PHYSICS 142W Workshop
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
WORKSHOP
GOALS AND Philosophy
It is easy to lose sight of the fact that all science is based on experiment, either to test the predictions of theories or to present data the theories cannot explain in order to spur better theories.
If you find science difficult, you are not alone. The concepts themselves are often not easy to grasp. Research has shown that we each must construct our own models of understanding. Simply listening to lectures and rote memorization are not good ways to learn. We must be able to assimilate the concepts and apply them to predict further phenomena. Research has also shown that learning improves when a student thinks about a concept or problem by him/herself first and then discusses it with a small group of peers. That is the philosophy we will follow in this workshop. The abilities to work within a group of peers and to communicate ideas, both orally and in writing, are important skills to have. These are fundamental goals of this workshop.
Most of the experiments in this workshop
will utilize data sensors interfaced to a computer. We utilize PASCO's Data Studio software, because of its powerful ability to take data,
present it, and analyze it. You will
find most of the analysis tools you need in Data
Studio. You can find the area,
highlight a particular region, find averages, or a host of things with Data Studio. You will find that you can normally be able to
fit or model data with an analytic function.
In addition we have the powerful program Mathcad available, because you have
already learned how to use it in the previous semester. Feel free to use Mathcad when you think it is useful. Remember to print out and include any
computer results for inclusion with your group's report. Microsoft’s Excel software is also
available and often useful.
Purpose of the Course
The purpose of this workshop is
1.
to teach you some important physical phenomena and concepts,
2.
to teach you to think for yourself and
to work in groups of peers,
3.
to teach you better oral and written communication skills,
4.
to introduce you to proper laboratory
procedures, to use computers and data sensors, and teach you some basic
laboratory techniques, and
5.
to give you confidence in your ability
to take measurements and adequately analyze and interpret data.
Course Organization
Physics 142W is a dependent course for
Physics 142E, but it is not part of
Physics 142E. It is a one-credit course
with an independent grade. You must,
however, be registered in both a 142E lecture and a 142W workshop, unless you
already have credit for 142E. Each
workshop section will have up to 24 students (and no more).
Every student must
purchase the manual for Physics 142W at the UVa bookstore. This manual contains the workshop activities
which you will use each week.
Registration in Physics 142W will be blocked on Friday, January
16, 2004. The workshops start
on Monday during the semester’s first full week of classes (January 19,
2004).
In that
first week, you must attend the section of your choice on time. If you are
registered for that section, your
place in that section is secure. If you do not attend or are late to your
registered section, your name will be dropped from that section’s enrollment.
Those who wish to add to that section will
then be added if space is available. Since only 24 students may be in a section,
if more students want to add than is space available, names will be drawn at
random and added to the enrollment until the 24 spaces are filled. The remaining students must find other
sections to attend. Let us re-emphasize
this point: If you are registered for a
section and wish to secure your place in that section, you must attend that section on
time during the first full week of classes.
Note, however, that there are normally two sections being held
simultaneously so that each time slot has space available for 48 students in
the two sections. In the extraordinary event that you cannot
attend any sections during that first full week of classes, say due to illness
or a family emergency, please contact Larry Suddarth (room 214 – physics
building, 924-6843, lts7x@Virginia.edu) as
soon as possible. Contact Mr. Suddarth
regarding any problems with registration.
Beginning January 16, 2004, Mr. Suddarth
is the only person who can add you into a section of 142W.
It is your responsibility to be registered
for a workshop. If you are unable to
find a workshop open that meets your schedule, you go to a suitable section the
first week to see if space becomes available or to see if someone will switch
with you. You may need to go to several
workshops before this is successful.
Your work in Physics 142W will consist of three parts:
1.
A pre-workshop activity that you must complete
before coming to the workshop.
2.
Perform the workshop itself, answering
all the questions and predictions, and attaching data, results, graphs, and
analysis as requested with your group members that will be turned in at the end
of the workshop.
3.
A post-workshop quiz that you must
complete in the specified time period.
Each workshop is two hours (technically
one hour and 50 minutes) long. You are
expected to have vacated the room within one hour and 55 minutes to allow the
next section to begin on time. The
workshops meet during each full week of classes and are overseen by a graduate
instructor (teaching assistant commonly called a TA, for short). The graduate instructor’s responsibilities
are to ensure the safety of the students; protect the equipment; provide good
teaching pedagogy to help you learn as much as possible, provide additional
instructions and information concerning the workshop, grade your work and,
together with the faculty, assign your grade.
A faculty member will be present occasionally in the lab.
The
first part of the first meeting of the semester will be organizational and
preparatory. You will be added or
dropped from the section (as discussed above), meet your graduate instructor,
exchange information with your instructor, be informed of any changes to class
policies, etc. In addition, you will
fill out an evaluation to help us improve the workshop experience that in no
way will affect your grade. Then we will
familiarize you with computer software Data
Studio. We generally try to have
activities on material that you have already seen in lecture, sometimes weeks
earlier, but that is not always possible.
Preparation
For each
workshop, you must do the pre-workshop activity that can be found on the
Internet site WebAssign. It can be found
at https://www.webassign.net/uva/login.html.
You can reach WebAssign from the Physics 142W web page http://www.phys.virginia.edu/classes/142w.rmm5a.spring04/. It is important for you to look at this page
often, because any changes to this manual will be given there. The pre-workshop activity will normally be
given on WebAssign, and you will need to complete the answers online by a given
deadline. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO LOOK AT THE WEBSITE OFTEN ENOUGH TO BE
AWARE OF THE WEEK'S ASSIGNMENT, PRE-WORKSHOP ACTIVITY, AND CHANGES IN THE
WEEKLY WORKSHOP. We are not having
you submit a lab report, but instead, we are requiring you to spend time
preparing for the workshop each week. We
expect that since you are better prepared, the workshop will be a better
learning experience. We have in the past
had difficulties with students’ not following instructions with WebAssign. Our class policy regarding WebAssign and
mistakes made with it are clearly articulated on the class website and will be
reviewed and updated as needed.
