Physics 218 Honors

Student Evaluation

I would like to ask of each student that you complete the following questionnaire about your experience with this course. This is the first time that I have taught this particular course, and I need your feedback to do a better job next time.

1.  Labs. Please comment on each of the lab experiments in the course. What was good and taught you something new, what should be ditched?

Measurements / Did you learn something new? / Was it fun? / Comments
Vectors
Graph Matching
Acceleration of
Gravity (I)
Acceleration of Gravity (II)
Air Resistance
Elastic Collisions
Circular Motion
Simple Pendulum (I)

2.  Lab reports. Please comment on the form of lab reports that we use. One alternative would be to submit lab reports electronically, attaching spreadsheet analysis and graphics within a WORD document. Please comment.

3.  Videos/ demos. Some have suggested that we could provide more interesting labs by having students watch videos or live demonstrations of experiments that are more complex or difficult than could be expected to have small teams of students do independently in the lab. Please comment.

4.  Recitations. Which of the following formats would be a better approach to helping you with problem-solving skills?

a.  the present format, in which a teaching assistant leads a recitation hour each week before lab (smaller group than the lecture class), and the professor leads help sessions in the evening when there is interest.

b.  A fourth hour each week in which the professor does problem-solving for the whole class, with no recitation before lab.

5.  Quizzes. Should the quizzes be held at the beginning of class once a week (as we did this term), or at the beginning of each recitation?

6.  Weighting of course material. Do you consider the relative weights given to each component of your work in the course to be appropriate, or should the weights be different? If the latter, make a suggestion.

7.  Lecture presentation style. I lectured using the Elmo projector to display my writing on paper up onto the large screen. Was this effective? (I know my handwriting is less than perfect!) Could you suggest another format that would be better?

8.  Materials on the Web site. I posted the solutions to the exams on the web site, as well as the syllabus. Can you suggest materials that should be posted on the web site that would be helpful to you? I am reluctant to post detailed solutions to the homework, since such solutions then pass into the baseline inherited by next year’s class, defeating some of the value of their homework in their learning. You are welcome to comment.

9.  Computer homework. I assigned a number of computer homeworks, to be done in Excel. This appeared to be the first time many of you had used a spreadsheet for non-trivial calculations and graphing. Please comment if it was a helpful experience. I was unable to find a way so far to return the graded spreadsheets to you – I hope to lick that problem before next year’s class.

10.  Text. Yes, I know that HRK is not a perfect book! What are the things that you liked about it, and what did you not like?

11.  Honors scope and content. This is an honors course. Although the overall scope of the curriculum is comparable to that in the non-honors 218, I tried to cover that scope with more depth, more challenging problems, and more rigor than we do for baseline 218. To your taste, did I hit the right stride? If not, give me helpfuil suggestions.

12.  Any other helpful comments?