Course Syllabus

Summer C 2018 Physics 2 PHY2054 - Course Syllabus

About the Course

PHY2054 - Physics 2 is the second semester of Physics without calculus, covering electrostatics, electric current, electric circuits and their components, magnetism, induction, electromagnetic waves, optics, optical devices, interference and diffraction. It is typically, but not exclusively, taken by biological sciences majors and pre-professional students, i.e., those planning careers in health care, optometry, pharmacy, etc. It is not a suitable course for physics, chemistry or engineering majors, who are encouraged to take PHY2049 (Physics 2 with calculus) or PHY2061 (enriched Physics 2 with calculus), both of which offer similar material but with more mathematical emphasis.

Course Description

Discussion Sections

Discussion sections are scheduled meetings where you will get small group instruction on how to answer physics problems, both numerical and conceptual. A highly skilled TA will guide you through the problem solving process that will be helpful for you as you practice the homework problems on your own outside of class. You will also receive formative assessment feedback on your learning through low-stakes weekly quizzes. The content of these quizzes are based on the problems assigned in homework and serve to assess not only the correct answer to quantitative problems, but also critique and provide feedback on how you justify your answer with an in-depth solution.

Practicing physics is the best way to learn it, and the apprenticeship model works quite well as you see how experts identify which physics principles are needed to obtain a correct solution. Here are the discussion sections and their instructors:

Class Attendance and Missed Work

Attendance to lectures and discussion sections is required. If you are unable to attend a scheduled class meeting due to university approved and sponsored activities, documented illness under care of physician (see medical excuse policy here), or family emergency, please notify your instructor. Absences due to circumstances listed above during scheduled quizzes or exams will necessitate you to request a makeup quiz or makeup exam following the procedures below. Requirements for class attendance and make-up exams, assignments, and other work in
this course are consistent with university policies that can be found at this link.

Discussion Section Quizzes: Students must request a makeup quiz using the appropriate survey below. Students have one week from the date of the missed quiz to complete the form. You will be notified if the makeup quiz is granted with details for scheduling the makeup quiz with your discussion section instructor.

First Missed Quiz
Second Missed Quiz
Third Missed Quiz

Missed Exams: Students missing an exam must notify the instructor BEFORE the beginning of the exam and provide documented evidence for a request for a makeup. It is wise to arrive to campus early on exam days and to drive under the speed limit. Receiving a traffic ticket, or getting stuck in traffic, is not a university approved justification for making up a missed exam. Arrangements will be made to take a makeup exam as soon as possible. The makeup exam will consist of material similar to that which was tested on the missed exam.

Missed H-ITT points: Students are not permitted to earn H-ITT points if they are not successfully submitting responses during the open polling times with a clicker. Instead of offering makeup H-ITT sessions, we include a "forgiveness factor" into the calculation of the H-ITT bonus. Students missing class for excused reasons are not permitted to make up missed bonus opportunities. Students who do not have a functioning clicker with them are not allowed to submit written responses for credit. Please ensure that your clicker number appears on the projection screen indicating a successful submission of your response, and that you discuss any technical difficulties with your instructor. You are permitted to use only the clicker registered for this class. If you lose a clicker and want to register a new clicker, please use the registration form and notify your instructor. Using multiple clickers in a session is a violation of the Honor Code policy with infractions reported to the Registrar.

Missed Homework: Students may submit additional homework responses to continue working on homework after it is due. These extensions are automatically granted, allowing students to work on an assignment up to 24 hours following the original deadline, provided you have not viewed the answer key. The penalty for submitting additional answers is 50% of the available points for correctly submitted work after the original deadline. This extension penalty will not affect the score on correct answers submitted before the original deadline. This policy will not allow for an increase in the number of submissions. Please work on the assignment early and often so that connectivity issues do not prevent you from submitting your best attempt at all questions. 

