Syllabus

Introduction & Overview

Dear Teachers,

Welcome to How Things Work II.

The demonstrator and lecturer is Professor Lou Bloomfield who has originated and developed the courses How Things Work I and II at UVa. The lectures are on CD Roms and will be sent to you by UPS. The lectures are not rehearsed, but are edited versions of live lectures given in Phys 106 at UVa. Assignments and administrative information related to the course have been edited from the CDs. Most of the several hundred students in the class take it as an elective to fullfill a science requirement. Although the class that is taped is an undergraduate class, you will still find the lectures and demos interesting and stimulating.

Our purpose in making this course available to teachers is to provide you with a myriad of physics examples of "How Things Work" in everyday life and demos that you can use in your classroom as a teacher. This is an excellent way to motivate young people to learn about science. Some of you may find the level of physics discussion in the classroom on the CD's rudimentary. You are welcome to take the level of discussion to any depth as you see fit in your own class room. You will, however, find the multiple-choice exams more challenging as well as arriving at the correct explanations for the essay questions for the case studies that I assign for homework. My version of this course allows you to earn 3 graduate credits of a 600 level course, which can be used towards earning the Master of Arts in Physics Education degree.

Most of the lectures start with a question and proceed to discuss the physics surrounding the question. From the discussion of specific applications we arrive at the general physics principles. The case studies assigned for homework are quite informative and provide an excellent way to study and learn physics concepts. You may also obtain information on how to build any of the demos you see in this course. For example, see the website http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/demonstrations.html#skating.

HOMEWORK AND EXAMS
All homework and exams are submitted through a distance learning delivery system called WebAssign. After I get confirmation from the School of Continuing and Professional Studies that you have registered, I will set up a user name and password on WebAssign for you. I will notify you by your personal email and you will be able to log on to WebAssign. Click on the button on the left called Log-in-Instructions to learn how to log onto WebAssign. You then must learn how to submit homework by taking the "Practice Test : Intro to WebAssign for Physics Students" on Webassign that teaches you how to use the system. Also click on the Guide on WebAssign to learn how to use it.

UVa EMAIL
You must activate your UVa email since all correspondence will be through your UVa email address. Click on the button on the left called Log-in-Instructions to learn how to activate your UVa email address. Follow Steps 1, 2, 3 and 4.

DISCUSSION BOARD
After you have activated your email address, you must obtain your username and password to use features of Blackboard at UVa. Click on the button on the left called Log-in-Instructions to learn how to log onto Blackboard. Your UVa email address must be activated benfore you an log onto Blackboard. We will use Blackboard as a Discussion Board and for communicating other class information. Please familiarize yourself with it.

CHAT ROOM
The chat room provides a format for further interaction where it is desireable to get instant feedback to your questions.
Audio and text chat are both available. The format works best when well defined physics questions are posted in advance.
Up until now this feature has been mostly utilized by a few students who want additional help with the material.

CD ROMs

To view the Lectures and Demonstrations on the CDs, you will need RealOne Player. You can download it from the internet for free. The website is at www.real.com/realplayer.html – click on the "Download RealPlayer - FREE" link on the right.

LECTURE NOTES AND SLIDES

To view or read the lecture slides and notes, which are in PDF format, you will need the software program Acrobat Reader. You can download Acrobat Reader for free by clicking the image below.