Grading and Attendance Policies

    

Policies

General Lab Grading Policy

  1. Attendance required for all experiments - unexcused means a 0 (zero) - if a student misses 3 experiments the student is likely to fail the course.
     
  2. Submission of a laboratory report is due the following week class begins - the penalty for lateness is 10% per day.
     
  3. The grading guidelines are as follows (see the lab report grading rubric):
    • Attendance (20%); Participation (20%); Laboratory Report (60%)
    • Laboratory Report Grading (points):
      • Style instructed by a lab instructor(10)
      • Title (5)
      • Introduction including Objectives and Theoretical background (10)
      • Experimental Procedure (10)
      • Results: Experimental Data (15) and Calculation (15)
      • Discussion and Analysis of Results (20)
      • Conclusions (10)
      • Raw Data Sheet signed by a lab instructor(5)
  4. Topics for discussion section may include:
    • % Error - what it means.
    • What caused the error and why
    • How could the experiment have been done better and why
    • Would you expect to do better
    • What human errors were involved
    • What did you learn from the experiment, etc.
  5. Instructors will give students meaningful comments in lab reports when they grade lab report so that the students will understand why they receive the grade indicated.

Lab Course Attendance Policy

  1. The attendance policy is very strict in a physics lab course.
  2. It is required for a student to attend all labs since lab grading is based on attendance, participation, and lab report.
  3. It is a student's responsibility to confirm his/her attendance with a lab instructor in every class.
  4. It is required for a student to sign an attendance sheet in each class. If a student fails to sign it, it is considered to be absent.
  5. If a student does not appeal and resolve any attendance issue with a lab instructor within 7 days from the date of the issued class, no further action will be accepted.
  6. Students may have up to 4 excused absences. If a student accumulates 5 or more excused absences, they may either receive an Incomplete grade or be required to make up the missed labs at a later time, subject to their Lab Instructor's discretion.