Course Syllabus

Course Description:

 Physics 1050/1090 are introductory level, lab-based physics courses designed for all students who are not considering science as a major.  This courses cover similar topics as the on-campus course and requires extensive "hands-on'''' activities and laboratory exercises.

This combined course will involve many hands-on activities and experiments such as "household chemistry" and "fun at home with physics toys". The book is very interesting and easy to read.. It is not your standard boring physics text. You will be working with other classmates via the net and I anticipate that many of you will find this contact and experience rewarding. I intend to cover the following broad subjects.

This course will offer many exciting activities and will use active learning teaching strategies.

Course Objectives:

The main objectives of this course are:

• To gain a basic understanding of the major physical concepts that describe our mechanical, electrical, magnetic, and chemical world.
• To appreciate the use of scientific and sophisticated tools to uncover these natural secrets.
• To provide a basic comprehension of the role physical science plays in all of modern science.
• To become more comfortable and less anxious when undertaking or discussing basic physics and chemistry experiments or concepts.
• To discuss the historical development of scientific concepts and paradigms which currently describe our physical environment.

Required Texts:

"Conceptual Physical Science" Fifth Edition by Hewitt, Suchocki, and Hewitt. Published by Addison-Wesley ISBN-10: 0321516958.   You can purchase the electronic digital edition by searching Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kindle, etc.   It is the only required material for this course.   

Course materials may be purchased from the University Bookstore (Links to an external site.).

Course Syllabus

This course will involve many hands-on activities and experiments such as "household chemistry" and "fun at home with physics toys". The book is very interesting and easy to read.. It is not your standard boring physics text. You will be working with other classmates via the net and I anticipate that many of you will find this contact and experience rewarding. I intend to cover the following broad subjects.

1. An Introduction to Modern Science and Internet Learning (1 week)
2. Properties of Fluids (1 week)
3. Heat and Thermal Energy (2 weeks)
4. Waves, Sound, and Light (3 weeks)
5. Mechanics: Motion, Forces, and Energy (3 weeks)
6. Electricity and Magnetism (2 weeks)
7. The Structure and Properties of the Atom and Nucleus (1 week)
8. The Chemical Properties of Matter (2 weeks) 
   

Course Policies and Evaluation

Grading
Scale 

Student Code of Conduct: 

Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty: 

Course
Instructor

Course Requirements: Each student will be expected to demonstration their performance in the class by completing the following requirements:

• Text Assignments, Laboratory Activities or Experiments: Each unit may have required text assignments, which will be coordinated with the reading. They may be either individual or group assignments.  You definitely will have required weekly activities or experiments. They also may be either group or individual, depending on the activity. When submitting your assignment include all data, calculations, and results of experiments. there will be simple quantitative activities such as homework to help you gain a full appreciation for a quantitative science.   For all of the activities there will be an openbook/open notes quiz which you will have to complete to receive all the points for this part of the course.   (30% of the course grade or 300 points).
• Participation. Participation will be measured by your interaction in your group, in threaded discussions and personal chats in the chat room. I expect all students to make significant contributions to these activities. If you do not "show-up" electronically for one week or have not completed assignments over a one week period, you will seriously place yourself in jeopardy of failing the class. (10% of the course grade 100 points)
• Examinations and Quizzes: There will be several examinations and quizzes given throughout the semester after completion of each unit. Each examination will be comprehensive in nature, but will cover only the material presented during individual period unless otherwise stated. Each examination or quiz may have a conceptual/qualitative questions with a multitude of question types, usually multiple choice, matching, true-false, and short essay. There may be a few quantitative questions. The examinations and quizzes will be announced one week in advance and may range in time from 10-15 minutes to two hour period. The tentative dates of the examinations are not scheduled but will be announced at least one week in advance. You will usually be given a limited period, for example a weekend, to take the exam.  This part of the course will make up 60% of the course grade or 600 points total .

Late Assignment Policy:  Deadlines will be given on all assignments, threaded discussions, quizzes and exams.  It will be my policy to give a one day grace period, after which I will take 10% off the original grade until 50% (6 days late) is reached.  After that time there will be no further reduction in grade but you will still be responsible for the assignment.

Generally I will be fairly open and lenient the first few weeks until everyone gets accustomed to this course structure.  

We will use the following grade scale for the course.  I will take liberty to readjust this grade scale downward to respond to any unreasonable demands or performances that may throw out my anticipated "curve" for the course. The bottom line here is that I will be very reasonable with the final course grades.

This course will follow the Student Code of Conduct as described in University of Wyoming Regulation 30: Student Code of Conduct (2)(B)-(5)(A). http://uwadminweb.uwyo.edu/DOS/filesWord/code.do   Additionally, the course will follow the Principles of Student Life: Right and Responsibilities, as described in University of Wyoming Regulation 29: Principles of Student Life: Rights and Responsibilities (3)(D). http://uwadminweb.uwyo.edu/legal/Uniregs/ur029.hlm   

Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else's writing as your own. This includes copying with minor changes and using direct quotes without quotation marks. Plagiarism is a serious offense and will be taken as such. Plagiarism will result in zero points awarded to all participants for the writing assignment in which the plagiarism occurred. Note that plagiarism detection software may be used to determine if material has been taken from the Internet without attribution.Academic dishonesty and plagiarism are further defined in University Regulation 802, Revision 3.

                                    http://www.uwyo.edu/bio1010skh/bio1010syllabus.htm

Please make appointments by email.  I can be contacted by email or by phone 307-459-1096.

Ron Canterna is retired from the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Wyoming where he was an Associate Professor.  He received his B.A. degree in Astro-geophysics at Colgate University in 1968, a B.A. in Science Education at the University of Wyoming (1982), and his Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Washington (1976).  He was a past Director of the Wyoming Infra-Red Observatory, the Red Buttes Observatory for undergraduate research, and the University of Wyoming’s Natural Science Program (now the Science and Mathematics Teaching Center).  He directed Wyoming’s Summer Undergraduate Research Assistantship Program, a national research institute in astronomy for undergraduate students for 23 years since 1987, has written over 75 publications and conference proceedings, received over $ 4 million in research and education grants, and has been very active in physics outreach programs for elementary and secondary school teachers.  His research interests included stellar astronomy, sports bio-mechanics, and science education.  He was the principal masters and doctoral thesis advisor for over 24 students.  Ron writes a monthly astronomical column, “Northern Rockies Skies” for the states of Wyoming and Idaho newspapers. Canterna was the 1991 recipient of the Golden Apple Award for Outstanding Freshman Teaching and the 1996 Ellbogen Award for Teaching Excellence at the University of Wyoming. After retirement he became the Director of Torino Study Abroad for two years, an Italian educational institution focused on academic programs for US-based students.  He currently teaches physics and earth science courses online for Wyoming and directs the “Italo-Adventrues” program.