Syllabus for PHY252
Fall 2002
LABORATORY
REQUIREMENTS
- Text: The manual, PHYSICS 252 - FALL SEMESTER 2002 can be purchased at Ned's Bookstore or the College Store.
- Calculator: Trigonometric and logarithmic functions are required. Statistics functions will be very useful, but are not required.
- Pens and a Straight-Edge: Pencils and erasers are not allowed in the teaching labs.
- PHY 252 on the Web : http//www.pa.msu.edu/courses/current/PHY252
SCHEDULE
Laboratories will begin on
PREPARATION FOR THE LAB SESSIONS
You will find it very helpful to prepare well, i.e.
read and study the materials for the laboratories before you come to
class. Being prepared before you come to your lab session will enable you to
finish on time, enjoy the lab more and help you get a higher grade. During the
first 10 minutes of every lab period (except for the first lab of the semester)
a closed book quiz may be given aimed at testing your readiness to perform that
day's experiment and your understanding of the previous experiment. There will
be more information about quizzes from your lab instructor during the first
lab. Please arrive on time or you will miss the quiz and the credit.
All the materials to be graded (your lab report including data sheets, graphs,
answers to questions, etc.) must be completed during your lab period and handed
in to the instructor before you leave the lab.
The lab report consists of a cover sheet with your name, your student number and section number. This cover sheet should also contain a short description of the purpose of this experiment and a conclusion based upon your observations and measurements. Both of these parts should be in your own words, do not just copy the manual.
GRADES
Laboratory reports will be graded by your instructor on a 10 point scale and
will be handed back at the beginning of the next lab. The points will be
distributed roughly as follows: purpose (1 pt), data (including accuracy),
graphs and calculations (4 - 5 pts), answers to
questions (2 - 3 pts), and conclusion (1 - 2 pts). Explain how you
identified and tried to solve problems in the experiments, if there were any.
If you see that your data was incorrect or your predictions of results were
incorrect, explain as well as you can, what is wrong. Please write clearly
and neatly in full sentences. Avoid wordiness and excessive detail.
Quizzes will in generally have 4 questions and will be graded on a 4 point scale.
Your grade will be based on the total number of points for the labs and quizzes. Since the instructors for the various sections do not necessarily grade identically, the scores for a given instructor's sections will be considered as a group for grading purposes. Each of the groups will receive approximately the same average grade in the course, so that there is no advantage to having one instructor rather than another. Within the group, the grades will be assigned strictly in order of points achieved. The grade will be assigned by a curve, not a "straight scale" (for which there is no uniform definition in any case). In the past, the average for the course was about 2.6. Please obtain from your instructor and save your graded lab reports and quizzes. You will need all of these if at the end of the semester you think your score wasn't correctly calculated.
Your lowest quiz score and lab report MAY be dropped. If you have an unexcused absence from lab, that quiz/lab report WILL NOT BE DROPPED. Only excused absences or completed quiz/lab scores will be considered for a drop. Do not assume ANY quiz/lab will be dropped.
MISSING LABS/MAKE-UP LABS
Because personally participating in each laboratory is the essential part of
this course, you must be present for each day’s session. Should you find
yourself in a position where you must miss a session you should make every
attempt to make up labs missed for valid, documentable
reasons. Make these arrangements with your instructor. Please write an
explanatory note with suitable documentation. No make-ups are allowed
without an explanatory note. If you miss a lab without reason, it will be
counted as zero. Arrangements for a possible make-up should be initiated before
the missed lab if possible, but in any case no later than 24 hours after the
missed lab. Please make the arrangements for alternate attendance during
the preceding week if the reason for absence is a pre-scheduled event, such as
field trips or religious holidays. Make-ups will involve approved special
attendance in a lab earlier or later in the week, if an open space is
available. However, experience has shown
that grades of students who miss EVEN ONE LAB are lower than those who
attend and complete all labs. You can reach your instructor by e-mail or by
office hour.
Your instructor is in charge of all aspects of laboratory procedures. Please confer with your instructor first if you have a problem, since they can ordinarily solve most problems.
The laboratory coordinator for this course is Professor Harry Weerts.
His office hours are Monday
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS AND HINTS:
· Save your files in the folder "Documents" located on the desktop and do this regularly!
· Save your files using your last names and experiment number.
· Bring in your own floppy disk and save all your documents. This will help you in the following weeks.
We do not back-up student data!
If something happens to your work and it is destroyed, you will have to do
the lab again. ....SAVE YOUR DATA OFTEN!!!