Course Syllabus

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Spring 2017

 

Instructor Contact

  • Instructor: Dr. Saiful Khondaker
  • Office: PVL 432
  • Office Hours: Tu Th 2.30-3.50 pm, or by appointment
  • Phone: 407-882-2844
  • E-mail: saiful@ucf.edu

Course Information

  • Course Name: College Physics II
  • Course ID & Section: PHY 2054 Section 002
  • Credit Hours: 4
  • Semester/Year: Spring 2017
  • Location: MSB 260

Course Description

PHY2054C is the second part of the two-semester sequence in introductory physics offered primarily for students majoring in information technology, the biological science and pre-health professions. Emphasis is placed on understanding major principles and concepts and concepts and Algebra with simple Trigonometry is used to clarify them. Students should have a good working knowledge of Algebra and Trigonometry at the level of MAC1104 and MAC1114 or equivalent. Please study appendices A to E at the end of your textbook to reinforce your fundamental algebra and trigonometry skills. Information about this course will be available at https://webcourses.ucf.edu. In addition, I will use your official UCF e-mail to send you announcements from time to time. The website will be frequently updated as the course progresses itself.

         This is a very fast paced course. The content of this course is selected to match nation-wide standards for Physics courses, which are often used to prepare students for careers in Medicine and Life Sciences. During the course we will typically work one chapter per week. Your primary sources of information for the new concepts are your instructor, the textbook and your class notes. The syllabus shows which sections you need to read for each day of class. Here is an estimate of the effort needed for 2054C:

  • Reading 20-30 pages of text each week – 3 hours.
  • Web based homework & time studying concepts – 5 hours
  • Laboratory – 3 hours
  • Class time – 3 hours
  • Estimated weekly effort – 14 hours

You can see that you need to plan on having enough time to do your best in this class.

It is extremely important NOT to get behind! Physics builds on itself inexorably, and once you are behind it will be very difficult to catch up with it again. And don't assume that because you read a section, you understand it. Until you can consistently do the problems successfully, you don't understand the material.

Course Objectives

Aside from the practical matter that UCF is presumably requiring you to take this course to get your degree, there is actually some value to you in learning the material! Physics is, in many ways, a much simpler scientific discipline than the ones you may be majoring in. For that reason, it allows us to easily see fundamental principles such as conservation of energy. It is an excellent test case for the scientific method and for quantitative thinking and reasoning. For those going into the medical profession, the experiments you perform in life sciences will be much more difficult to interpret than those we do in Physics. Thus, this is an opportunity for you to see simple quantitative reasoning applied to real-world situations and see them work at high precision.

         The mission of the course is to learn tools of critical and quantitative analysis and thinking, using Physics as a model. You do not need to memorize the formulas you encounter but you have to master a number of important concepts and know how to apply your knowledge on a broad range of problems in Science and Technology. We will be learning critical and quantitative reasoning. We will learn techniques to check our answers to make sure they are reasonable. We will learn the importance of experimentation on which our theories are built. We will learn problem-solving techniques.

Required Text

PHYSICS (volume II), by J. D. Cutnell & K. W. Johnson John Wiley & Sons (9th edition). A web-assign homework access card will also be required for HW assignments (you can purchase it with the book or you can directly purchase it from web-assign, www.webassign.net).

Supplemental Texts

None

Course Requirements

Add your course requirements here.

Missed Assignments/Make-Ups/Extra Credit

t is Physics Department policy that making up missed work will only be permitted for University-sanctioned activities and bona fide medical or family reasons. Authentic justifying documentation must be provided in every case (and in advance for University-sanctioned activities). Please refer to university policy about what could constitute medical or family reason. The documents must be personally submitted to the instructor ahead of time with the appropriate documentation to justify the absence. For this course, the make up exam will only be given for midterm exams only after an absence is justified. At the discretion of the instructor, the make-up may take any reasonable and appropriate form including but not limited to the following: giving a replacement exam, replacing the missed work with the same score as a later exam, etc. The make up exams may or may not follow the same format of the regular exams. For the class quiz, one quiz will be dropped to handle any unavoidable absences. There is no makeup for homework.

Evaluation and Grading

The Final Letter Grade Will Be Determined As Follows:

 

Letter Grade

Points

A

88-100

B

75-87

C

60-74

D

50-59

F

49 or below

 Plus and minus grades (A-, B+, etc.) will NOT be given. I reserve the right to adjust the grade scale, and the grade scale for exams will be posted after each exam with adjustments (a “curve”) if any.

