Description and Prerequisites
This course is intended for biology majors, other life science majors, and pre-health care professionals. The physics topics chosen are selected for these students and the contexts emphasize authentic biological examples. Prerequisites for the course include:
- One year of college biology (BIOL 110 and 111, BIOL 121 and 131, or the equivalent)
- One semester of college chemistry (CHM 109, CHM 115, or the equivalent)
- One year of college mathematics (MATH 231 and 232 or the equivalent -- calculus and introductory probability will be used)
What do I need to buy?
There is no textbook to buy for this course. There is a lot of reading, however, and you will be given links to on-line articles that you need to read before each lecture. There also is no lab manual to buy. The lab instructions will be made available online. You will need to have:
- An i>clicker -- a remote control device available at campus book stores. If you already have one, you can also use it here. Register your clicker following the instructions on the PHYS 233 Blackboard home page.
- An ExpertTA account for the on-line homework problems -- Click on this link ExpertTA and follow the instructions for entering your purdue.edu email address and for making payment.
What else do I need?
- A computer -- for access to ExpertTA, Blackboard, etc. (There are times when it could be handy to bring a laptop to lab also.)
- A spreadsheet program -- You may need to use Excel or Google Sheets in labs.
- ImageJ video analysis program -- You will learn how to quantitatively analyze images and videos. The tool we will use for this will be ImageJ. This program is freely available, developed for use in biology and medicine at NIH, and is the professional standard.
How do I succeed in this class?
Here is a brief outline of what you will need to do throughout the class. For more details, see the GRADES ETC page.
- Do the readings! -- This is the heart of the course. For each lecture and some labs there will be a required reading of about five web pages. For two of these, typically, you will be asked to summarize the page on your ExpertTA online homework program and ask a question about it. The lecture reading write ups will be due by 11:59 PM the night before the lecture class. You can also find the lecture reading assignments on the LECTURES page, and the Lab pre-readings under Recitation/Labs
-
Attend and participate
in all the lectures, recitations, and labs! -- Pretty obvious.
Class & lab & recitation discussions is where much of the real learning in this class
takes place. A major part of what you will be learning is how to
talk about and make sense of physics through problem solving with
your classmates and by designing, doing and analyzing experiments in lab.
-
Do the weekly
homework! -- This is good practice for exams too. You are encouraged to work with others. We will staff "Help Center" hours
where you can find people
to work with (and get help when you are stuck). But be careful! If
you work together DO NOT create a common solution and everyone copy
it. Once you have worked out a solution together, each person must
write it up separately in your own words. If two solutions are too
nearly identical, neither will get credit! Homework assignments themselves
are found on our Homework Assignment page.
-
Keep up! --
We know that you're busy, and in many other classes you can let things slide
and then catch up for the exam. In this class that will be very difficult.
Each lecture builds on the last, and on the homework from previous weeks.
If you miss too much you may find yourself lost. In addition, your grade
in this class is based on the accumulation of points in many different
categories throughout the term. For details see our
GRADES ETC page.
Times and Places
Time, Days | Place | |
---|---|---|
Lecture | MW 1:30-2:20 | |
Recitations | Wednesday |
|
Laboratory |
Thursday Section 003 11:30-1:20 Zachary Mitchell |
|
Help Center I | Professor Savikhin - TBA |
|
Help Center II | Friday - TBA - Zachary Mitchell |
Instructors
Name | Room | Office Hours | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Instructor | Prof. S. Savikhin | PHYS 64, phone 494-3017 | TBA | Professor Savikhin | |
TA | Zachary Mitchell | HELP CENTER PHYS 12A |
Zachary Mitchell |