In order to meet the Natural Science requirement in the TCU core, there are certain minimum standards we are required to ask of all students. In order to avoid later confusion, here are some of the basic ground rules of the lab course (this will be supplemented by the lab syllabus, to be handed out during the first lab week):

Labs for Physics 10293 will begin during the week of Monday January 27.

All regular labs will be held in SWR 360.

Sid W. Richardson 360 is a room in the Northeast corner of the building on the 3rd floor. All regular labs will meet here every week. In addition to the regular lab meetings, there will be some opportunities to do supplemental activities during the semester. You will receive details about these activities later in the semester. Students from all sections will be welcome to attend these supplemental activites in place of or in addition to their usual labs, but unlike regularly scheduled classroom labs, attendance is not required. Therefore, while we allow makeup opportunities for excused absences from regularly scheduled classroom labs(see below for what constitutes an excused absence for a lab week), we do not allow makeup opportunities under any circumstances for missed supplemental labs.

Required lab equipment

The Physics 10293 Lab Manual is the required text for Phys 10293, and it will be available for free online from the course home page (google "Physics 10293"). You will need print this out and bring the appropriate lab printout each week.

Students are required to bring the following to all sections:

• notebook paper
• pen or pencil
• a calculator
• Lab printout

The calculator you bring to lab should be capable of performing calculations in scientific notation, and you should learn how to use this feature prior to attending your first lab. If you do not bring your required equipment to the lab, your TA has the authority to excuse you from the lab with no credit.

Lab attendance is mandatory to receive credit for Physics 10293.

The lab portion of the course is only worth 20 percent of your overall grade, but consequences for completing fewer than 10 labs can cause your overall course grade to drop even further than the 20 percent weight might otherwise allow. If you fail to complete 10 different lab assignments, you will lose one letter grade from your overall course grade per lab you are missing. Thus, if you have a "C" average in the lecture and complete 9 labs, your overall Physics 10293 grade will drop to a "D". If you have a "C" average and complete 8 labs, your overall Physics 10293 grade will drop to an "F".

If you wish to attend a lab section other than your scheduled section for a given week, you must sign up in advance as an "extra student" on the list outside the lab room for the lab you wish to attend. If you try to attend a lab section that is not your own and your name is not on the extra student list, you will be asked to leave the lab (if more than 20 students are present).

In all cases, you are required to put the name of your original TA on your lab report. This is so your grades can be recorded consistently and no lab grades are lost. Your TA will typically keep all of your graded lab reports (but you can always view them upon request) so that if there is a discrepancy later in the semester about a "lost" lab, you will be able to provide documentation to prove that you did indeed attend the lab section and turn in a report.

Each section covers the same lab each week.

There are 9 lab sections for Physics 10293. Each 10293 lab covers the same lab during the week. You may check the schedule to see which labs are offered at which times.

If you miss a lab, you must make up that lab during the same week as your absence. You will not be able to make up more than one lab during the last week of the term, so don't accumulate 2 or more absences or you may find yourself heavily penalized and possibly flunking. If you ever reach the point where you have accumulated more than one missed week of labs, you must come by my office (SWR 315) and discuss your options with me at the earliest opportunity!

If you have a University-sponsored excuse for missing a given lab during a week, then you must make up the lab during another of the sections in that same week. Jobs, practices, rehearsals and other such "unofficial" events associated with extracurricular University-sponsored activities are not considered to be excused absences for the purposes of determining whether you should attend your lab or a make-up lab during a given week. These also are not taken into consideration for the purposes of determining whether or not you had an opportunity to attend an alternate lab activity to make up for a previous absence. The lab syllabus has a list of when all the different sections and alternate activities meet so you can plan ahead for excused absences.

In sum, if you have an excused or unexcused absence, then you must make up the lab during the week of the absence, regardless of when the absence takes place. Or you can make up the lab during one of the supplemental activities that occur during other weeks. If you miss a lab and are unable to make it up during that same week due to an unexpected absence caused by a documented medical or legal reason, then individual arrangements for make-ups will be made for you provided you can't make up the lab during the 11th week of the course or at a supplemental activity (see below). If you have an excused absence for an entire week of labs that make it impossible for you to attend in a given week, you must present documentation to Dr. Ingram in his office (SWR 315) before the end of the following week. If you wait any longer to provide this documentation, it will not be accepted. We will not retroactively excuse absences at the end of the semester.

There will be one make-up week near the end of the semester.

During the week of April 13, an "11th week" of labs will be held. During this week, the same lab will be taught in all Physics 10293 lab sections just like during any other regular week, and this will be a lab that hasn't been done previously during the course. At this time, any student who has fewer than 10 completed lab activities (whether the absences were excused or unexcused) during the previous 10 weeks can make up one lab. This week is considered to be the make-up week for any and all absences. If you have two or more entire weeks of excused absences for all the lab sections, individual arrangements should be made as far in advance as possible (preferably early in the semester if you know about them in advance) so you can make up more than one lab.