Our lectures are not spent pushing information in one direction, but rather are problem solving sessions. It is therefore very important that you prepare by familiarizing yourself with the kind of information that would typically be delivered in a traditional lecture. The main way to do this is to watch the pre-lecture videos and read the associated text. Every lecture has these resources organized and you can find links to them on the course calendar under Lecture Topic and Study Resources. After doing your pre-lecture study, you need to perform the pre-lecture homework. This is a relatively short set of questions delivered through Canvas quizzing. You can find the link to the pre-lecture homework on the course calendar.

Come to lecture ready to work in a team to solve problems! There will be very little time spent listening to the instructor tell you information (that you could find on boxsand or in a textbook anyway!). You will work together to solve problems which have been chosen to artfully tell the story of physics in a digestible flow. The instructor will pose questions to you via real-time polling software called Learning Catalytics which you will want to have pulled up on a laptop or smartphone during lecture (there are other good options for those of you without easy access to such devices, just contact your instructor). You can follow along with the lecture by downloading the class templates ahead of time via the course homepage. Because lecture is a formative event (you are forming knowledge during this time), giving any answer to a question will net you full credit for that question. The value of lecture is in attempting the problems and giving your best effort to figure them out with your classmates. Do not worry if you are not able to solve each question. Research shows that you often learn more from an occasional failure! At the end of each question, the instructor will model how an experienced physicist would approach the problem and share tips and tricks learned from many years helping students (like you!) to learn this subject.

A LearningCatalytics access code can be purchased at the OSU Bookstore.

To setup LearningCataltyics follow the instructions here.

Once you've done that you're ready to go. At the beginning of each class a Session ID will be provided to you and you'll enter that to join the session.

Due to the live nature of lecture, full credit is given for any answer provided to a class poll. Do your best to answer each question, but do not worry about answering every question correctly. Research shows that you often learn more from an occasional failure!

Note: Learning Catalytics access typically lasts for 12 months. If you're in PH202 or 203 and recently took 201 at OSU, online or on campus, you should already have access to Learning Catalytics and do not need to purchase it again. Try to log in to test if you have access.

What if I can't make the live lectures?

If you are unable to attend a live lecture you can work asynchronously on the problems and answer them using Canvas quizzing. One way to improve this experience is to try and find others who would like to do the same and meet them in the course Teams channel. You can start a Zoom session from within Teams. Then work through the questions together, answering them individually in Canvas quizzing. You can also make direct messaging groups and invite friends to join. The asynchronous lectures can be found on Canvas. You cannot both attend a live lecture and do the asynchronous assignment to try and gain extra points.

As soon as possible after lecture it is important to follow up with the post-lecture homework assignment. This is your chance to take foundational knowledge and solidify it through practice. The post-lecture homework can be found through Canvas quizzing and there are links to each assignment on the course calendar. After you've completed the post-lecture assignment you are ready for the final stage of a learning cycle which is the challenge homework. Links to the challenge homework can be found on the course calendar.