• 

  Readings and Quizzes - 20 points

  In order to spend more class time working with the material, you will be expected to read certain sections in advance. About once a week, there will be a quiz on your reading to check your understanding.

  I think that Griffiths is one of the best physics textbook authors out there. His writing is generally clear and concise. Moreover, learning how to learn physics by reading is a critical skill to develop. As such, I will expect you to do some readings to be prepared for class. Finally, by mastering some basic definitions etc. in the readings, we can spend more class time working with the ideas.

  These readings will be posted in the weekly schedule on the Course Home Page as well as announced on Discord.

  To ensure you are keeping up with these readings, and with the course in general, we will have quizzes once a week generally on Tuesdays. These will be simple two question quizzes on the fundamentals and definitions. I will let you know the rough topics for each quiz in advance: I want folks to be prepared for class!

  I may also have other quizzes on other topics from time-to-time as deemed necessary: for example, if I deem that review of some math topic is generally required.

  In general, I do not do makeup quizzes as that requires me to withhold the solutions from everyone else. Instead, as an acknowledgement that life happens, I will drop the lowest two quizzes. If this is not enough, we can speak as to your specific situation.

• 

  Homework - 20 points

  You probably know this by now, but in order to learn physics, you must do physics. Thus, homework is critical.

  How often will we have homework?

  You can expect homework every week, though I may make some exceptions around the midterm etc. All dates will be on the Course Homepage and in the Discord Announcements.

  When will homework be due?

  Homework will be due on Tuesdays by the start of class in the box I have reserved for it in the lobby of Hasbrouck.

  How will we turn it in? Must we type it?

  You will turn in physical copies. Typing mathematics is always a bit cumbersome and encourages folks to omit steps. Thus, I am encouraging you NOT to type it, but instead to hand write it. Of course, if you want to sketch a graph or something, feel free to use your favorite software, but you will need to ultimately print it out.

  That being said, I expect your homework to be neat (if we cannot read it we cannot grade it!). This includes placing your name and page number on each page. That way, if they get separated, we can put things back together. Moreover, I expect your homework to include some descriptive text of what you are doing and any interpretation: your submitted homework should not just be a list of equations! Being able to write about physics is important too.

  What if I am absent on the day homework is due?

  Have a friend turn it in, or failing that email our TA by the beginning of class to arrange turning it in.

  How long will the homework be?

  Each homework will be about 5 problems. These problems do take a while, so don’t leave them until the last minute!

  Can we work together?

  I encourage students to talk with your classmates about the homework problems, and to consult other books. However, after you have discussed the problem, you must go home and do it yourself to turn in. The work that you turn in must be your own. When you use any source, you must give credit to your sources. The only exceptions to this rule are:

  • Me.
  • Our TA.
  • Your notes.
  • The two textbooks for this course: Griffiths and Mathews & Walker.

  Do this whether the source is another textbook or something you got from the student next to you. If you turn in work without a reference, you are claiming it as your own work. If it is not your own work, you are cheating. The easy way to stay out of trouble is simply to explain where anything that is not your own work comes from.

  While I obviously expect citations in your homeworks, I am not a stickler for the formatting: just make the source clear enough that I could find it if I needed to.

  How will the homework be graded?

  Each problem will be graded on two scales: one for accuracy and one for clarity. As a consquence, instead of weighting each assignment the same, I will weight each problem equally.

  Accuracy will be on a 5-point scale:

  5. Perfect.
  6. Minor algebra mistakes.
  7. You took a wrong turn somewhere or didn’t quite make it all the way to the end.
  8. Only made it about half way or so.
  9. Didn’t make it half way, but made an serious start.
  10. Didn’t make a serious start.

  Clarity will be on a 3-point scale:

  3. Perfectly neat and clear.
  4. Some lack of clarity or some words could be used to flush out the meaning.
  5. Just a list of equations with no support.
  6. Unreadable.

  Thus each problem will ultimately be on a 0-8 written as 5+3 for example.

  Is late homework accepted?

  I have found the hard way that permitting late homework inevitably encourages folks to get behind. A situation which can then snowball resulting in students never really catching up. As such, late homework is NOT accepted. However, in further recognition that life happens, the lowest homework will be dropped.

  Where can I get help on the homework?

  We will offer two “discussion sections” for folks over the course of each week: one with me and one with our TA at a time we will decide on the first day to maximize everyone’s ability to attend.

  You are also encouraged to work with your peers over the Discord.

• 

  Metacognitive Exercises - 20 points

  “Practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.”

  -Melissa Stevens (one of Dr. Toggerson's ballet teachers)

  Doing the problems is, in of itself, not sufficient to master the material. You must think about and learn from your mistakes. To help you get better at this, I am going to ask you to complete a reflective exercise to submit along with each homework.

  You will turn these in through gradescope on Canvas.

  You can either think in detail about a problem you got wrong (a problem-solving journal) or create a conceptual essay on a topic. Basically, I want to give you some credit for engaging in writing about quantum mechanics while simultaneously enagaging in effective study techniques.

  Your goal is to get to a total of 60 points using any combination of the tools below. You never lose points, only gain them; i.e. if you get a 3 on a Problem Solving Journal one week or miss a week, you can make up for it by doing a strong Conceptual Essay later.

  Problem Solving Journals - Up to 6 points each

  This assignment is based upon the work: C. Henderson and K. A. Harper, Quiz Corrections: Improving Learning by Encouraging Students to Reflect on Their Mistakes, The Physics Teacher 47, 581 (2009).

  What your reflections should contain:

  Each reflection should have the following three phases. Please use these exact headings so that it is easier for us to read and grade!

