GS 104

Grading (Essential)

Points

Note: All points listed below are approximate. I might make subtle adjustments during the term. See below for more details on the various categories of work.

• Labs: 95 points

• Tests: 180 points

  • Midterms: 90 points

  • Final exam: 90 points

• Other: 60 points

  • Video questions: 30 points

  • Online homework: 20 points

  • Journals: 10 points

Letter Grades

• A = 90%–100% 

• B = 80%–89.9%

• C = 70%–79.9%

• D = 60%–69.9%

• F = 0%–59.9% or failure to complete the end of term survey (see below)

Percentages may be rounded up at my discretion.

Grading Principles

• You will not earn points for some activities (practice tests and most discussion), though you are still expected to complete them.

• You will earn some points for some activities for completion and effort. These activities (video questions, lab discussion, and online homework) are designed to be part of the learning process, not assessments. Do your best (including asking questions when you are stuck), but don’t worry about making some mistakes. Unless I see a pattern of hasty, incomplete, late, or poor work, you will earn full credit.

• You will earn points on some activities only to the extent that your work is complete and correct. The labs, midterms, and final exam are designed as both learning opportunities and assessments. So you should be concerned about being as complete and correct as possible on these.

• You must show your work (symbolic formula, numbers in the formula, and an answer with units) when you calculate for the practice tests and real tests. When you do not calculate, you must explain your answer. This is important for two reasons:

  • You might accidentally get the correct answer with luck, despite faulty reasoning.

  • Providing good explanations is an important skill; it isn't enough to be right. Imagine if your doctor said, "Take these green pills twice a day." Would you just say "OK" and walk away or would you expect a good explanation?

• I cannot guarantee a particular grade as it is ultimately based on both completion and performance. But nearly all of the students I have had in 25 years of teaching who did all of the work completely, honestly, and on time earned at least a B.

File Formats

Documents (lab reports, practice tests):

• These must be submitted as a single PDF only. Canvas will not allow any other file type.

• Name your files with your name and the name of the assignment included.

Images:

• Always submit images right side up and at most 800 pixels on a side.

• Do not ever take photos of your monitor; take screenshots instead.

Details for Assigned Work

All of this work is designed to help you learn physics. If you find that anything is "busy work" (of no apparent value to you), then please engage me in a discussion.

All work is open-book and open-note. Really.

• Videos and questions: These videos are by renowned physics professor Paul Hewitt (also the author of the text). You will earn full credit of 2 points per video for watching video lectures and answering the questions. The website will not give you full credit if you miss some questions, but I will override your score by the end of the week. Sometimes the software glitches and doesn’t give you credit at all; if so, then contact me with a Canvas message to fix it. Do not watch the video multiple times unless it is for your own benefit.

• Discussion: You will sometimes be prompted to post (or reply) to a discussion topic for the week. And if you get stuck on the homework, you should post a question in that forum. For you lab, you are required to post results,  ask a question, or help another student (for 1 point each week).   Discussion serves the purposes of keeping you connected to me and other students and will help you when you are stuck.  Please follow the guidelines from the communication section of the syllabus.

• Journal : You will complete the journal as directed for 1 point per week. These points will get lumped together in the gradebook with the points for online homework.

• Online homework: You will complete online homework for 2 points per week. You will normally be allowed to keep trying until you get the right answer. You will earn full credit provided it is completed with reasonable effort.

• Practice tests: Each week you will be given the opportunity to practice questions similar to those you will encounter on the tests. I will correct (not grade) these and provide solutions after the due dates.

• Open-book open-note midterm exams:  These are worth 45 points each. They are open-book, open-note, and limited to 60 minutes. You may not use or even have easy access to a phone, tablet, computer, smart glasses, smart watch, or other device (besides a calculator) during the test; these must be left at home stored in a bag out of your reach. You are expected to show your work per the guidelines above. Correct answers with incorrect or missing work are worth roughly half credit. Incorrect answers with correct work are also worth roughly half credit.

• Open-book open-note comprehensive final exam: This is worth 90 points and is limited to 110 minutes, with otherwise the same rules as quizzes. 

• Labs: You will complete your lab work, share some of your work (a photo, video, graph, or data) on the discussion, and submit your reports on Canvas. Labs will be worth 5 or 10 points each. See the grading policies below.

Grading Policies

• Lab grading:  Lab reports with reasonably accurate data, correct calculations, a complete and accurate graph (when required), strong photographic evidence of your participation, and correct answers to questions will be worth 5 or 10 points each. Deductions will be based on the following (smaller for 5 point labs):

  • Multiple spelling or grammar errors: 1 point

  • Multiple unit errors or omissions: 1 point

  • Including the lab instructions in the report: 1 point

  • Graph formatting issues, some bad data, a small number of calculation errors, or an incorrect answer to a question: 1 point each

  • A substantive error or omission that detracts from the results of the lab: 2 points each

  • Failure to make a timely and substantive post to the lab discussion: 1 point

  • Lab discussion has an image over 800 pixels on a side: 0.5 points

  • Images for the lab include a photo of a monitor: 0.5 points

  • Resubmitting a lab report: 1 point per resubmission

Lab work may be given a temporary grade of zero with the opportunity for resubmission  under the following circumstances:

• The work is insufficiently correct or complete after a reasonable effort

• There is insufficient photographic evidence of your participation. 

