Physics 228, Spring 2011

COURSE INFORMATION AND REQUIREMENTS

Students registered for this course are assumed to have read and understood
all the information contained on this and all other pages in the course web site.

Textbook:

Required: Young and Freedman, University Physics Volumes 2 and 3, 12^th Edition, Pearson/Addison Wesley, San Francisco, 2007

Registration Problems

Students with registration questions or problems are urged to consult Ms. Jacobs in Serin Lab, Room 201W, or email her at sljacobs@physics.rutgers.edu

Lectures

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Lectures will be given in the Physics Lecture Hall (correctly labeled on map).

Monday-1 Thursday-1, 8:55-9:50
Monday-2 Thursday-2, 10:35-11:30

The lectures will have interactive components, in which you will be asked multiple choice questions, and you will answer by means of a I-Clicker transmitter.   There generally will be two or three questions during each lecture. You should do your best to answer correctly, but unless otherwise announced, you will not be graded on the correctness of your answers, but the fact that you did participate will count as part of the subjective portion of the grading as described below.

Attendance at lectures is assumed. Some of the topics presented in lecture are not available in the textbook, and such topics will be included among the exam questions.

Information about the course will be announced in lectures, and will often be posted on the main course web page http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/ugrad/228 .

Recitations, Homework, and Quizzes

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Your registration for this course includes an assignment to a recitation section. All  recitation sections meeting once per week (either Tuesday or Wednesday), starting on Tuesday, Jan 25th.

There will be computer-based homework assignments each week using Mastering Physics. Currently the deadline each week is set at 11:59 PM on Monday nights, though we encourage you to complete the assignment before the weekend. We strongly recommend that you try the problems before your recitation section, so you are prepared to ask questions and understand the discussion. Also, while working with others on the homework can be helpful, relying on others in your group can mean that you do not learn enough from the homework in order to do similar problems on the exam correctly. We recommend that you do the problems yourself, and in case you are not able to get the right answer, to ask others for discussion and explanation (not the formulas or the answers) before attempting the problem again.

If you buy a new copy of the text, a license for Mastering Physics should be included. If you acquired a license last semester (in 227) it should still be valid. Otherwise you will need to buy a license. For more information see the homework link. Your course grade is based partly on these weekly homeworks. There will be 14 weekly assignments. To allow for possible excused missed assignments, we will drop the two lowest homework grades. There will be no other makeups on the homework. 

You must attend the recitations for which you are registered. You are not permitted to attend any other recitation meeting unless you obtain permission from the instructors of BOTH recitations. However, this must not become habitual without officially registering for the alternate section.

A short quiz based on material covered will be given each week. Your recitation grade will be based on your performance on the quizzes and your activity in recitation. You are strongly encouraged to participate in the discussion of problems and ask questions about aspects that you have not completely mastered. Each week's score will be of a maximum of 15 points, and the lowest two scores (of 14) will be discarded. This should cover any excused absences, so there will be no makeup quizzes or recitations.

Instructor Office Hours

A key component of learning is one-on-one interaction with your instructor. This is your chance to ask questions and get valuable tutorial instruction. Your instructor will be available once per week at an office hour posted on the instructors page. If it is not possible for you to attend that office hour, or just want additional help, you may attend the office hour of any other instructor. Often it is also possible to arrange a special session by email or phone, also. Don't be afraid! The instructors are there to help you!

Examinations

Exam	Date and Time	Location	Family name starts with
CH1	Thursday,  February 24 Time: 9:40-11:00 PM	ARC103 Hill 114	A - M N - Z
CH2	Thursday, April 7 Time: 9:40-11:00 PM	ARC103 Hill 114	A - M N - Z
Final	Tuesday, May 10 Time: 4 - 7 PM	College Avenue - Gym Annex	A - Z

The table gives times and locations for the two 80-minute common hour (CH) examinations and the three-hour final examination in this course. The CH exams will be conducted in two locations, and students are assigned to locations alphabetically according to family name. A label with your name on it will be pasted on one of the several versions of the exam and sent to the appropriate location. If you go to the wrong location, you will not find your exam. Please take time to look up your  Rutgers ID number. The link is

All exams will be closed-book. The questions will be multiple choice. For each common hour exam, you may bring with you a single "cheat sheet", one and only one 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of paper (OK to use both sides) on which you may write any formulae or notes that might be helpful to you during the exam. Information on the sheets must be handwritten (not duplicated or printed) and have no attachments. For the final, you may bring three such sheets (it's fine to reuse the sheets from the hour exams, but make sure to correct any errors!) The numerical values of relevant constants will be provided to you. You should certainly bring a calculator to the exams, as well as #2 pencils for the computer forms and your Rutgers ID.

