PHYSICS 103: INVESTIGATING MATTER AND ENERGY

3 undergraduate credits

Spring Semester, 2000

This is an activity-based and discussion-oriented course designed for non-science majors. The topics of light, matter, and heat have been selected to help you develop meaningful understanding of some powerful ideas that you can apply to a wide variety of interesting phenomena. There are no prerequisites for this course. Laboratory credit is given for taking this liberal studies enrichment course.

I. Professor Patsy Ann Johnson

Office: McKay Education Building room 212

Telephone: 738-2317 or 738-2041

Office hours:

Tuesday 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Friday 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Other hours by appointment.

Class activity/discussion/lecture sessions:

Wednesday and Friday (Section 01) 9:30 a.m. to 11:20 a.m., VSH room 214

Wednesday and Friday (Section 02) 12:30 p.m. to 2:20 p.m., VSH room 214

II. Materials that should be purchased

Investigating Matter and Energy laboratory manual. (This is sold by the Physics Department at SRU. You may obtain your copy from your professor or from the Physics Department secretary in VSH room 327. The cost is $5.)

Small metric ruler, any brand and model. (This is sold at numerous department stores.)

Electronic calculator, any brand and model. (This is sold at numerous department stores.)

Safety goggles, any brand and model. (This is sold at the SGA bookstore in the University Union at SRU.)

III. Competencies

By the end of this course, each student will be able to:

(A) recognize common naive ideas about light, matter, and heat.

(B) accept scientific concepts in place of naive ideas about light, matter, and heat.

(C) use correctly key terms such as virtual image, chemical change, and specific heat capacity.

(D) differentiate between key terms such as refraction and reflection, mixture and substance, and temperature and heat.

(E) gather qualitative data primarily using the sense of sight.

(F) gather quantitative data using equipment such as pan balances, thermometers, and metric rulers.

(G) interpret graphs and tables containing data about physical phenomena, for example; mass, volume, temperature, and time.

(H) estimate and calculate quantities such as density and equilibrium temperature.

(I) apply scientific generalizations to draw correct conclusions about everyday things, for example, eye glasses, food, and weather.

(J) understand scientific methods of inquiry and scientific modes of thought.

(K) have positive attitudes toward science.

(L) be cognizant of and take appropriate responsibility for his/her own learning.

IV. Course Outline

Light -- F Jan. 14, W Jan. 19, F Jan. 21, W Jan. 26, F Jan. 28, W Feb. 2, F Feb. 4, W Feb. 9, F Feb. 11

    Light and illumination

    How does light leave a bulb?

    What are shadows?

    What happens to a shadow if there are two or more sources of light?

    What can a pinhole do to light?

    Reflection of light

    Can you see mirror reflections from all locations?

    How does light reflect from a mirror?

    Does light reflect from paper?

    Refraction of light with real images

    What does a lens do to light?

    How does light change when passing through transparent material?

    What are some properties of lenses?

    What are some properties of your eyes?

    Reflection and refraction of light with virtual images

    Where are your eyes focusing when you look at your mirror image?

    How does a mirror work?

    Why do objects seem displaced when viewed through transparent material?

Matter -- W Feb. 16, F Feb. 18, W Feb. 23, F Feb. 25, W Mar. 1, F Mar. 3, W Mar. 8, F Mar. 10, W Mar. 15

    Mass, volume, and density

    What metric units are used for mass and volume?

    Will it sink or float?

    How is the mass of a liquid related to its volume?

    How can density be found from a graph of mass and volume?

    How is density related to floating and sinking?

    Does the beverage sink or float?

    Does the can sink or float?

    How are size and shape related to floating and sinking?

    When is it appropriate to average densities?

    Mixtures and physical change

    Which liquids are thicker?

    Are thicker liquids denser?

   How can heterogeneous mixtures be separated?

    Is margarine a substance or a mixture?

    What happens during dissolving?

    Are particles of matter equally far apart in solids, liquids, and gases?

    Substances and chemical change

    What is evidence that a chemical change has occurred?

    Which chemicals are necessary in a particular chemical reaction?

    What happens when electrical energy is added to water?

Heat – W Mar. 29, F Mar. 31, W Apr. 5, F Apr. 7, W Apr. 12, F Apr. 14, W Apr. 19, W Apr. 26, F Apr. 28, W May 3, F May 5, Final Exams are Tuesday, May 9 (for Section 01 at 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) or W May 10 (for Section 02 at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.)