 

Your grade in this course is based on the following weighting:

_________________________________________________________________

Mid-term exams                                 36% total (18% each of three exams with one dropped)

Final exam (comprehensive)               24%

Quizzes                                              12%

Homework                                          10%

Laboratory                                          18%

_________________________________________________________________

Total:                                      100%

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Exams: 

There will be three in-class exams (midterm) during the semester, and a cumulative final exam at the end of the semester. All exams may be written, multiple-choice, or a combination of the two. All examinations will be closed book and closed notes.  A formula sheet will be provided. You are not allowed to bring your own formula sheet. For written problems, you MUST show all the steps that lead to your answer. The weight of each midterm exam will be 18% and the lowest of the regular mid-terms will be dropped. Thus the total weight of midterm exams will be 36%. If you miss an exam for any reason, that will be your dropped exam. Therefore, you should plan to make your best effort on all mid-terms. Because the final is cumulative, it gives you an opportunity to show you have learned material from the early part of the course where you might not have done as well on earlier exams. Therefore, if it helps your grade to do so, the final exam will count for 24 %. You must have a pencil or a pen and a scientific calculator for each exam. You MUST know your student ID (NID) number and record it accurately in the proper location on the Test Form and on each written exam. THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS UNLESS IT IS PROPERLY JUSTIFIED (see missed work policy) AND NO EXAMS WILL BE GIVEN EARLY OR LATE.  No make up exam for Final.

No grade information will be given over telephone or by e-mail. The grades of exams, quizzes, labs, and homework will be added together to determine your final grade. All assignment and exam grades are final 72 hours after they have been returned. Contact me before this 72-hour period is over if you have a grading dispute.

 

Homework:

         Homework plays a central role in this course. If you have understood the underlying concepts the exercises are straightforward, but if you are trying to guess the “right equation” you will fail unnecessarily. Since homework is so important for your understanding the material, expect approximately one per week. No homework extensions will be given. Homework will be assigned online at http://www.webassign.net/. You can get an access code for this web site with every new book you buy or you can purchase an access code at the bookstore or via the web. There will be one assignment approximately every week, with 8 to 12 exercises and problems. Each student must submit an individual solution set. Ten percent of your grade will be determined from your average homework score. Homework will be generally due between 5-7 days after posting. Doing your homework will help prepare you for your exams!

Please check your WEB-ASSIGN account frequently. Please never say you did not know homework had been assigned, or forgot to do it on time; this will not be accepted as an excuse for missed homework. Homework due date/time will never be extended. One homework assignment will be dropped to handle the case where you cannot turn in an assignment for some reason. The WebAssign class key that you must use to enroll in this class is: ucf 7730 9340. When enrolling, make your User ID equal to your UCF NID (usually 2 letters and 6 numbers).

 

Laboratory:  

The laboratory is required for all students enrolled in the course and counts for 18% of your overall course grade.  The lab will be held once a week, total two hours and 50 minutes each. A  separate syllabus for the lab explaining the lab policies and grading will  be  given by your lab instructor. Any questions regarding lab should be directed to your lab TA.

 

Quizzes: 

The quizzes will be done in every class using webcourses. There may be several (5-10) quizzes for every class. The quizzes will ensure interactive class environment and check your understanding of the topics being covered. So it is important to remain up to date with the lecture materials and pay attention to the class. The quizzes may vary in difficulty level and check your understanding of very simple concept as well as doing a simple problem similar to what has been discussed in the same class or in prior classes. The quiz score for every class will be normalized to 10 points and each class will carry equal weight. You will receive 50% points for just for responding to the quizzes even if the answer is incorrect. Therefore, attendance is very important.  Quiz grades will determine 12% of your final grade. There will be no makeup quizzes. The lowest normalized quiz class scores will be dropped to handle unavoidable absences.

Attendance Policy

You are required to attend every class. The quizzes in every class determine 12% of the total grades. S it is very important that you attend every class during the scheduled time.

Academic Honesty

Plagiarism and cheating of any kind on an examination, quiz, or assignment will result at least in an "F" for that assignment (and may, depending on the severity of the case, lead to an "F" for the entire course) and may be subject to appropriate referral to the Office of Student Conduct for further action. See the UCF Golden Rulefor further information. I will assume for this course that you will adhere to the academic creed of this University and will maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. In other words, don't cheat by giving answers to others or taking them from anyone else. I will also adhere to the highest standards of academic integrity, so please do not ask me to change (or expect me to change) your grade illegitimately or to bend or break rules for one person that will not apply to everyone.

Disability Statement

The University of Central Florida is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for all persons with disabilities. This syllabus is available in alternate formats upon request. Students with disabilities who need accommodations in this course must contact the professor at the beginning of the semester to discuss needed accommodations. No accommodations will be provided until the student has met with the professor to request accommodations. Students who need accommodations must be registered with Student Accessiblity Services, Ferrell Commons, 7F, Room 185, phone (407) 823-2371, TTY/TDD only phone (407) 823-2116, before requesting accommodations from the professor.

Copyright

This course may contain copyright protected materials such as audio or video clips, images, text materials, etc. These items are being used with regard to the Fair Use doctrine in order to enhance the learning environment. Please do not copy, duplicate, download or distribute these items. The use of these materials is strictly reserved for this online classroom environment and your use only. All copyright materials are credited to the copyright holder.

Third-Party Software and FERPA

During this course you might have the opportunity to use public online services and/or software applications sometimes called third-party software such as a blog or wiki. While some of these could be required assignments, you need not make any personally identifying information on a public site. Do not post or provide any private information about yourself or your classmates. Where appropriate you may use a pseudonym or nickname. Some written assignments posted publicly may require personal reflection/comments, but the assignments will not require you to disclose any personally identity-sensitive information. If you have any concerns about this, please contact your instructor.

 

Course Summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due