STEM Symposium Presentations:Tuesday, May 01, 2012 8:00 AM-5:00 PM. Evergreen Marriott Conference Resort, Stone Mountain

A STEM Initiative II mini-grant that pertains to Course-Imbedded Research. Last semester, the STEM Initiative II Team submitted and received IRB approval for all mini-grants awarded through the STEM Initiative Grant. This means that you do not have to submit individual IRBs for your mini-grants. However, you will still need to assess and evaluate your mini-grant, in particular, the content component and the student-research component.

Assessment and evaluation of your mini-grant comprises 4 key components:

1) Student consent form:

Prior to administration of all assessments, students MUST complete a consent form. The GGC-IRB approved Consent Form is attached. Please print both the Consent Form and the Pre-Assessment Form and administer during the first week of class. Please remind students to sign (signature NOT print) the consent form. Remember to include your course and section number on the forms.

2) Content Assessment – Pre and Post assessments:

You will need to develop your own content assessment for your course. Development and administration of the content assessment is your responsibility. Depending on your mini-grant, you may want to administer your content pre-assessment at the start of the semester or at the start of your new module. Post assessments should also be administered at the end of the semester. Your Course Content Assessment should also include components related to your discipline’s research skills. You may wish to assess how your research-based module affected students’ research skills. You are responsible for analyzing your own content / research skills assessments.

3) 4-yr Undergraduate Research Experience Assessment- Pre and Post assessments:
Since the STEM Initiative II Team will need to assess and evaluate the overall grant (4 yr URE) and all strategies related to the grant, we have developed student assessment surveys (IRB approved) for all mini-grants that deal with student-research components of all mini-grants. The attached survey (4-yr URE CIRP Survey) is a general PRE-ASSESSMENT Survey for all Course-Imbedded Research Mini-Grants. Please administer this Pre-Assessment Survey during the first week of class. If you are implementing both “research” sections and “control” sections, please send this survey to all lab instructors involved in your project. An identical Post-Assessment survey will be sent to you at a later date; this will be administered at the end of the semester. Please read the instructions at the top of the survey to your students prior to the start of the survey. Clay Runck is in charge of the assessment component of the STEM Initiative II Grant. Please submit this assessment (4-yr URE survey forms only) and all signed student consent forms to Clay.

4) Assessment and Evaluation Report:

Your final report (due at the end of the semester) must include a section on Assessment and Evaluation. This section should include your assessment data and a general summary of how the grant worked, effect on student learning, what faculty learned, and whether or not is it being adapted by other faculty.

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An important component of our STEM Initiative grant is the dissemination of information to colleagues, both internally and externally. The SST STEM Symposium is being organized with this in mind.

The morning sessions will be devoted to presentations on the mini-grants that were funded in fall and spring. Give a presentation about your mini-grant….description, results, data (if any), impact on students, etc, etc.

We would like you to take this opportunity to let the rest of your colleagues know what you have been involved in.

For those of you who just received funding this semester, you can give us an update or present any data that you may have.

Summer 2012 Courses: May 23, 2012 - Jul 23, 2012

Summer 2012 Courses: May 23, 2012 - Jul 23, 2012


PHYS 1111K - Introduction to Physics I
4.000 Credit hours
3.000 Lecture hours
1.000 Lab hours
Class 2:00 pm - 4:45 pm MW Building A 1280 May 23, 2012 - Jul 23, 2012
Lab 2:00 pm - 4:45 pm TR Building A 1280 May 23, 2012 - Jul 23, 2012

Prerequisite(s): MATH 1113 An introductory course which will include material from mechanics, thermodynamics, and fluids. Elementary algebra and trigonometry will be used.

Upon completion of this course students will:
(1) Ascertain the basic concepts of mechanics;
(2) Learn the role mathematics plays in physics as the foundation for quantitative analysis and unambiguous communication;
(3) Learn how to apply the basic laws of physics to problem solving in a simplified version of nature;
(4) Appropriately use tools and instruments for observing, measuring, and manipulating objects in scientific activities;
(5) Learn the computational and estimation skills necessary for analyzing data and following scientific explanations;
(6) Communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly;
(7) Apply the important features of the process of scientific inquiry;
(8) Be familiar with the historical development of physics laws and their impact on the society and mankind;
(9) Recognize how physics is related to other science and engineering disciplines.



PHYS 2211K - Principles of Physics I w/Lab
4.000 Credit hours
3.000 Lecture hours
1.000 Lab hours
Class 6:00 pm - 8:45 pm MW Building A 1280 May 23, 2012 - Jul 23, 2012
Lab 6:00 pm - 8:45 pm TR Building A 1280 May 23, 2012 - Jul 23, 2012

Prerequisite: MATH 2200 An introductory course which will include material from mechanics, thermodynamics, and fluids. Elementary differential and integral calculus will be used.

