Course Syllabus

Summer 2022  Physics 2 PHY2054 - Course Syllabus

 
 

Instructor

Instructor: Keegan Gunther Keegan Gunther
Office: B162

Contact

Through canvas or email: kgunther@ufl.edu.

Class Lecture

TR Period 4 (12:30 - 1:35pm) in room 1001

Discussion Sections

See Discussion Sections page for details about meeting times, location, and contact information for your instructor.

Textbook and Course Materials

  • College Physics: A strategic approach. (Knight, Jones and Field), 4th edition, with MasteringPhysics. Print ISBN-13:978-0-13-460903-4.
  • The course requires students to purchase access to the online homework system, MasteringPhysics 

Access to the required course materials above may be obtained from the UF All Access program. Here is the link to have these charges direct billed to your student account:

 https://www.bsd.ufl.edu/G1CO/IPay1f/start.aspx?TASK=INCLUDED

See this handout for instructions for obtaining course materials with UF All-Access.
Technical Support for MasteringPhysics should begin with this handout.

iClicker

An iClicker account and mobile device/clicker to participate in lecture. iClicker Cloud access is already included in your student fees. See details below in the iClicker Registration and Support section of this syllabus.

Technology

Only handheld calculators are permitted for performing calculations during exams or quizzes. Graphing and scientific calculators are acceptable. Mobile devices with calculator software are not permissible for use during exams or quizzes

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

Credits: 4; Prereq: PHY 2053 or the equivalent.
Second semester of introductory physics de-emphasizing calculus. Electric charge, fields and circuits; electromagnetism, applied electricity; geometrical optics, wave optics, applied optics; electrons and photons; atoms and nuclei.(P)

Student Expectations

To achieve the learning outcomes, students are expected to:

  • Read the assigned chapters in the textbook.
  • Attend and participate in scheduled lectures and discussion sections.
  • Work through the examples presented in the text in order to learn the physics concepts, principles, and problem-solving techniques of introductory physics.
  • Complete homework assignments to self–assess your understanding of the module’s concepts and problem solving strategies on a weekly basis.
  • Attend discussion section meetings for group problem solving and small group instruction moderated by recitation section TAs.
  • Complete weekly quizzes assessing your ability to solve a similar problem to those asked from homework assignments, evaluated by recitation section TAs.
  • To seek help from your instructors and other students when specific content does not make sense, and to seek out additional practice when needed to gain mastery before moving on to future modules. The additional practice is included as optional assignments in the course.
  • Contact Keegan Gunther if you have concerns about the course.
  • To seek help from university resources to support student success, which include use of peer tutoring (UF Teaching Center and Knack), peer mentoring, and wellness resources found at http://studentsuccess.ufl.edu

This course requires an extensive amount of time to do all of the above, and students should plan accordingly to spend 12 hours per week on course preparation and practice.

Expectations of Instructors

Your instructors role is to develop a course where you can achieve these objectives through your participation and interaction. Further, we pledge to:

  • Be accessible via email and respond to communication sent to the contact addresses listed in the contact info table located on this page.
  • Design lectures and discussion section meetings which facilitate active learning through the use of examples and polling questions.
  • Design assessments which evaluate your progress towards achieving the outcomes of the course.
  • Provide weekly communication through announcements to frame the week's course activities.
  • Treat everyone with respect.
  • Recognize and celebrate everyone's unique identity and background and create an environment where everyone belongs!
  • Affirm your ability to succeed in this course and provide assistance for everyone to access resources which enable each student achieve success.
  • Adhere to course policies equitably and with fairness.

Expectations of the Learning Community

Each semester we join together to form a unique and diverse learning community. This community is enriched by our own unique backgrounds, identities, experiences, challenges, and opportunities for personal growth. It takes the participation and efforts of all to ensure this community is inclusive of everyone, regardless of our differences. Please remain respectful when there is disagreement between you and someone else. Join us in continuing the work to create learning spaces that are safe for all to participate equitably. Provide room for concerns to be voiced, which takes courage and should receive the acknowledgment and empathy they rightly deserve. We are united by a common goal: to learn physics by demonstrating the course outcomes AND to assist this attainment by others in the course, through actions consistent with UF's core values and the student code of conduct.

