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General Education Course Component Matrix
PHYS 103, Conceptual Physics
Department: Chemistry and PhysicsProposed Course Prefix/Number: PHYS 103Course Title: Conceptual PhysicsWhat General Education Goal is this course intended to address?
Goal 6
Outcomes
Required Outcome for^ Goal 6
Relevant Course/Institutional Components^ (refer specifically to course syllabus)
Specific Assessment Method for Outcomes
1.^ Understand the majormethods of naturalscience inquiry
Lectures: Throughout this course studentswill learn how the laws that govern naturewere developed through experimentation.They will learn how scientists develop ideasand continue to expand on current theories. •^ Week 1 – Chapters 1-2: development ofscience through experimentation versesphilosophy; Aristotle verse Galileo methodof scientific inquiry •^ Week 6 – Chapter 10: the Earth is not thecenter of the Universe; Kepler’s Laws ofPlanetary Motion •^ Week 12 – Chapter 25: magnetismproduces electricity, unifying the electricityand magnetism; Faraday’s Law of
Exam questions
-^ Exam 1: Essay questions regardingGalileo verse Aristotle’s description andanalysis of motion •^ Exam 2: Multiple choice question(s)regarding Kepler’s Law of Planetarymotion •^ Exam 3: Essay question describingFaraday’s Law of ElectromagneticInduction and it’s relevance to electricityand electrical power production.Laboratory Analysis
: Students labs will be graded for completeness, correctness, andattention to detail.
Electromagnetic InductionLaboratory:^ Students will learn to makepredictions, gather data, analyze data, anddraw conclusions from their experiment.Some specific example of this are listedbelow; however all laboratory exercises willfollow some aspects of the scientific method. • Week 1 - Lab 1: Scientific Inquiry: learningto make predictions, take measurements,analyze data, produce relevant graphs tounderstand relationship between variables • Week 7 - Lab 6: Hooke’s Law: analyzedata through graphs, make predictionsabout motion
-^ Experimental calculations will be gradedfor correctness •^ Percentage error will be considered aspart of the attention to detail in anexperiment •^ Conceptual questions at the conclusionof each lab will be graded to ensure thestudents’ understanding of theexperiment resultsHomework:
Conceptual questions and problem solving will be graded forcorrectness. Each student will receivedifferent numbers in their homeworkproblems via WebAssign. Students willhave multiple attempts on each homeworkproblem to give ample time for students tolearn and understand the material.WebAssign will grade the numericalproblems and essays will be gradedmanual. Tracking/Reporting
Exams, Labs, & Homework will be graded. Tracking ofmean, mode, and standard deviation onspecific assignments/questions
2.^ Recognize andexplain majorcontributions ofscience to our cultureheritage
Lectures: Throughout this course studentswill follow the development of scientificprinciples and ideas. They will see how thedevelopment of new ideas and newtechnologies changed our culture. Students
Exam questions
-^ Exam 1: multiple choice/essay questionregarding Newton’s contribution to theway we view motion
possible. • Week 12 – Chapter 24: The theory ofelectromagnetic induction leads tohydroelectric power and mass productionof electricity changing the way we conductour daily lives. Communication in societybecomes immediate via television in everyhousehold, cellular communication, theinternet. • Week 11 – 12 – Chapters 22 – 23:Students will understand how andelectrical circuit is built. They willunderstand the importance of electricity inour development as a society. • Week 13 – 14 – Chapters 26 & 28: Theunification of electricity and magnetismlead to an understanding ofelectromagnetic waves and light. Fiberoptic cable allows us to send information.Lenses allow us to correct vision andmedical instruments like an MRI allow usto make accurate diagnosis.Laboratory: • Week 4 – Simple Machines: Students willstudy various simple machines from leversto pulleys. They will see that a machinemakes the job easier by allowing anindividual to apply less force to lift anobject; however, to get the job done thesame amount of work must be done
Laboratory Analysis
: Students labs will be graded for completeness, correctness, andattention to detail. •^ Week 4 – Simple Machines: Essayquestions will be given at the end of thelab exercise to ensure studentsunderstanding of the purpose of a simplemachine. •^ Week 11 – Series & Parallel Circuits:Essay/short answer questions will bepresented throughout the lab activity tolead students to an understanding ofsimple electrical circuits. •^ Week 12 – Magnetism: After building asmall electric motor students will be askedan essay question in the analysis sectionregarding the use of an electric motor inour society. After studyingelectromagnetic induction, students willbe asked an essay question regarding theproduction of electricity via hydroelectricpower plants.
