Physics 11b — Spring 2007
Introductory Physics
Welcome to Physics 11b, the second part of a one-year introductory course in physics. As the instructor for this course, I look forward to helping you learn the material and assist you in obtaining not only the best possible grade, but also knowledge and habits of mind that will be useful in your career. My goals for this course are to engender the reasoning skills, confidence, knowledge, and technical expertise that will help you become a future leader in your profession.
I take my teaching duties very seriously and will work very hard to attain these goals. I will make myself as accessible as possible — I do want to interact with all of you. I encourage you to stop by my office or call me; my office, home, and cell phone numbers are below.
This document is meant to help you make the most of this course. It is divided into three parts: course philosophy, course logistics, and course policies.
I look forward to working with you this semester!
Contact information
Eric Mazur, Instructor Pierce Hall 233 5-8729
emazur@fas.harvard.edu Home (until 11 pm) (978) 371-9063
Cell (any time) (978) 394-1042
Yelena Synkova Science Center 107 5-5364
Course Support
Course Web site: http://physics11.harvard.edu
Your first assignment is to enroll in the class by registering on the course Web site. Throughout the term, this site is your primary way to keep track of upcoming assignments, read announcements, and communicate with the rest of the class.
What you can expect from me (and the teaching staff)
1. I will work very hard to make this course useful for you (but I cannot do the work and learn the material for you).
2. I will personally read as much of your reading assignment feedback as possible, respond to some of it before class, and address other parts of it during class.
3. I will closely follow the lecture schedule as outlined in this syllabus.
4. I will begin and end each class on time.
5. I will be available for assistance throughout the semester and look forward to meeting you in person.
6. I will do my best to promptly return your phone calls and answer your emails.
7. I will make sure assignments and examinations are returned to you in a timely manner.
8. I will make sure the examinations are fair; our grading standards will likewise be fair and open.
9. I will listen to constructive comments about my teaching and be open to suggestions.
What I expect of you
1. You have made a conscious, informed choice to join this class. This means you have read this syllabus, understand the required workload, and meet the prerequisites.
2. You are coming to this class ready to learn, not just to earn a certain grade or meet a requirement.
3. You understand that you have to take an active role in the learning process. You will therefore come to class prepared, having read the assigned course notes for understanding (but not necessarily understanding everything), and provide written feedback on what you need help with.
4. You will attend classes regularly, come to class on time and not get up and leave before I finish speaking.
5. You will participate fully in the classroom discussions.
6. You will effectively and clearly communicate your understanding on assignments and examinations. To this end you should always show your work and explain your reasoning
7. You will ask questions if something is unclear -- in class, during office hours, by telephone, e-mail or online. Don't wait until the end when there is little time left to address any problems.
8. You understand the benefits of collaboration and the strictly non-competitive nature of this course and are willing to work with others in the classroom, in sections and laboratories, and on your homework assignments.
9. You will bring a positive attitude and share your personality, knowledge and skills with the rest of us throughout the semester.
COURSE PHILOSOPHY
Course description and goals
Physics 11b covers the subjects of electrostatics and magnetostatics, changing electric and magnetic fields, circuits and optics. The goals of this course are to instill an understanding of the basic principles in these subjects, to teach qualitative and quantitative thinking skills that can be applied in a broad variety of fields and circumstances, and to cultivate individual and collaborative problem solving skills that will be helpful in your future career.
Course structure
Different people learn different ways. Therefore this course offers a learning environment with a diversified set of options. You can select from these options what works best for you given your individual learning style and strengths. There are class meetings, workshops, problem solving sessions, reading assignments, homework, an array of self-assessment options, and many ways to get additional support (see Course logistics for details). Not everything is required; some activities are for credit while others are designed to offer you a range of ways to get additional assistance. It is probably not even be feasible to make use of all the options we offer. You should therefore use this document to help you plan your approach and see what works best for you.
Active learning
Learning physics is not simply the acquisition of correct information. Learning requires integrating new information with your own knowledge and experiences, and delivery of information by itself doesn't help you develop your own understanding of the material. What this means is that I cannot simply ?transmit? knowledge to you -- you will have to take an active role in the learning process.
