Required texts

Required text:

Alyssa J. Pasquale, David R. Fazzini, and Carley Bennett (2024) Conceptual Physics, Illinois SCOERs. This text is an Open Educational Resource (OER), and can be accessed .

OER texts are released under a license permitting their free use and sharing. Pasquale et al. (2024) is licensed under a .

Suggested text:

Paul G. Hewitt, (2023) Conceptual Physics, 13th Edition (Global edition), Pearson. Limited copies of the textbook are available from the UC library. An e-book version of the text is available for purchase direct from the publisher. This can be purchased 

L. Kirkup (1994), Experimental methods. An introduction to the analysis and presentation of data, John Wiley and Sons, Australia. The textbook is available from the UC library. This text will be useful for handling and interpreting data in laboratory exercises and the independent investigation, but it is not a required text.

Submission of assessment items

Special assessment requirements

In order to pass this unit you must attain at least 9 out of the 12 skills listed below. Attainment of each skill is to be demonstrated in a laboratory activity during semester. In practical terms, this means that you must attend and complete at least 75% of workshops.

Skills to be attained: Application of the scientific method in experimental setting, appropriate selection of experimental variables and controls, correct and safe handling and setup of apparatus (including: transducer-based sensor systems, electrical circuits and radioactive materials), correct measurement techniques using various apparatus, appropriate recording of data, identification and representation of physical systems and their components, plotting experimentally derived data, fitting and analysing graphical relationships, interpreting graphical results in applied settings, correctly incorporating experimental uncertainty into analyses, application of formulae and calculation based on experimentally derived data, correct and safe pack-down procedures.

The Unit Convener reserves the right to question students on any of their submitted work for moderation and academic integrity purposes.

Deferred In-class Test

In the event a student misses any in-class test due to illness or other exceptional circumstances, the student must request a deferred test by completing the In-class Test Deferred Application accessible from the unit's Canvas site. 

The application must be submitted within 3 days of the scheduled test. Students must provide a medical certificate or other relevant documents as requested by the unit convener before sitting the deferred test.

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and 69萝莉 (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Learner engagement

The contact hours for each student in this unit consist of 12 hours of lectures (1 hrs x 12 weeks), 33 hours of workshops (3 hrs x 11 weeks) and 3 hours of in-class tests (1 hr x 3 weeks). There are an additional up to 12 hours of online lecturettes. The remaining 90 hours of workload should be distributed across self-directed study and the various assessment tasks.

Participation requirements

Participation in all lectures is highly recommended and will enhance your understanding of the unit content and therefore the quality of your assessment responses. Similarly, engagement with lecturettes and other materials provided online is considered essential. The content across all delivery modes is designed to complement without repetition. Lack of participation may result in your inability to satisfactorily pass assessment items.

Students failing to engage with lecture and lecturette material prior to weekly workshops will find the practical material difficult and will struggle with conducting and analysing the experiments. The workshops will be delivered with the expectation that students are familiar with the lecture and lecturette content.

Attainment of laboratory skills is to be demonstrated in workshop classes (see Special Assessment Requirements, above), hence attending and completing 75% of workshops is a requirement of the unit. In the event that you cannot attend your assigned workshop due to illness or unavoidable commitments, contact the Unit Convener as soon as possible to negotiate an alternative workshop class (if available). You will need to provide a medical or counsellor's certificate to attend an alternative session.

Required IT skills

An ability to use basic word processing and spreadsheet software.

In-unit costs

Students are required to have a 200 page lab journal (see requirements in Assessment: Laboratory Journal) and access to a scientific calculator.

Students will also need access to the recommended textbook and a computer with internet connection. If needed these resources can be accessed via the library and on-campus PC labs.

Work placement, internships or practicums

This unit involves work integrated learning through simulation of laboratory environments and practical scenarios. Participation in all WIL activities in this unit align with the standard requirements for participation in laboratory classes.

Additional information

Laboratory Safety
Workshops for this unit are run in a laboratory environment. It is essential that students are familiar with lab safety requirements and students are requested to complete a lab safety quiz (through Canvas) prior to their first workshop. Safety practices include wearing closed-toed shoes while in the laboratory. Without appropriate footwear, lab access will be denied.

Provision of information to the group
Notifications through Canvas Announcements or the Canvas Discussion forums are deemed to be made to the whole class. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that they check for announcements on the Unit's Canvas website (Canvas forum messages are also emailed to student email addresses only). Students should ensure they check their student email regularly. The Canvas discussion forums will be checked by staff regularly.

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