Grades will be based on the following weighting:

 

Final letter grades will be assigned according to the following absolute scale:

If the instructor feels it is necessary, he may apply a “curve” when determining final grades; however, the curve will not result in a lower grade than appears above. 

In-class exams and final exam

There will be two exams given during regular class meetings, and there will be a comprehensive final exam given on Tuesday, May 5 at 10:10 am.  Students should bring calculators and writing tools to exams.

The instructor frowns upon giving makeup exams.  In order to be eligible to make up a missed exam, a student must notify the instructor that he or she will miss the exam in advance (exception: a medical emergency, in which case a doctor’s note must be provided), and the reason for missing the exam must be deemed appropriate by the instructor.  The instructor will choose the format of a makeup exam, and the exam more than likely will be given as an oral exam.

Homework

Throughout the course, homework assignments will be turned in.  Homework is due at the beginning of class on the due dates.  Homework that is turned in late is subject to severe point penalties.  If the work is turned in late, but it is turned in before the assignments are graded, 40% will be deducted from the assignment’s grade.  If the homework is turned in after the assignment has been graded, the student will receive zero points.  Exception: each student will be entitled to having the late penalty waved for one assignment during the semester.

A portion of each assignment will include questions that students will work on in groups during class time.  Each student is responsible for turning in his or her own written version of that group work. 

Problem solving strategies will be introduced for answering different types of questions throughout the course.  Homework assignments will have questions that are highlighted as requiring solutions that follow full problem solving strategy.  The grades a student receives for answers to such questions will depend in part on how well problem solving procedures were followed and not just on how correct the final answers are.  Getting correct answers without a proper explanation or without all work shown will not earn full credit.

On-line questions

Warm-ups

At 4:00 pm the afternoon before nearly every class, an online warm-up activity will be posted on Blackboard.  These warm-ups serve three purposes: (1) to help keep students focused on material in the reading assignments, (2) to provide the instructor a gauge of whether or not students are reading the textbook, and (3) to stimulate discussion in the upcoming class.  Students must enter their responses to the questions before 7:00 am on the day of class. 

When taking a warm-up, the student may click the “save” button to save the questions entered up that point and quit out of the program; the student can finish the warm-up later.  When the student is finished, he/she must click the “submit” button for the warm-up to be turned in. 

Questions geared toward checking progress on reading assignments and their answers will be graded according to correctness of answer.  Answers to other questions will be graded based on effort and on use of previously introduced Physics concepts and not necessarily on the correctness of the final answer.  The lowest two scores earned on warm-ups will be dropped when determining the final grade for on-line questions.

Puzzles

After most Thursday classes, a puzzle will be posted on Blackboard.  These are due by 5:00 pm the following Monday.  Answers to the puzzles will be graded based largely on effort and on use of appropriate Physics concepts.  The lowest score earned on puzzles will be dropped when determining the final grade for on-line questions.

Work done in class

The “work done in class” portion of the grade will reflect how prepared students are for each class and how much students participate in class.  Preparation includes reading assigned sections from the textbook before class.  Participation includes contribution to discussion and quality of performance on hands-on activities.  A fraction of this part of the grade will be based on instructor’s observations as discussed in the student learning outcomes and assessment section below.  In-class activities cannot be made up, so attendance will affect the “work done in class” score.

Conduct

Cheating, plagiarism, and disruptions in class will not be tolerated.  For more information about cheating and plagiarism and their consequences, students are referred to the NKU Student Honor Code, which can be found at

http://www.nku.edu/~deanstudents/student_rights/honor_code.htm

Disruptions in class are most likely avoided simply by being courteous and respectful.  Coming to class late, letting a cell phone ring, and talking on a cell phone are all examples of disruptive behavior. 

Students with disabilities

Students with disabilities who require accommodations (academic adjustments, auxiliary aids or services) for this course must register with the Office of Disability Services. Please contact the disability service office in University Center Suite 320 or by calling (859) 572-6373 for more information. Verification of your disability is required in the Disability Services Office for you to receive reasonable academic accommodations. Visit the Disability Services website at www.nku.edu/~disability.

First year students

First year students will receive mid-term assessments of their performance. Mid-term grades will be issued only to students who have successfully completed fewer than 30 semester hours; students will be able to access mid-term grades through Norse Express as soon as grades are submitted. Mid-term grades are not part of student's permanent records. They will be replaced by final class grades when these are submitted. Mid-term grades do not guarantee a good or bad class grade; they reflect a current level of performance that can be altered by the quality of subsequent work.

Attendance

Students missing every class in the first three weeks will be dropped from the course.  Missing class will result in a lower course grade through zeros given for grades of missed in-class activities and when missing class results in homework assignments being turned in late.

Disclaimer

Your instructor reserves the right to change the syllabus, as needed.  If a change is needed, he will provide you with an updated syllabus.

