Courses:

This course will provide experience in formulating, solving, and presenting solutions to engineering problems.

Organization

Groups of two or three students will work together on three experiments. During the assigned time, a faculty member will be available in the laboratory and will assist with problems which arise. Since a significant purpose of the course is to allow you to learn problem solving techniques, the lab instructors will provide guidance, but will not, in general, tell you what to do.

1. Lab Work: Students are to be in the laboratory only at assigned times, unless by special permission. Attendance at the entire scheduled laboratory session is mandatory; absence will be reflected in your final grade; data must be reduced before leaving. Bring your calculators, graph paper and the relevant text books to each class.
   
   
2. Reporting: One written report will be required from each student for each of the first two experiments. For the third experiment, the results will be presented orally as a coordinated effort of the group members.

Written Reports

It is anticipated that all written reports in a group will have data, calculations and figures which are similar, but will have separately written texts. If for any reason some figures, tables, appendices or other material are photocopied and shared, they should be initialed by the person who prepared the original. We want each of you to have the experience that accompanies writing a report but do not expect you to have different experimental results when you've run the same experiment. In general, each report should have enough detail so that the reader can reproduce your results. The usual report will contain preferably in the following order, an abstract, introduction, apparatus and procedure, experimental results, theory, theoretical results and comparisons with experimental results, discussion, conclusions, bibliography, and perhaps some appendices. In the last week of the first experiment, one hour will be spent in a brief workshop on writing and will include both presentation of material and in-class work. You will be expected to produce a structural outline of your report. Your instructor will assist in this and we will distribute and discuss appropriate handouts at that time.

Written reports are due by class time, on the due day at the lab. The cover page should include your name, lab section, and the names of your lab partners. If you are late, deliver the report to the office of your instructor. Late reports will be penalized.

Oral Reports

The results from your final experiment will be presented orally collectively by your group. Oral presentations are an important part of communicating your results, so it should be a valuable experience.

Grading Policy

There will be 3 experiments. An independently written report by each student is required for the first two; an oral presentation by the group as a whole is required for the third experiment.

A letter grade (with pluses and minuses) will be given to each report. The final grade, however, is computed by assigning a number to each letter grade, and the following weighting is used.

To encourage using the laboratory as learning environment, substantial weighting is assigned to the lab performance which is subjectively graded. It should be noted that much of this grade is based on the communication between you and your instructor in class. You should use the interaction to demonstrate your knowledge of the subject matter.

Late reports will be down graded. The downgrading is progressive as a function of the days past due. The grade discount is at the discretion of the instructor who will be grading the reports.

For the first two written reports, the grading will be based half on technical content and half on how well do you communicate in writing.