Course Post-delivery Review

Course: PHGN 200: Introductory Electromagnetism and Optics

Term: Fall 1999

Instructor: J. A. McNeil

I. Learning Objectives (from course syllabus)

a. to understand the fundamental laws of electromagnetism as summarized in Maxwell's equations and related concepts and principles,

b. to be able to recognize and apply these laws in conjunction with the fundamental laws, concepts, and principles of mechanics (Physics I) using calculus, and

c. to construct an appropriate understanding of the electromagnetic properties of physical systems in an applied context.

II. Evaluation Criteria and Assessment Instruments

a. Greater than 80% of students receive an overall grade of C or better. Assessment instrument: final grade in course based upon examinations, graded homework, quizzes, and lab reports.

b. Greater than 80% of students are able to apply the electromagnetic principles in conjunction with the appropriate mechanics concept to construct a mathematical realization and understanding of a physical problem successfully. Assessment instrument: specifically-designed final examination questions and lab reports.

c. Greater than 80% of students are able to recognize fundamental electromagnetic phenomena in real-world natural and applied contexts. Assessment instrument: specifically-designed final examination questions and lab reports.

III. Evaluation of Instruments relative to Learning Objectives

a. Review of final grade distribution finds that 73% of students completing Phgn200 received a grade of C or better. A review of grades in the various components making up the final grade (CAPA, recitation quizzes, laboratory work, and examinations) reveals that students generally perform lower on the exams than on the other components. However, a significant number of students do not score satisfactory on the CAPA homework which indicates a lack of effort for these students since the multiple attempts available to the student should allow a high level of performance with sufficient effort.

b. Review of targeted final exam question performance shows that 58% of students completing Phgn200 are able to apply the electromagnetic principle in conjunction with the appropriate mechanics concept to construct a mathematical realization successfully.

c. Review of targeted final exam questions performance and laboratory reports that 73% of the students completing Phgn200 are able to recognize fundamental electromagnetic phenomena in novel real-world natural and applied contexts.

d. Review of the targeted examination question shows that 52% of student teams are able to estimate and propagate errors.

e. Review of lab reports show that 93% are able to conduct the experiments and report their results satisfactorily.

IV. Recommendations

a-b. Approximately 73% of students received a grade of C or better, yet only 58% showed an ability to solve problems involving use of calculus and other analytic skills. Recommendations: (1) reduce content coverage to allow more time for developing problem-solving skills, (2) improve student help outside of class, (3) work with math department to develope those specific skills important to physics problems, and (4) spend more time in recitation on problem-solving skills.

c. To improve recognition of physics concepts in novel real world applications recommend more recitation time be spent on modeling this skill for a broader array of real-world applications.

d. Another clear weakness is in error analysis which is taught exclusively in the laboratory. Recommend a meeting with lab coordinator and TAs to determine a better approach to teaching error analysis.

e. There seems to be an unacceptable disconnect between the error analysis results and final lab grades. Recommend that error analysis have greater emphasis in the grading of lab reports.

V. Implementation Plan

a-b. (1) No change in the content: the curriculum content may not be significantly reduced without physics faculty approval. The expansion of content due to the curriculum reform to include an introduction to optics is considered important for later courses. The remainder of the curriculum is minimal to meet content breadth objectives. (2) Student Development Center assistance (which runs the tutoring labs) is actually under-utilized (except right before examinations) so an expansion is not likely. Faculty office hours are already saturated. Plan is to require and advertise better TA office hours to provide a local source of additional extra-class help. (3) Communication with Prof. Robert Underwood of the mathematics department has been initiated. (4) Recitation time is already 90% devoted to problem solving skills with the remaining time devoted to recognition of physics principles in applied contexts.

c. As mentioned above, the recitation time is already heavily devoted to the area needing the most attention, namely problem-solving. Will make a better attempt at integrating problem-solving with physics principles recognition.

d-e. A meeting with the lab coordinator revealed a significant weakness in TA training. Apparently, several of the TAs were not teaching proper error analysis. The corrective action is to have the lab coordinator conduct a TA training session before the start of the term to insure that they are teaching correct error analysis principles. Greater weight will be given to the error analysis portion of the lab reports as well.