 

Student Learning Outcomes and Assessment

Below are listed student learning outcomes for this course.  For each outcome, the method (or methods) for assessing the degree to which the outcome was achieved are listed.  Please note the following characteristics of the assessments:

o       Each assessment opportunity (i.e. each exam, each homework assignment, or each in-class activity) is unlikely to measure every learning outcome listed below as belonging to the class of a particular assessment opportunity; however, success will be measured for every outcome listed below in at least one assessment. 

o       When the success of an outcome is evaluated, the measure of success will be as a score that is scaled so that its percentage provides a measure of success in accordance with the same scale used to determine final course grades.

o       For each assignment or exam, a student receives a total numerical grade and not a report of scores for how well individual outcomes were achieved.  Students should feel free to ask the instructor how they are doing on individual outcomes. 

 

General Education

GE.01    Students will gain fundamental knowledge of material through reading assignments – in particular, from the textbook.  The instructor will assess this through the quality of class discussions and, if necessary, in performance on quizzes.

GE.02    Students will develop critical thinking and problem solving skills by applying prescribed methods for solving problems.  This will be assessed by performance on homework and exams.

GE.03    Students will gain experience writing in this course primarily by providing short answers to questions in in-class activities and short essay answers to conceptual questions on homework assignments.

GE.05    Students will discuss course topics and material in class.  The instructor will record brief notes regarding student involvement throughout the course.

GE.06    Students will work effectively and responsibly in collaboration with others.  This will be assessed through observation of students’ interactions during in-class activities.

GE.07    Students will develop computer skills primarily through the use of data acquisition software.  The instructor will record brief notes regarding students’ aptitudes using computers in class.

GE.08    Students will learn to access information and use the information effectively and ethically by using computer simulations as a part of in-class activities.  (See NS.05 below for assessment.) 

 

Natural Sciences

NS.01   Students will identify, explain, and apply established scientific theories and principles in areas of kinematics, forces and Newton’s Laws of Motion, circular motion, work and energy, momentum, rotational motion, static equilibrium, and fluids to answer questions and solve problems that are representative of questions or problems they may face later in their careers.  This will be the most heavily assessed outcome in the course, and assessment will be carried out by evaluating correctness of answers to questions on homework and exams and, in some cases, on in-class activities.  Additional assessment will be through performance on a standardized pretest/posttest sequence.

NS.02   Students will evaluate the credibility of certain arguments or results by making measurements and analyzing data in laboratory exercises in class.  The instructor will evaluate this by observing students’ discussions and actions during activities and grading short answers to questions about in-class laboratory exercises. 

NS.03   Students will discuss one or more specific examples of how science affects everyday life.  The instructor will assess this through in-class discussion and by correctness of answers in homework and exams.

NS.04   Students will execute appropriate scientific methods and use appropriate technologies in activities or experiments to test theories.  (See GE.07 and NS.02 above.)

NS.05   Students will advance their scientific literacy by reading procedures for carrying out in-class activities and experiments.  The instructor will evaluate this by observing students’ actions during activities and grading written analysis that students hand in.

NS.06   Students will interpret experimental outcomes taking into consideration uncertainty and error.  The instructor will evaluate this by observing students’ actions during activities and grading written analysis that students hand in.

 

Physics

The following four areas will be the most heavily evaluated learning outcomes:

1.      Students will know fundamental equations from classical mechanics and how to relate them secondary equations that are closely related.

Fundamental equations

;           ;       Acceleration due to gravity near the Earth’s surface: g = 9.80 m/s2. Weight, W = mg

 

Secondary equations

, , ,   ,

;

 

2.      Students will communicate fundamental principles in classical mechanics by being able to paraphrase the principles or write equations that describe the principles.  Principles of interest are the following.

 

3.      Students will know the difference between scalar and vector quantities, know how to perform mathematical operations on vectors, and be able to work with vectors to answer Physics questions.  To be successful in this area, students will…

o       Memorize trigonometric relations for sine, cosine, and tangent

o       Memorize the Pythagorean theorem

o       Know the three ways of representing vectors and be able to convert from one representation to another

o       Apply both methods of vector addition (graphical and component-wise) and be able to do vector subtraction

4.      Students will apply equations and principles to answer questions, to solve problems like those found at the end of chapters in the course textbook and in the on-line exercises. 

 

Course and Instructor

The course and instructor are evaluated as described briefly below.

1        Course content will be restricted to material contained in the course description at a level that is appropriate for a 200-level university course.  Examples of graded homework and exams will be made available to the chair of the Department of Physics and Geology for assessment.  Students also will have the opportunity to evaluate course content at the end of the term.

2        Students also will evaluate aspects of the instructor’s teaching, treatment of students, and adherence to class policies at the end of the term.

 

Tentative Schedule