If you are an active staff or faculty member according to Human Resources, use "Exchange". All other students, use "AC Connect (Google) Email".

Expected Student Behavior

Safety equipment must be worn at all times:  long pants/skirt (covering at least the top half of the calf), apron or lab coat, hair back, safety goggles, and, if necessary, gloves (will be specified).  No open-toed shoes, shoes with holes in them, shoes that leave the top of the foot exposed, hats of any sort, shorts, food or drink are allowed. Anyone acting in an unsafe manner will be warned once with a point deduction if needed.  If seen without safety equipment or acting improperly a second time, they will be asked to leave the laboratory.  They will be allowed to return within 30 minutes to finish their work, if they can, but they must finish by the time all students who were not disciplined finish.  If they are asked to leave more than once for any given experiment, they will receive a zero for that experiment’s lab report.  Safety is the MOST important part of lab.  You must attend the safety lecture, pass the safety quiz (with an 80) and complete pre lab material before you will be allowed to perform experiments for lab.  Any experiments missed by failing to do this will be zeroes and cannot be made up.

Use of previous semester’s work, from whatever source, is considered cheating.  If you have access to such papers, turn them in to the instructor at the beginning of the semester and they will be returned at the end.  If a student is seen to be using any other student’s work, past or present, they will receive a zero grade for that assignment and it cannot be dropped.

Some labs will be done with partners and all will be done in close proximity to other students.  You are encouraged to discuss and/or work with your neighbors; however, working with a student does not give license to simply copy work/data.

You must clean up your area of the lab. It is not the instructor’s or Mr. Crofford’s job to clean up after you. Points will be deducted from the lab if your lab area must be cleaned up for you.

Efficient Use of Time:  Please be aware that this class is scheduled for three hours and twenty minutes.  This is generally more than enough time to finish most labs, but please expect to be in class for the duration of the scheduled time, if not longer.

Please read and abide by the Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook.

Grading Criteria

You must have completed and turned in the pre-lab from the text at the beginning of the lab period in order to be allowed to do the lab—you MUST come to lab prepared.  This means all blanks must be filled in with reasonable answers to be allowed to complete the experiment.

If you arrive tardy and have missed too much of the pre-lab lecture (as determined by the instructor) you will not be allowed to begin the experiment.  Please arrive ON TIME to avoid a zero grade.  If you do not complete the lab, you cannot turn in a lab report for that lab, but you may turn in the post lab. 

A weekly quiz on the pre-lab will be given at the beginning of lab class—you must be prepared for lab before coming to lab.  Students are required to turn in the report for an experiment at the end of the lab period.  The post-lab is due the following week at the beginning of lab.  No late work is accepted. 

Failure to leave a clean lab will result in a 10 point deduction on your lab report for that week.  If the lab in general is left messy rather than an individual’s area, the whole class may be docked points on their lab report.  All students are required to clean their laboratory equipment and check out of their locker.  Failure to check out of your locker will result in one letter grade deduction for the course.  

Failure to officially withdraw will result in a grade of F.  Grades are based on the following scale:

100 - 90 = A

89.99-80.00 = B

79.99-70.00 = C

69.99 – 60.00 = D

59.99 and lower = F. 

Final grades will not be curved.

All grey areas of the lab reports must be in pen, only.  Whenever writing data or observations down, it must be written directly into your lab book.  Scratch paper may be used for calculations, if necessary, but if instructed to show all work, you must include it with the lab report.  You CANNOT write data (such as weights, measurements, etc.) on scratch paper then copy it into your lab book.  If you make a mistake while writing in pen, simply cross it out once and write the correct number in close-by.  Do NOT use correction fluid or tape.  If you do make a correction, show it to the instructor for approval.  Please write legibly; if I can’t read an answer, it is wrong.

Some possible areas to lose points in lab reports:

no prelab turned in/insufficient answers  [cannot do lab/receive a zero]

incorrect answers on prelab  [up to discretion of instructor]

not cleaning up lab  [10 points]

error in experimental value  [up to discretion of instructor]

Each incident of these in lab reports:

using white-out  [5 points]

writing in pencil in grey area  [5 points (even if you go back and write over in ink or erase)]

not crossing out once only  [1 to 5 points]

writing data on scratch paper without permission of instructor and/or not turning in scratch work  [5 points]

Each incident of these in lab reports and post labs:

incorrect significant figures  [up to discretion of instructor]

missing labels/units  [up to discretion of instructor]

missing reaction states [up to discretion of instructor]

calculation errors  [up to discretion of instructor]

not showing all work when asked  [receive no points for that question/part of the lab]

Grade Disputes:  While I encourage you to come to me with questions about answers on assignments anytime, if you wish to dispute a grade or have a grade changed, you must contact me about it within one week of the paper being returned or there will be no change to the grade.

Overall Grade:  It is the students’ responsibility to keep track of their overall grade.

• A Safety Video Quiz is mandatory before completing the first lab. It cannot be dropped and will account for 2.5% of your overall grade. 
• An equipment review is mandatory before completing the first lab. It cannot be dropped and will account for 2.5% of your overall grade. 
• Prelabs will account for 10% of your overall grade. The lowest prelab will be dropped automatically by the grade book software throughout the semester. 
• Prelab quizzes will account for 5% of your overall grade. The lowest prelab quiz will be dropped automatically by the grade book software throughout the semester. 
• Lab reports will account for 50% of your overall grade. The lowest lab report will be dropped automatically by the grade book software throughout the semester. 
• Post labs will account for 10% of overall grade. The lowest postlab will be dropped automatically by the grade book software throughout the semester. 
• The final exam will account for 20% of overall grade and will not be dropped. 

Attendance

Attendance in the lab is required.

There are no make up labs, but with prior arrangements, a student may attend another section of the lab under special circumstances.  Be aware that the only option is some time PRIOR to your scheduled lab. Speak with me AT LEAST one week in advance so that we can make arrangements with each other and other faculty members. 

Calendar

Additional Information

***This syllabus is subject to change.  You will be informed of any changes to the syllabus in class, email, and posting in AC Online.***