HELP!

There are other sources of help with the material (besides me of course).

Text: Essentials of College Physics by Serway and Vuille. We will start with chapter 15 and cover to the end of the book, Chapter 30.

Physics is a field in which we attempt to describe, explain and predict how things happen. A law in physics is a concise summary of a broad collection of observations. The primary tools in physics are observation and mathematics. The latter allows us to make simple yet concise statements of physical law. Our simple mathematical statements of law become a vehicle for precisely predicting the behavior of the physical world we live in. It is also important to be able to use words to describe and predict the behavior of systems.

If you have a question, please ask it. If you have a comment, please make it. Even an anonymous note under my door or in my mailbox is fine. Communication is the essence of the classroom experience. I am pleased to see you any time you can find me. I encourage you to use email, although it is tough to give detailed help with problems via email.

Preparation
I expect you to have studied the relevant material for each day, such that you could answer simple questions about the material before it is presented in class. Assume that I may give you a short quiz at any time to help motivate you to be prepared for class. The best advice I can give you is come to every class, participate, take good notes, read the book, do the problems and keep up. The most common, and perhaps the deadliest habit is to postpone your assault of the material.

Bring your calculator every day!

To document an absence for any class

Goals

Objectives

Responsibility
You have responsibilities to yourselves, your classmates and me. One responsibility is to be to class every day and on time. Another responsibility is to keep up with the pace of the class. Do not think it is my responsibility to teach you. IT IS NOT. It is my job to create an environment and situations in which you can teach yourself. This course is organized by the above goals and objectives in order to achieve this end. The goal of education is to empower the individual student to be self-taught. I can't really do this for you, but I can help a lot.

Calculators may be prohibited for use on quizzes and exams without notice. This is not a cause for panic. The math will be simpler to accommodate the lack of a calculator. It is also possible that you may be provided with another calculator at any time.

Grades
I will give you specific letter grade on each exam, so you should always have a pretty good idea where you stand. I encourage you to see me at any time for my assessment of your work.

updated: 18 April 08 - jlw