Course Syllabus

Syllabus | PHYS 141 Parallel Pedagogy

For these two Cross-Listed Courses: PHYS 141-08 and PHYS 141-10, General Physics I

Pete Schwartz, Cal Poly Physics:, Pete's Webpage: pschwart@calpoly.edu, x6-1220, 180-608
Office Hours: (outside building 53 on the concrete square) MTWR at 1:00  PM and Wednesdays at 11:10.

 

Diversity, Inclusivity, Sustainability

Cal Poly's mission statement includes "...Cal Poly values free inquiry, cultural and intellectual diversity, mutual respect, civic engagement, and social and environmental responsibility." Issues of diversity, inclusivity, and environmental responsibility have recently taken on great importance, globally as well as at Cal Poly. As an instructor, I wish to nurture awareness of how our actions affect others, near and far. I strive to maintain a classroom environment in which meaningful dialogue and debate is encouraged. We will welcome individuals of all ages, backgrounds, beliefs, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender identities, national origins, religious affiliations, abilities—and any other visible and non-visible differences. In any decision-making process, we will remind ourselves that our knowledge is not complete and that we can benefit from other perspectives that contrast our own. I believe that good problem solving is inclusive, requiring application of empathy, critical thinking, and ethics to all aspects of the problem-solving process. Lastly, I think it’s our responsibility to make the world a happier place – all of us, all the time.

 

COVID

If you find yourself experiencing COVID-like symptoms, or know you have been exposed to COVID, please stay home from class. If you miss class, please have others in your working group FaceTime you during class.  Let's work together. We got this! 

 

Textbook/Workbook

I wrote a short guide for this class, Mechanics in Parallel. It is linked to the main class website.  We will also provide you with a printed version, chapter by chapter.  Carry it with you, write all over it!

Grading

Your grade is very easily computed consisting of your performance on assessments as long as you prepare for class watching videos, reading (and reflecting on Canvas discussion), come to class and participate, and do both your projects. I grade on your understanding of the material as determined by exams. The reason I do this is so that you will focus on increasing your understanding of the material rather than on getting homework problems done for the points. Of course, students who do homework (with the intention of understanding concepts) score better on the exams.

Your final grade will be determined by a rubric: 30% for the final exam, 60% for weekly assessments. and 5% for each of two projects. Inside of this, I detail below how you are also required to watch videos for each class, and reflect each day on assigned textbook/workbook readings.  We all need you to be prepared for and engaged in class to make this an enjoyable, productive learning experience for you and the others in your working group. 

Weekly Assessments: We will have a short (~ 20 minutes) assessment on each Wednesday. The grades from the first two weeks will not count.  AND the final exam will have questions that cover the concepts of the assessments.  If the final exam question has a higher grade than the corresponding assessment, that higher grade will replace the corresponding assessment grade.  Hence, if you miss (or botch) an assessment, the grade will be replaced with the grade on the corresponding question on the final exam.  You're allowed to have simple calculators (no graphing), but they will offer you no advantage in this class. Setting up the equations with symbols will be emphasized. Getting the correct numerical answer will be less important. Any answer good to +/- 25% will be fine. The problem with calculators is that they can distract your attention away from the concepts, which are important. You can use them if you want, but my advice is to put it away for this class.

Assessments and Exams: You are graded on your ability to communicate to me that you understand physics. Thus you will receive no credit if I can't read or follow your logic, or if you provide no logic, but simply calculate the answer with a formula. You will earn an A, B, C, D, F, based on ability to communicate physics accordingly:

D (1 out of 4): Make a drawing and correctly identify an appropriate physics concept and provide reasons supporting this concept a majority of the time.
C (2/4): Besides that required for a D, provide a relevant, labeled drawing illustrating the physics being discussed.
B (3/4): Besides the statement and drawing required for a C, consistently set up a method to solve the problem.
A (4/4): Besides the statement, drawing, and method required for a B, consistently solve the problem, correctly use units and verify whether answer makes sense.
F (0/4): If you do not achieve the threshold for D.
Please notice I use the same grading scheme as the university does to calculate your grade point average, where a 2/4 is a C, not a failing grade.
 
Notebook: We think with our hands - drawing, taking notes. I encourage you to keep a class notebook. Please come prepared to think with your hands, make a labeled drawing and write down thoughts.

Class Prep, VIDEOS: It is imperative that we come to class prepared. You are required to check videos and other preparation from the daily class schedule on our class website.  Please watch the videos on time before every class until the end of the video and answer all the questions. You are graded for answering video questions not on getting them right - so relax, enjoy, learn. If you watch 90% of the videos on time, then you will receive full credit toward your final grade. You will receive half credit for late videos. Your final grade will be lowered by twice the % of the videos that you watch less than 90%. So if you watch 75% of the videos, your grade will be docked (90% - 75%)*2 = 0.3, or about the difference between an "A" and an "A-". If you watch none of the videos, it will lower an "A" to about a "C".

Class Prep, READING: Again, it is imperative that we come to class prepared. You are required to do the reading and provide a reflection/question/realization on the discussion board, as well as respond to someone else's post.  These two posts will count as a single video.  Half credit if it is posted late after class starts.  Postings must contain some original thought and reflect that you've done the reading. 

Other: We will do an Empathy Reflection in Week 6. Your participation will count as three videos.  Mondays and Thursdays, we will have online surveys. Participation counts as a video.

