Course Title: Physics

Instructors: Mr. Hermon

Course Website: Physics.MyCyberSchool.org
Course No: 14845, 24845
Course Length:1 year
Credit: 2
Course begins: Fall
Prerequisites: Chemistry and Trigonometry

Course Synopsis: Physics is a two semester course that is taught by experimentation in the lab and reinforced by discussion among the students with the aid of the instructor. The first semester consists of the study of force, rectilinear motion, curvilinear motion, work, power and energy. This semester will finish with a comprehensive exam that can only improve your grade. The second semester consists of the study of wave motion, sound, light and its properties. During each of the first two quarters an engineering project must be completed in engineering teams of two. The projects are a mousetrap car and catapult car. During the 2nd semester, usually in April, a roller coaster project will be entered in the annual Tau Beta Pi/Iowa State University Roller Coaster Competition. This is a very large and stressful project so get a good start on it. You will be required to transport it in some way to Ames. Students will also be encouraged to participate in engineering competitions held throughout the year especially the Drake Physics Olympics. Also every year, in January, all physics students will be required to take the Drake Physics Exam. This website will hopefully be a useful tool to help you succeed in this challenging course. The lessons page on the website will be your most valuable tool in this course. It contains links to everything you need. The course is divided into lessons. Each lesson will consist of a reading assignment from the text, one online E-Lab and an online short answer exam. First semester the instructor will place all students into study teams of two based on their similar GPAs. Second semester the teams will be reformed based on first semester performance. All lesson exams and weekly CSI's will be taken together with your team. E-Labs, manuals and final exams will be completed by the individual.

Needs: You need to always come to class with the following: a great attitude and a smile on your face, writing utensil, CALCULATOR and your physics manual.

Exams: Physics exams will usually be given on block days because of their length and difficulty. The physics exams will consist of 20-30 problems and will also have two challenge problems at the end worth extra credit points. You must come to the exam with a Hermon's Helping Hand answer form which you will print off of the website. On this page you will see a box at the top in which you can write as many notes as you want prior to the exam. (Stay within the lines!) The exams will be online at MyCyberSchool.org and you will have multiple opportunities to enter answers until you get it right. You will only have until the countdown clock on the computer runs out to get as close to 100% as possible. The exams will be taken with your study team.

E-Labs: E-Labs are your homework set for a lesson. They are online at MyCyberSchool.org and you login and answer as many questions as you can. You can logout and then log back in to finish where you left off. The E-Labs for a lesson is due by the end of the day on the friday of an exam week. The percentage of completion on your homework will be entered into your report card as an E-Lab score out of 100. This means that if you are only 83% completed with the E-Lab when it is due then you will receive an 83/100 on your E-Lab score.

CSI: Every Sunday night the instructor will send out a CSI problem through the e-mail. CSI stands for Comprehensive Science Investigation. Your study team has one week to write up a report on the problem. Report sheets can be downloaded from the website. Each report will include the CSI title, your team members and your team group number. The report will be eloquently and neatly written and will conclude with the acronym QED which stands for Quod Erat Demonstrandum which is latin for "proven". The report page will be inserted into a yellow CSI folder and handed in to the correct slot at the front of the room.

Physics Manual: Your physics manual is also extremely important so DO NOT LOSE IT and take good care of it! You will have to pay $10 to have your manual replaced. At the end of each semester you will hand in your manual to be checked. All labs, discussion questions and checkmark problems should be neatly completed. This manual check will be worth 10% of your grade.

QED: QED is a sudoku puzzle that is on the front page of the website. It is a new puzzle each day. If students are logged in they can enter their solution and accumulate QED points throughout the year which will be used for extra credit.

Newsletter: On the front page of this website you should click on the subscribe link at the top to subscribe to the newsletter. The CSI problem, test reviews and important notices are sent through the newsletter.

Grades: The grading scale and grading categories are as follows.

Grading Categories:
Exams:	45%
E-Labs:	30%
CSI:	15%
Manual Check:	10%