Class times and location

Class meets:  M W F  9:00 to 9:50 AM  in 215 Phillips Hall

Instructor contact information

Duane L. Deardorff

Office hours:  M W F after class at 10:00 am or by appointment

Office: 203 Phillips Hall

Office phone: 962-3013

E-mail: duane_deardorff@unc.edu

Course description

Physics 24 is the first semester of an algebra-based physics course that is aimed at pre-med students and others who are required to take a physics course but will probably not major in physics. Knowledge of calculus is not required for this course, but references to calculus may be used occasionally. This course covers basic mechanics and thermodynamics, while Physics 25 continues in the second semester with electricity and magnetism, optics, and modern physics. Concurrent enrollment in a Physics 24 Lab is required since the lab grade is included in the 4-credit hour course grade.

 Textbook

College Physics, 5th edition by Serway and Faughn (Saunders College Publishing/Harcourt Brace1999)

Optional book:  Study Guide and Student Solutions Manual to accompany College Physics, 5th ed.

Instructional Philosophy

Through this course, you will have the opportunity to analyze the physical world around you and improve your critical thinking skills. The instruction for this course places significant emphasis on qualitative physical reasoning as an important foundation to quantitative problem solving. The instruction focuses on student-centered learning and involves active participation from the students.  The instructor will act more as a "coach" who facilitates student learning, as opposed to a "lecturer" who transmits knowledge without necessarily requiring thought or action on the part of the student.  Since the instructional focus is on learning rather than teaching, students are expected to take more responsibility for their own learning than might be required in a more traditional lecture format.  At the same time, frequent course assignments are designed to keep students "on track" through the learning process.  In order to see if this teaching style is right for you, spend a few minutes examining your own learning style using the on-line Index of Learning Styles survey.

 
Critical Thinking

Most students who take an introductory physics course will not pursue advanced physics degrees and will probably never use most of the physics concepts taught in the course.  Consequently, you will not be required to memorize lots of physics equations, but you will be required to comprehend and apply physics concepts to a variety of situations.  The reason that many students find physics difficult is that it goes beyond memorization by requiring higher level thinking skills (levels 4 through 6 below).  Learning physics is also like learning a foreign language since new words and symbols must be understood and applied correctly within the context of various physical situations.

Bloom's Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain:

    1.  Knowledge - memorization of facts, words, and symbols

    2.  Comprehension - understanding the meaning of knowledge

    3.  Application - applying concepts to various situations

    4.  Analysis - breaking apart complex ideas

    5.  Synthesis - putting individual ideas together to form a complete explanation

    6.  Evaluation - judging the merits of individual ideas and making decisions

Not only are these skills needed for physics, but employers consistently rank critical thinking and problem-solving ability near the top of their list of desired traits in valued employees.

 
Collaborative Group Work

This course encourages collaborative teamwork, which has multiple benefits for you both as a student and in your career.  Most jobs require at least some interaction with other people, and consequently, most employers place a high value on their employees' ability to work well with other people. Also, many good ideas and solutions to problems grow out of discussions with colleagues. As many teachers will attest, you will find that the concepts covered in this course will become clearer to you as you discuss and explain problem solutions to your peers. As you work together, you should help your peers to understand confusing points, ask each other questions, and carefully critique any group assignments. You can learn a great deal by teaching each other!

Course Work

Readings. You are responsible for reading the textbook and working suggested problems on your own. The first homework assignment for each chapter typically consists of conceptual questions, and you are expected to read the chapter and answer these questions before coming to class.  Time spent in class is intended to be a review and elaboration on the information you should have already learned from the textbook.

Class Participation is an important part of this course.  There are many opportunities for active student participation, which is rewarded without considering whether answers are right or wrong.  Participation exercises may include: surveys that are submitted in-class or on-line, written predictions for classroom demonstrations, "ponderable" questions, and "Minute Papers" (written feedback to the instructor on how you are doing in the class and questions that you have). Class participation assignments will be marked for effort only (no penalty for wrong answers) - a "check" indicates full credit for participation, a "check-minus" indicates unsatisfactory effort, and an absence will be recorded as a zero.

Homework assignments will be submitted via the WebAssign on-line homework system. Assignments will usually consist of several multiple-choice questions or numerical exercises that should generally require less than one hour to complete after reading the textbook.  Check WebAssign for current assignments and due dates.
    If you find that WebAssign does not suit your learning style, you may choose to simply work homework problems on your own, and each mid-term exam will each count for 15% of your course grade instead of the standard 10%.  If you choose this option, you must notify your instructor before the last day of class.

Real-World Problems will usually be distributed and discussed in class each Wednesday.  Each student is then responsible for writing a complete solution on paper using the GOAL problem-solving strategy or GOAL template, and this solution will be due at the beginning of Friday's class.  Each solution will be "rough graded" using the check/check-minus system used for class participation assignments.  Solutions will also be randomly selected to be "quality graded" for accuracy, organization, clarity of explanation, and completeness. One real-world problem will be included on each exam, and this problem will be selected by the class from individual student submissions based on criteria provided by the instructor.  The top ten problems will be available for review before the exam.

Web Project. To help make connections between physics and the "real world," each student group will publish an on-line report that explains the physics of some form of technology of interest to the group. The project will be due near the end of the semester and will be posted on the Web for the world to view.

Exams. There will be 3 unit tests and one comprehensive final exam for this course.  Consult the course schedule for the dates of each exam. Test questions will be similar to problems assigned for homework or discussed in class. Each exam will have a format consisting of a variety of problem types to address multiple learning styles and encourage students to learn at all cognitive levels:

• (45%)  15 multiple choice or T/F qualitative conceptual questions - Knowledge, Comprehension
• (30%)  10 short quantitative problems - Analysis, Application
• (20%)  1 real-world problem using GOAL format - Synthesis, Evaluation
• (5%)    1 original real-world problem created by each student - All cognitive levels


Lab.  The laboratory portion of this course is required for all students and counts for 25% of the overall course grade. Labs generally start the second week of classes - consult the schedules posted in Phillips hall or in the lab manual for details.  Laboratory manuals are available in the Course Pack section of the campus bookstore.

Grades

Course grades (+/-) will be assigned based on your overall, weighted class average as follows:

Weighting Scheme and Letter Grade Divisions

Component	Weight
Tests (3)	30%*			-		+
Final exam	15%		A	90-92	93-100
WebAssign Homework	15%*		B	80-82	83-86	87-89
Real-World Problems	5%		C	70-72	73-76	77-79
Web Project	5%		D		60-66	67-69
Class Participation	5%		F		0-59
Lab	25%

*If you choose to not use WebAssign, each Test will be 15% of your course grade (see Homework above).

There usually is a "gray area" between two letter grades in the final distribution (e.g. C+ or B-). The higher grade depends on your interactions in class and whether your test and homework performance shows improvement.

Resources

Tutorial Center (210 Phillips hall - consult schedule on door for availability)

Physics Study Tips

WebAssign Tips

Equations and conversion factors

Practice Exams

www.harcourtcollege.com/physics/college/student/

www.ncsu.edu/learn/