Each of these grading components is discussed in more detail below. Your grade for each component will be expressed as a percentage of the available points in that component, and the weights indicated above applied to calculate the course mark.

Letter grades will be awarded approximately as follows:

These boundaries between letter grades may be adjusted down but not up. No letter grades are applied to individual components; the final letter grade for the course will be calculated directly from the numerical scores of the components, with the weightings shown.

You should also be aware that most students score about 90% in labs, and many get similar scores on LON-CAPA, quizzes, and the PRS; this means that most of the variation in the course grades is determined by the exams.

Overall Outcomes

While a numerical score will be used to determine your grade, I think it useful to share with you a qualitative description of what I expect students to be capable of when they complete this course.

"A" students will be able to solve correctly problems involving the motion of particles subject to Newton's laws of motion, in straight lines and in circular paths. They will provide all the steps necessary for the solution and they will explain them citing the relevant physical principles. They will be able to solve problems involving vectors in two and three dimensions, including the three dimensional properties of vectors such as torque and angular momentum. They will be able to solve problems involving the use of the principle of conservation of energy in mechanical systems. They will also be able to solve problems involving both conservation of linear momentum, in one or two dimensions, and conservation of angular momentum. They will be able to apply the principles of particle dynamics to systems of particles and in particular rigid bodies. They will probably complete nearly all the homework (>95%). They will have learnt how to write lab reports in a lab notebook, and will have written a very good technical report of one experiment.

"B" students will be able to apply correctly the principles of conservation of energy and momentum to mechanical systems. They will be able to solve most problems correctly involving the motion of particles in straight lines but probably have difficulties with rotational motion problems. They will give well-structured solutions to problems, but may not complete them. They will be able to solve problems involving vectors in two and three dimensions, including linear momentum. They will have learnt how to write lab reports in a lab notebook, and will have written a very good technical report of one experiment.

"C" students will be able to apply the principles of conservation of energy and momentum to mechanical systems but will make mistakes in their solutions. They will be able to solve some problems correctly involving the motion of particles in straight lines. They will give some structure to solutions of problems, but will often not complete all steps. They will be able to solve most problems involving vectors in two dimensions. They will probably complete most of the homework (>90%). They will have learnt how to write lab reports in a lab notebook and will have written an acceptable or good technical report of one experiment.

"D" students will be able to get some parts of many problems correct, but find it difficult to complete correctly any of the problems on exams. Parts of problems that are correct will probably not be explained, diagrams and statements regarding the physical principles used will both be missing. They will usually get more than 50% of the multiple choice questions on exams correct. They will probably complete more than 70% of the homework, but with difficulty. They will have learnt how to write lab reports in a lab notebook and will have written an acceptable technical report of one experiment.

A student who earns an "F" in this course will either have failed the laboratory (see notes regarding passing the laboratory) or have had severe difficulties with the material of the course, such as: failing to grasp the concepts of vectors; being unable to handle the mathematical knowledge required to solve the problems given; not explaining his or her solutions to problems, even when incorrect; etc.

Laboratory

If you get less than 70% of the available points in the laboratory, then you will fail the entire course. There are six laboratory sections, call numbers 05484 - 05489, which meet at various times on Mondays and Tuesdays. It is your responsibility to sign up for one, to attend the lab, and to do the work expected.

The labs start during the week of April 2, and conclude during the week of May 21. For more details, see the Preliminary Laboratory Schedule (a 76 KByte PDF file). It is your responsibility to check with your laboratory instructor or in Clippinger 046 to determine whether there have been any changes from the preliminary schedule.

A missed lab without a valid university excuse counts as zero and cannot be made up. Only labs for which you have a valid university excuse can be made up by scheduling the make-up through the Curator's office (042 Clippinger). Whenever possible, labs should be made up during the week in which they were due to be taken. Students waiting until the last weeks of the quarter to make up labs missed in the first part of the quarter will be denied make-up privileges, even if the original excuse for the missing lab was valid.

Not only must the lab be passed to pass the entire course, but if you miss more than 2 labs without a valid University excuse, then the lab will be failed, and therefore the entire course will be failed.

If you have previously taken PHYS 251 at Ohio University, and passed the laboratory, then you may choose to have your prior lab grade used again this time, and need not register for a laboratory section. In order to use this choice, you must promptly contact the Curator, in Clippinger 046, to be sure that your prior grade is still on file, and tell us that you want it to be used by e-mail to piccard@ohio.edu.

Computer Assisted Problem Assignments ("CAPA")

You will have individualized questions in the LON-CAPA system, with due dates and times as posted on-line (usually, but not always, on Thursday). The tentative due dates are included in the schedule, below. The CAPA problems are required. To become familiar with the CAPA system, start by reading the separate LON-CAPA Guide that is available on-line. If you have any problems using CAPA, be sure that you let the instructor know about it right away.

