Syllabus PHYSICS 231C
First Summer Session 2020
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Physics 231c is an on-line non-calculus-based general physics class, recommended for a variety of majors, such as those pursuing a premed education. Topics include: Newtonian equations of motion, momentum and energy conservation, rotational motion, gravity, thermodynamics and wave motion.
This is an accelerated course. All material usually covered in a semester will be covered in the first half of the summer. The course starts May 11th and concludes with the final exam on June 24. In general, there will be two homework sets due each week. Every week during the session will require a significant online time commitment with a reliable high speed internet connection. It is generally accepted that successful students commit at least 2-3 hours of study/homework time per hour of in class time to a course. This is a three hour course which means during a traditional 15 week semester, the total time commitment for successful students should be 15weeks*(3+9)hours per week=180 hours. This amounts to approximately thirty hours per week during this accelerated course. If a student finds a subject particularly challenging, more time may be required. Again, nothing is omitted from this accelerated course and students should expect to spend this amount of time over the six and a half week duration of the course. The midterm and final exams will be traditional paper and pencil exams taken either here on the MSU campus or off-campus via video proctor. |
Instructors
Lead Instructor/primary contact: Richard Hallstein, hallstei@msu.edu
Office Hours: via Lon-Capa discussion board Mondays 11AM-1PM or by appointment via zoom
Andrea Chaney chaneyan@msu.edu
All times posted in this syllabus and in Lon-Capa are EDT
Online Help Room Hours
Help room - online Lon-Capa discussion board
The help room and TA support on the discussion board will not be available on Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day National Holiday)
Online Discussion Board will be monitored by a help room teaching assistant during regular help room hours posted above
Questions about a specific homework problem should be either brought to the help room or posted using the "Post Discussion" located just below the homework problem. Homework questions will not be answered via email.
The closing time for each homework assignment will be the 5:00PM on Tuesday afternoon for the first homework set of each week and 5:00PM Thursday afternoon for the second homework set of each week as shown on the calendar. Late homework will not be accepted:-- the closing time will be strictly enforced. Enter your solutions early to avoid computer/network woes close to the deadline. The only exception to these due dates is for set 1. it is due at 5PM on Friday, May 15th to allow students adding late, but prior to the open add deadline time to complete this set -- further extensions for late adds will not be granted.
There are bonus questions in the online lecture folders. You should be able to answer these after completing the assigned reading from the required text and watching the online lectures. These bonus questions are programmed to look like exam questions, as such, they are all multiple choice. In addition, some of these bonus questions are questions used on previous exams for this course and its traditional equivalent. Lon-Capa's feedback option is disabled, so unlike regular homework problems, Lon-Capa will not tell you if you have the correct answer until after the due date. In addition, the discussion board on these questions has been disabled. These questions are meant for you to work out yourself after having read the assigned reading and watched the online lectures. All points earned here will be added to your total homework points as a homework bonus (so, homework scores over 100% are possible). Hints and/or solutions to the bonus questions will not be provided.
Lon-capa gives equal weight to homework points, bonus question points, exam points and correction exam points. These points are *NOT* equally weighted for grade calculation. See the grading criteria section of this syllabus for details..
The course material, including: homework and recorded online lectures in the form of narrated Power point presentations with example problems are posted on the LON-CAPA website. In addition, there is a required textbook for this course.
Online Lectures and examples
A reliable high speed internet connection is required. The computer will need a current, supported operating system and a browser running HTML5 to use all the options available in the online lectures.
Extensions for homework/exams will not be given for reasons like, but not limited to: "I could not connect to the internet", "I didn't have a reliable internet connection", "I enrolled in the class after the official start of the session", "I chose to go on vacation, attend a wedding, etc and enroll in this accelerated class" or "the net was down at my parent's place".
Spartan Code of Honor and Academic Pledge
As a Spartan, I will strive to uphold values of the highest ethical standard. I will practice honesty in my work, foster honesty in my peers, and take pride in knowing that honor is worth more than grades. I will carry these values beyond my time as a student at Michigan State University, continuing the endeavor to build personal integrity in all that I do.
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Calendar of exam dates, homework due
dates, assigned readings and online lectures |
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Instructions for using
LON-CAPA |
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Policies, Logistics, Formula
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| Optional, not for credit items - Practice exam problems | |
| Important notes for using the online lecture controls | |
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Authors, Publishers,
Edition... |
Scale,
Weights and grade calculation |
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Extra Credit/Bonus Point Opportunities |
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| Suggestions for studying for the weekly assignments and exams | |
| General MSU and Physics Web Links | |
| Students with Disabilities |
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Last updated: May 6, 2020