PHY 2053 - Physics I - SPRING 2010
DISCUSSION SECTION QUIZZES
Except for the first first week, a quiz will be administered during your discussion section. The quizzes will test how well you learned the concepts and methods of the previous weeks' homework problems. The quiz in your next discussion section will be closely related to ONE of the homework problems selected at random from the most recently due set. The problem may be restructured to provide guidance, allow awarding of partial credit and discourage memorization of only the formula for the solution. The particular problem given in each discussion section is chosen at random so sometimes it will be one of the easier problems from the HW set and sometimes it will be a harder problem (different sections will get different problems).
We are telling you exactly what you must learn for this portion of your grade: the methods for solving a set of homework problems. You know what the possible problems are going to be for the quiz in a given week. In return we expect you to learn how to do these problems on your own without any notes or other help (i.e. there are no crib sheets for the quizzes!). In doing the online homework you can get help in discussion section, office hours, from tutors and from other students. However, in the end you must learn the methods needed to do the problems on your own. The quizzes will give partial credit so if you set up the problem correctly but make an algebraic mistake you will get most of the credit for the problem and its associated homework.
To provide a measure of forgiveness for illnesses and other challenges that life throws at you, your 2 worst quiz grades will be dropped in evaluating your final grade. The discussion section portion of the course will count for 20% of the overall course grade.