To help you in studying for exams, the MSLC offers free one-on-one tutoring and copies of exams given in this course in the last three years (also available through the Exams link at the top of this page), along with solutions to those exams. In addition, you can consult any of the course instructors either during their office hours or by appointment or by email.

Makeup Exams

A makeup exam will be given after each common hour exam and the final, at a different time so as to avoid weekly conflicts.  This exam will be of equivalent difficulty and content as the regular exam.  In order to take the makeup exam, you will need a note from the Dean's Office documenting the reason for your absence and requesting Prof. Coleman to allow you to take the makeup exam.  This policy will be enforced with no exceptions.  The Dean's Office has a form to fill out in the case of a conflict with another class or exam.

Grades

Your recitation instructor will assign your course grade, and may take into account factors like your class participation and your improvement (or deterioration) during the term.  Your participation in lecture and the judgement of the lecturer will also be included in the assignment of the course grade.

It is your responsiblity to complete the coursework as assigned by the deadlines given. We do not offer the option of extra credit work or redoing of coursework to improve your course grade. Extensions of deadlines are possible.only in special circumstances, such as illness or death in the family, documented by the Dean's Office.

Academic Integrity

• using an iclicker unit not your own on behalf of someone else, or asking soneone to do so,
• communicating or copying the contents of a recitations quiz to anyone else,
• communicating with anyone else by any means during an exam or quiz,
• making use of unauthorized materials such as solutions manuals or published solutions from prior years,
• using a formula sheet for an exam other than one you made yourself, or making such a sheet for someone else.

However, we do encourage certain activities, such as

• helping each other with homework and exam review,
• discussing the answer to i-clicker questions,
• studying together and critiquing each other's cheat sheets.

Ultimately, cheating in any form will not work in your favor: you will not learn the material for yourself. This can only have a deleterious effect on your own future performance prospects in other classes and in the world at large. Also, if you have any sort of conscience, you will live with the knowledge that you cheated the rest of your life. Maybe you will feel that you have "beaten the system" but you have only degraded yourself. Don't do it!

Email to Instructors and email to you!

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The instructors welcome email from students. Questions about lecture material and clicker scores should be addressed to Prof. Rabe. Questions about recitation material, quizzes and quiz grades should be addressed to your recitation instructor. Questions about exams and about homework grades should be addressed to Prof. Coleman. Questions about course grades should be addressed to your recitation instructor and Prof. Coleman. Requests for consultation on the homework can be addressed to any of the instructors.

To make email communication effective, certain care is necessary in composing email messages. Sending electronic mail is not an occasion to drop all punctuation, spelling, grammar, style or courtesy. Here is some advice:

• always sign your full name to email,
• always give a meaningful subject line, starting "Physics 228:". In today's world of junk mail, mail without a subject line is likely to be discarded unread.
• write in clear, whole sentences with proper punctuation,
• check your spelling, and
• be courteous!

• write email with a polite greeting,  (such as "Dear Prof. Coleman," and not "Hey")
• write email with a salutation (such as "Sincerely" or "Thank you for your help"),

When you send email you are typically asking for help in some way. Failure to take the time and effort to follow these simple guidelines will definitely make your instructor less inclined to spend his or her time and effort helping you!

Also, make sure you use an email address for which a reply will get to you successfully, preferably your eden account. We will definitely be emailing you vital information to the email that is listed on the roster, as the course progresses.  Other accounts, such as "hotmail" or "aol" or the like, may have storage limits and often bounce email. If you insiste on using some other email address, please log on to your eden account and create a file in your login directory called

          .forward

(starts with a period).  The first line of this file should contain the email address you prefer to use. e.g. 

yourmailname@mailservice.com

Make sure you end this line with a carriage return. 

Students with Disabilities