Discussion Sections

Discussion sections are class meetings where you will get small group instruction on how to answer physics problems, both numerical and conceptual. Attendance is required for each scheduled discussion section meeting. 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. Review the  Discussion Sections page for listing of meeting times.

Participation is highly encouraged during discussion section. Group problems are assigned during the second recitation meeting and students will form small groups to collaboratively work through a guided problem. The problems are designed to provide thoughtful application of what you are learning each week through the reading, lectures, and homework. The skills you will gain through these exercises will be valuable to your learning and performance on course assessments. 

Class Attendance and Missed Work

Attendance to lectures and discussion sections is required. Students may not be enrolled in another class at UF or some other institution that conflicts with the meeting times of this course. Please arrange your schedule so that you are consistently available during the course meeting times. Standing conflicts will not afford you access to the missed assessments or missed lectures. 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 from the discussion section instructor, and if approved, make arrangements with the discussion section instructor. Approved make-ups for missed quizzes will take place at the first opportunity determined by your TA according to the absence and makeup policy stated above. The documentation must be provided to your TA within the makeup period associated for the missed quiz, or a reasonable justification why it will be delayed must be e-mailed along with the projected receipt date of the documentation to your TA within the makeup period. All makeup quizzes must be completed within one week of the regularly scheduled quiz, or August 4th, whichever comes first.

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. 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 iClicker points: Students are not permitted to earn iClicker points if they are not successfully submitting responses during the open polling times. Students missing class for excused reasons are not permitted to make up missed bonus opportunities, as the drops will cover the missed polling sessions. Please ensure your device is powered and connected to internet during the duration of the lecture.

Missed Discussion Sections: Students are not permitted to earn bonus participation points if they are not attending and participating in solving group problems during discussion sections. Instead of offering makeup discussion sections or providing alternate assignments, I drop the two lowest participation scores in the calculation of the discussion section participation bonus. Students missing class for excused reasons are not permitted to makeup missed bonus opportunities. Note, that the bonus is not just attendance, but also awarded for your active participation in the breakout rooms. This means that you should be prepared to work collaboratively in teams and contribute constructively to the assigned tasks. Students who attend without contributing to the group will not earn bonus participation points. 

Missed Homework: Students have ample opportunity to complete available homework assignments prior to the due date. There are no extensions or makeups for homework assignments. Please plan accordingly.

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 refer to the office hours page for a full schedule

Grades

Grades are based on total points accumulated from exams, discussion section quizzes, homework and extra credit quizzes. Using the What-If tool in Canvas Grades such that each grading category below has a hypothetical score will correctly calculate your overall grade based on 105 total points, including the extra credit discussed below. Please see Canvas Help for details about the What-If tool in Canavs Grades.

Your final score is the sum of the following:

Assessment Max Points Calculation
Exam 1 18 18*(earned points/max points)
Exam 2 18 18*(earned points/max points)
Exam 3 18 18*(earned points/max points)
Exam 4 (Final) 21 21*(earned points/max points)
Discussion Section Quizzes 20 20*(your earned points/max quiz points)
Drop lowest scoring quiz (excluding Q0 and Q7)
Homework 5 5*(your earned points/max hw points)
Drop lowest scoring homework
Total 100 Sum this column
iClicker Bonus +2.5 2.5*(your total points/max points)
Drop two lowest scoring polling sessions
Group Problem Participation Bonus +2.5 2.5*(your total points/max points)
Drop two lowest participation scores

Use Canvas Grades to track your scores and report any discrepancies in your scores to your TA. Notification of discrepancies are due to your TA by August 4th. Letter grades will be reported to the Registrar at the end of the term corresponding to the total score and the minimum values to an accuracy of 0.01, following this grading scheme:

A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- E
≥85.00 80.00 75.00 70.00 65.00 60.00 55.00 50.00 45.00 40.00 35.00 <35.00

Exams

There are a total of four exams, with the fourth exam held on the last day of the semester serving as a cumulative final. The dates, times, chapter coverage and allowed materials are described on the  exams page . Please place these exam dates and times in your calendar today.

Exam questions will be taken from a number of sources, typically including (but not limited to!) the textbook, lectures, iClicker polls and homework problems. Exam format is multiple choice using ScanTron sheets. The answer which you bubble in on the ScanTron is the one we grade, with no exceptions. 

