PHYS 204: Intro Physics Lab (Fall 2026)

How This Course Works

Ways to Communicate

Our class will communicate through our Canvas site. Announcements are archived there and automatically forwarded to your UO email, and can even reach you by text. Check and adjust your settings under Account > Notifications.

Combination of Group Work and Individual Work

This course involves a significant amount of collaborative group work as well as individual work. You are openly encouraged to work with your peers, however you are required to submit your own work. This is an effort to bring attention to the broad learning goals of group collaboration and group communication—two valuable skills that will readily transfer to any field. Additionally, we need some way to measure your individual contribution to your course grade. In doing so, we hope to provide a relevant and meaningful learning experience.

Lab Meetings (In person)

Lab Meetings occur each week in Room 13 of Willamette Hall at the times listed in the table below.

In order to pass this course, you are expected to attend and participate in all Lab meetings.

If you miss a lab due to some circumstance beyond your control (i.e. an emergency arises), contact the instructor as soon as you are able. We may be able to make arrangements to allow you to complete that week's lab with another section. Should such an issue arise, please contact Dan (dsteck@uoregon.edu) as well as your Lab Group as soon as possible.

A Lab Cycle

Each lab that we do in the course will have the following parts in this order:

Prelabs (Completed Individually)

Prelabs will be assigned at the beginning of the lab session. It should only take a few minutes and is meant for you to predict what you think will happen during the lab. Wrong answers are expected and okay!

Lab Sheets (Completed as a Group)

Lab sheets are provide to guide you through each of the Lab Activities. Groups should work on these collaboratively, though each student should retain a copy for their own records. Checkpoints throughout each lab are designed to provide formative assessments as you work through the Lab.

Annotated Prelabs (Completed Individually)

Prelab annotation involves modifying, correcting, and adding to the original Prelab response to show how your thinking evolved over the course of the Lab. The rubric used for grading is on the back side of each Prelab. These should be completed shortly after the completion of Lab, however we have set the due date to be the start of the following weeks Lab.

Follow-up Quizzes (Completed Individually)

Weekly quizzes will be posted to Canvas. These will open at 6PM on Friday and must be submitted by 11:59pm the following Sunday. These quizzes are somewhat probing and have been designed to gauge the depth of your conceptual understanding.

How You Are Graded

The Lab Activities in this course have been designed to engage you an active role in your learning Mechanics, making use of what you have learned in prerequisite courses. Self-assessment is an important form of internal feedback for this process. We will be aiming to participate in the process of science in order to learn science.

In this course students will:

• Understand the Process of Science.
• Draw meaningful conclusions from observations of the physical world.
• Construct knowledge in a way that does not rely on an outside authority.
• Develop accurate, evidence-based, plain-language explanations for many of the topics and phenomena discussed in the accompanying lecture course.
• Gain experience collecting and analyzing data, with the ability to extract physical quantities from fit parameters used in graphical representations.

We will use a proficiency-based approach to learning in this course. Each item you are assessed on will be assessed as either "met" or "not yet met". (This will likely be notated on your papers (as well as Canvas) as a check mark and an X). An important part of proficiency-based learning is that, for items you have "not yet met" proficiency on, you will have the ability to continue working to meet proficiency.

You will be assessed on Prelabs, Prelab Annotation (with Lab Sheets attached), and Follow-up Quizzes. There will be no final exam for this course. Here are the different items that you will be graded on in this course:

Prelabs

Individual work. These are assessed for completion, not content. You have "met" the expectations for the Prelab if you have honestly attempted the problems and it is turned in on time. Please note that writing "I don't know" or a similar remark may be honest, however it is not a valid attempt and thus will not meet competency.

Because the Prelab is a snapshot of your understanding before the lab, there is not a way to reattempt these.

Prelab Annotations

There are several things you need to do to have "met" the expectations for the Prelab Annotations.

• You have corrected any mistakes in your initial answers to the prelab problems.
• You have indicated specific lab activities that helped to confirm or change your initial answers.
• You have provided a narrative about 2 of the Learning Outcomes listed at the top of the lab. This narrative should include:
• Your explanation of the Learning Outcome.
• Specific lab activities, experiences , or observations that help you explain your thinking about the physics principles involved.
• You have attached your completed lab sheets

The initial submission of your Prelab Annotations is due at the start of the following lab. We will try to have this submission marked, entered, and returned to you by the end of lab. If you have "not yet met" proficiency for the Prelab Annotation, you can use the feedback provided to update your work and turn it in again. Resubmissions will be marked by us (the teaching team) as they come in and returned to you when finished. These may be returned to you during the same lab you turned them in, or in a future lab, depending on when we are able to mark them. There is no strict limit on the number of times you can resubmit a Prelab Annotation, but I encourage you to submit your best work.

Follow-Up Quizzes

You have "met" the expectations for the Follow-Up Quizzes if you have answered all of the (typically 5) questions correctly. You "have not met" expectations if you have not answered all of the questions correctly.

