http://online.chabotcollege.edu/shildreth/physics/5syll.html

Physics 5 Online!

Chabot College - Scott Hildreth

Spring 2009 Syllabus

Homework - Calendar - Mastering Physics - ActivPhysics Aplets

Overview of the Physics 5 Online Course Syllabus  (with more details below!)

Course Topics: An introduction to Modern Physics, including relativity, quantum mechanics, atomic and nuclear physics.

Prerequisites: Physics 4B with a grade of “C” or better and Math 2.  You may take Physics 5 along with Physics 4C.  If you will be Physics 4B in Spring 2009, and want to take Physics 5, consent of the instructor is required.

Graduation/Transfer Credit: 3 semester units of physical science that meets GE requirements for Associates Degrees, and transfers to UC, CSU, and most other four-year universities.   Articulates with CSU San Jose as equivalent to Physics 53.

Instructor: Scott Hildreth (shildreth@chabotcollege.edu) Contact information is noted below, including on-campus office hours.

Required on-campus meetings: None.  The course will be available online 24x7 from the start of the semester (1/20/09) through the end (5/31/09).  You are never required to be online on a certain day or at a certain time.  You are expected to login in and post at least twice each week to one of the discussion forums, but you can choose when you do that, and obviously from where you want to work.  You are required to have access to a working, reliable computer with the capability to connect to the internet.

Exams: One midterm and one final exam, offered online.  Each may be taken once anytime within a one-week "window", depending upon your own schedule and preferences.  Exams will last 120 minutes, can be taken only once, and will consist of a selection of numerical problems, short-answer essay questions and a selection of  multiple choice questions. 

Tutorials: Online simulations and tutorials available 24x7; approximately one required each week.

Homework: Short weekly assignments throughout the term.   Homework always requires that you post to an online discussion as well as read and comment upon the postings of other students.

Grading: Homework & Participation: ~50%; Online Tutorials and Simulation Reviews: 20%; Midterm: 13%; Final Exam: 17%. You cannot pass this class with a grade of C or higher without regular, substantial participation online through weekly posting.  In other words, you cannot pass the class by doing the work in a vacuum.

Textbook:  “Modern Physics” (2^nd Ed.) Harris ISBN: 08053-0308-1  

Also Required: We’ll also use the Mastering Physics system supporting Knight’s “Physics for Scientists and Engineers” 2^nd Edition, which is in use now for Physics 4B and 4C.  You can purchase the Mastering Physics access code online from http://www.masteringphysics.com or bundled with the Harris book in our Chabot College bookstore.

Our Mastering Physics Course ID is "CHABOTPHYSICS5SPRING2009".  You'll need to enter this course ID when you register at Mastering Physics to select our class and get credit for your work.

Temporary UserIDs:   If you are trying to add, or forget your ID, you can use the following to access our class and the Mastering Astronomy site.  Note that no credit will be given for any quizzes or tutorials attempted using this ID. 

For Access to Blackboard, userid: physics5, password: physicsstudent

For Access to Mastering Physics, userid: physics5student, password: spring2009

My contact information

Office Hours: As this is an online class, you are welcome and encouraged to contact me anytime by email.  If you are also taking on-campus classes, you are welcome to see me MW 1-1:30 PM and 2:45 - 3:15 PM (before and after my Astronomy classes); and Thursday 3-4 PM after my Physics 4C class. I also have Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 10:30 - 11:45 AM open if needed, in 1714 (the physics labs).  My complete office hours for the term are available online at my home page: http://online.chabotcollege.edu/shildreth. You can also make an appointment to see me at another time that fits your schedule. If you ever come by and miss me, please leave a note with your name, phone number, and the best time to reach you, and I will call you back.

I will check email multiple times every day, and I recommend this as the best way to reach me! However, you MUST include a clear SUBJECT message in your email, and your name, to ensure that your email will not be treated as "SPAM" and automatically deleted. I will check my voicemail messages often, but not daily. If you have an urgent need, and cannot get to email, leave me a voicemail message but do not expect an answer back the same day.

About Physics 5, Modern Physics - Relativity, Quantum, Atomic, and Nuclear Physics

This is the final course in our 4-semester sequence of physics courses with calculus, designed for students majoring in:

• Some biological sciences
• Engineering
• Physics, Geology, Astronomy, or Chemistry

Students who take Physics 5 generally are planning to transfer to four-year schools. Many Chabot students have gone on with great success to California State University campuses at Hayward, San Jose, and San Francisco, as well as Cal Poly SLO, and University of California campuses at Berkeley and Davis, among other schools. Chabot College has an "articulation agreements" with CSU San Jose, which guarantee that your successful completion of Physics 5 at Chabot will be deemed equivalent to their Physics 53 course.