Unless superseded by a valid excuse a missed exam will result in a zero. Valid excuses are officially sanctioned UF events, medical excuses or family emergencies. Acceptable excuses will require a coach's, doctor's or instructor sanctioned note with a verifiable contact phone number. The documentation must be provided to your instructor immediately. A valid excuse for your absence on the exam date will allow you to take a make-up exam.

Students who need special accommodations due to a registered disability must carry out the DRC procedures described below.

 

The projected exam dates (subject to change within the first few weeks) are:

Exam 1- June 2

Exam 2-  July 7

Exam 3- July 26

Quizzes

Each quiz  in your discussion section is typically based on (though not necessarily identical to) a homework problem from the most recent homework assignment past due. The particular problem given in each discussion section is chosen at random and thus its difficulty will vary throughout the semester. Quizzes are given only on Tuesday or Wednesday. It is not permitted to share the contents of a quiz and doing so is a violation of the university Honor Code.

Approved make-ups for missed quizzes will take place at the first opportunity determined by your TA according to the absence and makeup policy stated above. The documentation must be provided to your TA within 1 week of the missed quiz or a rational reason that it will be delayed must be e-mailed along with the projected receipt date of the documentation to your TA within that period. All quizzes must be made up within one week of the missed quiz. The last date for an eligible makeup will be the Wednesday before the last day of class.

Your quiz grade  = 20 * (total quiz points / max points). The lowest quiz grade is dropped.

Homework

Homework  is based on the MasteringPhysics online homework system and assignments are due Mondays at 12PM (noon) EDT. Each student gets a unique set of numbers for each problem. Because of the length of time each homework set is available, there are no extensions  on the homework. You are strongly encouraged to start entering your answers well ahead of the deadline to avoid possible technical problems that might occur on the day the homework is due. If an unforeseen technical difficulty like a down internet connection or computer virus causes you to miss the deadline, you will not receive credit for the unfinished work. The homework solutions will be released at 12:05PM EDT on Mondays to give you meaningful feedback on your problem solving work.

Your homework grade  = 5 * (total homework points / max points). The lowest homework score will be dropped.

Homework and academic honesty: While we encourage students to discuss homework problems with one another, we regard it as a breach of academic honesty to get homework solutions or algorithms external sources, including websites or companies that give away or sell such solutions or algorithms (this is stated explicitly in our course Academic Honesty policy found below).

iClicker extra credit

Answering questions during lectures is optional using the iClicker response system, but can earn up to a maximum of 2.5 extra credit points on your grade. 

For each iClicker question, you receive 2 points for a correct answer and 1 point for a wrong answer. Two iclicker session scores are dropped to allow for absences, broken devices, late answers, etc. However, to receive credit for your responses, your iClicker account must be linked to your Canvas course.  Please see the  iClicker page .

You are responsible for maintaining the functioning of your device, including its connection to the internet. No credit will be given for questions if you forget your mobile device or your mobile device battery is dead or you do not respond to the question in the allotted time. 

Discussion sections are designed to promote collaborative group problem solving while practicing the skills necessary to become successful in solving physics problems on your own. To reward your efforts, your discussion section TA will award weekly participation bonus points for your collaborative work in solving problems assigned to your group. TAs will create groups of about 4 students, with each group receiving a problem to solve together. TAs will monitor and answer questions, as well as ask specific students in the group to explain or justify decisions made by the group in arriving at a solution. 

Each week, you may earn points based on your participation and group's success. These points will sum over the course of the semester and will determine your individual participation bonus. This bonus will be added to your overall course grade. As shown in the above table, I drop your lowest participation score. You can't makeup missed participation bonus points with a group, nor complete alternate assignments to replace missed bonus points. Remember, this is not a course requirement, but an encouragement to participate in these meaningful exercises to gain both feedback and confidence in your problem solving ability.

Canvas

The lectures notes and this semester's exam solutions will be linked from the Schedule and Exam Information pages. Scores on homework, exams, and quizzes will be posted in the Grades section.

MasteringPhysics

Homework is delivered and scored using MasteringPhysics. Access to MasteringPhysics is granted through the AllAccess program, offering billing directly to your student account with the benefit of access to both the e-text and homework system on the first day of the semester. 