I have written down all the information for the course in the course notes of which you will receive a copy. For me to present all that information again in class would be a poor use of your time. If you prepare for class by reading the course notes and letting me know what part you found most difficult, then we can use class time to work together to develop a deeper understanding of the material.
One unsatisfying alternative to building a solid understanding is rote memorization and recall, which invariably leads to boredom and frustration and which has no lasting value. I don't want you to worry about having to ?remember? lots of information in this course -- you are free to consult your notes or book during all work for the course, including all examinations.
Strategy for success
Physics 11b is not an easy class. Part of the reason for the difficulty of this class is that the concepts in electricity and magnetism are much more abstract than those in mechanics. Another reason is that the material requires calculus and vector mathematics. In addition my approach to this course and my expectations of you are different from those in most science courses. Our goal will be to develop a solid understanding of the underlying concepts — not to simply plug numbers into a bunch of formulas that may have no underlying meaning to you (and that will probably play little or no role in your future career). For all these reasons advance reading, consistent active participation throughout the term, collaboration, and timely completion of assignments are key to success. If you work regularly and allocate enough time each week to keep up with the course, you will get the most out of the course both intellectually and grade-wise. Pace yourself and give yourself time to learn: The reading will introduce some of the material; during class time we will address questions you have about the reading. Additional reading, discussions, and homework assignments will further solidify your understanding. If certain points remain unclear, we offer many support resources — the staff is there to help you. If you follow this prescription you will find that by the time Reading Period comes around, you will have done all the work and mastered the material!
Confusion
Confusion is part of learning. You cannot learn new concepts without ever being confused. (You can memorize information without trying to understand how that information fits into the big picture and not experience any confusion, but that doesn't constitute learning.) At the same time, the feeling of being confused can be very disconcerting, especially when you are under pressure to perform. In lecture I will challenge you to think and build your own understanding of the material. I will elicit confusion and help you resolve that confusion. By learning to master confusion, you will build confidence. So, if you feel unsure about something or don't understand a new concept right away don't panic: remind yourself it takes time to fully understand new material. Even after teaching introductory physics for many years, I occasionally get confused and develop new insights as I work with you on the material and answer your questions! Think of confusion as an opportunity to learn, not as a failure or an obstacle to understanding. Most importantly, simply trying to 'remember' something that confuses you or that goes against your ?gut feeling? makes no sense: if you feel unsure about something and you have given yourself some time to try to understand on your own, seek help by discussing it with others or with the staff.
Counterproductive practices
Two strategies that generally don't pay off are memorization (the exams are open-book anyway) and cramming to catch up just before the examinations (it will be impossible to assimilate all the material). Compulsively solving countless problems in hopes of learning by example is not very effective either: this approach is very time-consuming (and awfully boring) and prevents you from putting the effort into understanding the underlying concepts.
COURSE LOGISTICS
Prerequisites
Physics 11a and Mathematics 21a or 23a (or equivalent) are prerequisites for this course. A solid background in mechanics and in the following math areas are essential: algebra, trigonometry, calculus (differentiation and integration), and vector mathematics. If you take this course without the required prerequisites, you seriously jeopardize your ability to do well. If you are uncertain about your preparation, consult me.
Enrolling
To enroll in Physics 11b you need to register electronically on the course Web site:
1. Point your browser to http://physics11.harvard.edu.
2. Click on 'Sign in' and then on the 'Not enrolled' link.
3. Complete the form and select a workshop and bi-weekly laboratory section.
I also request that you complete a physics background questionnaire and a precourse survey at your earliest convenience. Each should take about half an hour. Your responses to the background questionnaire will allow us to obtain some information on your knowledge of Mechanics and will help us decide what topics might need review during the coming semester. Your answers will not affect your grade in any way.
Materials
The course notes for this course will be distributed in class and are also available in the handouts section of the course Web site. For the workshops you will need a copy of Tutorials in Introductory Physics by L.C. McDermott (2 books shrink-wrapped together; Prentice Hall, 2002) available at the Coop. Additional handouts will be made available via the course Web site. No other textbook is required; if you like to have additional practice material, you can use the book you used in Physics 11a.
