COURSE SYLLABUS

LALITHA DORAI

COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF BALTIMORE COUNTY (ESSEX)

SCHOOL OF MATH AND SCIENCE

LALITHA DORAI

OFFICE : C 115

PHONE : 443- 840-2674

EXAMINATIONS: There will be 3 major exams given in advance during the semester. No make-up exam will be given. Absence from these exams will result in a zero grade. A comprehensive final will be administered during final exam week.This is a requirement of the course.Exam Questions will be asked from deductive reasoning from the material presented in Class,Home Work and Reading assignment.During the exams the students are allowed to bring a scientific calculator no more advanced than TI80 series.Laptop computers are not allowed in the class room during exams. Cell phones should be used for emergency purposes only during the class

HOMEWORK:

Homework assignment will consist of:

1 . Reading sections in the text

2. Answering questions

3. Problems

It is essential for students to do assignments on a daily basis. Selected problems will be discussed in the class as time and demand permits. The reading assignments are made in advance of the lectures that cover the reading material. The lectures are designed to reinforce the students reading not for the students to learn the entire course from the lectures. It is extreamly important for the students to carefully and perceptively read the assignments before the lectures.Some elementary material that needs little explanation will be assigned for reading and not covered in the class.

LABORATORY/COMPUTER PROJECTS:

Report should be done neatly. Late reports will not be graded. Missing more than one lab during the semester will earn you a failing grade in the course..

PREPARATION AND PREREQUISITES:

Students are required to have completed the appropriate prerequisite Math/Physics courses or their equivalent to be enrolled in a course. Students who have not completed the prerequisite courses are ineligible for enrollment in a course and will not be given a final grade if they do not withdraw. Students should either be concurrently enrolled in the required Math course or have completed it or an equivalent course. Students are required to have a working knowledge of the topics involved in the prerequisite courses and all their prerequisites at least at the level of having passed the courses at the B level. If the student feels insecure in his/her depth of knowledge in these areas it is recommended that he/she immediately undertake a brief but thorough review of these subjects in lectures, but the student will be responsible for knowing the material.All the exam problems will be similar to the homework assignments, the example problems in the book or example problems worked out in the lectures.

STUDYING PHYSICS                 The amount of time you study for a physics test is less important than how  you spend your time studying.   It may seem obvious to some, but you should spend your time studying for a test the same way you will be taking the test.   If you are to play a musical instrument without looking at the music, that’s the way you would practice it.   Therefore it makes sense that, if you are expected to solve problems on a physics test, you should study by solving as many problems as you can.   Reading  the chapter before you attempt  to solve problems is also necessary  and effective at teaching you how to solve problems.  Take good notes in the class and rewrite them at the end of the day after reading the chapter. These notes will come in handy for review before the test. When you do homework problems keep them in a note book for review for the exams.                 My physics tests will consist of some combination of free-response ( problems ) questions and multiple-choice questions.    They will also include a combination of quantitative problems (where you will use equations to compute an answer) and qualitative or conceptual problems (where you will be asked to describe a situation or compare and contrast two situations for example).                   Again, to practice for the quantitative problems, either free-response or multiple-choice, you should solve problems.   There are several ways to do this: 1)        Use the example problems in the book since you have the solutions. 2)       Solve the problems at the end of the chapter, given for home work 4)       Make up problems like the ones we did in class and solve them.  Come to me for help if you need answers. Remember to solve the problems in the same conditions you will take the test.    If you are constantly flipping through the chapter as you try to solve problems, you are using a crutch which will not be available to you during the test.   You should solve the problems using only a pencil and calculator (and any allowable equation sheet);   you should resort to looking in the book only after you have been unable to solve the problem for some time.  To review for the conceptual parts of the test, there are several strategies: 1)        Review your chapter notes and outline.  Make sure you know the definitions of all of the new words in the chapter.   Make sure you know the units of each new quantity. 2)       Answer the conceptual questions at the end of the chapter: they are usually in their own section entitled “Questions”, right before the quantitative “Problems” section. You may want to engage your classmates (by making a study group) in a discussion of these questions: arguing your point strengthens your understanding of the material.   It is often said that you only understand something after you teach it to someone else.     3)       Take each of the major equations in the chapter and write a paragraph that explains what it means and what its implications are.         It’s not how long you study for a test, but  how you study that is important.  These hints should help make your study more effective, but everyone is different and everyone learns differently. Try different techniques until you find one that works for you. Then stick with it .Keep notes of all the work that you do during the semester  in one note book, it will be easier to review before the tests.  Psychological research has shown that repeated practice is crucial for excellence. Rote repetition is very important. Danial Willingham , a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia says' It is impossible to become proficient at a mental task without practice'.He further says 'If you repeat the same task again and again, it will eventually become automatic. Your brain will literally change so that you can complete the task without thinking about it'. Once this happens,cognitive neuroscience research has shown , the brain has made mental space for higher order operations, like for exploring the emotional content of a piece of music and not just playing the notes , for interpreting literary works and not simply decoding their words. Brain scans of experimental subjects who are asked to execute a sequence of movements show that as the sequence is repeated the parts of brain associated with motor skills become less active allowing brain activity to shift to the areas associated with higher level thinking and reflection.(Ref :Article by Annie Murphy Paul in Time Magazine January 31,2011).Remember everything becomes fun when you are good at it.

GRADING FORMULA:

Hourly tests 60

Final exam 30

Laboratory/paper 10

LETTER GRADE

100-90 A

89-80 B

79-70 C

69-60 D

BELOW 59 F

MY FALL 2010 SCHEDULE:

PHYS 101 ( EG1)	C 124	M , W , R	1.25 PM--2.20PM
PHYS 101(EG1) , LAB	C 124	M	2.30PM - 5.15 PM
PHYS 101( WEH) LAB	C 124	W	2.30 PM - 5.20 PM
PHYS 151 (EN1)	C 116	T , R	12.45 PM - 2.05 PM
PHYS  151 (EN1)( LAB)	C 124	R	9.30 AM - 12.20 AM
PHYS 251 (EO1)	C 106	T , R	2.20 PM-- 4.10 PM
PHYS 251 (LAB) (EO1)	C124	T	9.30 AM - 12.15 PM

COLLEGE POLICIES FOR COURSE SYLLABI: