Course:

How Things Work II, PHYS 606, is practical introduction to physics and science in everyday life. The course begins with a review of How Things Work I and therfore can be taken in any order. It treats objects involving electromagnetism, light, special materials, and nuclear energy. Topics include static electricity, electrostatic cleaners, levitating trains, flashlights, power distribution, tape recorders, audio amplifiers, computers, television and radios, sunlight, fluorescent light, lasers, cameras, knives, glass, plastics, medical imaging, and radiation.View lectures on CD's on your computer at home or school.  You will usually view three 50 minute  lectures per week.  I advise you to follow the course schedule. But you may also view the lectures  at a faster pace if you wish. See the syllabus for details. Exams and homework are delivered through WebAssign website. 

Graduate Credit:

This course is a graduate credit distant-learning physics course for study at home.   The level is suitable for K6-K12 teachers with a minimum knowledge of mathematics. This course can be used for re-certification, endorsement credit, and can be used in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters of Arts in Physics Education degree at UVa. 

Instructor of Record:

Professor Richard A. Lindgren
Office: Physics Room 302
Office Telephone: (434) 982-2691
FAX: (434) 924-4576
Electronic Mail: ral5q@virginia.edu
Department of Physics Office (434) 924-3781
University of Virginia

Demonstrator/Lecturer on CD-Roms:

Professor Lou Bloomfield
Department of Physics
University of Virginia

CDs:

This course is adapted from  Professor Lou Bloomfield's undergraduate course PHYS 106.  You will be sent approximately 40 Lecture/Demonstrations on 8 CD's in real media format for home viewing on your computer using software RealOne Player. To view the Lectures and Demonstrations on the CD's in real media format with your computer, you will need RealOne Player. You can download it from the internet for free. The website is at http://www.real.com/realplayer.html.
You may keep the CD's at the end of the course and use them in your classroom or even loan them to substitute teachers; however, you may not reproduce the CD's  under any circumstances.
To view or read other slides or notes, which are in PDF format, you may need the software program Acrobat Reader. You can download Acrobat Reader for free from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.


Chatroom Discussion on Wednesday 8:00-9:00 PM: (This date and time may be changed   See Discussion on Blackboard )

An informal discussion among participants including the instructor will take place once per week to answer questions of immediate interest. To access the chat room, click on  VIRTUAL  CLASSROOM in Blackboard, and then click on Enter Virtual Clasroom. Participation in the chat room is voluntary and is not graded.

Required Textbook:

How Things Work: the Physics of Everyday Life by Louis A. Bloomfield, 2nd Edition, ISBN 0-471-38151-9. You may order it from the UVa. Bookstore 434-924-1073 or online from Amazon.com. Additional material present in the 1st edition , but not in the 2nd edition can be found on the web at http://HowThingsWork.virginia.edu/instructors.htm


WebAssign:

WebAssign is a web-based homework and exam delivery, collection, grading, and recording service available to teachers and students. You will be given a user number and ID for you to log on to the system. Once you are logged on you have access to your homework assignments and/ or exams, etc. You may also ask any questions using WebAssign. You will submit your answers to any homework or exam using WebAssign. As a example, you may visit the WebAssign site by typing http://www.webassign.net/ and type in "demo" for username, institution, and password. We recommend that you use Internet Explorer or Netscape version 4.0 or later with a 28.8 Kbps modem or better. You will be given your own username and password after signing up for the course.

Listserve or Discussion Board / Blackboard:

You are expected participate on the class listserve. The listserve is basically class discussion among the participants. You are invited to make 3 constructive  comments on the material on the CDs, in the chapters, or on the problems for each of the 6 problem sets. Post these comments on the forum on the discusssion board for the appropriate problem set.  This will total 18 comments.  A comment may be a well poised question or query or an answer to someone else's question. "How do I do Question 2 in Problem Set 1" is NOT a qood comment and will not be counted. You may ask questions about problems if phrased in terms of the physics of the problem. If you make 15 or more constructive comments with at least 3 comments corresponding to each problem set until you reach 15 comments, you will obtain 5 points towards your final grade based on a 100 total points. If you make 12 good comments, then you get 4 points, etc. You can not make all the comments on one problem set. I will only count up to 3 comments per problem set. Deadlines for comments will correspond to the deadlines for the problems sets.

UVa email Address:

Everyone will be expected to register for their  UVa email address. This will allow you to have access to Blackboard which will be the forum for the listserve. Having a UVa email address will allow you to use ISIS, the system that keeps track of your grades at UVa. For example transcripts are requested through ISIS.

Grading Information:

Six Problem Sets are worth 25% of the final grade.
Exams 1 and 2 are worth 30% of the final grade.
Exam 3 is worth 10% of the final grade.
The final exam is worth 30% of the final grade.
Listserve participation is worth 5% of the final grade.

Honor Code

Honor System: I trust every student in this course to fully comply with all of the provisions of the UVA honor system. More information is given in the section on proctors and honor code.

Proctors

 Before taking any exam you will post on Blackboard your proctor's name, professional relationship with you, title, email address, and telephone. More details on proctors  is given in the section on  proctors and honor code.

January 7 2005