Upon completion of this course students will:
(1) Ascertain the basic concepts of mechanics;
(2) Learn the role mathematics plays in physics as the foundation for quantitative analysis and unambiguous communication;
(3) Learn how to apply the basic laws of physics to problem solving in a simplified version of nature;
(4) Appropriately use tools and instruments for observing, measuring, and manipulating objects in scientific activities;
(5) Learn the computational and estimation skills necessary for analyzing data and following scientific explanations;
(6) Communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly;
(7) Learn the relationship between real-world and controlled phenomenon;
(8) Be familiar with the historical development of physics laws and their impact on the society and mankind;
(9) Recognize how physics is related to other science and engineering disciplines.

Changes to Prerequisites for Physics 2212 Effective Fall 2012

Starting Fall 2012, PHYS 2212K will require students to take Calculus II as a prerequisite. As the 2211/2212 sequence is primarily taken by Biology majors, the Physics requirements for the Biology tracks will also change at this time. For all tracks except Biochemistry, students will have the option to take the 1111/1112 or the 2211/2212 sequence. Students in the Biochemistry track will still have to take the 2211/2212 sequence, and will have Math 2210 (Calculus II) added to their program of study as a required course.

Students who want to take advantage of this change will need to change their catalog year with the registrar's office to reflect the new program. Students who have already or are currently taking PHYS 2211 and want to complete PHYS 2212 need to take PHYS 2212 over the summer, otherwise they will have to take Math 2210 first. Students who have completed PHYS 2211 will be able to sign up for PHYS 1112 to complete the sequence if they change to the new program plan.

Starting in Fall, all students must take Math 2210 before taking PHYS 2212.

Registration questions to be directed to : lynnmiller4@XXc.XdX

Course cordinators, lab managers, and changes in Physics pre-requirements

1) The coordinator position is given some weight when school committee assignments are made. However, the Dean's office assumes that the coordinator will keep the responsibility for the entire academic year. Based on this years list, we would also get credit for a coordinator for a sequence (we could group 1111 & 2211 instead of 1111 & 1112). We should discuss if this is how we want to do this.

2) If the Lab position is on the committee list again next year, then this will also be a academic year commitment. I would therefore make sense to me that whomever is the lab person for our 3 rooms (A1280, H1140, & H1139) make a commitment to teach at lease one course in that room both terms (PHYS 1111/2211, PHYS 1112/2212, and PSCI 1101 respectively).

3) The coordinator of classes with part-time faculty will need to interface with these individuals on a regular basis. It therefore makes sense that the coordinator is assigned as the part-time persons mentor for the term/year. I would like to request this happen when we submit the list of coordinators. This will be of particular importance for PSCI 1101 & 1102 (if we have adjuncts teaching physics themes), and ISCI 2002 (unless chemistry takes this class).

On another note, I also have additional news on our prerequisite change for 2212. As I somewhat expected, we may have some students in PHYS 2212 in the Fall who do not have Calculus II and are planning on graduating in December. I have copied a message from a biology faculty to students (after the faculty member discuss the situation with the Dean) below.

In the fall, Biology majors will be required to take algebra based physics, Phys 1111 and 1112. They will still be required to take Calculus. Most Biology majors in progress who have not initiated the physics series need to switch to the new catalog and proceed with the Phys1111 and 1112 series. (Biochemistry track students must take Calc II and Phys2211 and 2212.)

But students who will graduate in December and planned to take Phys2212 in the fall have several options:

• Switch to the new catalog and take Phys1112. (For some this switch will entail taking 3 credits of PE, depending on the catalog you started under. But this might be a suitable option if you already have the PEs).
• Take Physics 2212 this summer.(For students who have already made summer plans, this option is not suitable.)
• Take Calc II and then take Physics 2212 and hang at GGC until Spring 2013.
• Dr. Mundie has talked with the physics faculty and they are aware that some continuing students will need to take Physics 2212 in the fall without having Calc II. Students should proceed with enrolling in Phys2212 and identify themselves to their instructor as not having CalcII. Physics faculty are prepared to accommodate these students. Depending on when Banner is updated, you may need a prerequisite override to enroll in Phys2212, be prepared to ask for this override.

This exemption should only effect a few students, and only occur in Fall. The people teaching 2212 in the fall will need to take this into account.

About STaRS

For the STARS event, (what physics did last year, and will most likely do again this year), we give the students the option of testing their projects (Catapults for 1111 & 2211 and Rube-Goldberg Machines for 1112 & 2212). If the students have class during the STARS event, then they must test their project during STARS, if they do not have class at that time (my class for example), then they can test the project during STARS, in which case they will not need to come to class on Friday morning.

Ask the Physics Rep on the STARS committee to have the catapult start at 1. I would then encourage both classes to come present at that time. However, you will need to be available to have the students test during the normal class time as well. You should also plan on having some of other instructor's students coming to present during STARS. Work out who will man the catapult testing during which times (I would ask for it to run from 1 to 3 for example).

Last year, the Rube-Goldberg Machines were in A1280, and the catapults were done outside of campus police during STARS (had to be at end of the hall due to foot traffic) and outside of A1280 before and after STARS.

If it is similar to the last few years, any time people have to assist with set-up and clean-up is greatly appreciated.