At the beginning of each lab, we will have a class-wide discussion of the previous lab's Follow-Up Quiz. After we have had this discussion, I will reopen the Follow-Up Quiz. You can retake the quiz until you have "met" proficiency.

Final Grade Distribution

You are expected to attend and complete all labs. Your final grade will be determined by the number of items assessed for content (Annotated Prelabs and Follow-Up quizzes) that you have "met" proficiency.

As you are openly encourages to work together, and help one another on everything we do in the lab, there is no basis for determining an "A+".

Instructor Contact Information

Dr. Dan Steck

dsteck@uoregon.edu

Office Hours

Room 277 Willamette Hall, 12pm-2pm Tuesdays (though you are welcome to find me at other times).

The Graduate Employees (GEs) listed below will be working with you as a part of the PHYS 20x (PHYS 201-PHYS 206) Teaching Team this term.

Graduate Student Teaching Team

GE Contact Information, Office hour time and location, and Drop In hour:

Due Dates and Time Commitment

Calendar

We will use the Canvas Calendar for all due dates in this course. Check it regularly. Here is a video of how it works.

210 - Calendar Overview from Instructure Canvas Community.

Time Commitment

This is a 2-credit course, and according to the University of Oregon' Student Engagement policy, that means you should plan to spend about six hours a week for ten weeks to be successful in this course. I would suggest you spend your time in the following ways each week: 

Lab Activity ~ 2.5 hour

Annotated Prelab ~ 1.5 hour

Follow-Up Quizzes ~ 0.5 hours

Thinking about and responding to feedback so that you can improve ~ 0.5 hours

Academic Integrity

The University Student Conduct Code defines academic misconduct, which includes unauthorized help on assignments and examinations and the use of sources without acknowledgment. Academic misconduct is prohibited at UO. I will report misconduct to the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards—consequences can include failure of this course.

Generative AI Use

Students may not use GenAI tools in this course to produce course materials or assignments in whole or in part. All work you submit for this course toward completion of course requirements must be your own original work done specifically for this course and without substantive assistance from others, including GenAI.  In accordance with UO policy, if I believe you’ve handed in work (for homework or exams) created all or in part by GenAI, I will submit a report of suspected academic misconduct to the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards for that office to make a determination of responsibility. If you have any questions or doubts, please ask!

Academic Disruption

In the event of a campus emergency that disrupts academic activities, course requirements, deadlines, and grading percentages are subject to change. Information about changes in this course will be communicated as soon as possible by email, and on Canvas. If we are not able to meet face-to-face, students should immediately log onto Canvas and read any announcements and/or access alternative assignments. Students are also expected to continue coursework as outlined in this syllabus or other instructions on Canvas. 

UO Student Resources

Accessible Education Center

The University of Oregon is working to create inclusive learning environments. Please notify me if there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in disability-related barriers to your participation. You are also encouraged to contact the Accessible Education Center in 360 Oregon Hall at 541-346-1155 or uoaec@uoregon.edu.

Your Well-being

Life at college can be very complicated. Students often feel overwhelmed or stressed, experience anxiety or depression, struggle with relationships, or just need help navigating challenges in their life. If you're facing such challenges, you don't need to handle them on your own--there's help and support on campus.

As your instructor if I believe you may need additional support, I will express my concerns, the reasons for them, and refer you to resources that might be helpful. It is not my intention to know the details of what might be bothering you, but simply to let you know I care and that help is available. Getting help is a courageous thing to do—for yourself and those you care about.

University Health Services help students cope with difficult emotions and life stressors. If you need general resources on coping with stress or want to talk with another student who has been in the same place as you, visit the Duck Nest (located in the EMU on the ground floor) and get help from one of the specially trained Peer Wellness Advocates. Find out more at health.uoregon.edu/ducknest.

University Counseling Services (UCS) has a team of dedicated staff members to support you with your concerns, many of whom can provide identity-based support. All clinical services are free and confidential. Find out more at counseling.uoregon.edu or by calling 541-346-3227 (anytime UCS is closed, the After-Hours Support and Crisis Line is available by calling this same number).

Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence

The Center for Multicultural Academic Excellence specializes in providing a culturally supportive environment that empowers self-identified students of color to fulfill their educational and career goals.

Office of Academic Advising

The Office of Academic Advising guides UO students in pursuing their academic goals. And you’ll see the beautiful new Tykeson building between Chapman and Johnson halls—this will be the new site of pre-major advising and the Career Center; its services are clustered around compelling areas called “Flight Paths” that helps students identify interests that span majors and are linked to co-curricular and career-readiness opportunities.

Tutoring and Academic Engagement Center

The Tutoring and Academic Engagement Center offers tutoring and other opportunities to help students succeed.

Office of the Dean of Students

The Office of the Dean of Students assists students who are struggling with any crisis impacting their academics by offering resources, support, referral, and case management to overcome these barriers.

Course Schedule

Tentative Course Schedule