Course Information: Assignments

Assignments:

Written Problem Sets Will Normally Be Due Tuesday evening at 9 pm in the boxes outside of 26-152 for sections L01-L07, or 32-082 for sections L08 and L09. Look on the Calendar page or Problem Set page if there is any question.

Reading Questions will be due at the beginning of your Section period.

Honesty On Course Work

You are welcome and encouraged to work with fellow students on any and all assignments (with the exception of exams of course). However, the work you submit should be your own and reflect your own understanding of the subject. In particular, copying of solutions from peers, old solution sets or "bibles" is strictly forbidden. For in-class work, you must be present and personally write your name (or electronically sign in) on any material which is turned in in that class. Writing in the name of a student who is not present is considered a Committee on Discipline offense. Answering in-class questions using another student's Personal Response System responder is considered a Committee on Discipline offense. We will take any violations of academic honesty extremely seriously.

Readings

Every class has a reading assignment, on which your reading questions are based. You can find that assignment by going to the Calendar, and then to the day of the class. We will assume that you have read these (made a reasonable effort to understand them) before attending class. Experimental pre-labs are also required reading before the day of the class (and will be helpful in answering pre-lab questions on the problem sets). As noted in our book section we encourage you to find a text that you are comfortable reading, either the Course Notes or one of the many physics textbooks out there.

Homework

We do not accept late assignments for any reason. If you miss an assignment due, for example, to severe (and documented) illness your graduate student TA may excuse you from the assignment.

There will also be written problem sets assigned every week and due on Tuesday evening at 9 pm in your section box outside 32-082. The problem sets are an integral part of the course. Reading solutions to the problem sets does not replace the learning experience of working the problems on your own. Consequently each problem set will receive two grades; the number of problems completed will constitute the first grade and a few problems chosen at random will be graded for the second grade. Whether or not you can solve these problems is the best weekly measure of how well you understand the material.

Reading Questions

At the beginning of every class you will be asked to turn in written answers to the reading questions assigned for that class..

In-Class Group and Personal Assignments

In almost all classes, individuals and groups (see below) will submit answers to questions about desktop experiments done in class, material covered in the lecture in that class, and so on. You must be present in class to receive credit for assignments submitted either by you or by your group.

Group Work

You will be assigned to a group of three for collaborative work. Your group assignment will be announced near the beginning of the term. If you are not satisfied with the way your group is working, first try to discuss it with your group members. If you cannot arrive at a satisfactory solution, then discuss the problems with your graduate student TA or instructor. In order for the TEAL experience to be a pleasant one for all invovled it is crucial that groups work together effectively. Please do not let problems go unsolved. We are here to help you if you are unable to solve problems yourselves.