Subject Prerequisites for the course include:

• Mathematics: You must have passed Math 2 with a grade of "C" or higher.  If you are currently enrolled in Math 2, you *must* see me immediately to ensure you are able to attend. Calculus is required and will be used heavily, especially integration. Students currently in Math 2 will find that some techniques used in Physics 4C will not be discussed in their Math classes until later in the term.
  
   
• Physics: You are expected to have passed Physics 4B with a grade of "C" or higher.  If you struggled in 4B to achieve that grade, please make an appointment with me immediately so that we can discuss your situation. Physics 4C is not a pre-requisite, but I will certainly mention results from that class as most students take the Physics sequence in order.
  
   
• English: You will be writing essays, papers and laboratory reviews in this class, as well as using email to share your homework answers and discussion questions. You will be expected to read and listen to posted lectures, and read the textbook. While there is no course prerequisite for English, basic college-level reading and writing skills are assumed.

Required Materials

1. Required Textbook

 “Modern Physics” (2^nd Ed.) by Randy Harris, of UC Davis.  ISBN: 08053-0308-1.  Available online (without Mastering Physics) for $127 at the publisher's website. 

And also available at the Chabot College bookstore (bundled with Mastering Physics for $138.90; check out http://www.chabotbookstore.com/CourseMaterials.aspx )or online from the publisher as a package with Mastering Physics.  (Package ISBN-10: 0321610741 | ISBN-13: 9780321610744  (Suggested retail price: $133.33).

 

Note that I have put one copy of this book on reserve in the library - you can read it there, but cannot take the book out of the library.
 

2. Required Homework & Tutorial Online System

This term, we will be using an advanced, online homework and tutorial system called Mastering Physics. If you purchase the combined Harris/Mastering Physics bundled textbook, it will come with an individual access code.  If you purchase a used book, or use another author's book, you will still be required to participate in the homework assignments using Mastering Physics, and you can purchase your own access code online for $50 at the Mastering Physics website (ISBN 0321516397).  The code we'll use supports Knight’s “Physics for Scientists and Engineers” 2^nd Edition, which is in use now for Physics 4B and 4C. 

IF you take Physics 5 and Physics 4C concurrently you will NOT have to purchase a second login ID for Mastering Physics.  You can email Mastering Physics technical support and request a *second* access code for free.  If you completed Physics 4B or 4C in Autumn, 2008, your Mastering code *may* work for Spring 2009 as well – but we’ll need to check when it expires to be sure.   You can do this once you login to Pearson's Account Support Site.

Other Requirements for our course:

Calculator: Multi-function with trig, statistics, exponentials. Graphing capability is optional.

Internet:  You need not own a computer, but you must have access to a computer (on campus, at work, or at home) that can access the Internet to participate in this class. In addition to the publisher site, we have a Blackboard shell for discussion, quizzes, tutorials, and homework/lab review.

Attendance

Physics 5 is offered completely online, with no required on-campus meetings at all.  Nevertheless, this is not a self-paced class.  You are expected to login and participate actively each week, in at least two ways:

• By responding to the discussion questions of the week, which come mostly from the Harris textbook; and,
• By reading and responding to the posts of classmates.

In addition, homework assignments will sometimes involve short research assignments asking you to look at current developments in modern physics, and posting reactions and reviews, which you will post online in the discussion forums, and once again, you will be expected to read and respond to the posts of classmates.

Grading:

• Homework & Short Research papers: 50%

Homework & Participation (50% of grade)

One of the most important factors for your success in Physics 5, and future success at a 4-year school, will be your ability to solve physics problems and demonstrate your understanding of key concepts. And the best training to help you learn how to solve problems and really wrestle with those concepts is through lots of homework!

• Quantitative homework will be assigned each week using Mastering Physics, an online problem and tutorial system.  Every student is required to purchase an individual access code (bundled with the new books, and available separately from the publisher.)  Codes cannot be shared.
   
•  Conceptual homework will be assigned each week, asking you to reply to short-answer questions usually due on a Thursday, and submitting answers online using Mastering Physics and/or email to additional numerical problems by Sunday night.  
   
• All homework will be expected by 11:55 PM Pacific Time on the day it is due.  Note that Mastering Physics is great in that the system will accept late work, but discounts the total score 2% per hour late; if you can get your work done by noon of the next day, you can still earn up to 75% credit, and by one day late, still 50%.  If you know that you might need extra time to complete a particular assignment, please contact me ahead of the deadline, and I'll certainly consider an extension.
   
• With our Mastering Physics online system, you will not be required to turn in all numerical problems on paper.  I still recommend that you work out problems first on paper, and that you  keep all of your assignments in a narrow, 3-ring binder. During the term if you need help and can stop by my office, you can show me your work.  And if questions arise about your class grade, I may ask you to produce all of your assignments to review.  Keeping an organized portfolio of your work is always a great idea in preparation for transfer, or seeking employment.
  
