Course:

View lectures on CDS on your computer at home or school.  You will usually view two 75 minute  lectures per week.  I advise you to follow the course schedule. But you may also view the lectures  at a faster pace if you wish. See the syllabus for details. Exams and homework are delivered through WebAssign website. 

Description:

This is a graduate credit distant-learning physics course. View Lecture/Demonstrations on CDs at home and examine how new understandings of the natural world developed, taking two famous scientists as case studies. Galileo was the first to appreciate the importance of experiment, while Einstein was the first to realize time is not absolute and that mass can be converted to energy. This course can be used for re-certification, endorsement credit, and can be used in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Arts in Physics Education degree at UVa.

Instructor of Record:

Professor Richard A. Lindgren
Office: Physics Room 302
Office Telephone: (434) 982-2691
FAX: (434) 924-4576
Electronic Mail: ral5q@virginia.edu
Department of Physics Office (434) 924-3781
University of Virginia

Demonstrator/Lecturer on CD-Roms:

Professor Steve Schnatterly
Department of Physics
University of Virginia

CDs:

This course is adapted from  Stephen Schnatterly's and Professor Michael Fowler's undergraduate course PHYS 109.  You will be sent approximately 27 Lecture/Demonstrations on 5 CDS in real media format for home viewing on your computer using software RealOne Player. To view the Lectures and Demonstrations on the CDs in real media format with your computer, you will need RealOne Player. You can download it from the internet for free. The website is at http://www.real.com/realplayer.html.
You may keep the CDS at the end of the course and use them in your classroom or even loan them to substitute teachers; however, you may not reproduce the CDS  under any circumstances.
To view or read other slides or notes, which are in PDF format, you may need the software program Acrobat Reader. You can download Acrobat Reader for free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.


Chatroom Discussion on Thursday 8:00-9:00 PM:

An informal discussion among participants including the instructor will take place once per week to answer questions of immediate interest. This discussion group is voluntary and is not graded.

Required Textbooks:

Required
Theories of the World from Antiquity to the Copernican Revolution by M. J. Crowe
ISBN 0-486-41444-2 paperback  
Newton to Einstein ( the trail of light) by R. Baierlein
ISBN 0-521-41171-8 paperback

You are welcome to buy the book online such as Amazon.com. Most students order their books online from other sources and require immediate delivery. I do not order any books for the UVa book store. If you need help in ordering a text, you may call the book store at 434-924-3721.

Other references of interest, but are not required
Siderius Nuncius by Galileo Galilei translated by Albert van Helden
Relativity, the Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein

Graduate Students:

This is a graduate credit distant-learning physics course for study at home.   The level is suitable for K6-K12 teachers with a minimum knowledge of mathematics. This course can be used for re-certification, endorsement credit, and can be used in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Arts in Physics Education degree at UVa.

WebAssign:

WebAssign is a web-based homework and exam delivery, collection, grading, and recording service available to teachers and students. You will be given a user number and ID for you to log on to the system. Once you are logged on you have access to your homework assignments and/ or exams, etc. You may also ask any questions using WebAssign. You will submit your answers to any homework or exam using WebAssign. As a example, you may visit the WebAssign site by typing http://www.webassign.net/ and type in "demo" for username, institution, and password. We recommend that you use Internet Explorer or Netscape version 4.0 or later with a 28.8 Kbps modem or better. You will be given your own username and password after signing up for the course.

Celestial Journal:

For the ancients, observing the motions of the objects in the heavens was an everynight experience. This is more difficult for us, because night skies are less clear and usually well lit. To reconnect your self with at least one of the celestial objects, each of you will keep a journal with the following observations. Record the date of each observation and the time to the nearest 15 minutes.

Sun: At least twice a week throughout the semester,  measure the angle of the sun in degrees above the horizon around noontime. At the end of the semester you will make a graph of the angle of the sun on the vertical axis versus the date on the horizontal axis. Be careful to make sure your time axis is linear. The graph should contain many points where each point represents the angle in degrees. Each axis should contain tick marks and  labeled  including the  units. The graph should include a legend and a title. Do not draw a line through the points. Use Microsoft excel  or something similar to plot your data and submit it using the digital drop box in Blackboard.  Error bars on the data points are optional.

Celestial groups: To collect the above data, you may form groups of three or fewer students. You may use students in your classroom to help. The data you record in your journal must be taken by you or your students. You may also work with another teacher to form a group. Your own journal should include all the observations described above whether recorded by you or another member of your group. We will discuss on the CDs how to make the above measurements. Your journal should describe the method you used.


Listserve:

You are expected participate on the class listserve. The listserve is basically class discussion among the participants. You are expected to make 10 constructive commments on the listerve throughout the course. The comments include discusson of the material on the CDs and discussion of the homework problems. If you make 10 comments, you will obtain 5 points towards your final grade based on a 100 tota points. I will explain more about this later.

UVa email Address:

Everyone will be expected to register for their  UVa email address. This will allow you to have access to Blackboard which will be the forum for the listserve. Having a UVa email address will allow you to use ISIS, the system that keeps track of your grades at UVa. For example transcripts are requested through ISIS.

Grading Information:

There will be regular homework exercises worth 25% of the final grade.
A midterm exam will be given worth 25%
The Celestial Journal is worth 10%
A final exam is worth 35%
Listserve participation is worth 5%.

Honor Code

Honor System: I trust every student in this course to fully comply with all of the provisions of the UVA honor system. More information is given in
the section on problems sets, exams, proctor, and honor code.

Proctors

 Before taking any exam you will email me your proctor's name, professional relationship with you, title, email address, and telephone. More details on proctors  is given in the section on problems sets, exams, proctor, and honor code.

August 12, 2004