Physics 2425 Lab Syllabus

Spring 2018
Meeting Room: SUPP 137 Lab Instructor Office Location: SUPP 146 & 148

Instructor of Record: Dr. David Donnelly, RFM 3232, donnelly@txstate.edu

Objective

Lab is not for testing your knowledge, but is a place for developing it. In lab you will
have the opportunity to think about how to design experiments to test physical
models, analyze data, think about experimental uncertainty, and other things
related to experimental science. Take advantage of the time to explore the physics
relationships to your own satisfaction, make sure your work makes sense to you,
and use your lab instructor as a resource to make sure you leave the lab with a good
understanding of the material.

Schedule, Manual, and Other Supplies

 A notebook or composition book is required for this course! You

must arrive to lab prepared to record your procedures, observations, and data.

 No lab manual needs to be purchased; all experimentation instruction,

grading rubrics, and other lab materials will be posted under “Resources” on TRACS.
Copies provided at lab stations are for all PHYS2425 lab students to use. Do not mark
or otherwise damage the copies provided!

The lab schedule is posted outside the door to the lab, at the end of this syllabus, and on
TRACS under “Resources.”

General Lab Policies

 No food or drinks are allowed in the lab. Sealed containers may be kept in
backpacks and purses, but open containers must be left outside of the lab room in the
hallway. No drinking or eating is permitted inside the lab room.

 Only full profile (closed toe) shoes are allowed in the lab at all times. Arriving
to lab without the proper footwear will mean missing the day’s lab or borrowing a
pair of “backup” shoes stored in the lab instructor office.
  Arrive on time. Arriving late disrupts the activities of other students including your
lab partner(s). If you arrive more than 30 minutes late you will not be permitted
to participate in the lab activity for that day.

 Clean up your lab station before leaving. Numerous labs are held in succession, so
each lab group is required to return their individual lab stations to the state they were
in at the start of the lab session. Turn off equipment and insure that all cables and
other items are neat and cannot be tripped over by the students who will be coming
into the next lab session. You will not be permitted to leave lab until your lab
instructor has checked your lab station to ensure that all equipment is functional
and put back.

 Work in groups of 2-3. Nominally students should work in groups of 2 on all labs
and experimentation, and no student should work alone. Groups of 3 are only
permitted when it prevents a student from attempting to perform experiments solo.

 Group-to-Group Collaboration is encouraged. Groups are encouraged to consult

with one another on experimental methodology as well as their results, however,
each student should only report the results and procedures of their group’s
experiment(s). You should communicate with the fellow scientists in your area, but do
not present their ideas or results as your own.

 Students must turn in their own work. Copying another’s work and submitting it
as your own is plagiarism, and is strictly prohibited. Students found to have
plagiarized will receive a zero on their lab report. If a student is found to have
plagiarized a second time, they will receive an F in the course.

Appropriate Behavior

 Disruptive or disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated, and will result in

disciplinary action ranging from a warning by the lab instructor, to expulsion from
lab that week and a requirement to meet with the instructor of record.

 Continual or severe disruptions will result in a meeting with the instructor of record
and the lab instructor, and may lead to withdrawal from the lab and course entirely.
Grade

Your lab grade will be determined as follows:

Item Points Each Total Points Percentage of Grade

Pre and Post
50 100 8%
Assessment
Pre-Labs 20 100 8%
Lab Summaries 100 600 46%
Formal Reports 100 400 30%
Computational
10 110 8%
Activities

 Pre and Post assessment will be done at the first and last lab meeting of the
semester, respectively.

 There are 5 pre-labs, for experiments 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

 The first 30 minutes of each lab period will be devoted to computational activities.
These are designed to familiarize students with aspects of computer programming
and physics simulation. The grade for these activities is based on participation only.
Anyone who comes to class and participates will get full credit.

This lab score makes up between 20% and 25% of the PHYS2425 course grade, as described
in the course syllabus provided by your lecture instructor. Check your PHYS2425 course
syllabus to determine the precise percentage the lab score is worth for the course. All aspects
of the lab will count toward your final lab grade. There are no make-up labs, and all
experiments are counted.