    Temperature

    Is the water hot or cold?

    Can you distinguish hot from cold?

    Conservation of heat energy

    Can you predict temperature?

    What is conserved?

    What happens when samples of water at different temperatures are mixed?

    What happens when samples of sand at different temperatures are mixed?

    What is the water equivalent of a metal?

    Change of state

    What happens during freezing and melting?

    Does ice always have one temperature?

    How much heat energy does it take to melt one gram of ice?

    How much heat energy is given off by condensing one gram of steam?

V. Grading

Total points earned Grade earned Points per exam

90 or above A 13.5-15.0

80 - 89 B 12.0-13.0

70 - 79 C 10.5-11.5

60 - 69 D 9.0-10.0

less than 60 F less than 9.0

A grade of I for incomplete will be given for a legitimate reason only after consultation with your professor.

VI. Requirements

A total of one hundred points may be earned as follows:

Requirement Maximum points earned Date

Insights/Confusions Journal 25 Jan. 14 – May 5

Group Work Assessment I about Light 5 Jan. 28

Exam I about Light 15 Feb. 11

Group Work Assessment II about Matter 5 March 1

Exam II about Matter 15 March 15

Group Work Assessment III about Heat 5 April 19

Exam III about Heat 15 May 9 or May 10

Portfolio 15 April 28

You are primarily responsible for constructing your own knowledge in this class through performing interesting activities to investigate scientific phenomena and through discussing these activities with your classmates in a meaningful manner. As you proceed, you are expected to think about the ideas you that you have developed from your prior experiences. You should monitor the change in your initial ideas as these ideas are challenged through activities and discussion. Because you play such an important role in your own learning and in the learning of your classmates, your attendance at class sessions is essential. If you miss a class session, you must take the initiative to find out from your classmates what they learned during that class session.

During the last few minutes of each class session (except for group work assessment and exam days), you will write in your insights/confusions journal about your learning. You should record your initial thinking about the phenomena investigated that day, and you should describe changes in your thinking during the class session. Also, a question will be asked by your professor that you should answer in your journal. You should write about anything else that seems important to you. You are encouraged to ask your professor questions in your journal.

One point may be earned for each lecture/discussion session if you write a substantive passage in your insights/confusions journal. Only a half point will be earned if your passage includes just a few superficial remarks. You will not be allowed to take your journal home so all entries must be made during class time. If you provide a written excuse from a coach, doctor, employer, funeral director, etc. on a printed form or letterhead stationery for an absence from class, you will be given the journal point for the day you missed class. Students who have no unexcused absences for class sessions on journal days during the semester will earn one extra point.

Besides being valuable for assessment, journal writing is a powerful catalyst for thinking. Writing does help clarify and organize one's thinking. Writing can even create ideas that did not exist before the writing began. Completing a journal will give you practice with both inductive and deductive thinking. Also, journal writing will improve your ability to use scientific words appropriately, to focus attention on the most important concepts, and to increase your recall of generalizations.

Group work assessment tasks will be perfomed during lecture/discussion sessions. While completing these assessment tasks, you may use your laboratory manual, copies of reading selections, notes, handouts, and calculator. However, you may not use your journal. Copy onto other paper anything you want to use out of your journal. Groups may be asked to complete a hands-on task, recording observations and inferences. They also may be asked to solve problems or answer open-ended questions. One set of answers and solutions will be turned in by each group. All members of the group will receive the same grade. It is the responsibility of each group to ensure that all members make substantial contributions to the formulation of the work turned in to be graded.

Exams will cover work done in the laboratory manual for this course. In addition, ideas stated in the required reading selections will be on the exams even though those ideas may not have been mentioned in class sessions. The recommended reading selections are useful, also, in preparing for exams. While taking exams, you may use your laboratory manual, copies of reading selections, notes, handouts, and calculator. However, you may not use your journal. Copy onto other paper anything you want to use out of your journal. Exams will contain a variety of questions, such as multiple choice, matching, fill-in-the blank, true-false, and short answer questions. In addition, you will be asked on each exam to write an essay giving your observations and inferences about either a hands-on activity done by you or a demonstration performed by your professor during the exam period.

