Physics III: Homework Procedures and Evaluation

Spring 2016
The real learning in this course takes place while
doing the homework. The homework is worth 30% of the
grade for the course. In this course, we are going to handle the
homework somewhat differently than you are probably used to. There
will be questions assigned on the reading as well as weekly problem
assignments. The grading procedure for both types of problems will be
a two-step process. You will basically be graded partly on how well you
tried on your first attempt and the overall quality of the solution in step
1 and partly on how well you correct your own errors in step 2. This
approach rewards effort more than getting the right answer the first
time and is designed to resemble training or practice and avoid the
plug and chug psychology of problem solving. This may sound
somewhat complicated to start but it has been designed to help you
learn the concepts better. In time, you will get used to it.
The procedure will work as follows:
1. Homework questions or problems will be collected at the
beginning of class the day that they are due. Daily
assignments may include one or two questions or problems.
The weekly homework will include 3-6 problems and due in
one week.

Use pencil, black ink, or black type for

writing/printing the problem set solutions.

2. Questions/problems will be evaluated in a first pass on grading

and returned to you by the next class. Questions/daily
problems will be graded on a scale of 5pts and the
weekly problem sets on a scale of 10pts.
5: good effort with correct results and reasoning
4: a good effort with a few minor errors
3: a good effort with modest conceptual errors and/or math
errors
or a fair effort with minor errors
2: a fair effort involving modest conceptual errors or a good
effort involving
serious conceptual errors
1: a poor initial effort
0: no initial effort
Please leave space in your solution write-ups for first and
second pass grading. If you do the wrong problem by mistake,
you can earn no more than 2pts. A good effort means that you

have supplied some explanations and/or diagrams with

calculations and you have noted if the answer is obviously
incorrect.
In the second round you have the option to correct your own
work after looking at the problem set solutions. Your final grade
uses the same scale subject to the following constraints: 1. The
correction of your initial work must explicitly locate your error of
reasoning or algebra (this means, you cant just paraphrase the
solution), and 2. The final score cannot exceed the initial score
by more than 2 pts.
Weekly Problem sets will be evaluated on whether they
are Complete (3pts), Clear (2pts), Plausible (1), Initially
OK (1) and Correct (3). Here are the criteria for grading
the weekly homework.

Each problem will be evaluated with a total of 10

pts.
Complete:
3=all parts are present and fully developed
2=some major parts incomplete
1=major sections missing
0=little meaningful work done
Clear:
2=model (i.e. physical reasoning) was clear to the grader
1=some aspects were unclear
0=model was completely opaque
Plausible:
One point is awarded if the results magnitude, sign, and/or units
are plausible.
Initially OK:
One point is awarded if the solution is acceptable on the first
pass
Correct:
3=no modeling or algebraic errors
2=some modest errors were made
1=fundamental errors were made
0=almost nothing was correct
Each of the weekly problems you submit will show a label next to
the problem (please leave space for this in your solutions writeups) that read as follows:
_________/3 Complete
_________/2 Clear
_________/1 Plausible
_________/1 Initially OK

_________/3 Correct
You will then have access to the solutions through the web.
3. Once you have your graded papers back from the daily or weekly
homework, you are allowed to submit corrections in nonblack ink or colored type (but not RED) so that the
grader can clearly see the corrections_ up to one week later,
submitted in class. In this second step you can earn at most 2
more points for the daily problems/questions and additional
points only for the CLEAR and
CORRECT categories: the scores for all the other categories
remain fixed at their initial values. This means that you can earn
a maximum of 9 pts on a COMPLETE and PLAUSIBLE but
incorrect initial effort after appropriate correction. You are
allowed to submit corrections for no more than 4 problems per
week.
Both the initial and final grades for all problems will be
recorded and submitted to me.
The idea behind this grading scheme is to strongly reward effort
and provide an incentive for you to look at the solutions (if only
to decide whether to submit a correction or not). The idea is to
follow the pedagogical principle that says, if you dont grade for
it, the students will not learn it. It explicitly rewards you for
developing clear problem solving and
communication/presentation skills which are perhaps the most
valuable skills that you will learn from this course for the rest of
your life. This approach also provides you a way for you to
appeal any initial grades that you might consider unfair.
4. When submitting your homework sets
Please write your name at the top
Indicate the problem set number and the original due date
STAPLE pages together
Leave enough room for corrections and grading stamps
Be legible

Why such a detailed and apparently crazy scheme???

The idea behind this is to convert problem sets from exercises in
searching for the correct answer as the only goal (and therefore only
graded for correctness or incorrectness) to a process that is more like
training. This first- and second- pass grading scheme is
borrowed from Thomas Moore and many other Physics Education

researchers who have been studying the best ways to learn/teach

physics concepts. When you are training, you practice, you make
mistakes, and get feedback from the instructor, fellow trainees, and
graders. With the feedback, you can take it all into consideration and
try it again and get better. Part of the training is to recognize what
you dont know how to do and then have a chance to try again. We are
trying to avoid the plug and chug philosophy of problem solving.
This approach is more work for everyone involved (including me and
the TAs) but I hope the rewards are great for YOU. Lets give it a try!