Participation and Scientific Integrity

 You are expected and required to participate in all lab activities. You should not work
in groups larger than 2 (an exception will be made for one group of 3 in order to
prevent a student from working alone). Failure to participate will result in lost points
on the lab activity, at the discretion of your lab instructor.

 You may not use data that you and your group did not collect to create your lab
reports! Thus, in order to complete the work, you must attend labs and take relevant
data.

 Falsifying or fabricating data is absolutely unacceptable. There will be times when

your data will be inconclusive or otherwise ‘not good.’ This is okay! We do not
 grade on whether or not you are correct in this lab, but on whether or not you are
using sound reasoning. Accept undesirable data and analyze why it is undesirable!

Missing Lab

 You are expected and required to attend and participate in every scheduled lab this
semester. Exceptions to the rule are: (1) If a student knows in advance that a lab
will be missed with a valid excuse (as judged by the course instructor), the student
may seek permission from both the course instructor and the lab instructor to go
to an alternative lab section, without penalty. (2) If a student misses the student’s
own lab for whatever reason but without advance notice, the student may seek
permission from both the course instructor and the lab instructor to attend an
alternative lab section. A 50% penalty will apply to the corresponding lab report.

 There is NO make-up lab activity.

 You will receive a zero for all missed labs.

Submitting Work

 All assignments for this lab will be submitted online through the lab TRACS site using
DropBox. Paper copies will not be accepted.

 Completed work should be submitted electronically using the “Dropbox” function on

TRACS. It is each student’s responsibility to ensure the submitted file clearly
indicates the title of the lab it was written for to ensure that their lab instructor
grades their work using the correct grading rubric. Names are unnecessary, as
TRACS provides a folder for each student.

Pre-Labs

 Pre-labs will be required for some (but not all) labs this semester, and are marked
on the lab schedule at the end of this document.
 Each pre-lab will prompt you with a few questions that will help you think about
and prepare for the lab activity that will follow. In some cases, the pre-lab will
contain problems that will be used in the lab activity.
 Every student should complete and turn in the completed pre-lab prior to starting a
lab activity.
 At the discretion of the lab instructor, pre-lab activities may be turned in on paper
instead of online.
 Pre-lab activities will be posted on Fridays before the following week of labs.
 Pre-labs may not be submitted late, and thus any pre-lab turned in more than 30
minutes after the start of a lab activity will receive a zero.
Lab Activities

 The majority of lab activities will not be “cook-book” style. Only a few activities will
be “fill-in-the-blank,” “short answer,” or “tutorial” worksheets.

 In the majority of lab sessions, the lab instructor will provide a goal (or set of goals)
for student experimentation to satisfy. The purpose of each lab session is to utilize
the equipment available to satisfy the goals.

 With the guidance and assistance of their lab instructors, students will design
appropriate experiments, record all necessary data, and create a report (summary or
formal report) that communicates the results of the experimentation. Summaries and
Formal Reports are discussed in detail in the sections that follow.

 Students are responsible for reviewing their scores on graded labs. In the event of
questions or conflicts with lab grades, each student is expected to make arrangements
with their lab instructor to meet outside of the weekly lab session to discuss grades.
Grades should not be discussed during the limited time provided for experimentation!

NOTE: It is your responsibility to record all the necessary data to complete your
assignment during your scheduled lab session. You will not have access to the lab
equipment to make additional measurements or observations after your scheduled
lab session, so be thorough in your data collection!

Summaries

 Each student (individuals, NOT GROUPS!) will turn in a short summary/write-up

written in their own words that explains the goal(s), experimental procedure/set-up,
and results of each experiment(s) performed.

 These write-ups will vary in length depending on the goals and the nature of each
experiment.

 Elements necessary for each write-up are dependent on the grading rubric which will
be provided before experimentation begins. Be sure to review the grading rubric
before you design your experiment in order to ensure that your experiment will meet
the grading requirements!