Requirements for class attendance and make-up exams, assignments, and other work in this course are consistent with university policies that can be found at: https://catalog.ufl.edu/ugrad/current/regulations/info/attendance.aspx

Office Hours

Visit your instructors for free help! We're the ones writing your exams and quizzes and have a good idea about how to help you succeed in this course. You may visit any of the TAs, not just the one teaching your discussion section. Please find someone you can go to for help. Here's our Weekly Schedule (subject to changes):

Grades

Grades are based on total points accumulated from exams, discussion section quizzes, homework and extra credit quizzes. The canvas grading tool will not accurately calculate your grade. 

Your final score is the sum of the following:

Letter grades will be reported to the Registrar at the end of the term corresponding to the total score and the minimum values to two significant figures, following this grading scheme:

Canvas

The lectures notes and this semester's exam solutions will be posted in the Files section. Scores on homework, exams, and quizzes will be posted in the Grades section.

ExpertTA

Homework is delivered and scored using ExpertTA. You have a 14-day grace period for which you may use ExpertTA before needing to either pay ExpertTA directly, or add your access code card number procured from the bookstore. 

You can access ExpertTA by clicking on a homework assignment listed on the Assignments page. It is essential to access each assignment from Canvas, so that the grade you earn on the assignment can transmit from ExpertTA to Canvas Grades. Assignment scores not transmitted to Canvas appear as a dash in the grades. All scores with a dash will turn into a zero at the end of the semester before evaluating your overall course grade. You will be directed to a Canvas page with a button to open ExpertTA in a new window. Make sure popup blockers are turned off in your browser window. 

Details about Homework Assignments, Grading, and Late Policy

• Most problems come from the textbook, though the values for masses, charges, angles, etc. for each problem are different for each student. We expect to have some problems which might not come from the textbook.
• You have five attempts to get the correct answer. To get credit your answer must be correct within 2% and you must enter at least three significant digits.
• ExpertTA does not accept input numbers in the format, e.g. 2.5e-13. You must instead enter 2.5*10^-13. This and other questions are described in the online support FAQ.
• Multiple choice and True/False question types. The points you can earn for correct submissions decreases by a constant amount for each attempt. The decrease per step is 100% / (Noptions-1). Thus for a 5 part multiple choice question, the decrease in value is 25% per attempt.
• For all other question types, there is a 5% deduction in the number of points you can earn for each wrong submission. There is also a small (1%) deduction for every hint or feedback you request, but you should definitely use these based on student statistics provided by ExpertTA.
• There is a penalty for submitting answers following the deadline (50% for correct submissions up to 24 hours following original deadline). It is your responsibility to get your homework in on time. Last minute computer/local server problems will not excuse you from this responsibility given the fact that the homework should be started days in advance.
• Ungraded practice is offered in the ExpertTA Study Area. Feel free to attempt additional questions and take advantage of the system feedback when either preparing for your homework, or when preparing for exams.
• Additional Ungraded Practice Assignments are curated and arranged by textbook chapter, as an option for study and self-assessment. These are found in the Assignments section, but note they do not appear in your To-Do list until the very end of the term, so that you can practice these questions at any point during the semester.

Schedule

Information about the exams (chapters covered, times, allowed materials, etc.) can be found on the Exams page.

Honor Code

The UF Honor Code applies to all aspects of this course, as detailed on the course Academic Honesty link. It is mandatory that you report any possible infractions to your instructor immediately.

Disability Services

Students requesting classroom accommodation for disabilities must first register with the Disability Resource Center. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the instructor. Requests for entitled testing accommodations will be granted if this documentation is submitted to the instructor at least five business days before the next scheduled exam. Accommodations will then go into effect for the remainder of the term, or until an updated accommodation letter is submitted to the instructor.

Please schedule accommodation requests for a proctored exam at least one week before the first exam. This scheduled exam should overlap with the time at which the exam is given during class.

The Accommodated Testing Service (ATS) at DCR will administer all exams requiring accommodations. It is your responsibility to follow testing center policies when scheduling each exam (schedule at least one week before the exam). If you choose to not schedule exams before the deadline, you are electing to forgo the testing accommodations to which you are entitled and will take the exam according to the conditions of the regularly scheduled exam. It is strongly advised to schedule proctored exams with the DRC as soon as possible, using the course calendar as a guide for the dates of your exams.

Online Course Evaluation

Campus Resources