To receive permission to miss a group assessment or exam session, arrangements must be made before the time the group assessment work or exam is regularly scheduled. You risk getting a zero if you try to schedule a makeup group assessment work or exam after the group assessment work or exam has been given to the other students. Makeup group assessment work or exams will be given only to students providing written excuses for their absences.

You will collect your best and/or most interesting work in a portfolio. Documents must be related to the units studied -- light, matter, and heat. You may include charts, graphs, diagrams, and other items assigned as homework. You may add notes from class or reading. Original and revised exam answers may be put into portfolios. You may do a home project suggested by your professor and then write a description of your procedures and results. Also, you may do a project you design yourself. Show your professor any hand-on apparatus you make, for example, a pinhole camera. You may write an essay. You may report on an entire book, portions of a book, or an article. You may make drawings or take photographs for your portfolio. You may make an audiotape or a videotape, too. You may interview children or adults about physics concepts and then summarize your findings. You may write lesson plans for teaching physics concepts. The recommended reading selections are very helpful for providing suggestions for hands-on activities and for supplying reading materials for reports.

Each document put into a portfolio should be labeled with the date it was produced. For group work, all members of the group should be listed on the document. If it is not obvious what the document is, a caption should be provided.

Include a copy of all pages used from Internet sources, and include a copy of at least the first page of other types of written material unless they are recommended reading for this course. Complete citations in some standard format should be given for all written sources used for ideas, factual information, and quotations.

Your portfolio should be securely bound with staples, three-hole binders, or other means. Do not put individual pages in plastic sleeves because they make it difficult for your professor to write comments about your work.

Portfolios may vary in their focus. Some are a record of best work; some are a record of the semester from beginning to end, some are a record of progress in learning; some are a record of personal favorites. Portfolios may be organized in a number of ways, too. Documents may be put in chronological order. They may be grouped by content themes. Learning goals may be the organizational schema. Another option is to order documents from strongest evidence of learning to weakest evidence or visa versa. As you think about taking any of these options, you may discuss your plans with your professor to get constructive feedback.

Choosing too many similar documents for inclusion into a portfolio does not show ability to discriminate. You should ask yourself, "What additional knowledge, skill, or attitude will I have evidence of by including this piece into my portfolio?" If you cannot supply a concrete answer to this question, then you should omit the document. Your portfolio should not be longer than twenty pages. If only part of a page contains information, count it as a partial page. Count the front and back of a sheet of paper as two pages if you have written on both sides of the sheet. Do not count any title page or table of contents page. Do not count book excerpts, articles, Internet documents, or other published material inserted into your portfolio, but do count pages which contain your writing about these things.

An essential element of your portfolio is reflection statements. To make a portfolio more than just a scrapbook, each document needs to be an accompanying statement giving the reasons for the selection of this document. This reflection statement may be taped onto the document discussed or it may be put on a separate piece of paper inserted before or after the document. Reflections for several documents may be grouped together on one page.

You should reflect upon how you produced a document and what knowledge, skills, and attitudes you developed while producing it. You should comment on salient characteristics of the document, aspects that changed as you produced the document, and things you would still like to modify in the document if you had more time. In addition, you need to state what you learned about learning as you produced the document. You should give an appraisal of your own strengths as a learner. Reflection statements should be specific, thorough, accurate, and thoughtful. Support of ideas stated should be made by referring to evidence in the portfolio.

Criteria that will be used to judge the merit of your portfolio will address the following aspects of portfolios:

the amount of evidence included,

the level of organization used,

the connections between topics made,

the quality of the pieces selected,

the variety in the learning substantiated,

the amount of growth in knowledge documented,

the increase in skills established,

the changes in attitudes displayed,

the creativity in compiling shown,

the depth of the reflection statements written.

Because your reflection statements will determine one-third of your grade for your portfolio, be sure you devote adequate time, effort, and thought to this part of your portfolio. Except in extraordinary situations, late submissions of a portfolio will result in one point being deducted for each weekday from the due day to the day the portfolio is turned in.

Selecting documents and writing reflection statements are worthwhile activities. You will practice higher-order thinking like analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Self-assessment is a valuable skill throughout one's lifetime, and producing a portfolio should help you develop this skill. Many professionals are required to produce a portfolio or a similar set of materials that document their accomplishments.

VII. Required and Recommended Reading