You can access MasteringPhysics by clicking on a homework assignment listed on the Assignments page, from the ToDo list, from the Course Calendar, or by clicking on the MyMastering link in the sidebar. 

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.
  • 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.
  • There are no extensions on homework assignments.
  • 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. These additional practice assignments are not required, meaning exam questions are not based from these items. Any overlap is purely coincidental.

iClicker Registration and Support

You are required to participate with the iClicker Cloud app on a smartphone, tablet or laptop. It is your responsibility to follow the steps below to properly register your iClicker account in a timely fashion. It is also your responsibility to regularly check your iClicker records for any discrepancies.

In order to participate in iClicker activities and ensure that your grades are properly reflected in the gradebook, follow the steps below:

In order to participate in iClicker activities and ensure that your grades are properly reflected in the gradebook, follow the steps below:

1. If you have an existing iClicker student account that uses an official university email address and/or Student ID, you will automatically get added to the iClicker course.

If the iClicker system does not find a matching iClicker student account, you will receive an email from iClicker Support with instructions to create a new account (Links to an external site.) or update your existing account's profile (Links to an external site.). Please note that this email may appear in your Spam or Junk folders.  

If you receive an email prompting you to update your iClicker account, you will need to sign in to iClicker and modify your profile information. If you already have an iClicker account, do not create a new account. Instead, edit your existing account's profile (Links to an external site.) to avoid confusion and potential loss of points due to multiple accounts.

If you do not already have an iClicker student account, click "Sign Up" and create an account

If you have never used the iClicker student app, click Sign Up! and follow the steps to create an iClicker student account (Links to an external site.), making certain to use a university email address and UFID.

When you have finished creating your account, sign in to the iClicker student app to establish the connection with your Canvas or Blackboard account.  

2. Set up the device(s) you’ll use to participate in our synchronous lectures.

  • You can download the iClicker cloud app via the App Store or Google Play, or you can use iClicker on your laptop.
  • If you have multiple devices, I recommend accessing our virtual class using your computer and participating in the iClicker questions using your mobile device.
  • If you only have one device, you can open up a new tab in your web browser for iClicker cloud, or switch back and forth between our virtual class and the iClicker cloud app.

3. Now the fun part! Participate in iClicker class activities.

  • When it’s time for class, make sure you have selected this course from the main screen of your iClicker cloud account.
    • When the instructor starts a class session in iClicker, select the Join button that appears on your screen, then answer each question asked in iClicker cloud.
    • For short answer, numeric, and target questions, make sure you select Send.

4. Review your work in iClicker cloud.

  • You can review your grades, performance, and participation in iClicker cloud.
  • Grades will be synced from iClicker cloud to Canvas on a regular basis. Please allow a week after lecture for the sync to occur. If you do not see scores in Canvas, you have not successfully completed step 1 above. The deadline for completing step 1 above is the last day of class for this semester (prior to reading days), but you are strongly advised to complete step 1 in the first two weeks of the semester.

Academic Integrity Information

iClicker activities fall under the provisions of our campus academic honesty policy. Students must not engage in academic dishonesty while participating in iClicker activities. This includes but is not limited to:

  • Having another student participate for you
  • Using more than one iClicker account at a time
  • Sending your answer to other students in any way.

Any student found to be in violation of these rules will lose their iClicker points for the entire term and may be reported to the Dean of Student Discipline.

Need help with iClicker cloud?

Schedule

The course schedule is found on the Schedules page.

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


Academic Honesty Policy and Honor Code

Background

We go to great lengths to ensure that our Physics course is administered fairly, by setting clear goals (what is needed to attain each grade) at the outset, by providing materials (lectures, applets, homework, office hours, reviews) to help you reach those goals, and by assessing progress towards those goals using easily understood procedures (exams, quizzes, iClicker, online homework). We pledge to do the best job we can to make the material understandable and to bring out the best in every student.

Course Policy

Maintaining the integrity of the grading process demands fairness and compassion on our part and honor on your part. Accordingly, we take a very hard line on cheating in any form, including

  1. Providing or copying answers on exams or quizzes
  2. Taking an exam or quiz for another student
  3. Entering online homework answers for another student
  4. Distributing or copying exam or quiz questions
  5. Obtaining course homework solutions or software algorithms from external sources, including websites or companies that give away or sell such solutions or algorithms.

