UND Physics & Astrophysics
Lab Syllabus for Phys 161L, 162L, 211L, 212L, 251L & 252L
Lab manuals:
 Collaborative Physics Problem Solving Laboratory,
 Collaborative Physics Problem Solving Laboratory,
 Collaborative Physics Problem Solving Laboratory,
 Collaborative Physics Problem Solving Laboratory,
(Lab manuals are available at the UND Bookstore.
Phys 161L, 161L
Phys 162L, 162L
Part I , 211L and 251L
Part II , 212L and 252L
Contact: Your TA Name________________________ Info___________________________________
Lab Supervisor _______________________________________________________________________
(P
Plan to stay for the whole lab period. This is important. You cannot finish quickly and leave early.)
Physics Department Lab Policy: To pass the course you must do all lab exercises including handing in
the reports. This is departmental policy with no exceptions. If you have to miss a lab, follow the make
up policy below. If you withdrew from the course but somehow you completed the lab previously, you still
may have to take the lab over as well. Check with your lecture instructor regarding departmental policy.
Labs account for 15% of your grade.
In Fall 2007 Physics 161L, 211L and 251L lab instruction switched to Collaborative Problem Solving
Laboratory (CPSL) with a new lab manual. During Fall 2008 Physics 212L, 252L also started using new
manual and the instructional format changed to CPSL.
Why we have changed to CPSL? In the previous physics lab system, you would perform tasks that
illustrate material covered in lecture. Students used to do work, fill in tables, calculate stuff, make graphs
as directed, but didn’t get much out of it. Our assessment data didn’t show much learning.
The idea of CPSL is that students should take an active role in learning physics, and get group problem
solving experience. It means more active participation by you, the student. You will get more out of lab
this way. You will get more out of lab this way. Of course, this means the labs will require effort on your
part.
What am I supposed to do?
1. Reading: There are pre-lab readings and work assignments. The textbooks should not be open in
lab. Read before you come.
2. Pre-lab problems: You will need to bring some completed, pre-lab exercise with you when
you come to lab. In the new book these assignments are spelled out for each lab.
3. Not much cook-book: There is not as much instruction in the standard step-by-step form, and
instead you find questions. As time goes on you become more and more responsible for your own
measurement procedures and designing your own data tables.
4. Work groups: You will be assigned at random to a group of three to four.
5. Roles: Each member within the group has a designated job title and specific responsibilities.
Pre-laboratory work:
The Problem Solving Lab exercises are designed to refine your understanding of physics you have
encountered in the class. So the labs should follow the lectures. Sometimes this will not be the case, but
usually it will. By the time you come to the lab we expect you to have at least some familiarity with the
physics concepts involved and to be ready to work with them and even tackle harder problems like the
seemingly undefined problems you might face in the real world. Quite likely they will be like problems you
face in upper-division courses in your field that might involve physics concepts.
There is no use doing the lab exercises if you haven’t done the assigned reading. If you are not ready for
the lab you will not learn much from it. You won’t know what’s going on. Lab activities will appear to you
as just busy work, painful and dull. But if you are prepared you should find that you can really get into it;
you should get some real satisfaction and gain much needed confidence. Pre-lab exercises are designed
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to check your readiness for the lab and to make sure you are really there. In other words, Pre-lab
questions check your reading and give you some idea what you are doing in lab.
Before coming to lab you will do some assigned reading and work some pre-lab exercises. Your teaching
assistant (TA) will check these exercises when you come into lab to see that you have done the pre-lab
work. The pre-lab questions may not focus on exactly the same problems you face in lab, but will be close
enough to give you some central ideas. You may not enter lab until you have completed the pre-lab. Your
TA may give you quizzes on the pre-lab material. Later, when you pass in the report, the pre-lab
exercises will be attached.
Group response: Another part of pre-lab activity takes place in the lab room with your group—before
actually doing lab work—and involves answering prediction and method questions. How your group works
is outlined below. Answering these helps you see what the measurement problem (lab activity) means
and gives an idea of how to start.
Lab activity overview: During lab, one task will always be to make a measurement plan. The
measurement plans will include a statement of who does what, etc. For each problem (lab activity) you
predict outcomes and answer method questions before developing your plan. At appropriate points during
the lab period, the TA will have you break down into work group-centered discussion and then each group
will report to the class using white boards provided. At the end of class, when you have finished your
measurement problems, the TA will lead the class in a follow-up discussion, and you will answer another
question or two. On the following pages you will find more about the problem-solving teams and a
detailed description of what your work will consist of.
What will hands-on laboratory activity consist of? The actual laboratory problems are somewhat like
textbook problems, except that there is actual physical equipment, and your solution involves actually
making measurements. The problems have some context, just as they would in the textbook. Some
problems are qualitative (what and how) while some are quantitative.
Lab activity associated with a quantitative problem
1. Usually we call the quantities the problem asks you to calculate the target quantities.
2. You calculate a target quantity in terms of other variables. This is a prediction.
3. On the one hand you measure these other variables and use your quantitative prediction to
predict the numerical value of the target quantity. You must also estimate the size of the errors.
4. On the other hand you measure the value of the target quantity. Then you can compare.
This lets you see whether the solution (prediction part) agrees with measurement. Having a prediction
Plan to stay for the whole lab period. You cannot finish quickly and leave early.
Problem-Solving Teams: Your lab section will be divided up into groups. The groups are assigned
randomly by your TA to reduce visiting. This is done so that you learn to solve problems as part of a work
group. It is a skill you will use in later life. Each member of the group will have an assigned set of duties.
