PHYS 117 A: General Physics Laboratory: Mechanics

Overview

You will test models of the physical world.  In lab you will work in a group of 3 or 4 students that we assign to discuss each other's ideas and to record and analyze data such that you will be able to write a report on your group's results by the following week.

You can see all the required activities in a week in Modules.

Learning Objectives

After this course students will be able to:

• judge whether an experimental result is consistent with a model within the estimated uncertainties.
• design experiments to test a model.
• write a coherent scientific report about their experiments

Contact information

For questions send an email with your course (Phys 117), your UW net ID (the part before @uw.edu in your email address), and name as it appears on Canvas to:

• the program coordinator at phys1xx@uw.edu for administrator questions related to registering, overloading, etc...
• me (Jens Gundlach) at gundlach@uw.edu for questions about your TA or questions that your TA may not be able to answer.

• your TA (contact information is here, and office hours here) for other questions.

Grades

• You will get a grade of Credit if you earn 67% of the possible points, and you earn more than  1/3 of possible points in each report or presentation.
• Lab in-lab (35% of grade):
  • At the end of each lab your group will be graded out of 2 points based on your group's lab notebook and your group discussions.
  • If you cannot attend one week's lab session, contact the TA for another session to see if you can attend their session. A schedule of labs can be found here.  Be sure to contact your TA and your group members to let them know.
• Lab reports/presentations (65% of grade):
  • Lab reports will be due one week after the lab in which the data was collected.
  • If you submit your lab report after it is due, there is a penalty of 1% deduction of the score for every hour that it is late.

Resources to Succeed

This website contains a list of resources you may find helpful for a variety of issues students may encounter during your time at UW.  Contact me if you need help finding the resources you need.

Access and accommodation

Your experience in this class is important to us, so if you have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but are not limited to: mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical), please contact DRS to arrange accommodations.

Safe campus

We are committed to ensuring a safe environment on campus.  We encourage you to check out the resources available here.

For students who have a lab or tutorial section at night, night time escort services are available.

Religious Accommodations

Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy (https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form (https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request/).

Academic integrity and student conduct

The University takes academic integrity and student conduct very seriously.  Behaving with integrity and respect is part of our responsibility to our shared learning community.  Acts of academic misconduct may include, but are not limited to, copying other groups' data or reports.

Please note that taking photos or recording instructors, other students, and course materials without permission is strictly forbidden.  Streaming or posting inappropriate materials on any course platform is also not allowed. 

All the course materials including lab manuals and supplemental videos are intellectual properties of the instructor and the University of Washington. Distributing them in any form without permission is forbidden.  

The University of Washington Student Conduct Code (WAC 478-121) defines prohibited academic and behavioral conduct and describes how the University holds students accountable as they pursue their academic goals.  Allegations of misconduct by students may be referred to the appropriate campus office for investigation and resolution.  More information can be found online at https://www.washington.edu/studentconduct/.

If you’re uncertain about if something is academic or behavioral misconduct, ask us.  we are willing to discuss questions you might have.

Research Study Information

This course is part of a research project examining student reasoning ability and attitudes about physics with the goal of  improving physics teaching.  By enrolling in this course you are automatically included in the study. Early in the quarter, students will have an opportunity to learn about the study and to remove themselves from the study if they wish. Your instructor will not know whether or not you participate. Later in the quarter,  this link  will become active and allow you to review the details of the study, contact a member of the research team, or remove yourself from the study.