In order to complete the pre-workshop activity
each week, you should do the following:
1.
Read over the
workshop material in this manual (including the relevant appendix and outside reading assignments, where appropriate) for
the week’s activity completely to get an overview.
2.
Connect to
the Physics 142W web page to learn about any changes, suggestions, or
additional material given for this week's activity.
3.
Read the
instructions again, but this time
more carefully; highlighting the important features of the workshop. Try to work through any derivations you do
not understand. In other words, be an active reader and study the manual.
4.
Complete
the pre-workshop activity as directed on the web page.
5.
Bring a graphing
or other scientific calculator to the workshop.
Before attending your workshop section
during the first full week of classes, look over the workshop manual and become
familiar with the appendices to which you should refer as needed throughout the
semester. Particularly important are Appendix B: Graphical Analysis and Appendix D: The Accuracy of
Measurements and Significant Figures.
Refer to Appendix D and
apply it appropriately throughout the semester. Note that the version of
Appendix D in the manual is superceded by an updated version. The updated version can be found at http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/142w.rmm5a.spring04/manual/APPENDIX_D.pdf. Hardcopies are available at the Physics main
office, room 101.
Procedure in the Workshop
Since the
workshop periods are two hours long, you will need to be efficient in the use
of your time. Normally you will work in
groups of three. You will be assigned to
a different group each week. We
encourage a free exchange of ideas between group members (and also generally in
the laboratory), and we expect you to share both in taking data and in operating the computer system. You will turn in your workshop materials as a
group at the end of the period. Everyone
must fill out the material asked for in the manual, but you only should turn in
one set of graphs and data when you are asked to print them out. Be sure that all such printouts are well
noted with the activity number and your lab partners' names. You and your group members will not
necessarily receive a common grade for the workshop each week, because we will
grade both your results and your answers.
Grading Policy
Each week's activity will be graded as follows:
·
The pre-workshop activity is worth 20%.
·
The weekly workshop experience is worth 50% based on the performance in
the laboratory as evidenced by your performance (which is, of course,
subjective) and by your grade on what you turn in each week.
·
The post-workshop quiz is worth 30%.
Your final
workshop grade will be determined by taking the average of all your workshop grades. No
workshops will be dropped. Grades will
be assigned on a curve based on your graduate instructor’s students only. We try to take account of the different
grading scales of the graduate instructors.
Absences and Tardiness
Absences and
tardiness will be accepted only for legitimate excuses, i.e. illness, a death
in your family, a university sponsored trip, etc. If possible, contact your graduate instructor
before the time of the lab (e.g. send
an email). Without
a bona fide reason, all absentees receive a grade of zero for that
workshop. If you miss a laboratory session because of a legitimate excuse, your
lab instructor will excuse your absence provided that you submit a written
excuse petition signed by you. An email
will suffice. This should be done no
later than the next scheduled lab period. For approved absences, it may
be possible to make up a missing workshop, but it must be done no later than
the Thursday of the following week. See
your graduate instructor or faculty member for further information.
Late arrival for any lab session is very disruptive and will be penalized. After a 5-minute grace period, the lab instructor will deduct 10% from your grade during the first 10 minutes of tardiness and 15% for each successive 10-minute period (or part thereof).
WEBASSIGN POLICY
Please
pay particular attention to the due dates of the WebAssign pre- and
post-workshop assignments. In general,
we will try to have the pre-workshop assignments posted on the Tuesday of the
week before the actual workshop.
The pre-workshop assignments are due 30 minutes before the
workshop. Normally you will be given
several submissions to obtain the correct answer, but sometimes WebAssign
malfunctions, so do not waste your submissions.
There will be no time extensions given, unless you have been excused
from the workshop. Contact Mr. Suddarth for an extension in that
case.
The
post-workshop quiz will be posted no later than Monday of the week of the
workshop. The post-workshops have only one
submission and they have a time limit. Pay particular attention to how much time is
allowed for each post-workshop activity.
If you go over this time, WebAssign will automatically give you a zero
for the quiz, despite the fact that it may still show you which questions you
answered correctly. There is no
possibility of us changing your grade from zero if you go over the time limit. Please allow for possible malfunctions of your
computer and for you reading the time incorrectly. Only the clock in WebAssign is used, and we
have not found it to ever be inaccurate!
You are responsible for keeping track of the available time. We expect you to do the post-workshop quiz within
a few hours of completing the workshop.
We do, however, give you an extension to the following Monday morning at
5 am. That is the only extension
you will receive. For whatever reason,
if you do not complete the pre-workshop quiz on time, you will receive a
zero. We hear a multitude of
reasons/excuses, but we expect you to do the post-workshop quiz immediately
following your workshop, not on Sunday night.
Please do not request an
extension despite what WebAssign indicates on their screen.
WORKSHOP MAKEUPS
You
may only miss a workshop if your TA has given you permission for the reasons
already mentioned. You must receive permission from your TA to
make it up. Make up workshops are held
Thursday afternoon in room 213 beginning at 4 pm. You may only make up a workshop during the
week that you missed it or the following week.
The workshops are not left set up more than the following week. It is the student’s responsibility to get
permission and to attend the make up.
If
you miss a workshop for an approved reason, and do not make up the workshop
until the following week, contact Mr.
Suddarth for an extension for the post-workshop quiz. If you take the make up on Thursday of the
regular workshop week, you do not receive a time extension.