  1. Summary Phase - Identify the problem in queston
  2. Diagnosis Phase – Identify what went wrong.
  3. Generalization Phase – Learn from your mistakes by generalizing beyond the specific.

  Guidance on how to compose your reflection

  Summary Phase - In this phase, you should describe a problem that you either got wrong or which caused you a lot of trouble. Either include a picture or be sure to provide enough information that I know what problem you are talking about.

  Diagnostic Phase - In this phase you need to correctly identify your errors, and diagnose the nature of your difficulties as they relate to specific physics principles or concepts, a problem solving procedure, or beliefs about the nature of science and learning science. Please note that an incorrect diagnosis or a merely descriptive work (such as simply noting the places where you made mistakes) is unacceptable. You need to analyze your thinking behind your mistakes, and explain the nature of these difficulties. Hence, in this phase you need to identify why you answered the way you did, where your understanding might have been weak, what you found difficult, what knowledge or skills you were missing that prevented you from correctly completing the solution, etc.

  Good vs. Poor Diagnoses

  Poor Diagnosis - No description of the thinking behind the difficulty:	Good Diagnosis - Focuses on the reasons for your actions:
  "I was confused." "I forgot to Taylor expand." "I lacked confidence." "I forgot I had to (anti-)symmetrize the wave function."	"I did not think to Taylor expand as I did not notice that some quantity was a small dimensionless number." "The wave function for multiple particles has multiple indpendent parts, space and spin for example. The total wave function must be completely (anti-)symmetric considering all the independent quantum numbers."

  Generalization Phase - In this phase you need to identify what deeper physics understanding you have gained from your diagnosis. By carefully thinking about the particular aspects that were problematic to you in approaching the question/problem, and correlating them with the correct solution, you should develop a better understanding of the basic physics principles. In your writing you should identify this new understanding and describe how it will prevent you from having similar problems in the future. Please note that merely stating the correct solution, by copying or para- phrasing the instructor’s solution for a question is unacceptable. You are expected to generalize beyond the specific problem to discuss the general principles of physics.

  In your writing you are very welcome to identify not only your understanding of your mistakes, but also your appreciation for the aspects of your thinking that were already correct and successful in your original attempt. It is hoped that you will hold on to the good elements you already have and add new good ones by doing these corrections.

  Goes beyond the specific problem.

  • "I need to practice identifying variables good for Taylor expansion. I will do this by..."
  • "I need to write more descriptions of what I am doing as I solve my problems. I will make an effort to do this on the next homework. I will know I have succeeded by..."
  • "If I have multiple particles, the symmetry state of the wave function is critical. In the future, I will, at the top of a problem with multiple particles, a sentence about the spins and what I need to do."

  Good vs. Poor Generalizations

  Poor Generalizations	Good Generalizations
  Focuses on a generic activity or focuses only on the specific problem and/or how to solve it. "I learned to read the question carefully." "I learned that I need to have confidence in myself." "When I have multiple fermions, the wave function needs to be anti-symmetric."

  Conceptual Essays - Up to 12 points each

  These are a particularly useful study strategy and one that got me through all of graduate school. The basic idea is that, "The best way to learn something is to teach it." An example can be found at this link.

  Basically, you are writing a small essay or textbook chapter to explain a concept with which you have struggled. These are for you to help you learn. Thus,the length is whatever it needs to be to get the job done. In short, think of these as longer Problem-Solving Journals for those topics that you, "just can't quite get the hang of."

  These are graded on a 12 point scale:

  12 A strong good faith effort which is mostly correct and definitely aids comprehension. There are no language issues which hinder understanding.

  9 A strong good faith effort with either a significant error or has some language issues hindering comprehension.

  6 A half-hearted attempt: could be flushed out quite a bit more to really get at the essence of the topic. Alternatively, the essay has multiple significant errors. However, there are no language issues hindering comprehension

  3 A half-hearted attempt with some language issues hindering comprehension.

  0 Essentially no effort

• 

  Two Exams - 20 points each

  In order to spend more class time working with the material, you will be expected to read certain sections in advance. About once a week, there will be a quiz on your reading to check your understanding.

  We will have one midterm about midway through the semester and one final exam during the finals period. I will consult with you to make sure my midterm exam does not conflict with other exams you may have. The exam will be designed to take about 2 hours, but I will provide 4 to ensure that folks are not rushed.

  What can I bring to the exams? What will be provided?

  You may bring:

  • A physical copy of Griffiths (we will have a few spares for those who are using digital ones.
  • A calculator (though it probably will not help much!).
  • Pencils/pens (colors are encouraged!).

  I will provide

  • The exam.
  • There will probably be enough paper on the exam, but I will have scratch paper too if needed.

The grade scale for this course will be:

I reserve the right, but not the obligation, to adjust these downwards if I deem it necessary (something I have never done this at UMass).

Note, there will NOT be a curve in this class: your grade does not depend on how your peers do. Thus, there is no incentive to not help your peers: helping them will not diminish your grade. In fact, helping your peers will probably help your grade as the best way to learn something is to teach it!

While I encourage you to work with your peers in this class, there are individual portions, in particular the quizzes and exams. We want our learning environment to be honest and fair. UMass Amherst has an Academic Honesty Policy that includes cheating and plagiarism as forms of dishonesty. I should not even have to say this, but cheating will not be tolerated on these individual activities. If you are caught cheating on an exam, the minimum consequence is that you will fail the class. Furthermore it is my responsibility to report you to the Dean of Students. Also, all students are expected to abide by the student policies at https://www.umass.edu/dean_students/campus-policies.