Resubmission of lab work is due three working days from the date graded.

• Late policy: Late work will generally be allowed (and given full credit) with prior arrangements in writing. This could be a negotiation for due days in general or for a specific assignment. Do not be afraid to ask; the answer is almost always “yes.” When negotiating alternate due dates in writing, you do not need to divulge personal information; focus on what you need (when you plan to turn it in) instead of why. There are a few exceptions to this policy:

  • During the first week, more flexibility is called for as you get oriented to the class. Just make sure that you get everything done so that you don’t get dropped from the class.

  • Technical or last minute personal issues might cause you to turn in your work a few minutes late without negotiations in advance. Don’t panic or abandon the work; you will not be blocked by Canvas or the online homework system. Just turn in the work as soon as you can and I will almost certainly grade it without penalty if you aren’t making it a habit. But be sure to communicate with me if it will be more than a few hours late. And be sure to negotiate in advance whenever possible.

  • If you post a question  on the discussion board and it is not answered in time for you to complete the work, then you may have a one day extension on the work.

  • No late work will be accepted after Friday of week 9. This is so that I have sufficient time to grade it.

• Incomplete policy: A grade of incomplete (I) may be negotiated when a student with passing work needs additional time to complete the course. An incomplete will not be granted as a substitute for a failing grade (F).

• Automatic F policy: Regardless of how you perform on other aspects of the class, there are two ways to get an automatic F.

  • You will get an F in the class if you do not complete the end of term survey. 

  • You will get an F in the class if you get a zero (through failure to submit or resubmit) on two or more labs.

• No-show drop: You are required to complete nearly all of the work assigned during the first week. Failure to do so may result in a “no-show drop” at the discretion of the instructor.

• Grade appeals: You have one week from the time anything is graded to appeal its score with a direct message on Canvas. Failure to do so constitutes acceptance of the grade. Please (respectfully) appeal grades that you either don’t understand or think are incorrect. It can be an opportunity for learning and I do make mistakes.

• Extra Projects (Not Essential): You may earn up to 10 points with extra projects. Submit them by Canvas message (except for the errors). You must submit most extra projects by the end of week 9.  Points awarded are entirely at my discretion and cannot be stated in advance, with the exception of reporting errors. You should generally expect to get fewer points per hour of work compared to other coursework.

1. Report correctable errors (spelling, grammar, physics, etc.) in the websites or documents for this course. Post the error to the discussion board and earn a point. Repeated errors do not earn additional points. Note that I prefer to put commas and periods outside quotation marks when they aren't actually part of the quote (the English rather than the American convention). This is a deliberate choice and not an error.

2. Perform an additional lab of your own design. You must consult with me as you develop ideas.

3. Write a computer program. The program should solve a physics problem you cannot solve analytically, solve a wide variety of problems, or have an instructive animation. You must consult with me as you develop ideas before you submit it. You may only do this once.

4. Attend a Chemeketa planetarium show. Submit a paragraph of notes to me.

5. Attend a sporting event at Chemeketa. Submit a paragraph of notes. The notes must include some discussion of the physics involved and should not be confined to discussion of motion alone. You may only do this once.

6. Watch a substantive video on physics or astronomy and submit a paragraph of notes. Veritasium has some excellent physics videos (please stick to the physics playlist). The astronomy videos from Kurzgesagt are good (select ones that interest you from the list). Feel free to suggest other sources. You may only do this once.

7. Join the search for gravitational waves by using your idle computer to analyze data from pulsars. Follow these instructions:

• Go to the BOINC website Einstein@Home. Follow the directions for installing the BOINC software and joining Einstein@Home. Use a descriptive username such as your first name and last initial.

• Install the software on all computers you control. The software can be configured to run as a screensaver so it will only use your computers when they are idle, or you can choose to leave it on all the time in the background. Adjust how often and how much of the CPU is used.

• With laptops, I recommend that you avoid running at 100% of CPU time as they tend to overheat. With any computer, if you choose to leave it on all the time in the background, then it will slow down your computer.

• You will earn points based on the amount of data crunched by your computers by the end of the term. Just think, you can earn points while you sleep! Leave your computers on all the time. It will only cost you a few dollars a month in electricity for each computer. Better yet, enlist computers of your friends and family. There is a bit of a time lag (about a week) between when you crunch the data and get credit for it on the team page.

• Near the end of the term, send me a screen shot of a certificate showing the amount of "credit" you have earned.

• Please don't ask me for computer technical support. You must figure out how to do this on your own, though you are welcome to discuss this with other students.

See the next part of the syllabus.