• You are encouraged to work together on homework assignments, but everyone will need to enter their solutions online individually.
  
• Solutions to most numeric problems will be available online immediately within Mastering Physics.  In addition, I'll create paper versions of my own solutions, and share these with you in class.
  
• Expect to spend at least 4-5 hours a week outside of class on homework. In addition, you will need to plan on at least 4-5 hours a week outside of class for lab work, papers, and studying for exams, and another 1-2 hours a week in online discussion, office hours, or on-campus study groups.  This is a 3-unit class, requiring 3 hours a week of time reading lecture notes and watching video lectures and doing the great online tutorials, and discussing concepts online.  In addition, I would expect you to spend about 6-9 hours outside of class each week reading, studying, and doing homework.
   

Exams (30% of grade)

There will be one midterm exam, and one final exam. The exams include both short-answer essays and numerical problems. Because this is an online class, the exams are of course open-book, and open notes.  And while I would hope you will try the exams individually, it is certainly possible that you might work with other students for some portions of the work.  I will nevertheless expect that all short-answer essay questions are answered independently and originally.  Answers that are copied from one student to another will not be accepted from anyone, no matter who created the answer and who copied it.

• Exams will be available during one-week long windows; you are expected to take the exams in that period, and are responsible for emailing me your answers (or dropping them off on paper to my office, 2013.)  If you wait until the last day of the exam windows to complete and submit the exam, and experience any network or computer problems, even those beyond your control, you will not be given more time or the chance for a make-up test.  So if you choose to wait, recognize that there is no leeway offered.  My recommendation is that you should not wait unless you are very, very sure of your computer, connection, and ability to get the tests done.
   
• Unless you contact me well in advance, I expect you to take and complete the exams during the open windows. If you miss an exam without advance notice, your grade for the test will necessarily be "0". There are no exceptions.  You cannot retroactively claim that you couldn't access or complete an exam and request a make-up.
  
• Partial Credit will be given for clearly written explanations of concepts, labeled diagrams, and partial completion of formulae. No credit will be given for answers that are not explained.
  

Tutorials and Online Simulation Reviews (20% of grade)

Relativity and Modern Physics concepts, especially quantum mechanics, are challenging!  But to help you learn, we have some fantastic simulations, videoclips, and online tutorials.  You'll earn credit by trying, using the available resources as well as locating and evaluating others online. These tutorials substitute for the lecture; I would do them with you in an on-campus class, but in an online course, you'll need to make time to do them yourselves. 

Grades will be based on an approximate scale, with extra factors taken into consideration if you are close to grade "borders" (like improvement during the term, group participation, attendance, etc.), and with the condition that you must pass exams with at least 40% score to pass the class regardless of other work.

• To earn an "A" in the class, you will need a composite score of 80% or higher.
• To earn a "B" in the class, you will need a composite score of 65% or higher.
• To earn a "C" in the class, you will need a composite score of 50% or higher.
• To earn a "D" in the class, you will need a composite score of 40% or higher.

Turning in Material & Late Work Policies

If you submit your work via email and attachments, it is your responsibility to ensure that any attachment is readable and properly formatted and virus-free. If I cannot read an attachment, I will reply to your email and request you resend your message with the text and answer in the body of the email message. I suggest standardizing on "Microsoft Word" as a default format. Make a print copy of your work as a backup.

Academic Integrity:

I expect all work turned in to be original, and any research material for papers, labs, or extra credit, whether copied or paraphrased, must be cited to received proper credit. Be sure to use quotation marks, and note references. Copying material from the text or other sources without giving a reference is not acceptable. I want to know what you think, not what someone else thought! If you use the Internet to assist with assignments and extra credit, you must include the URL, the universal resource locator, that identifies the sources. Citation styles for all work should follow the MLA style; a handout about this style for web resources is available online.

At a minimum, you must include the name of the site or title page of the webpage you access, the author if known, the date the site was created, the institution or organization hosting the site, the date you accessed the site, and the URL:

Victorian Women Writers Project. Ed. Perry Willett. Apr. 1997. Indiana U. Accessed: 26 Apr. 1997 <http:// www.indiana.edu/~letrs/vwwp/>.

Hints & Suggestions for Success!

1. Create a study group. Working with others is a great way to check your understanding of the assignments and the concepts. In the first assignment, you will introduce yourself to the class, and learn about your classmates. Read what they say, and call or email 2 or 3 to say you are interested in forming a study group. You are free to set up and join multiple groups, but try at least one, and if that doesn't work, look for another.
   
