Lectures:

Each week there will be two 1-hour long lectures on the subject outlined in the unit schedule. Lectures will be recorded on Echo 360 but lecture attendance is highly recommended.

Lecture 1: Thursday 10-11 am, E8A 341

Lecture 2: Friday 1-2 pm, W5C 320

Tutorials:

Each week there will be a 1-hour long tutorial. During the tutorial, one or more topics with relevance to the unit content will be discussed and debated. Specific topics for each week will be posted on iLearn in advance. It is expected that students come prepared to the tutorials so that they can make informed contributions to the discussions.

Tutorial: Thursday 11am-12 pm, E3B 118

Laboratories:

Time: Monday 9-11 am OR Friday 11-1 pm

Location: E7B 114 Physics Lab

Laboratories will commence in the third week of semester and students will work in pairs.

Lab Session 1 (week 3):  What is Sound?

Students will interact with demonstrations pertaining to Sound, with an emphasis on understanding how sounds can be generated. 

Lab Session 2 (week 4): Measuring Sound.

 Students will interact with demonstrations pertaining to Sound, with an emphasis on describing and measuring sound. 

Lab Session 3 (week 8): Classroom investigation about the speed of Sound.

Students will conduct a guided experiment to experimentally determine the speed of Sound.

Lab Sessions 4-6 (weeks 9-11):  An authentic, open-ended investigation

Students will conduct an open-ended inquiry on a topic of their choosing that relates to sound.  They will conduct research about the topic, carry out experimentation at home and/or in lab (weeks 9 and 10). They will give a presentation about their inquiry to the class in week 11.

Laboratory work will be assessed in three parts:

Part 1: Designing an Investigation. One 2-page investigation plan must be submitted by each pair. (25% of the total lab mark, due on the Monday in Week 9). 

Part 2: Presentation. Each pair will present the results of their investigation to the class. (25% of the total lab mark, during Lab session 6, week 11).

Part 3: Written report. Each student must submit an individual report. (50% of the total lab mark,  due end of week 12).

Further details will be provided on the first laboratory session in week 3.

Required and Recommended Texts and/or Materials:

Required Text: Physics and Technology for Future Presidents: An Introduction to the Essential Physics Every World Leader Needs to Know, Richard Muller, Princeton Press, 2010

The PHYS159 Laboratory Manual notes will be handed out at the laboratory sessions.

Other Introductory Physics textbooks, such as those by Hewett or Giancoli are also useful to read.

Teaching and Learning Strategy

This unit content is taught through lectures (including echo recordings), critical discussions (during tutorials, online and during lectures) and laboratory experiments. We strongly encourage students to attend lectures because they provide a much more interactive and effective learning experience than listening to a recording or studying a text book. Questions during and outside lectures are strongly encouraged in this unit - please do not be afraid to ask as it is likely that your classmates will also want to know the answer. You should read the relevant chapters of the textbook before the lectures and discuss the content with classmates and lecturers.

This unit includes a compulsory laboratory component. The activities in the laboratory sessions comprise an in-depth exploration of Sound through hands-on experimentation and investigation. The laboratory sessions should be an engaging, and enjoyable experience in which students learn by discovery and practice skills of observing, questioning, measurement, presenting and analysing data, and carrying out an investigation. 

You should aim to spend 9 hours per week on activities associated with this unit. Commentaries and discussions are key learning activities for this unit; they are not there just for assessment. It is by applying knowledge learned from lectures and textbooks to discuss questions and review information that you are best able to test and develop your skills and understanding of the material.

The number of lectures per week has been reduced from three to two and the tutorial is now held each week (instead of fortnightly). There are no written assignments required this year but the number of commentaries has been increased from three to four. Weekly quizzes have been introduced this year to encourage students to do the required pre-readings.

In order to better prepare the students for the laboratory sessions, the order the unit content will be delivered has been changed this year. Waves and Sound will already be introduced in Week 3, in time for the first laboratory session.

Student Liaison Committee

The Department of Physics and Astronomy values quality teaching and engages in periodic student evaluations of its units, external reviews of its programs and course units, and seeks feedback from students via focus groups, and the Student Liaison Committee(SLC). Please consider being a member of the SLC, which meets once during the semester with the purpose of improving teaching via student feedback. Meetings are open and friendly, and invite honest feedback. Student representatives receive a list of outcomes from the preceding meeting. At the beginning of each meeting, an update on the responss to feedback is provided by the Head of Department. Feedback is acted upon in a variety of ways, mostly initiated via department meetings where decisions on changes are taken.

Grades

The broad standards as defined by the academic senate can be found at

http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html