Mathematical Modeling
of the Physical World
PHYS 5373
Fall 2011
Instructor: Dr. David Lamp
David.Lamp@ttu.edu
(806) 742-3767
(806) 577-6420 cell
Synchronous Class Hours:
Monday 6:30 to 8
Asynchronous discussion: Email the whole class list (which will be
made available). Everyone contributing hit „reply to all‟.
Office Hours: As needed, email me, not the whole class for specific
questions and issues you (and you alone) may have. I will be at office
hours for this class specifically Tuesdays 7 to 9.
Textbook: Jeff Lee‟s The Scientific Endeavor ISBN 0-8053-4596-5. You
should still have a copy from IS 5301, your second course in the program.
There will be many handouts available as pdf files.
Materials Kit: Each student will pick up a kit of materials during the
summer 2011 course, use it in this fall 2011 course, and return it during the
summer 2012 final course. The materials enclosed are not cheap and are
not a gift; we need the kit back for the next class!
Course Description: This course is designed to explain the process and
rationale for using mathematics to model what happens in the physical
world. Examples will be used at all times, either the material will be
provided online or it is in your kit of materials provided to you at the 2011
summer‟s face to face courses. Some materials will be common items you
should have or be able to acquire.
The course will consist of short lecture chunks online followed by
spirited managed discussion. The discussion will be punctuated with added
lecture material and sharing what you each have done with the material
provided in the previous class meeting.
The topics chosen will emphasize the math and science middle
school (4-8) TEKS and will involve C-Scope references as possible. This
course should make the TEKS more obvious and will enhance your CScope delivery by explaining the why behind the stuff provided to you by CScope. We will all help one another with the implementation. The lecturer
will provide as much content enhancement as humanly possible. When the
course ends you should have a much greater appreciation of how math is
used in science, how science is used in math, how math motivates science,
how science motivates math, and how to integrate your math/science
delivery in teaching.
Learning Outcomes Assessment:
Learning Outcome
Assessment
Understanding of the scientific method
Scientific method paper
Teaching video
Integration paper
Teaching video
Electricity paper
Statistics paper
Understanding of math/science integration
Content: electricity, radioactive decay, statistics
Grading: Your grade will be based on your class interactions online and
through written exercises submitted. There will be a teaching activity to be
recorded. This will play a substantial part in your grade.
3 Teaching videos
4 Papers
Participation (real and virtual)
30%
40%
30%
Papers will be submitted electronically and returned by the same path.
Please submit papers in word document format double spaced for editing.
They may come back as word documents or pdf‟s depending on how the
grading process works out. The participation grade is fairly subjective. The
teaching videos will be evaluated for effectiveness using a rubric you are
provided. We will attempt to do 3 teaching videos over the semester.
Disability Accommodation
“The university is committed to the principle that in no aspect of its
programs shall there be differences in the treatment of persons because of
race, creed, national origin, age, sex, or disability, and that equal
opportunity and access to facilities shall be available to all.”
Any student who, because of a disabling condition, may require some
special arrangements in order to meet course requirements, should contact
the instructor as soon as possible so that the necessary accommodations
can be made. Students should present appropriate verification from
AccessTECH in the Student Counseling Center in West Hall. No
requirement exists that accommodation be made prior to completion of this
approved university procedure. Students who wish additional help involving
study skills, time management, exam anxiety, and other academically
related issues are encouraged to consult the PASS center, located in room
205 of West Hall.
Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to, cheating,
plagiarism, collusion, falsifying academic records, misrepresenting facts,
and any act designed to give unfair academic advantage to the student,
such as, but not limited to, submission of essentially the same written
assignment for two courses without the prior permission of the instructor or
the attempt to commit such an act.
Religious Holidays
Any student who intends to observe a religious holiday should make
that intention known to the instructor prior to the absence. A student who is
absent from class for the observance of a religious holiday shall be allowed
to take an examination or complete an assignment scheduled for that day
within a reasonable time after the absence.
Tentative Class Meeting Schedule PHYS 5373
Date Topic
Text
Jeff Lee The Scientific Endeavor
chapter 2
Aug 29
Scientific method and models
Math in the physical world
Sept 5
Labor Day Holiday
2
Sept 12
Proportion and ratio, a mathematical
perspective, scale modeling
Handouts on scale models
Solar System, Earth/Moon, Galilean
Moons, Galaxy, Atoms
3
Sept 19
Radioactive decay
Shroud of Turin handout
4
Sept 26
Radioactive decay
Jeff Lee The Scientific Endeavor
chapter 6
5
Oct 3
Motion revisited
CPO stuff from Physics 5371
Conservation of energy handout
Oct 10
Fall Break
6
Oct 17
More motion
Position, velocity, and acceleration
Galileo‟s inclined plane
Jeff Lee The Scientific Endeavor
chapter 9
7
Oct 24
Galileo‟s inclined plane
Galileo handout
8
Oct 31
Electric Circuits
9
Nov 7
Resistance and resistivity
10
Nov 14
Modeling resistivity
11
Nov 21
Voltaic pile
12
Nov 28
Electrochemistry / Modeling a pile
13
Dec 5
Integrating the math and the physics
into your classroom
1
Resistivity handout
Electrochemistry handout