 - 70%. Thus, small mistakes in thinking or
computation will
not ruin your grade, and the truly outstanding student will rise above
the crowd. |
|
I grade carefully
for details, but also give liberal partial credit. |
|
Since I try to make
a point of not knowing what each student earns until I enter the
grade into my grade book, I ask that you put your name on the BACK (only
for exams). |
|
The cut-offs are about: |
85%; |
above that is an
|
A- / A |
|
70% |
above that is a
|
B- / B / B+ |
|
58% |
above that is a
|
C- / C / C+ |
|
45% |
above that is a
|
D / D+ |
Between the cut-offs, the bins are of equal size. E.g., in the
example above,
70%--58% = 12%. Thus, each of C-, C, and C+ occupies a
width of 4%. |
|
|
|
2.
Homework
SETS...TO
TOP...
A graded SET is always 40 points. The cutoffs are about
35, 30, 25, and 20.
If you do not follow the required format, you will get one warning,
then zeros after that.
For lateness, see the policy on late assignments .
Very
good lecture attendance allows the lowest 1 (or 2) homework grades
to be dropped. |
|
VII. D.
COMPETITION and THE COURSE GRADE ..TO
TOP..
|
1. Relative importance of
exams and
any homework assignments
|
The relative weights
of each are shown in hard copy in the Tentative Syllabus.
[The concept
of a "weighting" (as in weighted mean) will be treated somewhere in the course.] |
2. Prime Importance of exams
|
Because your
individual performance on examinations is very important,
| |
any homework grade can improve your total grade
by NO MORE THAN
TWO (+/-) steps over the average
of your examinations:
| E.g.,
|
if the
exams (final included and no hour exam weighted
less) have a mean of B,
the highest grade you can get for the semester is A- (B to B+ to A-),
other performance notwithstanding. |
|
|
3. No fixed distribution of grades
|
Since my evaluation
of what constitutes A, A-, B+, etc. is independent
of how students perform this semester, it is possible for all of you to get A's,
or all to get D's and F's. (Either alternative is unlikely!)
Thus,
if you feel any competition other than with yourself, it should only be
with the standards which I have set up. It should NOT be with others
in the class.
|
|
You
are not only free, but strongly encouraged, to help each other (but
only honestly!)
You
may find it hard to believe, but research shows that one of the best
ways to learn is by teaching . . . . trying to explain to another
person what you know . . . and why !! |
4.
No C- for the semester grade
|
When the University Senate originally
passed the +/- grading scheme for trial, its intent was not to do violence
to the fundamentals of the tradition scheme but to bring more discrimination
to the grading process.
One of the "principles" of the tradition system is that
C is "passing." Traditionally, if you were closer
to a C than a D, you were assigned a "C", which is passing. I believe
that is the way it should remain. However, the assignment of 2.00
quality points to a C forces an assignment of 1.67 to a C-, which then
becomes "not passing."
Therefore, when the finally
tally of grades is done at the end of the semester, if you earn a C- (i.e.,
higher than a D+) the registrar will receive for your grade a C (without
the minus sign!) There will be no C-'s on the grade sheet which
I turn in.
I know that you will do better
than that, since this is your major course, but just in case!
Incidentally, if you earn a C or
C- (in actuality, even if it turns into a C) in this crucial course for
your major, you really haven't learned what you need for your
future. I advise strongly that you retake it at a future
date.! |
|
|
5. Working together without cheating
| |
For homework, and normal study, I strongly encourage you
to work together with classmates and friends. If necessary, also
see any available TU tutor or those from other places. However,
the immediate result of these interchanges or exchanges should be that
you then make sure you have processed these adequately "through your
brain" and have gained a deeper understanding of the material. |
| |
At the end, when you present these ideas, in either homework
assignments, papers, or quizzes and examinations, you must express
them out of your understanding and in your own language. The
term "language" include both phrases and sentences in English AND
the language of mathematics (i.e., equations). The next section is more
specific about what constitutes cheating. |
|
VII. E. HONESTY ..TO
TOP..
|
In written work or any other presentation, presenting another's ideas
or even another's sequence of words or of equations as your own without
explicit acknowledgment of the source is called plagiarism.
In academic life plagiarism has always been considered a form of CHEATING. |
|
|
Some
other specific examples of cheating:
|
Fabricating any of
the following:
|
any kind of data for from observations,
experiments, etc; |
|
reasons to explain an omission; |
|
illness or excuses
for an illness. |
Removing without authorization anything from the Solutions
notebooks or any library. |
|
Allowing someone to copy your
work.
