Welcome to Physics 4A!

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Welcome to Physics 4A!

• Introductions
• Fill out the survey
• Meet neighbors
• Meet me
• About this subject, and about science
• About this class (syllabus, policies, etc.)
• Pre-class Assessment Group Activities

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Who Studies Physics? Why?

• Obvious Examples
• Engineers, Chemists, Geologists, etc
• Not-so-obvious examples
• Even less obvious examples!
• And even LESS obvious?
• Why study physics?

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Examples of Physics in our World

• Scotland Falkirk Wheel
• France Millau Viaduct
• China Three Gorges Dam
• Germany Prosthetics
• Britain Water-lens Glasses
• South Africa SALT
• Geneva Large Hadron Collider

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Examples of Physics in our World

• Scotland Falkirk Wheel
• France Millau Viaduct
• China Three Gorges Dam
• Germany Prosthetics
• Britain Water-lens Glasses
• South Africa SALT
• Geneva Large Hadron Collider

What do these have in common?? What does that
mean for you?
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My goals for you

• Help you be competitive when you transfer to a
  4-year university in your discipline
• which means.
• Equivalent Rigor
• Equivalent Expectations for Hours of Study
• State of the Art teaching with online tools

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Challenges you face

• Less time available to study
• Outside work, family, commuting
• Lack of support network
• No Fraternities, TAs, Dorms, Open Labs
• Library closed early Fridays/weekends
• Less Advanced Lab facilities

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but what you DO have!

• One professor for Lecture/Lab/Discussion
• Small classes
• No grade curves you control how well you want
  to do
• My promise - Ill work as hard as you do
• I love this subject!

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Welcome to Physics 4A!

• About this class Syllabus Calendar
• Key Policies Attendance Exams
• Our Textbook
• Great graphics
• Wide variety of problems
• Strong problem solving strategies

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Mastering Physics!

• Online Learning Mastering Physics
• Immediate check you are right/wrong
• Answer feedback to help you
• 24x7 availability anywhere
• Tutorials have multiple levels of hints
• I can see what you got wrong why
• Great visual narrated tutorials and resources

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Additional resources!

• Blackboard
• Homework Discussion Help
• Group Lab report storage/work areas
• Additional web resources for you
• TIPERS for discussions
• PhET and ActivePhysics tutorials

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Welcome to Physics 4A!

• Group Work!
• Introduce yourself again names, majors,
  transfer intentions
• Set up Mastering Physics access Course ID
  PHYSICS4AFALL2011HILDRETH
• Try Introductory Assignment
• Sig Figs exercise and challenge

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The Scientific Method

• Richard Feynman How not to be fooled.
• Observing
• Trends, Patterns, Singular Events
• Asking Questions
• What? When? Where? How? and WHY?
• Researching prior explanations models

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The Scientific Method

• Observing
• Asking Questions
• Developing Testable Hypothesis
• Karl Popper falsifiable!
• Creating Experiments to TEST Hypothesis
• Always uncertainty in every measurement result
• Building a model can be an experiment.

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The Scientific Method

• Observing
• Asking Questions
• Developing Testable Hypothesis
• Creating Experiments
• Analyzing results
• Anticipate sources of error
• Refine or Discard Hypothesis
• Develop further tests Repeat!
• Compare results w/ existing theories

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The Scientific Method

• Observing
• Asking Questions
• Developing Testable Hypothesis
• Creating Experiments
• Analyzing results
• Sharing Publishing results
• Submit a paper to peer-reviewed journal
• Ask colleagues for input
• Present at conferences
• Discuss, Debate, Defend results

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The Scientific Method

• Independent confirmation of results
• Other scientists, other experiments
• Revising Theories based on results
• Designing new equipment to test further
• An example of the process of science?

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The Scientific Method

• Observing
• Asking Questions
• Developing Testable Hypothesis
• Creating Experiments
• Analyzing results
• Sharing Publishing results
• Independent confirmation of results
• Revising Theories based on results
• Designing new equipment to test further

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A not-so-linear model!
Experiments
Observation
Publishing
Modeling
Revision
Data Analysis
Past Research
Developing Hypotheses
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A not-so-general model!
Advocates of New Theories
Instrumentation
Experimentalists
Engineers
Theoreticians
Past Research
Proponents of Established Theories