Group roles: So in the laboratory, you will work in groups to solve written and experimental problems. To
help you learn work together, each group member is assigned a role. Roles are defined below.
In each team there is a Manager or Task Master, a Recorder/Checker and other members are Skeptics.
Actions
What it sounds like
Manager or Task Master
 Direct the sequence of steps.
 Keep your group on track
 Make sure everyone participates.
 Watch the amount of time spent on each step.
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"We need to move on to the next step
at this time."
"Chris, are you following this? What
have you got for notes?"
UND Physics & Astrophysics
Recorder and Checker
 Act as a scribe for the group.
 Check the understanding of group members.
 Make sure members agree on plan and actions.
 Make sure all names get on the group products.
Skeptic
 Help your group avoid coming to agreement too
quickly.
 Make sure all possibilities are explored.
 Suggest alternative ideas.
"Do we all understand the program
here?"
“There’s one thing I’m not clear on
myself; can someone explain?”
"So we turn the high voltage on now?"
"What other possibilities are there?"
"Let’s try to look at this another way."
"I’m not sure we’re on the right track."
What happens in lab?
The TA will check to see that everyone has completed the pre-lab assignments.
1. First 15 minutes, get pre-lab checked and go to your group’s table.
a. There may be pre-lab assessment questions or a quiz, as directed by your TA.
b. As directed, your group will answer method and assessment questions and respond.
c. Work cooperatively on group answers to the predictions and method questions. These
are written down by your group’s recorder. A group member will be asked to report.
2. Most of the lab period (work problems)
a. Explore the equipment.
Revise based on
b. Make predictions, involving calculations
preliminary results.
c. Check the predictions.
d. Decide on a measurement plan.
e. Execute the measurement plan.
f. Analyze data as you go along.
g. Discuss what you have learned and compare to predictions.
h. Finish work on the problem, preparing to report a solution.
i. Recorder will write your team’s solution and conclusions on the board.
3. During the last 5 or 10 minutes
a. Participate in class discussion of what has been learned.
b. Participate in discussion on group functioning.
c. Answer brief post-lab assessment questions.
4. On the way out, the TA will check to see that you have recorded the necessary data and
answered the discussion questions. All of these things are handed in later with your report.
What you hand in (for every lab):
a. Lab cover page (Fill in your name, get a signature from your TA before you leave the lab, etc).
b. Pre-lab exercises
c. Lab work consists of data, analysis including sample calculations, graphs, answers to all
questions, conclusions. Use blank spaces in the lab manual and if necessary attach
extra pages.
For full credit you need a discussion of your group’s predictions and of the measurement plan you
decided to follow for each problem actually assigned. You need a brief description of the apparatus. As
you can see, making quantitative predictions is essentially solving a physics problem. So you need to
identify the appropriate physical principles and present example calculations, as you would in homework.
Then when you make measurements, you’re either measuring a target quantity or else a quantity to plug
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UND Physics & Astrophysics
into the prediction, which you have to explain. Often you’re asked for a graph. When drawing a graph,
make it large enough to show the details. Often you will need to attach extra pages. Label axes with the
names of variables and units. The graph title should be specific and should include, for instance,
conditions under which the measurements were taken. If you expected data to fall on a straight line, draw
a best fitted line and find the slope of the graph. Sometimes the computer is a good tool for this, but you
need to explain. When you compare results, quantitative or qualitative, with predictions, you have to
discuss agreement. If they don’t agree, you need to explain that. What happened? Does this make you
revise your thinking? One issue will always be whether or not the discrepancy between what you predict
and what you measure can be covered by the predicted size of errors from sources you have identified.
You should draw your own conclusions based on your experimental data. How do the problems relate to
lecture or the text? Most often your lab period will involve collaborative group learning. In cooperative
group learning (CGL) environment you should discuss the problems together in order to achieve success
for the group as a whole. However, you should write your conclusions in your own words.
Reports Deadlines: Reports due are about three days after each lab session. Your TA will decide exactly
how this works. A cart with slots to receive lab reports is located on the second floor of Witmer Hall
outside Room 206. Even if you are allowed to turn in a lab late: Penalty for late reports is 1 point (5%)
off a full grade per week late. Reports must be turned in no later than two weeks after they are due. Absolute
deadline for turning in any lab is noon, Reading and Review Day of the semester.
When You Miss a lab: In cooperative problem solving, because you are part of a group, there are not
supposed to be any makeup labs. However for practical reasons, you might be allowed to make up a lab
unit by yourself with your TA’s permission. Under no circumstances can you make up more than two labs
per semester. Arrangements need to be made for this and the TA will decide whether or not to permit a
make up. If at all possible, let the in instructor know ahead of time if you feel you must miss a lab. You will
not be allowed to make it up more than two weeks after the unit is finished. In case the TA does allow a
make-up, it may be that you will be required to attend another section during the time that section is doing
the lab you missed. You may attend another section only with approval from your Lab TA and from the TA
of the other section. But most lab sections are full, and due to the University regulation for safety, the
maximum number allowed is limited to 21. You cannot to walk into other sections without TAs’ approval.
So remember: making up a lab is subject to the instructor’s approval. If you know you have to miss one,
contact your instructor as soon as possible.
No makeup lab will be allowed after two weeks from the time when the lab was initially scheduled.
Not more than two makeup labs per semester and even then only with permission of your TA.
Lab reports are graded and returned within a week. If you do not get graded reports back within a week it
is your responsibility to check with your lab instructor. If you do not receive a graded report (formal or
otherwise) within two weeks, please report this to the lab supervisor. Keep all graded lab reports. At the
end of the semester in case problems arise we can correct them only if you present us the graded
reports.
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