You access the LON-CAPA system through the Web. The following browsers should work with LON-CAPA: FireFox, Netscape, Internet Explorer, or Safari. Your browser will need to have "cookies," "Javascript," and "Java" enabled. Start at http://loncapa.phy.ohiou.edu/.

CAPA will stop accepting answers at the exact due time listed on the assignment, according to the server's clock. The time on the server is not necessarily the time on your watch or your computer. Waiting to the last hour to do your assignment is a really bad practice. Additionally, the load on the servers can get very high at due times, which might delay your submissions. Do not wait until the last minute!

Teaching Assistants are forbidden to do the problems for the students. They are to help the students achieve a level of understanding sufficient to do the problem for themselves.

If you get the right answer but do not know why it is correct, please consult the instructor or one of the TAs. Please bring your problem statement and solution with you so we can have a concrete discussion.

The purpose of the homework is to encourage you to study the material regularly and to learn how to solve the problems correctly. If you "cheat" by trying to find the answer through picking the right equation from a book or copying it from a friend, you will not be able to answer correctly similar questions on exams or quizzes, because then you will be required to explain, show, or otherwise use the physics principles that underlie "the equation." We expect you to collaborate with others during your solution of the homework, learning from each other, but if you do not understand why an answer you got credit for is the correct one, do come and ask. The homework is there to help you learn the material in preparation for the exams.

The LON-CAPA system also provides one "Feedback Question" each week, where you can enter any comment or question that you have. Please use that to raise questions that do not require an immediate answer. Using this method to tell the instructor what is working for you in the course, and what is not, will improve the outcome for you and for your classmates. If you need immediate assistance, use e-mail or the telephone.

Class Participation

Unusually constructive or destructive class participation will impact your course mark. The evaluation of class participation is necessarily subjective, and will reflect whether your behavior constituted an effective use of class time for your own learning and for your classmates' learning. For example, asking relevant questions about things you don't already know, and correctly answering other people's questions are both good; monopolizing class time, or using your cell phone or pager in class, are not.

During many class sessions, there will be questions on the current topics that you will be able to respond to electronically using your personal response system (PRS) "clicker." The points will be recorded as 2 for a wrong answer and 3 for a correct answer. Full credit for the PRS portion will be earned if you achieve 75% or more of the available points. The PRS point total will be a major consideration in evaluating the class participation component of your course mark.

Using someone else's PRS clicker for them in their absence is cheating will be treated as such (see the discussion of Academic Integrity, below).

Reference Materials and Tools for Quizzes and Exams

No books, notes, or formulae stored in electronic or written form may be consulted during the quizzes or exams. Using cell phones during quizzes and exams is forbidden. Listening to iPod or similar devices during quizzes and exams is forbidden. You are expected to remember basic formulae and definitions. A formula sheet will be provided with the exams by the instructor and is also available at http://loncapa.phy.ohiou.edu/. Students will need a simple and cheap (less than $20) "scientific" calculator such as the TI-30-X. The particular functions you will require are: the trig. functions, sine, cosine, and tangent (sin, cos, and tan) and their inverses (e.g., "arcsin", "sin^-1" or "inv sin", etc.); logarithms (log or ln); square root; scientific notation; and exponential (10^x or e^x). Students who have not used a scientific calculator before should make sure they are familiar with how to perform multi-step calculations involving multiple parentheses and brackets, as well as how to use the above functions. I strongly recommend you do not buy an elaborate programmable calculator just for this course. You will not need its power, and its complexity may slow you down. However, any calculator from the TI-80 series family will be allowed, but, if you do use any advanced features of your calculator (e.g., solution of quadratic equation, solution of sets of linear equations, numerical integration, regression analysis), you must record that fact in your submitted solution.

Calculators from other manufacturers, similar to the TI-80 series, will be allowed, but no calculator or electronic device may be used that has a high capacity storage device (e.g., a hard drive, CD, or ZIP drive), or has the ability for wireless communication (e.g., Palm Pilot VII, etc.).

Remember also that consulting formulae or notes stored in a calculator during exams or quizzes is considered cheating, just like using written notes or a book. During exams and quizzes we will do random checks of calculators to ensure that no formulas, notes or equations are stored that are relevant to the quiz or exam being taken, and therefore could give an unfair advantage. Penalties for storing such information may range from the student being required to delete the information immediately, to being given zero for the quiz or exam, or to failure for the entire course, depending on the perceived importance of the information to the quiz or exam. A report may also be made to University Judiciaries.

