Rodney Dunning's Home Page | Teaching | EASC 101 | Syllabus
EASC 101 Course Syllabus, Fall 2006
Instructor: Dr. Rodney Dunning
Office: New Science Building, 208B
Phone/voice mail: x2931
Email: dunningrb@longwood.edu
Office hours: Monday - Friday (except Wednesday), 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Course Description: A survey of basic physics and chemistry needed for a cross-disciplinary major. This course is intended primarily for Liberal Studies majors and other students seeking teaching endorsement.
Text: Paul G. Hewitt, John Suchocki, and Leslie A. Hewitt, Conceptual Physical Science, 3rd edition, Addison Wesley, 2004.
Course Objectives:
- Develop a strong conceptual understanding of basic principles in physics and chemistry.
- Explain physics and chemistry phenomena using a small number of fundamental concepts.
- Find yourself thinking about physics or chemistry in everyday situations.
Course Schedule:
- August 28 to September 20: Physics, part 1 (Motion and energy)
- September 25 to October 18: Physics, part 2 (Heat, electricity, magnetism, light and waves)
- October 23 to November 15: Chemistry, part 1 (Atoms, chemical properties, and mixtures)
- November 20 to December 8: Chemistry, part 2 (Bonding, molecules, reactions, acids)
Exam Schedule:
- Exam 1: Thursday 21 September 2006 (during the lab period)
- Exam 2: Thursday 19 October 2006 (during the lab period)
- Exam 3: Thursday 18 November 2006 (during the lab period)
- Final Exam: Monday 11 December 2006, 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM
You cannot make up a missed exam under any circumstances. If you miss an exam with an appropriate excuse (see below), I will shift the weight of that exam onto the other exams and the final. If you miss the final exam, move to South America and change your name.
Course Requirements:
- 4-function calculator.
- Sign up for an account at http://www.webassign.net. The cost is $11.95 for the semester.
- Textbook.
Grading policies: Your grade in this course is calculated from an absolute scale, according to the following weights:
| • Exams, 50%* |
| • Reading quizzes, 5%** |
| • Labs, 10%** |
| • Homework, 15%** |
| • Final exam, 20%*** |
* = The lowest of your three hour exams will count only one-third as much as the other two
exams.
** = Lowest grade is dropped.
*** = If your final exam grade is lower than any of your hour exams, all four exams will be
weighted equally (17.5%) to account for 70% of your course grade.
If you receive a failing grade in lab, you will automatically fail the course.
Your final course grade will depend on the cutoffs for the exams, but a ten-point scale is guaranteed:
| • 90 to 100 → A |
| • 80 to 89.999... → B |
| • 70 to 79.999... → C |
| • 60 to 69.999... → D |
| • 59.999 or below → F |
The ten-point scale provides the default cutoffs for the exams. If an exam proves particularly difficult, I will use an eleven- or perhaps twelve-point scale for that exam. At the end of the term, I average the cutoffs for the exams, reading quizzes, homework, and lab (using ten-point scales for the latter three) to get the cutoffs for the course. In practice, the letter-grade cutoffs for the course will drop below the traditional cutoffs by about 0.7 points per letter-grade division.
Your course grade does not depend in any way on the performance of the other students. You are not competing with anyone. There is nothing in principle that prevents every student in the class from earning an A at the end of the term.
Your final grade is final—no work may be handed in for additional credit after the final exam. There is no extra credit of any kind in this course. Plus and minus grades are assigned at my discretion.
Requests to regrade an exam or lab report must be made within 24 hours after you receive the grade back. Accounting errors can be fixed at any time. I will keep your exams but you can look over them as much as you wish. At the end of the semester, I will return them to you. I will keep your final exam until you graduate—you can pick it up then.
A grade of incomplete will be awarded only to allow missing work to be made up (assuming excused absences) and only if all other work is satisfactory (C or higher) and only if advance arrangements have been made with me about the work to be completed and the deadline for completing the missing work.
Homework policies: Homework is handled through WebAssign, an online homework-delivery system. You must go to http://www.webassign.net and purchase an account ($11.95). You are already registered for the course at WebAssign. If you cannot log in, contact me.