 Specific questions or prompts will often be provided, by their purpose is to assist

students in determining the sorts of questions they should ask themselves in order to
successfully meet the objectives of a given lab. It is not necessary to answer each of
the questions explicitly, but successful completion of individual lab goals will most likely
mean that these questions/prompts will somehow be addressed.
  A summary/write-up is due by 11:59pm ONE WEEK after the lab session in which
the experiment was performed. For example, if you perform an experiment on 2/2,
the write-up is due by 11:59pm on 2/9.

 Late work will be penalized 10% of earned credit for each day (24 hour period) it is
turned in late. Late work will not be accepted more than 5 days late!

Formal Reports

 Formal reports have more stringent requirements, and have been assigned in order
to help students develop the skills to submit more advanced papers in later research
or academic labs.

 Formal report specifications (length, margins, font, etc.) will be detailed in a separate
file (also found under “Resources” on TRACS), and will be discussed detail by your lab
instructor on the date of the experiment for the first formal report.

 Each Formal report will be graded according to a Formal Report Grading Rubric,
which will include scoring for the specified formatting, as well as selected scoring
criteria specific to the goals of the experimentation.

 A Formal Report is due by 11:59pm TWO WEEKS after the lab session in which the
experiment was performed. For example, if you complete an experiment on 2/2, the
formal report is due by 2/16 by 11:59pm.

 Formal Reports will NOT be accepted late under any circumstances. Lab
instructors will make every effort to remind students about formal report deadlines,
but students are expected to complete this work on time.

Grading Rubrics

 Each of the rubric items will be graded on a scale of 0 to 3 possible points:

o 0 points for an item means it is not included in the report at all.
o 1 point means the item is included, but is incomplete or incorrect.
o 2 points means the item is included, but with some small mistake, or it isn’t
completely explained.
o 3 points means the item is correct and complete.

 The master list of all currently developed grading criteria used in grading rubrics can
be found are found under the “Resources” tab on TRACS; this is not an exhaustive list,
and other criteria may be formed throughout the semester. However, this file gives a
good idea of the different kinds of things any given summary or formal report may be
graded on.
  Each lab will have a Grading Rubric specific to the lab itself, and will be composed of
between 5 and 15 individual scoring elements. Formal Report Grading Rubrics will
also have numerous grading elements related to proper formatting of formal reports.

 The grading rubrics indicate the skills you are meant to develop and demonstrate,
and should help you assess and improve the quality of your work. You should
always use the grading rubric developed for the lab activity to assess your work
before, during, and after experimentation in order to earn all credit for write-ups
and formal reports.

Lab Instructors

It is each student’s individual responsibility to arrange to speak with their lab

instructor outside of the weekly lab sessions if there are questions or concerns with
lab grades. Each instructor has 1 or more office hours available, and can arrange
meetings with students outside of these office hours at their discretion. Students
and lab instructors should avoid spending valuable experimentation time discussing
grades.

Spring 2018 Lab Schedule

22-26 Jan. NO LABS

29 Jan. – 1 Feb. Assessment and Introduction
Experiment 1- Designing
5-8 Feb. Summary
Experiments
Experiment 2 - Electrostatics & Prelab
12-15 Feb. Summary
Equipment Training
Experiment 3 - Data Analysis &
19-22 Feb. Formal
Reporting
26 Feb. – 1 Mar. Experiment 4 - Gauss’ Law Worksheet
Experiment 5 - Electric Potential
5-8 Mar. Formal Prelab
Mapping
12-15 Mar. NO LABS – SPRING BREAK
19-22 Mar. Experiment 6 - Capacitance Summary Prelab
Experiment 7 - Resistance & IV Formal Prelab
26-29 Mar.
curves
2-5 April Experiment 8 - Complex Circuits Formal Prelab
9-13 April Experiment 9 - RC Circuits Summary Prelab
Experiment 10 - Magnetism and Summary
16-19 April
Assessment
23-26 April NO LAB