Physics 361 - Electronics Laboratory I

Overall Course Policies and Organization

Dr. Stuart Elston

Nielsen Physics 515

974-7818

selston@utk.edu

General Information

Meeting Time and Place: TR 12:40 - 3:25 Nielsen Physics Room 605

Office Hours: TR 10:10 - 11:00 and by appointment

Text: Martin Plonus, Electronics and Communications for Scientists and Engineers, Harcourt/Academic Press, 2001. ISBN 0-12-533084-7

Other Required Material: One lab notebook. Should be bound and quadrille-ruled. There are several 80-page versions in the UT Book and Supply Store for between $2 and $7. Other stores probably have similar offerings.

Prerequisites

Course Organization

As the detailed course description explains, this course is organized around six topical areas, which I call units. The first five of these units build upon each other to provide the basis for the sixth.

Each unit explores a topical area with several (2 to 4) lab activities. Since this is a lab course, reporting results is an important issue. Because written reports are very time consuming, only one lab measurement or activity per unit will require a written report, and only two of those will be full written reports; the other written reports will be skeletal reports which limit the prose required to a brief (one or two paragraphs) discussion of the results. The remainder of the reporting of activities will be done in class, in lab group whiteboard presentations.

Course Grades

Course grades will be based on a weighted average of both individual and group work scores, as follows:

Incomplete grades

Unless there are truly exceptional circumstances, I will not even consider awarding an incomplete grade to a student who has not completed at least half of the lab reporting activities (presentations as well as writen reports) for the term.

Lab Reports

Lab reports are due one week following the class meeting at which the last lab work for the lab exercise is completed. This applies to both skeletal and full lab reports.

Skeletal Lab Reports

Most of the written lab reports will be skeletal reports. There will be two full reports, one roughly midterm, probably for some aspect of unit 3, and a final report on the capstone lab activity. The midterm report will be a full one primarily to give you some feedback on what is expected in a full report.

A skeleton report consists of enough information to define the measurement(s) performed, the results of the measurement(s) - including the raw results and analysis and display thereof, and a brief discussion of the results. More detail and guidance on writing skeleton reports is available in the Lab Report Guidelines document in the Lab Notes section.

Full Reports

The final lab report, and at least one other, will be full lab reports. A full report should contain all of the elements of a skeleton report, but with more detail, and four additional sections: an abstract, an introduction, a description of the method(s) used to obtain the results, and a description of the results. In terms of the level of technical language that is used, it can assume the reader is a typical undergraduate physics, math, or other physical science major.

More detail and guidance on writing full reports is available in the Lab Report Guidelines document in the Lab Notes section.

Lab Report Scores

Lab report scores will be assigned on a 4-point scale, roughly corresponding to letter grades. Late reports will be assessed a one-half point penalty for each week overdue, up to a maximum of 1.5 points. Grading rubrics for both full and skeleton reports are available in the Lab Report Guidelines document in the Lab Notes section.

Lab Notebooks

Lab notebooks will be used to record all lab activities and preparation problems. Prep problems should be clearly labeled as such.

Lab Prep Problems

Lab prep problems will be worked out in the lab notebook. They will be assigned as appropriate to stimulate preparation for selected lab activities. See the Course Announcements section of the home page for specific assignments.

Group Work

Work in the "real world" often requires teamwork, and the same is true in a lab situation. To minimize the amount of lab report writing, and to provide opportunities for students to help each other, most of the lab activities will be reported to the class as a whole in short oral presentations that are supported by visual material prepared in advance on portable whiteboards. These presentations will be peer-evaluated as well as be evaluated by the instructor.

Whiteboard Presentations

Whiteboard presentations will be modeled in the first class. It is important that every student participate in the preparation and delivery of the whiteboard presentations. A grading rubric will be made available.