Clickers
To respond to the questions asked in class you need a device that is capable of communicating with our course server. If you have a laptop or PDA with a wireless network card or a web-enabled cell phone or cellular device (and a data or internet subscription) you can use your device for this purpose. Simply register for the course on the course Web site at http://physics11.harvard.edu. In class, login to the course Web site and find the link for the lecture.
If you don't have a suitable device, you should purchase a 'clicker' at the Computer Product and Repair Center located in Science Center B10. The devices are for sale Monday through Thursday from 11 am to 7 pm, and Fridays from 9 am to 5 pm (subject to change). You may also be able to purchase a used device from a student who used one in a previous semester and doesn't need it any longer. (Make sure it is a 'PRS RF' device -- the RF stands for 'radio frequency' -- as opposed to the older, infrared PRS devices.)
Once you have purchased a clicker, you must enter your Harvard ID in your device to be able to receive credit and participate in the classes. You only need to do this once: turn on the clicker, wait a moment, then press '*' twice. Then press the triangle-up button to get to the ID entry screen. Press the green button, and enter the first eight digits of your Harvard ID, then press the green button. Please note that you cannot share a clicker with another student: if more than one student ID is associated with a clicker ID, neither student will receive any credit.
Bring your device or clicker to every lecture. Using someone else?s clicker or otherwise impersonating another student in class constitutes academic dishonesty.
Reading assignments
Each class meeting is preceded by a reading assignment, which is due by midnight the day before coming to class. A schedule of these assignments is attached at the end of this syllabus. Because the class meetings are not standard 'lectures' -- that is to say, they are not simply a presentation of the material printed in the course notes -- these reading assignments are very important.
To complete each assignment you must read some sections from the course notes (typically half a chapter) and then answer three short questions on the course Web site. Late submissions are not accepted.
What to expect: Reading the assigned course notes for understanding is a very important part of the work you will be doing. More importantly, pre-class reading provides experience in an area that you are likely to encounter often in your future career -- reading scientific text for understanding. Typically you should set aside 2 hours to complete each reading assignment. Even though I do not expect you to fully understand everything before coming to class, you will often have to read some passages several times to build your understanding. The goal of the reading assignments is to prepare for class, to familiarize yourself with new terminology and definitions, and to determine which part of the subject needs more attention (you'll convey that to me in the online part of the assignment). Just skimming the text or quickly read the text one time through won't enable you to answer the online questions in a satisfactory manner and earn credit for your work. These questions are graded on a two-point scale (2 = demonstrates reading; 1 = room for improvement; 0 = unsatisfactory) and points accumulated on these assignments are worth 10% of the final grade. Whether or not your answers are correct is irrelevant for these assignments and won't affect the grade; what counts is convincing us that you have read the text for understanding and are beginning to synthesize the information in a coherent manner.
Lectures
Physics 11b meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Science Center B. Each class period will be in the form of an interactive discussion of the feedback obtained from the reading assignments. Specifically, the class meetings will focus around a number of ConcepTests — short multiple-choice questions that focus on the more difficult concepts. You will be able to answer these questions using a web-enabled device (laptop, mobile phone, PDA) or an infrared clicker (see above). Your answers on the ConcepTests are not graded, but regular and consistent participation in the ConcepTests can reduce the weight of your final exam (see grading standards for details).
What to expect: The ConcepTests are meant to challenge you (without worrying about your grade other than your participation in them). They provide a form of continuous self-assessment and also give me important feedback. The ensuing discussions will often help clarify conceptual difficulties. To be effective these questions must be challenging enough to stimulate discussion, so the answer to many of the questions may seem counter-intuitive and perhaps even confusing at first. The goal is to build intuition and confidence and to overcome any confusion. Analysis of past years? data shows that on average people get about 50% of the questions correct before discussion; even the top students select incorrect answers on 25% of the questions. After discussion, the percentage of correct responses (and the corresponding understanding of the material) goes up significantly. Students who participate consistently in the discussions tend to obtain significantly higher grades in the class. If you find you do not benefit from the discussions of the questions, consider switching discussion partners.