Problem Sets: Due Tuesday by class time. These are graded A,B,C,D,F based on the above criteria. The grade is recorded, but will not be used toward your final grade. Problem sets model assessment and final exam questions.  It would be a very good idea to completely understand homework assignments, class problems and previous assessments before each assessment.

Idea Sheets: You are welcome to build your own idea sheet with no more than 50 ideas (word string or formula). Drawings are great, but may count as many ideas. I provide you with no ideas during an exam. I recommend that you start an idea sheet immediately (keep it in the back of your notebook) and add material as we cover it. I suggest you start with a reminder of how you approach a problem, and the 4 lenses. If you gather more than 50 ideas, you will need to start dropping off ideas that you already know. If during a test, I judge your idea sheet to have too much information, I'll ask you to tear it in half.

2 Video Projects: In groups of 2-4 students, you will do two projects:

- A video analysis of motion is due during week 3. You will make a video of (your) human power production and analyze the video.  You will hand in an analysis, not a video.

- In week 7, we do a research project on something related to mechanics (for instance it can not be about quantum physics, electricity, light, relativity, etc.) that interests you. It may involve reading and research, or building and calculating, but ideally will involve doing an experiment. You will document it with a ~ 5 minute video that you will post on YouTube for the rest of the class to see.

Everyone is expected to support their group's effort toward a successful project in order to share the project's grade. So, please find a group, have fun, and fully participate for both projects.

 

Commitment/Expectation

My Commitment to You: I will do my best to provide you with a planned structure, resources, and activities to learn. I will evaluate you only on criteria that I find foundational (to communicate concepts and how they affect our lives) allowing you the freedom to learn in a manner that suits you best. I will do my best to understand your professed needs and help you the best way I know. My Expectations of You: I expect that you will make decisions consistent with your best interest and your values. I also expect that we will all work toward the well being of our community. I expect that you will respect my time and make the best use of our time together by coming to class prepared. My intention is not to "teach" you, but to foster a good learning environment; to help you learn from the resources around you: textbooks, online media, but mostly from each other. I expect you to record your questions while you study. I expect to start class with questions related to the reading and videos. If you have a question, please ask it after you have addressed the related resource (video or reading) and consulted others in your group. Competition: Your performance will be graded not against each other, but rated against the A-F criteria established above. Therefore if you help others in your class, it is good for you too. My experience has shown that a positive collaborative attitude is likely to raise everyone’s grade.

On Pete and Cheating

I feel that the topic of cheating creates a wall between students and "learning facilitator" (me) - a wall that I feel impedes learning and harmony; a wall that I make great effort to disassemble. I think part of the tension involved in "academic honesty" is the moral emphasis. I mean to make no moral judgement - people have different ways of responding to an authoritarian learning system imposed upon them. What we call "cheating" might be an act of desperation, or rebellion against the hierarchy of education/success/wealth/status that a student may feel they don't buy into. And the tension is cultural. I spent my senior year in Austria, where we spent the entire day in a single classroom with the same group of students. We became close friends and cheating was standard... "team work". It was "us" against "them".

So, I recognize the mere discussion of cheating damaging and counter productive. I know some instructors that disregard cheating as a way to prioritize relationship within the class.

However, it is also important for me to be transparent about what you might expect based on what I have seen myself do. I saw a student look on another's final exam. I looked at the exams and concluded that this student had taken a significant amount of information from the other student, and would not have passed this exam if they had not taken this information. Consistent with university policy, I assigned an "F" and reported the event to the university. I requested that the student be spoken with, but that no disciplinary action be taken. The next quarter, I looked the student up... they were no longer enrolled.

Was the student expelled? Would I bet my life that they cheated? This haunts me a little.

While I don't wish to talk about cheating, I think that the very least I should do is report to you what I have seen myself do. However, if you have concerns about academic integrity, I will gladly discuss it and help where I can. I have spoken with a student in the past who was cheating and wanted to stop.  It worked out well.  My interest is to work with you, not against you.

Please go to this website if you want more information on my thoughts about academic honesty.

 

Two 24-hour policies

1) I will not change any class preparation requirements less than 24 hours before class.  In general, this shouldn't matter because I expect to have all requirements posted at least a week before the due date.  However, it is possible I'll change something a day or two before class.  Thus, if you work more than a day ahead of class, please check back 24 hours before class to make sure nothing has changed.

2) After an assessment, I think it's very important for students to talk with each other, share information, and learn what they can before talking with me about it.  Thus, I will not discuss test results until 24 hours after I hand them back.

 

Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course you will be able to...

  1. Explain the underlying concepts of the four "lenses" for analyzing mechanical systems: dynamics, energy, momentum, and kinematics
  2. Describe physical phenomena by choosing the appropriate lens and supporting that choice with words, pictures, and equations
  3. Design and execute simple experiments to verify theoretical models of physical phenomena
  4. Practice the skills, tools, and habits of mind that scientists and engineers use when confronting complex problems
  5. Work with others to develop evidence-based arguments that support explanations of physical phenomena
  6. Recognize where our understanding of physical law is incomplete and show how it may be improved by considering contrary perspectives
  7. Demonstrate awareness of how our actions affect others nearby, far away, and in the future.
  8. Articulate the power of empathy in helping us see our common humanity and strive for truth and justice in the world.