I will set up a course e-mail distribution list. Time-critical announcements, hints for problem sets, corrections for problem sets, etc. will be sent to you via e-mail.

An integral part of this course will be "physics workshop". You will meet once a week, for two hours, with a group of up to nine other students and a leader. During this time, you will work on a "workshop module" that I prepare. The module will contain simple questions, conceptual exercises, and quantitative problems relevant to the material covered the week before in class. Much of this will be review and practice. Some of it will be new and relevant material.

The basic idea of the workshop concept is to institutionalize the study group with some leadership and supervision from the professor. The students in the workshop are expected to work through the module. The workshop leader will act as a facilitator, not a lecturer … and not an answer-giver. I KNOW my workshop leaders can do the problems. Our job is to help you find it within yourself to do them! To a large extent, it is up to YOU to make your workshop section work.

No attempt will be made to sort out students in the workshop sections according to mathematical ability, gender, date of birth, tattoo color, pierced appendage, etc. Students who are rather challenged by this course will find the support available in workshop very helpful. Those of you who find this material easier may be surprised to hear that research on workshops tells us that you will benefit even more. It turns out you learn a great deal when you try to teach something. I urge you all, regardless of capability, to participate in, and enjoy, the workshops.

We will try to sort out the workshop times and assignments during the first week of class. Workshops begin in the second week of class.

I will ask you to do a set of problems each week that illustrate and/or enhance what we've discussed in the lecture. P113 is a quantitative, problem-driven course. I will work mostly on concepts in lecture … but the exams will consist of quantitative problems. It is absolutely critical to your survival in this course that you work on these problems each week! For the vast majority of the class, it is not possible to do well in the course without struggling with most of the homework problems throughout the semester.

A week after each problem set is assigned, I will release a solution set. Your job is to study these solutions, understand your mistakes, and correct any misperceptions or holes in your understanding. You are encouraged to discuss the problems with others. However, I urge you to struggle with each problem on your own first. After all, you will not be allowed to discuss the problems on the exam until after you have turned it in!

Your solutions to the assigned problems will not be graded. However, you will seriously reduce your chances of a high grade in this course (and some of you will be dead meat in this course) if you do not do them regularly (in a quiet setting where you can concentrate)! Consistent hard work on the problem sets will pay off through higher exam grades. Also, please work to keep up with the course. Physics does not cram easily. Many concepts/techniques need time to jell.

I will ask the workshop leaders to keep track of workshop attendance and to evaluate whether or not you made a valid attempt at the problem set for the week. This will be one of my gauges as to the level of effort you put into the course. This will be taken into account during the final letter grade assignment and will be the deciding factor for hairline grades.

Plug-and-chuggers beware! I rarely give a problem on an exam that is exactly like something you have seen. I will give some problems that are very similar to what you have seen in order to check for basic brain activity. However, I am much more interested in testing your understanding of the concepts/techniques and your ability to use them when facing uncharted territory. Often my exam problems are almost trivial if you understand the concepts and quite difficult if you don't. Typically, they are not hard technically (I'm not testing your ability to do math). We do give substantial partial credit for good attempts. Often the mean on my exams is around 65/100. If the class and the exam are "normal", the mean is roughly a high B. In the past, some students have found the low numerical means somewhat frustrating. I will be trying to pull the means up a little this year. However, be aware that you'll benefit from working to understand the concepts behind the problems. If you spend time plugging numbers into whatever equation seems to work without putting much thought as to why that is the correct equation … well, you won't enjoy the exams very much.

I expect to travel fairly frequently this semester for my research. You are my priority. I will do all I can to schedule my travel so that it has a minimal impact on P113. However, I won't be able to completely avoid it. Class will go on. I'll do my best to arrange a decent guest lecturer. In general, I'll make sure that the lecture fits right in with what we are doing. I will usually be in e-mail contact when out of town … though I may not have all my records, solution sets, etc. My apologies in advance.

At the start of all (or many) classes I will distribute something I'll call a "pre-flight check." This will be a question designed to let me know what preconceptions (correct or not) that the class has about a topic we will cover in the future. When my lecture takes a boring turn, give the pre-flight a crack. Leave them (unsigned and anonymous) at the door of the lecture hall as you leave. This way I can look them over as I prepare to speak to you about that topic. It's a way for me to stay more connected with you … and thereby more effective. Occasionally, I may give you a post-flight just to see how well (or not) a particularly important point has sunk in. It's anonymous … not a quiz … just a way for me to stay in touch with where you are.

In response to the sheer terror quantitative physics problems/exams seem to evoke in the average P113 student … this year I'm trying something a little different. A fraction of your grade (14%) will come from a verbal or poster presentation to the class about something in the real world that is relevant/interesting to you and can be understood or made to work using the principles of mechanics. You aren't on your own in this task! These will be a group effort (probably organized around workshop sections) … a fun way to get to know one another and share the joys of physics (feel free to gag!). More on this later in the semester …