PHYS 101 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Course Description
College Physics: Mechanics & Heat
Credit: Credit is not given for both PHYS 101 and either PHYS 211 or PHYS 213.
Prerequisite: Trigonometry.
Physics 101 is a non-calculus-based approach to classical mechanics and thermodynamics. Topics covered include:
- Newton's Laws
- work and energy
- rotational motion
- fluids
- thermodynamics
- waves
Course Goals
By the end of this course the student will be able to:
- describe the physics concepts in problems involving
- mechanics
- heat (thermodynamics)
- waves (mechanical).
- execute basic problem-solving strategy for problems in
- mechanics
- thermodynamics.
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.
iClicker
Course participation requires the use of iClicker, an interactive audience response system.
Students need to acquire one at the bookstore (new or used), and bring it to every lecture, including the first lecture.
iClicker Registration
Students' iClickers must be registered at the beginning of every semester.
Learning Strategy
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:
- Think About It! (pre-lectures and bridge sets)
- Untangle It! (lectures)
- Challenge! (homework)
- Experience It! (labs)
- 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
Think About It: Pre-lectures and Bridge Sets
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
Attendance is required for participation credit. You must have your functional iClicker at each lecture.
The notes from each lecture will be posted on the course website.
Participation will occur as follows:
- Answer questions during lecture using the iClicker response system.
- Credit will be granted:
- Participation in each lecture.
- Bonus credit for correct iClicker questions answered.
Each lecture will focus on a topic of the day as described in the course schedule. The lecture will be tailored from student responses to the Bridge Set questions.
Lectures are formatted into subunits called interACTive learning segments. Each ACT includes conceptual questions and numerical problems which students will answer for participation credit. Students are invited to work in groups, ask questions of and discuss the problem or question with the lecturer during each ACT problem set.
Challenge: Homework
The web-based homework covering each week's material is due the following week.
Homework is assigned and distributed through flipitPhysics. The homework is due according to the course schedule.
Homework problems are designed to:
- Evaluate conceptual understanding.
- Develop problem-solving skills.
Background for the homework is provided by:
- working through the pre-lectures and bridge sets
- attending the lectures.
To start work on a homework assignment:
- Go to flipitPhysics.
- Select the assignment for the week.
- Each problem, or part thereof, may be worked 10 times.
- Full credit for each correct problem will be awarded when an assignment is completed before the deadline.
- Up to 80% credit will be awarded for finishing a problem up to one week after the deadline.
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 laboratory portion of this course will consist of nine (9) 3-hour laboratories. Students are expected to:
- Arrive on time with the required laboratory manual.
- Execute the laboratory exercises by:
- setting up simple experiments to investigate topics studied in class
- making predictions about the outcome of an experiment
- performing measurements of different phenomena studied in lecture
- analyzing experimental results
- answering questions concerning the results and predictions.
- A laboratory write-up which will be completed during the session and turned in at the end of the lab session.
The weekly lab cycle (see course schedule) is designed to provide the opportunity to experience the concepts developed in lecture.
Close the Loop: Discussion
Students must be on time for discussion. Students arriving more than 10 minutes late for discussion will receive a grade of 0% on their quiz.
Each discussion session will consist of the following:
- A student-directed tutorial facilitated by the section TA.
- A short quiz (approximately 20 minutes in duration) covering the previous week's material, up to and including the material covered in discussion.
- This quiz will be graded and recorded in the gradebook.
Each student is expected to:
- Arrive on time. If the student arrives more than 10 minutes late they will get zero on the quiz.
- Come prepared. The required materials for each discussion section are:
- Physics 101 Discussion Manual
- A calculator
- A writing implement (pen or pencil) and paper.
Quizzes will be administered during the discussion section according to the course schedule.
Supplemental
Also there will be open office hours every week to give students one-on-one assistance if they need more help. Do not be bashful about taking advantage of these!
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
- iClickers
- exams
- labs
- documentation submitted for petition for an excused absence