Welcome to CBI Physics
at Michigan State University
PHY 233B & 234B, Fall 2003

What is CBI?

CBI Physics 233B & 234B are independent-study courses, covering material equivalent to the lecture courses PHY 183 & 184. Students will obtain readings for the course at the Student Book Store. There will be a total of 12 online homework assignments. The Strosacker Learning Center (Room 1248 Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building) will be open for students to work together on the online problems. Teaching assistants will be available in the Learning Center to answer questions.

If you missed the Orientiation Session Monday August 25 at 9:00 AM in Room 1400 Biomedical and Physical Sciences building, please obtain a copy of the Orientation Notes from Prof. Harrison.

Course Professor: Michael J. Harrison, harrison@pa.msu.edu
To contact me, please use email and not the telephone.
My office hours are Tuesdays from 4 to 5 PM and Thursdays from 10 to 11 AM at the Strosacker Center.

Course policies

• Homework is due weekly on Fridays at 11:00 PM at http://msu.lon-capa.org/. Your login is your Pilot ID and password. Doing the homework exercises should prepare you for the exams because exam questions will cover the same ground as the homework exercises. The due dates of the LON-CAPA Problem Sets are listed on the course schedule web page.

• Reading assignments.  Corresponding to each LON-CAPA Problem Set, there are study modules that must be read and studied before and while working on the problems. The correspondences between the Problem Sets and study modules are listed on a separate web page.  

• Exams. There are three exams -- three midterms. The midterm exams will cover material from the previous problem sets.

Exam 1: Friday, Sept. 19,  5:10 - 6:10 PM in Room 1410 BPS;

    covers problem sets 1, 2 & 3.

Exam 2: Friday, Oct. 17,  5:10 - 6:10 PM in Room 1410 BPS;

    covers problem sets 4 through 7.

Exam 3: Friday, Dec. 5,  5:10 - 6:10 pm in Room 1410 BPS;

    covers problem sets 8 through 12.

• The Strosacker Learning Center, Room 1248 BPS.

This help room will be open for students in PHY 233B and 234B  at these times:

Tuesday 2:00 to 5:00 PM.

Wednesday 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM and 6:00 to 9:00 PM.

Thursday 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM and 6:00 to 9:00 PM.

• Work load. PHY 233B and 234B are 2 credit courses. (A lecture version of the course would consist of 2 hours per week of lectures, and approximately 7 hours per week for reading and homework assignments. The CBI courses should require the same amount of time -- approximately 9 hours per week. This should include at least 4 hours per week reading and studying the study modules. A student who strives to get a high grade in the course may also study a standard textbook such as Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker (volume 1 for PHY 233B or volume 2 for PHY 234B).

• Grading. The grading will be based on these percentages:

  Twelve Homeworks    25%

  Three Midterm Exams    25% each

• Links to further information.

  • Course schedule including problem sets deadlines and exam dates.

  • Correspondences between study modules and LON-CAPA problem sets.