ISP209, Spring 2010 - Mystery of the Physical World
Michigan State University
Personnel
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Course Coordinator:
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Felicia V Berryman, Scott K Bogner |
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Instructor Information
Prof. Scott Bogner Office hours: 4:00-5:30 Tuesdays, Room 221 Cyclotron Building (or by appointment anytime, 333-6433) E-mail address: bogner@nscl.msu.eduCourse Description
To explore the current scientific understanding of time, space and matter.Prerequisites
(MTH 103 or MTH 110 or MTH 116 or LBS 117 or MTH 106 or concurrently or MTH 124 or concurrently or MTH 132 or concurrently or MTH 201 or concurrently or STT 200 or concurrently or STT 201 or concurrently)or designated score on Mathematics placement test.Class Hours
Tu Th 2:40 to 4:00 pmOffice Hours
Office hours: Tuesdays 4:00 to 5:30 pm , Room 221 Cyclotron Building (or by appointment anytime, 333-6433)Helproom Hours
Due to budget cuts in the ISP department, we no longer have undergraduate TAs to staff the help room. If there are any students interested in taking the Honors option for this course, you can do so by volunteering to work in the help room 1-2 hours per week. Please see me for details if you are interested.Project Information
Homework assignments are an important part of the final grade. Students are expected to solve problems and to answer qualitative questions in a weekly, individualized assignment. The assignments are completed by entering answers through LONCAPA. Instructions for using LONCAPA are available at
http://loncapa.msu.edu/student/. You are encouraged to work together on the homework, but each student's answers will be different and must be entered individually. A scientific calculator will be necessary to answer a few of the problems.
A valuable resource for getting help on the homework is online in the LON-CAPA system where you can discuss the problems with your fellow students. I will also periodically poke my head into the chat room to help with particularly difficult problems.
Exam Information
Exams will consist of approximately 40 multiple choice questions based on the assigned readings and lectures. You can bring one page, two sides, of notes to each exam, and 3 pages for the final. The relevant material will be reviewed the lecture prior to the exam and will be summarized on a review sheet that will be available one week prior to the exam.
- Midterm Exam #1 Thursday, February 11 at 2:40 p.m. in room BP1410
- Midterm Exam #2 Thursday, March 18 at 2:40 p.m. in room BP1410
- Midterm Exam #3 Thursday, April 29 at 2:40 p.m. in room BP1410
- Final Exam I WILL ANNOUNCE THIS IN CLASS AS THE END DRAWS NEAR!
Grading Information
Performance answering questions from the homework, in-class exercises and exams will be the basis for the final grade. There will be 3 midterm exams. You can be excused from an exam for medical reasons or severe personal difficulties. A signed letter will be necessary to be excused. A student cannot be excused from more than one exam. If you have taken all 3 midterm exams and are happy with your grade, you do not need to take the comprehensive final exam. If you take the final, the lowest exam score will be dropped.
Other details:
- During the term extra credit work will be given and will be added to the homework score. Approximately the equivalent of one homework assignment will be available. The homework grade can not be greater than 100%.
- There will an in-class exercise or quiz each lecture. The grade will be calculated using 70% of the total number of points as a perfect score. This is to allow for missed classes. No make-up quizzes or excuses for missed work will be given. A score of 70% or higher will count as a perfect score.
- Grade basis: Homework assignments 30%; Midterm exams and Final exam, 20% each (the highest 3 scores are counted); in-class quizzes and exercises, 10%.
- Grade scale: The following grade scale is guaranteed. The actual scale may be lowered from these values but will not be raised. 0.0 - 0 to 47.5, 1.0 - 47.5 to 55.0, 1.5 - 55.0 to 62.0, 2.0 - 62.0 to 68.0, 2.5 - 68.0 to 76.0, 3.0 - 76.0 to 83.0, 3.5 - 83.0 to 90.0, 4.0 - above 90.0.
Readings
Assigned readings from the text book will be posted on the web one week prior to each lecture. They should be completed before attending the corresponding lecture.Coursepack
noneTextbook
Physics Concepts and Connections 4th ed. by Hobson ISBN 0-13-187946-4. You will also need the following: ICLICKER remote (
http://www.iclicker.com) and a calculator with scientific notation. You must bring your iclicker to class each day.
Note that there is a newer 5th edition of the text that just came out. If you mistakenly purchased the 5th edition, don't worry about it. There are no substantial differences as far as the chapters related to ISP 209 are concerned.
