PHYS 102 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Course Description

College Physics: Electricity and Magnetism, and Modern Physics

Credit: Credit is not given for both PHYS 102 and either PHYS 212 or PHYS 214.

Prerequisite: PHYS 101.

Physics 102 is a non-calculus-based approach to electricity and magnetism, and modern physics. Topics covered include:

• electric forces and fields
• electric potential
• electric circuits
• magnetic forces and fields
• geometrical optics
• interference and diffraction
• quantum mechanics
• Einstein's theory of relativity

Course Goals

By the end of this course the student will be able to:

• describe the physics concepts in problems involving
  • electricity & magnetism
  • optics
  • modern physics.
• execute basic problem-solving strategy for problems in
  • electricity & magnetism
  • optics
  • modern physics.

Course Components

All students are required to participate in all course components. Credit is granted in each course component. All course components are subject to the Academic Integrity Policy.

Learning Strategy

To effectively learn new material, students need a wide array of experiences. Our learning philosophy is tailored to help students efficiently process problems in physics by providing the necessary experiences.

In introductory physics, the learning philosophy of the Department of Physics can be summarized as follows:

1. Think About It! (pre-lectures and checkpoints)
2. Untangle It! (lectures)
3. Challenge! (homework)
4. Experience It! (labs)
5. Close the Loop! (discussion)

This course covers a large amount of new material. Each concept builds on previous course concepts. Mastery of previous material is essential. This is the student's responsibility. In order to succeed the student must not fall behind!

Component Description

For all components of this course, the Course Attendance Policy explains the tardiness and missed class policies.

Think About It: Pre-Lectures and Checkpoints

Due before each lecture, these web-based assessments are designed to introduce the key ideas/concepts of the lecture. 

Assignments are due as presented in the course schedule.

Pre-lecture

• Each question may be attempted several times.
• Each question must be answered correctly complete the activity.
• No late credit.

Bridge set

• Available after prelecture is complete.
• Answer all questions for full credit.
• No late credit.

Untangle It: Lecture

 

Participation is required.

• Attending the lecture as scheduled in person or via Zoom.
• Answering the one-minute papers (two per lecture) on lecture day.  
  • Answers are to be submitted to GradeScope.
  • May be submitted at any time during the lecture day after the first lecture is given.
  • The prompts will only be available via the Zoom lecture and the recorded lecture.
• The play list is available through the Recorded Lectures page.

Each lecture will focus on a topic of the day as described in the course schedule. Notes from each lecture will be posted in a pdf note-taking format prior to the beginning of lecture, and will be posted in their complete form after class is over.

Lectures will be posted to the Media Space channel with automatic captioning after the lectures for the day have been completed. If you have DRES accommodations that require higher-quality captions, please contact Prof. Ansell.

Challenge: Homework

Homework is assigned and distributed within the homework system, FlipIt Physics and is due according to the course schedule.

You must work the problems before the deadline in FlipitPhysics to receive full credit for the homework.

Homework problems are designed to:

• Evaluate conceptual understanding.
• Develop problem-solving skills.

The web-based homework covering each week's material is due the following week.

To start work on a homework assignment:

• Go to FlipItPhysics.
• Select the assignment for the week.
• Each problem, or part thereof, may be worked an unlimited number of times.
• Full credit for each correct problem will be awarded when an assignment is completed before the deadline.
• Up to 90% credit will be awarded for finishing a problem up to the date of the relevant exam.
• Up to 70% credit will be awarded for finishing a problem by the end of the semester.

Experience It: Laboratory

Students must be on time for lab. No credit will be granted to students arriving more than 10 minutes late for lab.

The lab cycle (see course schedule) is designed to provide the opportunity to explore the applications and implications of the concepts developed in lecture.

The laboratory portion of this course will consist of four (4) 3-hour laboratories.

1. A prelab exercise due the morning of each laboratory period.
2. The laboratory exercise in which students will:
   1. plan and set up simple experiments to investigate topics studied in class
   2. perform measurements of different phenomena studied in lecture
   3. analyze experimental results
   4. make conclusions based on their results and their understanding of the experimental system.
3. A laboratory write-up which will be completed during the session and turned in at the end of the lab session.

Close the Loop: Discussion

Weekly two (2) hour discussion sections are required. Students select a discussion section during registration.

Each discussion session will consist of the following:

• Pre-discussion work:
  • Students will be organized into groups of four (4) within their discussion section.
  • Each student will select one of the four (4) discussion questions for the week to work in advance of attending the discussion section.
    • Each problem in the weekly set must be worked by a student in the small group.
    • Students may use our Teams course to discuss their solutions within their group small group.
    • When your small group convenes for the weekly discussion, each student should bring their discussion problem with them to discuss in the small group.
• In-discussion work:
  • Each student within their small group will work together, using their pre-discussion work to complete a single problem set solution.
  • Each group should work together to resolve differences.
  • Each group will submit one document with their team solution set to GradeScope for the TA to evaluate.  This document should include:
    • The final solution set for all four problems.
    • Each student's pre-discussion solution.
    • This solution set, with pre-discussion material attached, will count as your discussion participation grade.
    • Students will take turns submitting the problem set for each week.
• The individual skills quiz:
  • Each student should work on their own quiz.
  • The quiz will be given in the last 40 minutes of the discussion session.
  • The quiz will be taken in PrairieLearn.
  • This quiz will be recorded as your quiz grade.

Bonus Points and Dropped Assignments

We realize that this course has many assignments spread across its many components, and that things happen in your personal life and with your other classes that can impact your ability to meet every deadline perfectly or never miss any parts of the class. Since our classes are so large, we must be rigid in not allowing late work as indicated above. However, we have two policies that offer you some flexibility:

• Automatically dropped assignments: For most components of the course, your lowest score(s) will be automatically dropped in the calculation of your final grade. The number of assignments that are dropped varies for each component of the course – you can find the full list on the Course Grading page.
• Bonus points: We offer up to 20 bonus points for the semester that can be applied to all scores in the class except for exams. You can earn bonus points by attending office hours or submitting your own exam questions with worked solutions. More information can be found in the Bonus Points section of the Course Grading page.

Supplemental

There will be open office hours every week to give students one-on-one assistance if they need more help. These are a great place to get assistance working through difficult topics, figuring out homework questions, or addressing other concerns about the class. You do not need to have a “good” question for office hours – any question where you are working on your understanding is welcome!

Exams

The purpose of exams in this course is to assess your mastery of concepts and related problem-solving skills. In physics classes we consider that you have ‘mastered’ a topic when you remember the rules of how a concept or physical phenomenon works and can apply those rules to unfamiliar situations.

[what is the exam format!?!?!]

You will be assessed in this course using three midterm exams and one final exam. Exams are spaced approximately 4 weeks apart from each other through the semester. The specific exam dates are available in the Schedule.

This course uses the College of Engineering Computer-Based Testing Facility (CBTF) to proctor exams. Exams will be administered using the PrairieLearn web platform. Details about proctoring and practice exams can be found on the Exam Information page.

Academic Integrity

All activities in this course are subject to the Academic Integrity rules as described in Article 1, Part 4, Academic Integrity, of the Student Code.

Infractions include, but are not limited to:

• cheating
• plagiarism
• fabrication
• academic interference
• computer-related infractions
• unauthorized use of university resources
• sale of class materials or notes
• facilitating infractions of academic integrity.

Violations of any of these rules will be prosecuted and reported to the student's home college.

All aspects of the course are covered by these rules, including:

• quizzes
• homework
• exams
• labs
• documentation submitted for petition for an excused absence

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If you have questions about this page, please e-mail the Undergraduate Office (undergrad@physics.illinois.edu).