1c lab syllabus - CASS

Welcome to the Physics 1C Labs!
http://casswww.ucsd.edu/physics/p1abc/welcome.html
The Physics 1C lab curriculum has been developed with the following goals in-mind:
(1) To create labs that are both relevant and useful to non-physics majors.
(2) To concentrate on the fundamental concepts of physics, minimizing the amount of
complicated lab-equipment needed to do real physics.
(3) To allow students more room to explore their own ideas about physics and exercise
their own creativity.
(4) To make learning physics fun.
We fully expect that you will have some suggestions of your own that will help to make
this course better, and we ask that you do not hesitate to let us know what they are. We
will listen to you, and we will act on your suggestions. We care about how you learn
physics, not how we think you should.
About Your TA-s
Your Lab TA-s have been carefully selected based on their past teaching performance
and enthusiasm for the program. Their Number-One Goal is to help you to learn physics.
From them, you can expect:
(1) That they’ve actually done the lab themselves and are aware of just how to handle
things when things go wrong and other subtle issues.
(2) 100% of their time in-lab is spent on you.
(3) Their email address will be available to you, and they will be responsive to your
questions about the labs.
Format of the Labs
Each of the weekly labs covers a particular topic in physics, coordinated with your
lectures, and is composed of two parts: Pre-Lab Questions, and Experiments. You will
need to download the lab manual for each week prior to the lab meeting, study it, and
complete the Pre-Lab Questions on a separate piece of paper as well as in your lab
notebook.
The Pre-Lab Questions have been designed to help you identify the areas that you need to
be familiar with and to focus your thoughts on specific skills that you will need when you
perform the in-lab Experiments. Your lab grade depends on answering the Pre-Lab
Questions, but it does not completely depend on having the “right answer” to the
questions (sometimes there are more than one right answer).
The whole point is that we want you to learn. If you don’t try, you obviously will not
learn anything. If you do honestly try to answer a question, but it’s wrong, that’s okay –
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now you know that you need to have your lab partners or your TA explain it to you.
Don’t leave the lab until you’ve demonstrated to your TA that you’ve learned the
material. He or she will sign your lab notebook before you leave the lab as your record
that you’ve learned what you need to.
You will work in groups of four students per lab-table, with students rotating from groupto-group
on a weekly basis. Everybody will have some important role to play as part of a
team conducting the experiments, collecting data and analyzing results as a group. There
is no formal lab write-up. It’s up to you and your group as to how best present your
results. This is an environment of open discussion and problem-solving where you are
free to explore your own questions as you discover them.
What you will need to bring to each lab (required)
! A quad-ruled notebook containing your completed Pre-Lab Questions (See
Page 4).
! A copy of the lab manual for each weekly experiment.
! A scientific calculator, pencil and eraser.
! A copy of Hecht (helps to look-up information that you didn’t anticipate
needing, not required, but often useful.)
Grading
Your lab grade is weighted at 20% of your total course grade. Lab grading is done in-lab
by the end of each experiment. Your TA will visit each group of students and check their
work as the lab progresses. You will generally find that your colleagues have helped to
clarify any pre-lab questions that you may have had difficulty with before your TA
comes-around. It’s okay to answer a question again (don’t erase an answer that you got
wrong – wrong answers show us where we need to improve – write your new answer
along with it.) And don’t just copy something you don’t understand – have the TA
explain it to you if your colleagues’ answers aren’t making things absolutely clear to you
(They won’t be around when you take your quizzes, midterm and your final, so if you
don’t truly understand some question, don’t let your TA off-the-hook by not asking.
You’ll only be sorry later.)
Your lab grade consists of two parts. Students will receive a maximum of five points per
lab, with two points allocated to the pre-lab homework and three points allocated to inlab
work.
Your pre-lab homework is to be turned in at the beginning of the lab. Only handwritten
homework will be accepted. Full credit will be awarded for students correctly solving the
pre-lab homework. Partial credit will be given, so it is in your interest to attempt all prelab
homework problems.
The in-lab experiments will contain both quantitative and qualitative procedures.
Experiments requiring quantitative data and calculations must be clearly presented,
including explicit calculations, data tables, and graphs when appropriate. Experiments
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equiring qualitative observations must show reasoned attempts at explanations of
observed phenomena in addition to the observations themselves.