regardless of the method or the machine. • Week 11 – Series & Parallel Circuits:Students will build a simple electric circuitwith light bulbs. They will understand theway in which we wire our homes withelectricity as well as other electronicdevices. • Week 12 – Magnetism: Students will studyelectromagnetic induction and will build anelectric motor.
Tracking/Reporting
Exam & Labs will be graded. Tracking of mean, mode, andstandard deviation on specificassignments/questions
General Education Criteria
General Education Criteria
Relevant Course Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)
- Teach a disciplinary mode ofinquiry and provide studentswith practice in applying inquiry,critical thinking, problem solving -^ Homework Sets 1-
: Problem based homework will be administered through WebAssign. Students will be asked to apply their scientific knowledge to somebasic problems that involve analyzing the given information, determining theappropriate concept and formula, and computing with some basic mathematics. • Labs 1-11:
The laboratories are inquiry based activities with conceptual questions at the conclusion of the lab analysis designed to test the students’comprehension of the exercise. Students are asked to analyze data, makesample calculations, and produce reasonable percentage error in anexperimental activity. More specifically, in Labs 1 & 6 students will be asked touse graphing techniques to analyze data and draw conclusion. In Lab 7,students must calculate the specific heat of a given substance using the datacollected from the experiment and compare their experimental results to theknown specific heat capacity of the substance.
Students will obvious have very different perspective on what is more importantthe natural habitat for wildlife or electricity for human consumption.
- Provide opportunities forstudents to increase informationliteracy through contemporarytechniques of gathering,manipulating, and analyzinginformation and data -^ Students will be exposed to many instruments during the lab activities. Theywill learn how to use varies techniques for gathering and analyzing data.^ o^ In Lab 9
(Series & Parallel Circuits) students will learn how to use amultimeter to measure voltage and current in some simple circuits. They willanalyze their results and make simple calculations. o^ In Lab 6
(Hooke’s Law) students will be asked to use Excel to create agraph of the data collected. They will learn how to do a linear fit of the graphand how the results are presented in Excel.
- Require at least one substantivewritten paper, oral report, orcourse journal and also requirestudents to articulateinformation or ideas in their ownwords on tests and exams -^ Students will submit one/two complete lab reports
which will include: Title,
Purpose/Objective, Materials, Procedure, Observations & Data, Analysis ofData, & Conclusion. • Each exam will have essay questions in which students must synthesize theirideas and explain in their own words the concepts they have learned. • Homework assignments will often have one/two essay questions. Thesequestions will be designed to make students process what they have learned inthe reading assignments and lectures.
- Foster awareness of thecommon elements amongdisciplines and theinterconnectedness ofdisciplines -^ Students will see the connections between physics, chemistry, & biology aswell as connections to our social development.^ o^ In Chapter 11, students will explore our scientific understanding of the atomand how it has a great impact on our understanding of how material behaveunder various conditions such as the addition of internal energy, electricity,stress/strain, etc.^ o^ In Chapters 15 & 16, students will understand some of the anomalousbehaviors of water and its impacts on life on our planet. Students will seethe connections between our understanding of physics and biology.^ o^ In Chapters 12 & 15, students will see how understanding the stress &strain on a material as well its thermal properties affect they way we buildstructures in our society.
- Provide a rationale as to whyknowledge of this discipline isimportant to the development ofan educated citizen -^ As we live in a world of technological advances that occur almost daily, it isimportant for citizens to be well versed in the language of science.Information is passed to the public quickly with the advent of internet and it isimperative that individuals are able to make well informed decisions regardingproducts, news events, and new technologies. Citizens need to be able to askthe appropriate questions and understand their answers. Having anunderstanding of the scientific method, having performed some basicexperimentation and reported on the results, as well as having some baseknowledge in the area of physics will hopefully help our students to ask theappropriate questions and understand if the answers have scientific merit.