The WebAssign homework problems are the end-of-chapter problems in your textbook, but the numbers are randomized so that no two students have identical homework sets. This means you can work with each on homework, as long as you are not simply copying from your classmates.
The WebAssign software gives you immediate feedback on your answers, and will allow to submit up five answers for each problem.
Homework sets are due each Friday at 5:00 PM. I will give you a 48-hour extension if you contact me before the set is due. (Please do not call my office to ask for an extension; just send me an email.)
Attendance policy: Attendance in this course is not optional. If you do not plan on attending class, drop this course.
If you have four or more unexcused absences from class (10% of the class meetings) your course grade will be dropped by one letter grade. If you have more than ten absences from class (25% of the class meetings), excused or unexcused, you will automatically fail this course. It is you responsibility to sign the attendance sheet at the beginning of each class. Signing on behalf of someone who is absent is an Honor Code violation.
Appropriate excuses: Appropriate excuses for missing class, lab, or an exam (not the final) include such things as the following:
- A medical professional not related to you has ordered you to stay home or in the hospital
- You are required to attend an official University function such as a scheduled athletic competition (practices do not count)
- You are required to appear in court
Documentation will be required to substantiate any excuse. Examples of inappropriate excuses include the following:
- Family and church activities
- Greek functions of any kind
- Exams, papers, and projects in other courses
- Athletic practices
- Self-diagnosed illnesses
- Sick friends
- Sick, dying, or recently-deceased pets
Classroom policies: I expect you to be on time for each class, and prepared to participate. Questions during class are welcome at all times. Never hesitate to ask a question during class.
Our class meetings are reserved for this course only. Do not work on other coursework, read the newspaper or anything else, sleep, use your cell phone, pack up your things before class ends, or engage in any behavior that disturbs me or the other students. In particular, do not engage in conversation while I'm speaking, unless it's very brief, quiet, and course-related. If you do any of these things, you will be told to leave. If you cannot follow these rules, drop this course.
How to Succeed in This Course: Physics and chemistry are difficult subjects. To process the material, you need to bite off small pieces. Putting things off for several days and trying to catch up is a recipe for failure.
To do well in this course, do the following:
- If you're not sure what I'm looking for, or what standards I'm using to grade your work, ask.
- Complete each reading assignment and reading quiz before coming to class. This is the key to making a good grade in this course.
- Attend every class and participate. The classroom activities are designed to get you ready for the conceptual questions on quizzes and exams.
- Keep up with the homework, and get help when you need it. (My office hours are below.) If you work carefully and use your submissions wisely, you should make a high grade on each homework set. This will help your course grade. Additionally, the homework problems are designed to prepare you for the numerical problems on the quizzes and exams.
- Take advantage of my office hours. I promise lots of help if you're stuck on a problem.
- If you're having serious problems, talk to me as soon as possible. I may not do exactly what you want, but I promise to be reasonable.
- Remember the automatic triggers that will cause you to fail the course: receiving a failing grade (below 60%) in lab, or missing more than 25% of the class meetings (excused or not).
- Do not depend on special study sessions to get ready for the exams. You are always studying for the next exam: each homework problem, reading assignment, class meeting, and lab exercise is a study session for the next exam. If you neglect any of these, you're not preparing yourself for the next exam, and your grade will reflect this neglect.
- You will be provided with a list of formulas and constants for each exam. Do not spend time memorizing formulas and constants. You will, however, have to know what each formula means and how it's used.
Getting Help and Getting in Touch: I keep regular office hours,
Monday - Friday (except Wednesday), 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
208B, New Science Building
You never need an appointment to visit me during my office hours. Just show up. I can meet with you at other times if my office hours are not convenient. Please talk to me about any concerns you have regarding the course, or other issues. I am happy to speak with you at length about any of your questions. To make an appointment for a meeting outside of my regular office hours, please send e-mail to dunningrb@longwood.edu.
Honor code: Your signature on all submitted work is a statement of your understanding of and compliance with the Honor Code. Suspected violations of the Honor Code will be referred to the Honor Board. A conviction by the Honor Board will result in a grade of F for this course.