GS 104

Welcome

Welcome to GS 104 at Chemeketa Community College. This website is the syllabus for both the online and hybrid classes I teach. The syllabus will orient you to your class and function as a contract between you and me. I look forward to being your instructor.

Please carefully read anything under a red heading labeled as "essential".  Anything under a red heading that does not have such a label can be referenced as needed.

Physics is the study of the fundamental behavior of nature, from the very large to the very small. Physics is fun!

Goals and Methods

My general goals for my students are the following:

• Physics: You will understand a wide variety of physical phenomena, thus furthering your understanding of how the universe and the world around you work.

• Science: You will develop general scientific techniques including experimental methods, evaluating evidence, and generating and interpreting graphs.

The more specific goals (official student learning outcomes) for this course are the following:

1. Distinguish among science, pseudoscience, and other fields

2. Gather relevant and accurate lab data

3. Use lab data to generate calculations, graphs, and testable predictions

4. Predict the motion of falling objects

5. Calculate a force or acceleration using Newton’s second law

6. Identify and describe Newton’s third law action-reaction pairs

7. Apply conservation of momentum and conservation of energy

8. Quantify period, frequency, and amplitude of oscillations and waves

9. Describe how light interacts with matter

10. Predict the behavior of a simple electric circuit

The general education outcomes are the following:

1. Gather, comprehend, and communicate scientific and technical information in order to explore ideas, models, and solutions and generate further questions. 

2. Apply scientific and technical modes of inquiry, individually, and collaboratively, to critically evaluate existing or alternative explanations, solve problems, and make evidence-based decisions in an ethical manner.  

3. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of scientific studies and critically examine the influence of scientific and technical knowledge on human society and the environment. 

To achieve these goals, I lead my classes based on evidence of what helps students learn:

• Active learning: You will learn physics mostly by doing physics; watching someone else is of limited value.

• Teamwork with individual accountability: You will be expected to work with other students when in-person, though you will not normally be graded on the work of others.

• Time on task, but have fun: You will spend a significant amount of time on this class and generally be on task during in-person sessions. But some off-topic discussions are equally important.

• Continuous work and varied assessment: I evaluate your learning on a variety of low-stakes assignments throughout the week. 

See the next part of the syllabus.