   
2. Model, Simulate, Reproduce, Experiment! Don't miss an opportunity to build mental AND physical models for problems and questions. Make sketches of what is happening (and label the pieces clearly.) Use blocks, wheels, pencils, erasers, paperclips, books -- whatever you have handy to create a physical analogy for problems. If a question asks about a battery and a light bulb, try to build it! (Your family and/or co-workers may think you a bit strange, but only until you show them your passing grades in the class! Then they'll be very impressed.) Building mental and physical models is one technique that every great physicist seems to have shared, from Archimedes to Galileo, from Newton to Einstein to Feynman.
   
   
3. Involve friends & family. Sometimes the very best way to learn something is to TEACH others; in this class, you'll have lots of interesting questions about how the world works, and you should actively try those questions -- and your answers! -- on willing friends and family members. Tell them you really need their help! See if they understand a bit better after you have explained what happened. When you submit your homework solutions, actively comment on those posted by your classmates. Help them understand how you see the problem. Teach them what you know. Not only will they benefit, but you will too! You'll find you understand the problem much better, and occasionally by trying to explain what you think you know, you'll find you have to start completely over. But that's OK! You are learning, and that is the goal for this class.
   
   
4. Set up a REGULAR time to do the work. College classes allow you more flexibility with your schedule, but they are also seductive in their ability to allow you to procrastinate. If you wait until 11 pm Tuesday to start the homework due Wednesday, I guarantee that you will have a very hard time! Be rigorous with yourself, and set up a schedule each week when you will read the book, start the homework, etc. The self-discipline you encourage is a skill even more useful than what you learn about physics! (Yes, I really mean that! So do employers looking for self-motivated, independent and hard-working folks.)
   
   
5. Let me help! Call me, email me, stop by and leave a note if you can. Use the discussion sections, the discussion forum, whatever works for you. No one learns physics very well by picking up a textbook and just reading alone -- even the best scientists in the world have to check their understanding by bouncing their ideas off others, and asking for advice and help.

Online Resources:

1. Class websites

http://online.chabotcollege.edu/shildreth/physics/5hw.html  &

http://online.chabotcollege.edu/shildreth/physics/5cal.html

This is the class website, with the syllabus, calendar, links to other physics courses on the web, and lecture outlines. You can send me email, and get information on the research project paper. This site also has a link to the following online discussion forum:

2. Class Discussion Board

http://clpccd.blackboard.com

This is our online classroom where you can post messages, review homework and practice exam answers, take quizzes, and see great simulation tools to help you learn Physics. Your Username and Password are pre-set if you have registered for the course.

• Go to the online course site, and save the page as one of your favorite sites (if you use Explorer or AOL), or "bookmark" the page, if you use Netscape). Login instructions are available at: http://www.chabotcollege.edu/DistanceEd/
  
  
• If you are officially enrolled, you can login with a Username which is your User Identification Number, the (unique) number beginning with a W and containing 8 digits given to you by the College when you registered. You can also find out your W-number using CLASS-Web.
  
  Your initial password is the first two letters of your first name, followed by the first two letters of your last name (all lowercased), followed by the last four digits of your User Identification Number. For example, Maria Valdez with a UIN of W98765432 would log in as: Username: W98765432 Password: mava5432
   
• If you are waiting to ADD, you can login to the Blackboard site using a default userid of physics5 and password physics5student.
   
• If you have problems with the Blackboard login to our course, please:
  
  - visit the Chabot College Blackboard Support webpages. There is a ton of information about logging into Blackboard for the first time, and there are some on-campus orientations available to help you as well.
  
  - Request help from the Chabot College Blackboard Help Form. Include your name, that you are enrolled in my Physics 4 Course at Chabot College (Section 001 - CRN ). Email me as well so that I can ensure your name and password were entered correctly.

3. Publisher Websites

http://wps.aw.com/aw_harris_mp_2/69/17800/4556992.cw/index.html

This is the companion website for the textbook, with a direct link to the Active Physics animations that will complement our class.  There is also an excellent review of classical physics

http://session.masteringphysics.com/myct?productID=knight2

This is the online portal to the Mastering Physics system for our textbook by Knight, 2nd ed.  From here, create your own userid and password.  You'll need your personal access code only once, and from then on, can access the site with your userid and password.  I would suggest using the same userid and password as that for Blackboard.

You will need our Mastering Physics class ID: CHABOTPHYSICS5SPRING2009

I have set up a default userid of physics5cstudents and password spring2009 for you to use if you are waiting to ADD or purchase your textbook.

http://wps.aw.com/aw_knight_physics_1/

The publisher has an excellent companion website for our book that students found quite useful, using "ActivPhysics", a comprehensive set of java tutorials and collaborative questions.  We'll sometimes use these in our class work. 

Back to Chabot College Home Page

Questions? Email me at shildreth@chabotcollege.edu

1/15/09 - SH