Please see course website for logistics and timeline.
Text: We will use prepared videos and online reading. We will also use DH’s textbook:
Physics of Societal Issues: Calculations on National Security, Environment, and Energy, 2nd edition, David Hafemeister, Springer 2014, available at the book store
Grading:
Exams will be graded A, B, C, D, F, based on ability to communicate knowledge to me. Please notice the inclusion of “I can read and understand”, thus you are being graded not on your answer or even your understanding, but on your communication to me.
D: Be present and attentive in class a majority of the time. Exams: correctly identify underlying concepts and societal/environmental context a minority of the time that I can read and understand. Set up computation correctly that I can read and understand a minority of the time.
C: Be consistently present and attentive in class and related activities. Consistently be prepared for class by watching videos and reading. Produce a project video of “C” quality or better. Exams: Correctly identify underlying concepts and societal/environmental context a majority of the time that I can read and understand; set up computations and express important facts from class material a majority of time that I can read and understand.
B: Be consistently present and attentive in class discussions and related activities. Consistently prepare for class by watching videos and reading, and come to class with questions related to material. Produce a project video of “B” quality or better. Exams: Consistently correctly identify underlying concepts and societal/environmental context that I can read and understand. Be able to draw from examples in the news and personal experience. Set up and work through computations and express important facts from class material a majority of time that I can read and understand. Make correct use of units the majority of the time that I can read and understand.
A: Be consistently present, attentive, and proactive in class discussions and related activities. Consistently prepare for class by watching videos and reading, and come to class with questions related to material. Produce a project video of “A” quality or better. Exams: Consistently identify underlying concepts and societal/environmental context that I can read and understand. Consistently draw from examples in the news and personal experience. Consistently set up and solve computations and express important facts from class material. Consistently use units correctly that I can read and understand.
F: Does not achieve threshold level for D
Class Work: After you are exposed to the material at home via videos and reading, you will work as a group to solve problems in class. I will often help your group, or address the class as a whole. Your group (of 3 or 4 students) will submit all your classwork (or group quizzes) together. We will staple them together and evaluate the work from one student in the group. Class work “grades” may be recorded, but will not count toward your final grade.
Problem Sets: Usually due Monday in class. These are graded A,B,C,D,F based on the above criteria. The grade is recorded, but will not be used toward your final grade. Hence, the only incentive to do the homework would be to learn the material for the exams and any other internal motivation such as the good times you’ll have solving problems with your friends, the resilience you’ll gain in the process, and how much you’ll impress people at social gatherings when you can kick around concepts like externalities and the relevance of marginal electricity. The graders will provide only this letter grade and possibly some advice that may help you in the future. I encourage you to hand in your problem set as a group. I will not collect late homework as I’ve found this responsibility greatly complicates my life. However, you can turn in late homework for partial credit in the box outside Pete’s door.
It would be a very good idea to completely understand the past homework assignments, quizzes, and class tests before each exam
Formula Sheets: You are welcome to build your own formula sheet provided it has no more than 50 ideas = combined formulas and statements. No formulas will be provided to you for an exam. I recommend that you start a formula sheet now and add formulas as they appear in the videos. Any drawing counts as 5 ideas.