Any person caught cheating in any form will fail the entire course automatically and will be subject to Honor Court penalties.  Furthermore, we expect students to not tolerate cheating of any kind and to report incidents to your instructors.

Honor Code

The Dean of Students Office  website  has a detailed discussion about academic honesty and the University of Florida Honor Code, which was adopted by the Student Council. The Honor Code says

We, the members of the University of Florida community, pledge to hold ourselves and our peers to the highest standards of honesty and integrity. On all work submitted for credit by students at the University of Florida, the following pledge is either required or implied:

"On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment."

Disability Services

Students with disabilities who experience learning barriers and would like to request academic accommodations should connect with the Disability Resource Center by visiting our  Get Started page . It is important for students to share their accommodation letter with their instructor and discuss their access needs, as early as possible in the semester.

Requesting an accommodation letter to be sent to instructors is sufficient for receiving accommodations, as long as the letter is received at least three days prior to the deadline for assessments. Letters received less than three days before the assignment deadline will have the accommodations applied for the next and subsequent assessments.

Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the DRC office as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations.

Failure to send a current accommodation letter before the three day deadline is not a permitted excuse for taking a makeup exam.

Online Course Evaluation

Students are expected to provide professional and respectful feedback on the quality of  instruction in this course by completing course evaluations online via GatorEvals. Guidance on how to give feedback in a professional and respectful manner is available at gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/students/. Students will be notified when the evaluation period opens, and can complete evaluations through the email they receive from GatorEvals, in their Canvas course menu under GatorEvals, or via ufl.bluera.com/ufl/. Summaries of course evaluation results are available to students at gatorevals.aa.ufl.edu/public-results/

Campus Resources

Health and Wellness

U Matter, We Care:
If you or a friend is in distress, please contact umatter@ufl.edu or 352 392- 1575 so that a team member can reach out to the student.

Counseling and Wellness Center: http://www.counseling.ufl.edu/cwc/Default.aspx, 392-1575; and the University Police Department: 392-1111 or 9-1-1 for emergencies.

Sexual Assault Recovery Services (SARS) Student Health Care Center, 392-1161.

University Police Department, 392-1111 (or 9-1-1 for emergencies). http://www.police.ufl.edu/

UF Student Success :  For improving study skills to connecting with a peer tutor, peer mentor, success coach, academic advisor, and wellness resources, go to http://studentsuccess.ufl.edu

Academic Resources

E-learning technical support, 352-392-4357 (select option 2) or e-mail to Learning- support@ufl.edu. https://lss.at.ufl.edu/help.shtml.

Career Resource Center, Reitz Union, 392-1601. Career assistance and counseling. http://www.crc.ufl.edu/

Library Support, http://cms.uflib.ufl.edu/ask. Various ways to receive assistance with respect to using the libraries or finding resources.

Teaching Center, Broward Hall, 392-2010 or 392-6420. General study skills and tutoring. http://teachingcenter.ufl.edu/

Writing Studio, 302 Tigert Hall, 846-1138. Help brainstorming, formatting, and writing papers. http://writing.ufl.edu/writing-studio/

Student Complaints: https://www.dso.ufl.edu/documents/UF_Complaints_policy.pdf

Privacy and Accessibility Policies

For information about the privacy policies of the tools used in this course, see the links below: 

Required work

  • This web site serves as the syllabus for the course. Each page on the web site has a link on the menu at left. You are required to read each of these pages. The web site is detailed and chances are any policy questions you may have are answered here.
  • You are responsible for ongoing course work, which is described on the web site: reading the text for the assigned material, attending lecture, doing the weekly homework, attending discussion section and taking the quizzes, and taking the exams.

 

FAQ Regarding Online Components

  • Will lectures be available synchronously through zoom?- No, all lectures will be held in person, and there will be no zoom option

 

  • Will lecture recordings be available?- Yes, after lecture I will post a recording to use as a resource to review material, but note that you can online receive iclicker credit during lecture.

 

  • Will quizzes/exams have an online formation option? - No, all quizzes/exams must be taken in person, with no online version avaliable.

Course Summary:

Date Details Due