In-Class Quizzes

As shown in the tentative schedule, below, there will be quizzes in classes most weeks, usually on Thursday, covering the material learned recently. There will be two types of quizzes given, group quizzes and individual quizzes; each quiz will take 15 - 20 minutes. For group quizzes you will be put in groups of 4-6 students. Each group will appoint a person as the "writer" for that group. That person will be given paper to record the names of the students in the group and the group response to the question. The second type of quiz, the individual quiz, will be given to each student. You will complete this quiz by yourself and turn it in after the allotted time. The quiz grade for the class will be split equally between the two types of quizzes. The lowest score from the individual and the group quiz will be dropped.

Textbooks, notes, or other materials may not be consulted during work on either type of quiz. For the group quiz, quiet discussion of the solution is expected among the members of each group. The group may ask questions of the instructor, who will respond only with suggestions on how to complete the solution. The instructor will not give direct answers to the solution. Anyone who misses a quiz will be given a makeup if they have a valid university excuse.

Exams

Both of the exams are cumulative, but the Final Exam will emphasize the material covered since the Midterm Exam. Details will be announced prior to the exams. There will be multiple-choice and free-response questions. The questions will often be variations on questions from the class discussions, quizzes, or CAPA work. The increased weighting of the Final Exam reflects the greater portion of the course that is subject to examination, and also provides an opportunity for the students and instructor to become calibrated to each other.

Please be alert to the dates the exams are scheduled. No make-up exams will be given. Special situations will be individually discussed.

• The Midterm Exam will cover the material through Chapter 5 and CAPA assignment 3B. It will last two hours. It will not contain as many questions as the final exam.

• The Final Exam covers the whole course, with a somewhat greater emphasis on the later material.

Remember that academic misconduct, whether cheating on examinations, submitting the work of others as if it were your own, or plagiarism in any form, is a Code A violation of the Ohio Code of Student Conduct, and as such will result in penalties ranging from an "F" on the assignment to expulsion from the University, depending on the severity of the offense.

If your behavior (e.g., during an examination) presents the appearance of cheating, you will be warned, and may be asked to change seats at that time, to take a retest, or to resubmit the work in the case of laboratory reports. This is not a presumption of your guilt, but rather a preventive measure to ensure the integrity of the educational process.

The value of a degree from Ohio University is largely determined by the strength of the reputation of all of us. Academic dishonesty cannot be tolerated; it degrades the reputation of all of us, including degrading your ability to obtain a job or admission to graduate school after you graduate.

DATE          TEXT SECTIONS                        PROBLEMS

Mar  26    Chapter 1, Units and Measurements
     28    Chapter 2, Motion in 1-D
     29    Chapter 2, Motion in 1-D
     30    Chapter 3, Vectors

Apr   2    Chapter 3, Motion in 2-D
      4    Chapter 3, Motion in 2-D
      5    Quiz 1                              Assignment 1 due
      6    Chapter 4, Newton's Laws

Apr   9    Chapter 4, Newton's Laws
     11    Chapter 4, Newton's Laws
     12    Quiz 2                              Assignment 2 due
     13    Chapter 5, Friction

Apr  16    Chapter 5, Friction
     18    Chapter 5, Circular Motion
     19    Quiz 3                              Assignment 3A due
     20    Chapter 6+7, Work and Energy

Apr  23    Chapter 6+7, Work and Energy
     24    Study Session 7 - 9 pm; loc'n TBA   Assignment 3B due
     25    Review; Ch. 6+7, Work and Energy
           Midterm Exam 7:10 - 9:10 pm; loc'n TBA
     26    Chapter 6+7, Work and Energy
     27    Chapter 8, Center of Mass
Apr  30    Chapter 8, Momentum
May   2    Chapter 8, Momentum
      3    Quiz 4                              Assignment 4 due
      4    Chapter 9, Rotation

May   7    Chapter 9, Rotation
      9    Chapter 9, Rotation
     10    Quiz 5                              Assignment 5 due
     11    Chapter 10, Torque

May  14    Chapter 10, Angular Momentum
     16    Chapter 10, Angular Momentum
     17    Quiz 6                              Assignment 6 due
     18    Chapter 11, Gravity

May  21    Chapter 11, Gravity
     23    Chapter 11, Gravity
     24    Quiz 7                              Assignment 7 due
     25    Chapter 12, Static Equilibrium

May  28    (Memorial Day - No Class)
     30    Chapter 12, Static Equilibrium
     31    Quiz 8                              Assignment 8 due
Jun   1    Review

Jun   5    Study Session 7 - 9 pm; location TBA
      6    Final Exam 8:00 - 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday