IDEAL SOLUTION
Through out this quarter you will be given approximately 30 daily homework assignments. Each assignment consists of one or two problems with several subparts each. Not counting possible bonus points, each daily assignment is worth 2 point. When added to your attendance (1 point/day), the homework alone constitutes about 2/3 of your homework/attendance grade; approximately 70 points for homework and 30 points for attendance.
Partial credit will be given for solutions that show some understanding of the principles of physics involved in the problem. The amount of credit given depends upon the level of understanding your solution indicates to me. Math errors will not automatically make your solution totally wrong if the procedure you are using is a correct method for solving the problem. It is possible to receive up to 80% credit on a problem and not have the correct numerical answer.
The partial credit given is weighted relative to the significance of the error. More importance is placed on your understanding of the underlying physics involved than on the minor details of your solution. Evaluation of your homework is carried out with the following question in mind, "Does this student's solution show that he/she understands the physics involved and what is going on in this problem ?" The more positive I can answer this question, the more credit you will receive.
This also means that if you expect to get any credit on your homework, you are obliged to show your work. A correct numerical answer by itself is not sufficient to receive credit for that problem. You need to show the equations and steps you used to arrive at your answer.
There are two ways you can obtain bonus credit up to 1 point extra per assignment (a 50% increase in your daily score).
First, there will be an extra problem beyond the required homework problems marked as BONUS question. Such bonus questions are generally worth 1/2 point (a 25% bonus).
Second, for homework problems in which your solutions are not only correct but well organized and easy-to-follow to my satisfaction, can earn you up to 1/2 point (an additional 25%). Additional information on a good solution can be found in the "Problem Solving Suggestion" section of the HOMEWORK ERRORS CATALOG.
Procrastination -- the art of keeping up with yesterday by cramming tomorrow -- is an inefficient way to learn. To discourage such a habit, late homework will not normally be accepted unless you make some arrangements with me ahead of time.
In the homework problems there are numbers that appear inside braces "{...}". The numbers in braces represent alternate or parallel forms of the homework problem. The answers for the numbers in braces are provided as an aid in helping you discover your own errors so that you can correct your misunderstandings while you are working the problem when the ideas and concepts are active in your thoughts. If you can work a problem with the numbers in braces and obtain the answers in braces, then there is a good chance that your understanding is on the right track.
For the solutions you turn in, disregard the numbers in braces. There are no answers provided for the problems you are required to turn in . Please do not turn in the braces form of the problems in your homework. It creates too much confusion in grading your work.
The objective of the homework is not to get the correct answers but to learn how to analyze problems, to apply the principles of physics, to manipulate the relevant equations, and to solve for the unknowns requested. To this end your work will be scrutinized closely by me to locate any misunderstanding of the physics involved, and/or any algebraic errors. It is to your benefit to do your own work. You will learn very little about your own thought process' and your own misunderstandings by having me correcting somebody elses errors in thinking.
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Intelligence is proved not by the ease of learning but by understanding what we learn.
JOSEPH WHITNEY |
The main purpose for grading the homework is so that you will be able to improve your understanding and your problem solving technique so that you can perform outstandingly on the exams. More importantly, so that you can take something with you from this class; the ability to think and analyze. A process that you can use when you are confronted with problems other than those in physics.
Locating and understanding your errors is an important technique in learning. To this end a list of the most common types of errors, their explanation, and suggestions for rectifying certain common mistakes can be found in the handout HOMEWORK ERRORS CATALOG. When you find some abbreviation in red on your corrected homework, look in the catalog for a more detailed explanation.
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If an error is corrected whenever it is recognized as such, the path of error is the path of truth |
The exam questions are designed to test your understanding of the underlying physics and not on your ability to memorize steps. Since most of the exam questions can not be solved by simply memorizing steps and robotly plugging in numbers, it is a self-defeating misapplication of the homework problems to:
(B) Always getting somebody to show you how to work the problem.
(C) Copying somebody else solution.
The answers in "{...}" are not there to help you figure out how to solve the problems but rather to help you check the correctness of your method.
If you work backwards from the answers in "{...}" to solve a problem it is entirely possible that you can find a way to produce the correct answer that is fundamentally fallacious but does work, by chance, in the special circumstances of this particular problem.
You are encouraged to study together, exchange ideas, argue, and help some each other discover how to solve a particular problem. This does not mean letting someone else do your thinking for you or copying their work step by step. Do your own work and your own thinking and you will make higher grades on the exams.
Once you think you understand how to solve a problem from an exchange of ideas, do your own work to solve the problem; do not copy somebody else's details. Experience has show that no two people clean a room exactly the same way even though the end results may be a clean room. We can argue over whose method of sweeping a floor is the fastest or the most elegant, but you must pick up the broom and take your own path to understanding.
Although some of the self-defeating methods listed above may work on the homework, none of these methods will work when you are taking an exam. The true test of your ability to reason is not what you do when you know what to do, but by what you do when you don't know what to do. Your ability to reason can only develop if you practice thinking. Trying to memorize enough steps and methods so that you have "all bases covered" is not an efficient use of your brain power. To become a human thinking and not a human file-cabinet, you need to own your own mistakes, and find your own way home by practice, thinking, and more practice.
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People are usually more convinced by reasons they discover themselves than those found by others.
PASCAL |