Supplemental Physics 207 SYLLABUS – Information on Labs and Discussions

Homework 

Students are encouraged to work together on homework problems, but everyone must submit their own solutions.  WebAssign homework is due at noon on the date listed on the syllabus; homework submitted late will receive no credit.  Homework solutions will be available in the Physics Library (4th floor Chamberlin) the following day.  Some homework problems as indicated on the syllabus (including the problems for honors students) are to be written up neatly and turned in to your TA.  These written problems are due the first discussion session after the day the online homework is due.

Discussion Quizzes 

At least seven quizzes will be given in discussion sections throughout the semester.  Quiz dates will be announced ahead of time.  Missed quizzes will be given a grade of zero; make up quizzes will not be given.  Exceptions may be made if a valid excuse is provided for missing the quiz.  Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped at the end of the semester.

Discussion Attendance

Attendance of discussion sections, though not required, is encouraged and could help your grade.  Lack of attendance will only lower your grade in the case that a quiz is missed.  Group problems done in discussion are not graded.

Discussion and Homework Grades 

Discussion (i.e. quizzes) and homework are together worth 1/6th of the total grade for Physics 207 (quizzes and homework each contribute 50%).  Online homework is graded using numbers of points.  Written homework will be graded for completeness and content—with less emphasis on correctness—and given a √+, √, or √- (specific point values may be assigned later).  

Labs 

Lab attendance is required.  If you have a valid excuse for missing lab: you are allowed to miss one lab without penalty; additional missed labs must be made up—see your TA to work out an arrangement.  If you do not have a valid excuse for missing lab: your grade will be lowered and you may fail the course.  Lab notebooks should be left in the lab room at all times and will be given a grade of √+, √, or √- for each lab (specific point values may be assigned later).  Lab is worth 1/12th of the total course grade.  A few TAs may also use lab quizzes as well.

Because of the difficulty in unifying the grading across all sections of Lab and Discussion grades may be renormalized up or down to achieve parity.