SCM laboratory : Admin

2016-17

Suggestions from various people (esp Peter and Jelena):

• Need to do something to get students to finish the analysis. They finish early and either leave early or fool around. Jelena suggested we need some sort of post-lab test. We decided a simple solution would be to have the students upload a summary of their main results and analysis on QM+. This could be done in a way that encouraged them to perform a proper analysis.
• Week after Reading Week: We waste it. Few students show up for formative assessment. We could use it as a prep week for the lab to come. Students take a guided QM+ quiz that sets the stage for their experiment. Questions on the physics, procedure, etc could be used. It would also have the effect of forcing all students to prepare for the lab and to be present in the lab.
• Demonstrator training: We need well-defined sessions in which all demonsrators are expected to be present and to learn the experiments together with Peter/Saqib. This would help motivate the weaker or more inexperienced demonstrators.
• GITLab: We need all SCM scripts/docs online.

2015-16

Changes to SCM

• Reports:
  • Coffee-Cooling: 2000 words (4 pages of plain text).
  • Long-report: 3000 words (6 pages). Three part expts will use only one (specified) part for the report.

  • Style: We need to give them templates. Use the Word/LaTeX template from QM+. Template is corrupt on QM+. Original with Adrian. Get new templates on QM+

  • Decide on which parts of three-part experiments need to be written up

• Lab Book:
  • Lab book "marked" for first four expts (Pendulum is last). Rational: good practice developed and then, as adults, students expected to use the stuff they have learned and continue on their own.
  • Informal feedback to students:
    • Tick marks for: (1) data, (2) Graphs, (3) Analysis. We will provide a set of several questions for the analysis. Mark out of 10 decided on this: 3 each for Data and Graphs, and 4 for Analysis.
    • Demonstrator accountability: Each demonstrator gives sheets back to Academic on the day.

    • Develop a template for the feedback sheet. Demonstrators need to provide a numerical total for the student's score.

  • Demonstrators have to check a fixed set of students and give feedback.
• Changes to experiments:
  • Changes needed to Pendulum. Simplify description. Make list of questions students need to think about.
  • Remove diode characteristics from Coffee Cooling, or include theory but only indicate how it can be used to determine component values for expt.
  • Shorten Oscilloscope expt.
  • Air track: too many parts. Focus on energy/momentum conservation and keep fewer parts. Students do not know how to handle collisions.
• Day Allocations:
  • Adrian: Monday
  • Alston: Thursday/Friday (can't do Tuesdays)
  • David:
  • Kostya:
• Demonstrator Training

Dates

Lectures

• Safety lecture (Alston, done)
• Error Analysis
• Writing lab reports (examples of good and bad practice)

• Using plotting packages (PhysPlot)

Demonstrators

To: "Osman Ersoy" <o.ersoy@qmul.ac.uk>

         "Haizhou Lu" <h.lu@qmul.ac.uk>
         d.f.holford@qmul.ac.uk
         tingting.zhang@qmul.ac.uk
         w.shi@qmul.ac.uk
         yuan.li@qmul.ac.uk
         yuanpeng.zhang@qmul.ac.uk

Cc: "P.T.Crew" <p.t.crew@qmul.ac.uk>

         "saqib" <n.s.qureshi@qmul.ac.uk>
         "Alston J. Misquitta" <a.j.misquitta@qmul.ac.uk>
         "Jessica Henry" <j.henry@qmul.ac.uk>

Dear all,

I have allocated you to the following SCM lab sessions:

Mondays Haizhou Lu David Holford Tingting Zhang

Tuesdays David Holford Wenda Shi

Thursdays Yuan Li Osman Ersoy Tingting Zhang

Fridays Haizhou Lu Yuanpeng Zhang

TO DO List