INSTRUCTOR: William Gregg

Office: 279 Nicholson Hall
Telephone: 578-4779
E-mail:
Office Hours: 2:30-3:30 PM - Monday, Wednesday; 10:30-11:30 AM - Tuesday, Thursday, Friday; or by appointment.

LECTURE: 130 Nicholson Hall -

Sec. 2: 1:30-2:30 PM, M-W-F - Syllabus/Course Schedule
Sec. 3: 3:00-4:30 PM, Tuesday-Thursday - Syllabus/Course Schedule

CLASS NOTES/HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS

!!ANNOUNCEMENTS!!

TEXT:
Required: LSU PHYS2002 "Physics" by Cutnell/Johnson, 7th Edition, Vol. 2 - Tiger logo on cover. Ch. 18-32, except 23 & 28 will be covered; There is a free web site by the publisher with several online student aids including tutorials which I highly recommend. The URL → http://www.wiley.com/college/cutnell/  - then click on "student study corner" and then "online study tools". You do not have to buy the study guide unless you find it to be valuable.

PERSONAL RESPONSE SYSTEM (Clickers):
Wireless keypads (clickers) made by "Turning Point" will be used this semester, possibly everyday in lecture and for most of the quizzes. If you do not already have this clicker for a different course, you will be required to purchase one from the LSU Bookstore. Make sure it has the Turning Point logo on it → Click here for more information.

You must register your clicker on PAWS during the first week of class. Enter the 6-digit code off the back of the clicker. There are no capital "O's" in the code, only zeros. The like for students to register your clickers will be named "SRS Keypad Registration" under the Student Services section of the Navigator bar in your PAWS account.

LECTURES:
You expect the instructor to show up on time and be prepared "to enlighten your mind". The same is expected of you! Class attendance is not required, but highly recommended! Coming or going during a lecture disrupts the class. If you absolutely need to, then sit near a door! A graded quiz, mostly with "clickers", will be given in lecture often. There will NOT be any make-up quizzes - However, the 2 lowest scores will be dropped.
Absolutely no beepers or phones will ring during class. If this happens, the owner will be asked to leave class. Please help me prevent rude behavior. You should download "extra notes" for each chapter from the web page ahead of time and bring them to class as well as read appropriate material from the text, so the class discussion will be more meaningful and less stressful.

HOMEWORK:
You will need to sign up for WebAssign which is an online homework web site. Your homework grade will probably be your highest if you go to the trouble to access it. There is a slight cost involved in accessing this service. Test problems very often come from the WebAssign problems. For instructions about WebAssign, click here. WebAssign cost vouchers are provided free if you buy a new copy of the text of Volume 1. Web assignments will always be due on Wednesday nights by 11:59 PM and cover all material presented in lecture through the previous Thursday.

FREE TUTORING:
In addition to my office hours, free tutoring on course materials and homework problems are provided. These sessions will be with physics graduate students in 102 Nicholson; the schedule times are between 8:30-3:00 PM Monday thru Friday. This will start the second week of class. If no tutor is in the room at the scheduled times, please let me know. The most current schedule of tutors during the day will be posted outside the door of Rm. 102 Nicholson. It is to your advantage to work homework assignments early so that you won't find "hundreds" of students trying to get help from a small number of tutors. In edition, every student is "invited" to take advantage of my office hours - there is no better tutor than I. I highly recommend that you invite a few class member to join an informal study group in order to help each other learn these concepts and to better prepare for the tests.

TESTS:
There will be three(3) one-hour tests given on Wednesday nights from 6:00-7:00 PM. No exam score will be dropped, but if your FINAL EXAM score is higher than the lowest of your regular test scores, the final exam percentage will be used to replace that lower score. NO MAKE-UP TESTS WILL BE GIVEN - except for LSU sponsored activities. Should you miss one test for any reason, that will be considered your "low score" and your final exam will replace it only. All tests are graded by computer on scantron, which are provided for you, therefore no partial or extra credit can be given. You must bring your ID card to the test as they will be checked against the class roll. You should also bring No. 2 pencils and a scientific calculator to the tests.

• Practice Test 1
• Practice Test 2
• Practice Test 3

IMPORTANT NOTES:
The tests are designed to test your critical thinking skills as well as your knowledge of physics. This is NOT a memorization type course! Therefore, you will be asked to solve problems that require at least two steps or more and be able to combine concepts from different areas of physics. You will find this to be the most challenging part of the coursework. You will be allowed to bring a note card with appropriate equations on it to the test, but no notes or definitions of any kind. All electronic equipment including cell phones, are banned during tests. If my proctor sees one you will be in violation of the academic rules of conduct of the University. Don't force me to take legal steps regarding this infraction with the Dean of Students. In fact cheating of any kind will not be tolerated. LSU takes this very seriously.

FINAL EXAM - THURSDAY, MAY 8 - 5:30-7:30 PM
It will be cumulative and almost twice as long as the other semester tests. It will emphasize, however, the chapters that are covered alfter the last test.

GRADES:
The final grade will be determined by the following formula:

• WebAssign homework & class clicker quizzes = 100 pts.
• Three(3) scored tests = 100 pts. each = 300 pts.
• Final Exam = 200 pts
• TOTAL = 600 pts.

A: 100-90%

B: 89-80%

C: 79-60%

D: 59-50%

F: <49%

However, a general curve for all tests may be given.

GENERAL EDUCATION STATEMENT:
PHYSICS 2002 is a General Education Course. Therefore this course is designed to address the following outcomes:

• An appreciation of the methods of critical thinking,
• A comprehension of how knowledge is acquired and applied,
• Several changes in our Physics classes are being implemented: (1) Student Response System to make the large lecture classes more interactive between lecturer and student, (2) many more live demonstrations and simulations to aid understanding, (3) and especially recitation class to give our students a smaller, less imtimidating class setting to learn problem-solving.

 

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