SYLLABUS

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Physics is the most basic of the sciences. The critical concepts of science, energy, matter, motion, force are all most fully understood in the context of physics. This course will investigate these concepts of physics to understand them and to apply them in a variety of situations.

A particularly significant aspect of this course is that it is specifically designed for students in the School of Education.The course is designed to combine disciplinary knowledge of physics along with the skills and experience needed to teach these concepts to pre-high school students. Thus, we will combine in class lectures with many hands-on projects to reinforce the underlying concepts we are studying. We will try at all times to illustrate that physics is not well understood by rote memorization; rather, physics is best understood and explained by the application of a few broad but powerful concepts to real phenomena. We will achieve this in a number of ways, including both lecture and in class hands-on assignments with an emphasis toward understanding how the experiment illustrates the physics involved.

Mathematics will be used as appropriate, and all math techniques will be well illustrated. To be sure, math is the language of physics, but a great deal of physics can be understood without appealing to high powered math. The course will show at many points throughout the semester how the math follows from basic concepts of physics, and in this way will show the integration of math and science that can be derived by starting with basic considerations of well known physics.

This semester, I anticipate we will cover the following chapters (or portions of these chapters): 1-10, 12-14, 17-20, 32, 34-37

GRADING

Your grade in this course will be determined by a series of inclass and homework assignments, two hour exams and a final exam. Some of these assignments will be individual work, others group work. In all cases, your submissions must reflect your work and effort; assignments will have due dates, and all work must be turned in on the due date. Papers submitted after the due date will lose credit at the rate of 1/3 credit for each late class day the work is submitted. (If the delay is the result of one of the five areas noted below, no late penalty will be assessed).

The first hour exam will be on 6 April and will cover material presented from today through and including 4 April; the second hour exam will be on 2 May and will cover material from the first hour exam to 27 April. There will be no class on Monday 28 March (Easter break).

During the break I will communicate frequently with the class, giving reading and homework assignments to keep you engaged in the course. These will be sent via email and assignments may be submitted either via email or via hardcopy.

The final exam will be in this room, 8:30-10:30, on Friday 13 May (I trust there are no triskaidekaphobes in the class.) The final will cover all material in the semester. (There is nothing tentative about the date of the final.)

Grades will be calculated according to:
In class/homework assignments in aggregate: 25%
Each hour exam:20%
Final exam:35%

It is my expectation that all students will take the exams on time. Make-up exams will be given only in the following cases: 1) illness or hospitalization requiring physician's care; 2) death of an immediate family member; 3) unavoidable court date; 4) religious holiday which prohibits normal activity such as attending class; 5) representing Loyola in an official campus off campus (e.g., model UN, debate team, intercollegiate athletics among others). All absences from exams will require written, documentable notes. Please note that travel, unless for one of these five areas above, is specifically not an acceptable reason for missing exams or submitting late assignments.

ACADEMIC HONESTY

Academic honesty is the cornerstone of any university and of the way in which scientists do research. Accordingly, I will hold you to the standards of academic honesty established by Loyola. Failure to meet these standards will have serious repercussions: Any instance of academic dishonesty on an exam (specifically but not exclusively copying from another student, using "crib" notes) will result in an "F" in the course and I will send a report to the Dean's Office describing the situation. The first instance of academic dishonesty on an inclass or homework assignment will result in a non-droppable grade of 0 on that assignment; a second instance of academic dishonesty on a quiz will result in an "F" in the course (with a report sent to the Dean's Office.)

GENERAL NOTES

This is a class designed where we will learn physics by doing physics and talking about physics. As such, class attendance is critical. While I will not take formal attendance (except for the first few days to get to know everyone's name), your ability to do well in the course will be strongly linked to your attendance.

Similarly, it is important to ask questions as you have them; this can be done in class, via email, in office hours or any other venue in which you can contact me. All I ask is that you raise your hand in class, and I will do my best to get to your question as rapidly as possible.

In short, this is a class where active learning is required. The more you participate in the class, the better you will learn the subject matter, and the better you will prepare yourselves for a career in education.