Certain class meetings will start with a very brief pretest whose purpose is to help prepare the staff for the teaching of the workshops and to give you a flavor for what you should hope to learn and understand from the next workshop. These pretests will start at 11:37 a.m. and finish at 11:47 a.m. Your answers on these pretests are not graded, but you earn extra credit for each pretest you take seriously. The extra credit points can reduce the weight of the final and are worth up to 5% of the final grade (see grading standards for details).
After each class I will be available in Science Center 104 to answer questions and provide additional help. All of the ConcepTests will also be available for review online immediately after each class.
Workshops
Each week, starting on February 5, we will hold two-hour workshops in Science Center 104. During the first hour of the workshop, you will work in groups of four on a tutorial worksheet from the Tutorials in Physics book that is required for this course. These worksheets are specially prepared to deal with some of the more important topics and concepts in the course. The second half of the workshop is devoted to problem solving and homework. Attendance is not mandatory, but the first hour is highly recommended.
You can select a convenient workshop section when enrolling online; please go to the workshop you registered for or reschedule your assignment online. In case you cannot schedule a convenient workshop, send an e-mail to phys11b@fas.harvard.edu.
What to expect: Like the ConcepTests, the tutorials are meant to elicit common misunderstandings and then resolve those in a group discussion. The role of the teaching staff is to facilitate discussion and to make sure that your worksheet contains the correct information at the end of the workshop. During the second hour of the workshop your group can get started on the homework assignment. You should form a group of people with whom you can meet regularly to work together and address difficulties.
If you find that you do not benefit from working with your group, join (or form) a different group. It is of utmost importance that you find the right people to work with throughout the semester.
Laboratories
There are five laboratory assignments. The labs are held approximately every other week and typically last three hours. The first laboratory assignment is a take-home lab, which will be handed out in class during the week of February 5. At the end of each lab you hand in a lab report to receive credit for the lab. Your lab report must contain a short description of the experiments you performed, the results you obtained, the conclusions you draw from those results, and address any questions posed in the lab handout (a few pages all together). The laboratories are mandatory and are worth 10% of the grade.
You can select a laboratory section when enrolling online. Please go to the lab you registered for or reschedule your assignment online. In case you cannot schedule a convenient lab, send an e-mail to phys11b@fas.harvard.edu.
Homework
Weekly homework consists of a set of challenging quantitative problems and a worksheet following up on the tutorial given during the preceding workshop. The homework assignments will be made available on the course Web site about one week in advance of their due date. Solutions will be posted shortly after the due date.
- Your work should be neat and orderly; make large, understandable, and clearly labeled diagrams. Formulas and numbers alone won't do; you must show your work and explain your reasoning to earn full credit on a problem.
- Hand in your work on 8.5 × 11" sheets, stapled together, with your problems in numerical order as assigned.
- On the top left corner, put your name, the names of people you collaborated with, the assignment number, and your workshop section number.
- Place homework in locked boxes on the wall near Science Center 110.
Graded homework is returned during your workshop section. Please keep your graded homework as proof of completion of work. The homework assignments are worth 20% of the final grade.
Toward the end of the semester we will administer one or two online assignments. The main purpose of these assignments is to assist you in identifying conceptual difficulties with the material in preparation for the final examination. These online assignments are graded for participation only and any points earned are added to your homework points.
Examinations
Three in-class examinations will be given during the regularly scheduled class periods on February 27, March 22 and April 17. The course concludes with the usual three-hour final examination; the date of the final examination is determined by the Registrar's Office and will be announced later. All exams are 'open-book'; that is, you may bring your notes, a copy of the course notes and any textbook you choose.
The in-class examination with the lowest score is dropped from the final grade calculation and the final examination allows you to gain back any points not realized on the two remaining in-class examinations (see Grading standards for details).
What to expect: The questions on the exams are a combination of quantitative problems and conceptual questions resembling the ConcepTests and the type of questions on the tutorial worksheets.