Missing a Lab and Make-up Labs
You should avoid considering a make-up lab unless you find yourself in a position with
no other options. The reasons are these: First, the labs have been shown to help on
weekly lecture quizzes (miss your lab—miss your advantage, so to speak.) Second,
make-up labs will only be given during Week-10. This will not allow you to do more
than one lab, so you should save this option for unanticipated events that may come-up
later in the quarter when you really need it. In the rare event that you absolutely must
miss a lab, email your Lab Instructor immediately to make arrangements for 10 th week.
Contacts
Your principal contact for your lab course is your lab TA. They should be able to handle
all of your questions regarding your lab course. However, if circumstances arise for
which you need other avenues of support, the following outline of contacts is included:
! Contact your Lab TA for questions concerning:
• Grading of your labs.
• Things not clear to you in the lab manuals.
• Extra help with the subject matter.
! Contact your Lab Instructor (Daniel Queen dqueen@ucsd.edu) for any of the
following:
• Questions that your TA can’t answer.
• Missing a lab and scheduling a make-up lab.
• Suggestions for improvements to the curriculum.
• Complaints about TA perfomance or behavior.
! Contact the Lecture Professor (Dr. Tytler, dtytler@ucsd.edu) for:
• Anything not satisfactorily handled above.
• Complaints about your Lab Instructor.
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Lab Schedules
Weekly Schedule of Physics 1C Lab Experiments
Week Lab Title References
1 NO LABS Hecht Chapter 24
2 Reflection and Refraction of Light Hecht Chapter 25
3 Lenses, Mirrors and Images Hecht Chapter 26
4 Optical Instruments and the Eye Hecht Chapter 27
5 Diffraction and Interference Hecht Chapter 28
6 Polarization Hecht Chapter 29
7 Speed of Light Hecht Chapter 30
8 Optical Spectroscopy Hecht Chapter 31
9 Radioactivity Hecht Chapter 32
10 MAKE-UP LABS Hecht Chapter 33
11 FINALS WEEK – NO LABS
Quad-Ruled Notebook
The term is often unfamiliar, so we’ll clarify a little more: The
notebook that you want is like one of those medium-sized
composition books with the black-and-white marbled covers. The
real key is that you want a hard-bound notebook which has
graph paper pages in it (very helpful for making tables and
graphs). Quad-ruled just means that the graph paper is ruled with
four squares per inch. You can use five-squares-per-inch, or eightsquares-per-inch
– or whatever. These things are available from a
variety of places, including UCSD Bookstore. Feel free to get the
least expensive one you can find. Here’s a picture of something similar to what you
should look for (don’t drive yourself nuts trying to find this exact thing, that’s not
necessary – just something inexpensive like it with graph paper in it):
Policy for Lab Section Changes
General Procedure
All section changes must be handled via WebReg or the
Registrar’s Office. Do not enroll in a section you cannot attend. You will only be
allowed to perform the lab in your enrolled section.
If you wish to switch lab sections, you must drop the section you are currently enrolled
in, and add a different one, provided there is space available. This can be done via
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WebReg, or in person at the Registrar’s Office using Add/Drop Cards, up to the end of
the 2 nd week of classes (see also Late Adds policy below).
Note that the section you are switching into must not be full. If it is, you will not be
able to enroll in it. Be aware that the Schedule of Classes is only updated at night. So,
even if the Schedule of Classes indicates that there is room in a section, there may
not be! (This is possible if someone has already added the section early in the morning.)
The Registrar’s Office maintains the most current enrollment statistics. To find out if
there still is room in a section, check the StudentLink website or contact the Registrar (in
person, or over the phone, 534-3150).
Some students are worried that by the time they try to enroll in another section, it will
already be full. The best way to avoid this is to fill out two cards: a Drop card (for the
section to drop), and an Add card (for the section you want). Then, take those in person
to the Registrar’s Office, and hand them in at the same time. The Registrar's Office will
check to make sure the section you want has room before they make the switch.
Late Adds
According to the policy posted by the Registrar, you may add classes after the secondweek
deadline, subject to a $3 late add fee. If you wish to add a section during the 3 rd or
4 th week of classes, you must fill out an Add card, obtain a department stamp (or
signature) from the Physics Dept., and then take the Add card to the Registrar’s Office.
Late adds cannot be done via WebReg. (Note: you may drop a class with no penalty up
to the end of the 4 th week of classes.)
Wait Lists
The only purpose of the wait lists is so that the department can determine if additional
sections need to be created. Being on a wait list does not give students priority or even
guarantee enrollment. However, should space become available in a section that you
have wait-listed, you must first remove yourself from the wait list, then add that section
(via WebReg/Registrar). This will not be done automatically.
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