General
Grading Policies
- A total of
10 experiments will be carried out. Each experiment
counts equally toward your overall lab grade in the
course.
- Your
prompt attendance at the laboratories is required. If
you have a legitimate excuse then it is your
responsibility to contact the instructor prior to the
lab in order to work out arrangements to make up the
lab. An unexcused absence will result in a grade of
zero for the experiment. Three zero grades will result
in an automatic failure for the course.
- The grade
in the laboratory counts 25% toward your overall grade
for the course.
- A passing
grade must be obtained in the laboratory in order to
pass the course.
Grading of
Experiments
Each
experiment is graded on the basis of 100 points. The
grade for the experiment is the composite of the five
separate items below.
- Lab
Report - 50 pts. Lab reports in this course
will generally take the form of report sheets that you
and your team will work together to complete. They
will be graded primarily on the degree to which they
demonstrate a good understanding of the experiment.
The correctness of the answers to the questions, the
correctness of the calculations, and your
interpretations of the data and observations as shown
in the results summary tables are all critical to
obtaining a good grade on the lab report. The
neatness, completeness, spelling, and grammar usage of
your answers will also be factored into the grade for
the report. Lab reports are due one week after
completion of each experiment. Late lab reports
will be penalized.
- Data/Observations
Sheet - 10 pts. Each lab handout includes
a data/observations sheet to be filled out when
actually carrying out the experiment during the lab
period. Make sure you give units where required and
obey significant figure rules when recording data.
Also record all observations completely and in detail.
Omission of a key observation or piece of data will
lead to deductions to your score on this part of the
lab. Get the instructor or TA to initial your D/O
sheet before leaving the lab each week.
- Quality
of Lab Work - 10 pts. You may be penalized
for poor results, incomplete results, failure to
follow directions, excessive glassware breakage,
failure to follow safety rules, or poor housekeeping.
- Pre-Lab
Assignment - 10 pts. It is important that all
students come to lab fully prepared to do the required
experiment. Each lab handout includes a pre-lab
assignment of 2-5 questions.
- Post-Lab
Quiz - 20 pts. A lab quiz on each experiment
will be given shortly after the reports for that lab
have been turned in for grading.
Lab Teams
- You will
work in instructor-assigned teams of four for the labs
in this course.
- You may
want to delegate assignments both during the actual
laboratory periods as well as outside of lab when
writing reports. However, just as it would not be
permissible for only one team member to carry out all
of the experimental procedures during the lab, it is
equally not permissible for only one team member to be
involved in the preparation of the lab report. It is
expected that all team members work together on the
report for each experiment.
- To ensure
fairness of lab grading, all lab teams will be
switched around after experiments #3 and #7. In other
words you will work with three different teams
throughout the semester.
Team
Contribution Surveys
- When
turning in the lab report for each experiment each
team member must also submit a team contribution
survey (TCS).
- A TCS for
each experiment will be made available electronically
on the course D2L site after completion of each
experiment. You will receive an email inviting you to
take the survey.
- The TCS
ask you to rate yourself and your teammates on your
participation both in carrying out the experiment
during the lab and in writing up the report post-lab.
- You will
be penalized 5 points for every rating of 3 or less in
any of the individual phases of the experiment. In
other words, if you don't help with a lab report and
at least one of your teammates is honest about it and
rates you a 3 or less on the prelab, then you lose 5
points. (Ratings of 1 or 2 will cost even more
points). Same thing goes for the in-lab work, the
report, and the meetings participation.
- TCS
penalties will be applied at the end of the semester,
not as we go along. In other words, you will not find
out about any penalties that were assessed until the
end of the semester. I am doing this so that people
can feel more free about rating the other people on
their team honestly, without fear of any kind of
reprisal.
- If you do
rank one of your teammates at 3 or less for any of the
phases of an experiment, then you should follow up
with an email to the instructor that explains your
rationale for doing so. This should ensure that poor
ratings are not arbitrary, malicious or without good
reasons to back them up.
- Not
submitting a TCS for any experiment incurs a five
point penalty.
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