Physics 1401

Physics for Nonscience Majors
Spring Semester 2008
Course Outline

Instructor: Thomas L. Gibson Office: Sc 27 Office Hours: 10:00-11:00 (M-F) (or by appointment)
Text: Conceptual Physics, 10th edition, by Paul G. Hewitt
Course Coverage: The course will cover topics from the eight sections in the text.
Web page: www.phys.ttu.edu/~ritlg/courses/p1401/index.html

Grading Policy:
The following six scores will be accumulated during the course of the semester:
Short Quizzes; Exam I; Exam II; Exam III; Final; Final.
The course grade will be the average of the Short Quizzes and your four highest exam scores. NO MAKEUP EXAMS OR QUIZZES WILL BE GIVEN. Your letter grade will be determined on the following scale:
(55-65) D; (66-81) C; (82-91) B; (92-100) A. I do use +/- grades one point either side of a grade boundary, e.g., grades of 80 or 81 earn a C+ while grades of 82 or 83 earn a B-.
Quizzes:
Short (unannounced, in-class) quizzes based on assigned reading, homework, online quizzes, and material covered in class will be given approximately once a week. If you take all of the online quizzes, at the end of the semester you may replace your two lowest in-class quiz grades with the average of the highest value for each of your online quizzes.
Your Lab Score will be entered in the short quiz category and count as four in-class quizzes. Since this is a lab-credit course, you must obtain a laboratory score of 55% or better for the current semester in order to pass the entire (Physics 1401) course.
Hour Exams: Three one-hour exams will be given.
Final: A comprehensive final exam will be given.
Important Dates:
January 9 = Wednesday---First day of class.
January 21 = Monday---Martin Luther King, Jr. day. University holiday.
March 12 = Wednesday---Last day to drop a class.
March 15-23 = Saturday-Sunday---Spring Break.
March 24 = Monday---Day of no classes.
March 25 = Tuesday---Classes resume.
April 29 = Tuesday---Last day of classes.
May 3 = Saturday---Final Exam (7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.)
Approximate Dates for One-hour Exams:
Important Notes:
Any student who, because of a disability, may require special arrangements in order to meet the course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make any necessary arrangements. Students should present appropriate verification from Student Disability Services during the instructor's office hours. Please note instructors are not allowed to provide classroom accommodations to a student until appropriate verification from Student Disability Services has been provided. For additional information, you may contact the Student Disability Services office at 335 West Hall or 806-742-2405.
 
The faculty is strongly committed to upholding standards of academic integrity. These standards, at the minimum, require that students never present the work of others as their own and never take unfair advantage of any other member of the Texas Tech community. Further, rude, disruptive, or disrespectful behavior has no place in the classroom and will not be tolerated.
Course Goals:
This course is intended to acquaint students with the basic laws of physics and to develop a better understanding of physical science in general. To this end, we will emphasize concepts over mathematical manipulation and student participation over move traditional lecture. The laboratory portion of this course, Physics 1401 Laboratory, is an important component of developing "hands on" understanding of the material that we will cover in the lecture portion. The combination of Physics 1401 with its associated laboratory course counts toward fulfillment of the natural science requirement in Arts and Sciences.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
 
  1. Describe the basis of the scientific method.
  2. Distinguish between a scientific theory and speculation.
  3. Explain at a conceptual level the fundamental elements of energy, motion, and thermodynamics.
Methods for Assessing the Expected Learning Outcomes
The expected learning outcomes for the course will be assessed through:
Non-Graded Concept Quizzes, Guided Classroom Discussion, Graded Quizzes, Laboratory Exercises and Reports, Online Quizzes, and Multiple-Format Exams.
Strategy for Success: