Phys 109 Syllabus

Fall 2009

Course Information

Course Outcomes

At the end of the course students will be able to

• Formulate a hypothesis and design and carry out an investigation of that hypothesis following the accepted practices of the scientific method.
• Write reports on scientific investigations, including organizing and displaying numerical results.
• Make oral reports about scientific investigations, including organizing and displaying numerical results.
• Calculate current, voltage, and resistance at any location in a one-loop circuit.
• Calculate equivalent resistances for any combination of resistors in series and parallel.
• Use a multimeter to measure resistance, current, and voltage.
• Efficiently troubleshoot a complex circuit of resistors.
• Explain the relationship between semiconductors, transistors, logic gates, and microprocessors.
• Follow wiring diagrams to wire temporary circuits using integrated circuit chips and breadboards
• Perform a statistical analysis of a sample of data, including making a proper histogram and calculation of confidence level.
• Convert between decimal and binary.
• Explain magnetic data storage on computer disks including the physical principles behind read/write heads.
• Build circuits to transmit binary data using wire, or light or radio.
• Compare and contrast the following methods of data transmission by the

How Outcomes will be met

Physics 109 teaches science skills for use in Information Technology. The course introduces the scientific method and teaches analytical problem solving techniques. During the course we will study Magnetism, Electricity, Integrated Circuits and Data Transmission. In each of these areas we will work in teams to research a major project in each of these areas.

This class has the following General Education ratings

Critical Thinking, Creativity & Problem Solving – 3
Listening and Speaking – 2
Group Processes - 2
Nature of Science – 3
Technology - 2

Teamwork:

The class work will be done in teams. Each person on the assigned team will have a role. A person’s role will rotate each time we enter a new section. The roles are:

• Lead - The lead team member will be responsible for the scheduling and coordination of all activities. They will be responsible for the team meeting deadlines. They will help the other team members with their specific tasks. Team leaders are responsible for oral presentations.

• Researcher - Team researchers will be responsible for organizing all research and problem solving activities. They may or may not do a majority of the research, but they are responsible for seeing that it gets done, and done on time. Researchers are also responsible for the first draft of written reports, to be submitted to teammates for corrections/additions/etc.

• Technician - The technician will be responsible for carrying out all lab exercises, building all circuits, and doing all troubleshooting of circuits.

Low rules research

There will be several occasions when a team will be assigned “Low rules research”. As the name implies, there are few rules regarding how you get the information or solve the problem. The rules are: 1) You may not do anything dangerous or illegal to find the answer, and 2) each team must independently find the answer… teams may not simply copy off of each other. Otherwise, you can find it on the web, ask another instructor, look it up in the library or any method as long as you have the answer by the due date.

Participation and Team peer evaluations:

The instructor will evaluate the extent of your participation in the class. This includes attendance. Students are urged to ask questions and become actively engaged in the topics. Most work will be done within teams of three. Each student will serve on four teams, one for each unit. At the end of each unit, the other team members will anonymously evaluate each team member. Students will be told their peer evaluations after the second and final units.

Written Reports:

Each team will submit a written report at the end of each unit. The contents of the will be discussed at the beginning of each section and will be due at the end of the section.

Oral Reports:

Each team will present an oral report at the end of each section. . Oral report grades will be based 60% on the instructor’s evaluation, and the remaining 40% on the evaluations of classmates.

Exam:

There will be one midterm exam near then end of the section on integrated circuits. It will cover material from the electricity and integrated circuits sections.

Application of the Scientific Method paper:

Each person will be complete a paper where you apply the scientific method to a problem of your own choosing. You must work with me to determine an appropriate topic.

Grading

The final grade is determined as follows:

15%     Participation and Team peer evaluations
20%     team written reports
20%     team oral reports
25%     in-class team exercises, Research/Problem solving/Troubleshooting
10%     Midterm Exam
10%     Individual Application of Scientific Method paper

The letter grade for the class is determined from the final percentage grade

Books and Materials Required

The is no textbook or lab manual for this course.

Classroom Learning Atmosphere

Instructor’s Expectation

This working environment for this class is designed to mimic the environment you will find on a job. Instead of homework and tests you will be working on projects in teams and presenting the result of your work at the end of the project. Because many of you may not have worked on teams before, we will spend some time studying how to function on a team. Specific expectations will be discussed at team meetings.

You will be expected:

• to be respectful to all of your team members

• take on your fair share of the workload

• follow through on the commitments that you make

• communicate that status of your work to your teammates as the projects progress.