The examinations cover all the material in the course notes that has been assigned as reading (even if the subject was never discussed in class or in the workshops or included in a previous assignment).
Support resources
There are many ways to get assistance with the material in this course. Be sure to use these support resources as soon as you feel unsure about anything.
Forums (http://physics11.harvard.edu). In addition to providing course information, announcements, assignments, lecture videos, handouts, review material, and grade information, the course Web site has a series of discussion forums where you can post any questions. The forum should always be your first recourse for seeking answers to your questions.
Office Hours. I will always be available for about an hour after each class period in Science Center B. In addition the entire teaching staff will hold regular weekly office hours. Times and locations will be announced shortly. If you cannot make any of the posted times, call to make an appointment or send electronic mail to the person you would like to see.
E-mail. The e-mail addresses for the entire teaching staff are available on the course Web site. Please note that a class of the size of Physics 11 can easily generate an overwhelming number of e-mail messages. So, if you need help or advice, please consider as a first option posting your query on the discussion forums on the Web server. This way, duplication of commonly asked questions is avoided and others in the class benefit from your question too. If you prefer to reach a specific individual you may use e-mail. Questions of a general nature that are not suitable for posting (sectioning problems, etc.) should be e-mailed to phys11b@fas.harvard.edu.
Phone & instant messaging. Feel free to contact members of the teaching staff via phone for any urgent questions. A staff telephone directory is available on the course Web site. For home telephone numbers, please respect earliest and latest calling times. Some members of the staff can also be reached via instant messaging. (Eric Mazur's AIM account, for example, is eric_mazur@mac.com).
Other resources. The University offers many other resources for help, including tutoring and reserve materials. If you feel you need any of these, please consult with the staff.
Time commitment
Physics 11b is a demanding course and you will need to allocate sufficient time during the semester to do well in the course. You should count on spending anywhere between 12 and 15 hours per week for all activities, more if you need to catch up on your knowledge of the prerequisites (mechanics, calculus, vectors). If you do not have this time available, you should seriously reconsider taking this course. In a typical week, you will need the following time allocation:
Reading/Studying 4–5 hrs/week
Lectures 3 hrs/week
Homework 3–4 hrs/week
Workshops 1–2 hrs/week
Laboratories 1.5 hrs/week
During weeks where in-class examinations are given there will be no homework or laboratory, reduced reading, and the sections will be devoted to review. The time normally allocated to these activities can then be devoted to study for the examination. Provided you have kept up with the material, it should not be necessary to spend any more time to prepare yourself.
During Reading Period we will offer an entirely optional, complete review of the entire course. As you will have done most of the work during the course of the semester, you will find that you do not need to spend a disproportionate amount of time preparing for the final.
If you find you are spending significantly more time than 15 hours per week, you should contact someone on the teaching staff to develop a different study strategy.
COURSE POLICIES
Collaboration
I strongly encourage collaboration in class, during workshops and laboratories, and on homework assignments. Because the course is graded on an absolute scale, you will never reduce your grade by helping others — on the contrary, by doing so you will reinforce your own knowledge and improve your performance. Before working together or consulting others on any assignments, however, it pays to give yourself an opportunity to work on it alone.
When handing in work on which you worked together with others, you must always 1) state the names of the people you collaborated with and 2) submit individual and original solutions. When you sit down to write up your answers for submission, you should do this without consulting notes copied from someone else. Work that closely matches someone else's is unacceptable.
Activities for which collaboration is not permitted are: reading assignments, in-class pretests, Web-based tests, and examinations.
Grading standards
The final grade is calculated on an absolute scale and is based on a point total of 100 of which 20 points are for the homework, 10 points for the reading assignments, 10 points for the laboratories and 60 points for the examinations. Bonus points worth up to 5 points can be accumulated from the pretests. These points are weighted by your classroom participation and reduce the weight of the final exam. The lowest in-class examination score is not counted; the remaining two count for 15 points each. The final examination allows you to gain back points not realized on the in-class examinations: it is worth 60 points, minus the two highest scores for the in-class examinations, minus any bonus points. Letter grade cut-offs are shown on the grade worksheet attached at the back of this syllabus.