Helping, or conspiring with,
someone to cheating. |
|
|
|
Adding or altering (other
than organizing) the "Fact Sheet" unless I explicitly ask the class as
a whole to do so. |
|
|
|
Make sure you consult sections on the V. Homework
and on VI. Absence and Lateness so there
is no doubt in your mind what the rules of the course are. If you still have
some doubts, ask me. |
|
|
From the 12th century to the present, The University in Western civilization
has existed fundamentally for the fostering of the world of the mind .
. . the intellectual work of each individual and of civilized societies
as a whole. I believe the University must be kept at a "higher
level" than the rest of the social institutions around us.
Cheating strikes at the very basis of what I believe is a hallowed institution
with profoundly important processes.
Dishonesty is not common in classes where people take pride in their intellectual
achievements, and most of the students I have come across in many decades
at TU are honest, many often painfully so. I will initially
treat each one of you as a person worthy of trust. However, there
are students who will cheat without thinking much about it. I consider
cheating in my classes to be a personal insult, and I am
willing to spend all the time and effort that the processing and appeals
of punitive sanctions might entail. Note that the University Senate
has passed a provision so that once a student has been charged with cheating
in a course, that student can no longer drop the course and is forced to
face the consequences of the charges.
Cheating is quite easy to detect in science courses. If you cheat,
you can expect at a minimum to receive a ZERO grade for that phase
of the course (e.g., a zero for ALL the home works if there is evidence
of plagiarism from the Solutions Manual or from other sources), and have
a letter with a description of the incident(s) kept on permanent record
with the Office of the Vice President of Student Life/Registrar.
You may also earn an F for the course, or be recommended for expulsion
from the University.
You may have cheated in high school or other university classes, and you
may think that most instructors "look the other way." I
WILL NOT! Very few students flunk this course against their
will . . . most students earning D's and F's actually do not have the time
or energy and they often stop trying. However, one SURE way
to make earning an F much, much more likely is for you to
cheat.
The collective atmosphere established by
you and your classmates has a strong influence on what occurs in our class.
I hope you feel strongly about the integrity of your own work and of the
academic process. Help me keep this class honest! ..TO
TOP.. |
|
VIII. OFFICE HOURS ..TO
TOP..
| |
To
accommodate the
greatest number of students, I establish office hours after your schedules
(submitted on the Student Info Sheets) are tabulated. Other
than dropping in during "official" office hours, you can also make an appointment to see me
or catch me free when I am around the building. This semester my student
load is light . . . I will be able to give each of you quite a bit of time. |
|
I try hard to keep
appointments and I expect you to return the courtesy. If you make an appointment
and have a change of plans, out of common courtesy you must call to let
me know. Sometimes, I get delayed, just as you do; thus, wait a reasonable
time before you conclude there has been a misunderstanding. |
IX.
EPILOGUE ..TO
TOP..
|
I hope I have made clear that this course is quite difficult.
However, it is also of fundamental importance for many of you. I
am here to help you and to try to make this as pleasant and exciting as
possible. |
|
I think people learn and teach best in a somewhat informal atmosphere
and where no one feels too threatened. However, to address properly
each student's individual background (or lack thereof) and style of learning
would take a two- to four-fold increase in the time and money that Maryland
and the United States seems willing to pay for what everyone claims is
our most important resource, the minds of its young. I can only do
so much, given my other responsibilities and the large number of assignments
that I will receive from each of the many of you
in a relatively short time. |
|
Thus, to be able to manage everything, I have to demand quite
a bit of structure, the details of which will be very onerous to some
of you; and the deadlines will in general be strictly enforced. Further,
the nature of the material is not easy, and the standards will be fairly
high. I can, however, try to set up a good atmosphere, and be well-prepared
and fairly responsive. |
|
YOU, however,
must take the major responsibility:
| 1. |
Study consistently
and promptly; cramming is a poor way to learn for the future. Pay
attention to details; like any endeavor, the "devil's in the details."
If you can put in only sporadic effort or time, you will not do well in
this course. |
| 2.
|
Let me know promptly
if you have questions, problems, or concerns about the material and your
performance. The 12th week of the semester is often too late to fix
anything. |
| 3.
|
Let me know if the
personal problems that afflict all of us are making it difficult for you
in this course. If addressed in time, we may be able to do something
about it |
|
|
Inevitably, a certain
percentage of students, some quite bright, are not ready at this point
in their lives for the amount of time, organization, and intellectual maturity
this course requires. For most of you, however, with work on both
our parts, this course will be a very helpful to your future career.
It could also be a very satisfying, and even exciting experience. Henry L. Chen
30 Jan 2006
..TO
TOP.. |
|