Also, since most of the work is done in class, attendance is very important. You should strive to attend every class. If for some reason you cannot attend you need work with your team to figure out what was missed.

Affirmation of Inclusion

Bellevue College is committed to maintaining an environment in which every member of the campus community feels welcome to participate in the life of the college, free from harassment and discrimination.

We value our different backgrounds at Bellevue College, and students, faculty, staff members, and administrators are to treat one another with dignity and respect. http://bellevuecollege.edu/about/goals/inclusion.asp

Division Statements

Bellevue Community College Science Division Policy on Cheating*: You, the student, are expected to conduct yourself with integrity. When you cheat*, or aid someone else in cheating, you violate a trust. If you cheat*, the following actions will be taken:

1. You will receive a grade of O on the exam, lab, quiz, etc., where cheating occurs. This grade cannot be dropped.

2. A report of the incident will be sent to the Dean of Students. He/She may file this report in your permanent record or take further action such as suspension or expulsion from the college.

If you feel you have been unfairly accused of cheating, you may appeal. For a description of due process procedures see WAC 132H-120, copies of which are available in the Student Body Government office.
*Cheating includes but is not limited to, copying answers on tests or homework, glimpsing at nearby test papers, sharing laboratory reports, swapping papers, stealing, plagiarizing, illicitly giving or receiving help on exams or assignments.

Plagiarizing is a gray area in this course. If you are in doubt ask before you hand in your work.

Student Code

“Cheating, stealing and plagiarizing (using the ideas or words of another as one’s own without crediting the source) and inappropriate/disruptive classroom behavior are violations of the Student Code of Conduct at Bellevue College. Examples of unacceptable behavior include, but are not limited to: talking out of turn, arriving late or leaving early without a valid reason, allowing cell phones/pagers to ring, and inappropriate behavior toward the instructor or classmates. The instructor can refer any violation of the Student Code of Conduct to the Vice President of Student Services for possible probation or suspension from Bellevue College. Specific student rights, responsibilities and appeal procedures are listed in the Student Code of Conduct, available in the office of the Vice President of Student Services.” The Student Code, Policy 2050, in its entirety is located at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/policies/2/2050_Student_Code.asp

Important Links

Bellevue College E-mail and access to MyBC

All students registered for classes at Bellevue College are entitled to a network and e-mail account. Your student network account can be used to access your student e-mail, log in to computers in labs and classrooms, connect to the BC wireless network and log in to MyBC. To create your account, go to: https://bellevuecollege.edu/sam .

BC offers a wide variety of computer and learning labs to enhance learning and student success. Find current campus locations for all student labs by visiting the Computing Services website.

Please note that the electronic materials for this course is NOT on MyBC and is instead on the science division server at:

http://scidiv.bellevuecollege.edu/bscott/

Disability Resource Center (DRC)

The Disability Resource Center serves students with a wide array of learning challenges and disabilities. If you are a student who has a disability or learning challenge for which you have documentation or have seen someone for treatment and if you feel you may need accommodations in order to be successful in college, please contact us as soon as possible.

If you are a person who requires assistance in case of an emergency situation, such as a fire, earthquake, etc, please meet with your individual instructors to develop a safety plan within the first week of the quarter.

The DRC office is located in B 132 or you can call our reception desk at 425.564.2498. Deaf students can reach us by video phone at 425-440-2025 or by TTY at 425-564-4110. . . Please visit our website for application information into our program and other helpful links at www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc

Public Safety

The Bellevue College (BC) Public Safety Department’s well trained and courteous non-commissioned staff provides personal safety, security, crime prevention, preliminary investigations, and other services to the campus community, 24 hours per day,7 days per week.  Their phone number is 425.564.2400. The Public Safety website is your one-stop resource for campus emergency preparedness information, campus closure announcements and critical information in the event of an emergency. Public Safety is located in K100 and on the web at: http://bellevuecollege.edu/publicsafety/

Final Exam Schedule

The final exam is on Monday December 7 9:30a – 11:20a. There will be no “exam” during this time period. Instead we will have our final presentations.

Academic Calendar

The Bellevue College Academic Calendar is separated into two calendars. They provide information about holidays, closures and important enrollment dates such as the finals schedule.

• Enrollment Calendar - http://bellevuecollege.edu/enrollment/calendar/deadlines/. On this calendar you will find admissions and registration dates and important dates for withdrawing and receiving tuition refunds.

• College Calendar - http://bellevuecollege.edu/enrollment/calendar/holidays/0910.asp. This calendar gives you the year at a glance and includes college holidays, scheduled closures, quarter end and start dates, and final exam dates.