You may periodically want to check that our records agree with yours by looking up your grades on the 'My Grades' page (under 'Info') on the Web site. An Excel spreadsheet to calculate (or predict) your final grade according to the grading standards is available in the 'Handouts' section of the Web site. A grade worksheet is also attached at the end of this syllabus.
Please keep in mind that simply keeping on top of the work lets you accumulate a considerable number of points. Class participation, reading assignments, problem sets, and laboratories add up to 45% of the final grade. The in-class examinations allow you to further reduce the weight of the final to as little as 25% of the final grade. You can therefore assure yourself of a good grade by working consistently throughout the term. Finally, the scores of your in-class examinations can be made up on the final exam.
Regrades
Requests for correction of grading mistakes on exams must be made within a week of issuance of the assigned grade and you must not have added anything to the original writing on the assignments. (Please note that we copy all examinations and some of the homework before it is graded.) Clerical errors (e.g., addition errors) will be corrected immediately. We never reevaluate credit for a single problem: a regrade request of a single problem triggers a regrading of the entire assignment or examination and grades can move up or down. Only if the grade changes by 5% or more of the maximum point total for each examination (10% on homework assignments) will the new grade replace the old one.
Missed or late assignments and examinations
In case of extenuating circumstances, such as major religious holidays, illness, injury or other personal emergency, you can request an extension for assignments. Any such requests must be made in advance of the due date; requests made after the due date will not be considered. You can get half credit for up to one late homework assignment without prior extension, provided you hand in your work in person to your assigned TF within one week of the due date. Your submission must still be original — copies (handwritten or otherwise) of solutions are not acceptable.
At the end of the term we will offer an opportunity to make up a missed laboratory assignment.
There are no make-up in-class examinations; if you miss an in-class examination for an officially excused reason (major religious holiday, documented illness or family emergency, or official university business) we will replace your missed examination score with the appropriately scaled score on the portion of the final exam that covers same the material as the missed in-class examination. Make-up final examinations are granted and administered by the Registrar?s Office.
GRADE WORKSHEET
1) In column A, put your actual scores. In column B, put running total within each group. In column C, put the maximum number of points for each assignment or exam, and in column D the running total for C. For column E calculate B/D (the fraction of points earned).
2) Bonus points for pretests are calculated as follows. If you answer at least 75% of the ConcepTests over the course of the semester (regardless of whether your answers are correct or not), your pretests are worth 100%; if you answer less than 50% of the ConcepTests, your pretests are not counted; between 50% and 75%, your pretests are pro-rated. For example, if you answered 87% of the ConcepTests and completed 80% of the pretests, BP = 0.8. If you answered 25% of the ConcepTests, BP = 0 even if you completed all pretests. If you answered 70% of the ConcepTests and completed 60% of the pretests, BP = 0.70 * 0.60 = 0.48 and so the number of bonus points is 0.48 * 5 = 2.4.
3) To calculate your final grade points (out of 100), use the following equation:
FG = PS*20 + RA*10+LB*10 + MT*30 + BP*5 + FE*(60 – MT*30 – BP *5)
4) Look up the corresponding letter grade in the table below.
5) The final column gives the historical class average (HCA) for each part of the grade.
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Score |
Out of |
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HCA |
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A |
B |
C |
D |
E |
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Reading assignments |
RA |
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RA = |
0.99 |
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Problem Sets |
PS1 |
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PS2 |
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PS3 |
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PS4 |
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PS5 |
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PS6 |
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PS7 |
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PS8 |
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PS9 |
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Online assignments |
OL |
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PS = |
0.95 |
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In-class Exams |
MT1 |
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(drop lowest score) |
MT2 |
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MT3 |
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MT = |
0.66 |
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Final Exam |
FE |
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FE = |
0.66 |
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Lab total |
LB |
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LB= |
0.99 |
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Fail |
Passing |
Satisfactory |
Honors |
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? |
< |
Grade |
? |
< |
Grade |
? |
< |
Grade |
? |
< |
Grade |
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0 |
61 |
E |
69 |
73 | |||||||