Welcome to CBI Physics
at Michigan State University
PHY 234B, Summer 2003

What is CBI?

CBI Physics 234B is an independent-study course, covering material equivalent to the lecture course PHY 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. If you miss the Orientation session on Monday May 12 at 10:00 AM in Room 1400 Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building, you may listen to an audio tape of the Orientation in the Strosacker Learning Center, Room 1248 Biomed and Phys Sci Building, at the times listed on the web page. Orientation Slides highlight the topics covered. Teaching assistants will be available in the Learning Center to answer questions during your scheduled class hours.

Course administrator: Eugene Kales, kales@pa.msu.edu; to contact me, please use email and not the telephone. My office hours are Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 10 am until 11 am, at the Strosacker Center.

Course policies

• Homework is due weekly on Fridays at 6:00pm 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 midterm exams; there is no final exam. The exams will cover material from the previous problem sets.

Exam 1: Monday, June 2,  7:30 - 8:30 pm in Room 1410 BPS;
    covers problem sets 1 and 2.

Exam 2: Monday, June 30,  7:30 - 8:30 pm in Room 1410 BPS;
    covers problem sets 3 through 6.

Exam 3: Monday, July 28,  7:30 - 8:30 pm in Room 1410 BPS;
    covers problem sets 7 through 10.

• The Strosacker Learning Center, Room 1248 BPS.
  Help will be available for students in PHY183B and 184B at these times:

Schedule:	Morning	Afternoon	Evening
Tuesday		2:00-5:00
Wednesday		2:00-5:00	6:00-9:00
Thursday	9:00-12:00	2:00-5:00	6:00-9:00

• Work load. PHY 234B is a 2 credit course. A lecture version of the course would consist of 2 hours per week of lectures, and approximately 6 hours per week for reading and homework assignments. The CBI course PHY 234B should require the same amount of time -- approximately 8 hours per week. This should include at least 3 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).

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

  Twelve Homeworks	25%
  Three Hourly 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.