Provider: Thomas Edison
Course: PHY-1290 Physics II Lab 1CR
Instructor: Dr. Albert Lozano-Nieto. Note that this course has zero mentor interaction besides grading, unless you need to ask for help.
Course content: This is a standalone 1-credit physics II lab for students who have already completed the 3-credit physics II course but need a laboratory component for their degree program. The course consists of six lab activities. There are no discussions, assessments, projects, or papers.
You must purchase a lab kit from the university's approved supplier at a cost of $138. Do not delay your order, as it may take up to a week for the kit to be packed and another week to arrive. Although the kit is expensive and many items in it don't get used during this course, finding the essential materials independently would likely take a lot of time and not save much money.
The course syllabus has a recommended but completely optional textbook. Used copies of it are available extremely inexpensively. However, everything in this course is easily Googleable if you're stuck.
You are provided with a long lab instruction document, which is a bit confusing. It references a lab manual that doesn't exist. There isn't a clear listing of the materials and prep you need for every lab activity, and I had to read the instructions several times before I understood what was actually required.
Time taken on course: I finished the entire course in just over a week. You could probably do everything in a single weekend if motivated and focused.
Familiarity with subject before course: Just before taking this course, I rushed through Physics I and II on Study.com to save money. Surprisingly, that largely provided me with an adequate understanding of physics to get through the course. In the past, I've also taken the CLEP Natural Sciences and a few ASU ULC courses that touched on physics.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This course is MUCH easier than StraighterLine's standalone physics I lab. Not taking the physics I lab at TESU as well was a major mistake. The SL lab activities are 3x longer and more complex, there's much more of them, and the grading is very harsh.
Unusually for TESU, no rubrics were provided in this course. The evaluation rubrics section of the Moodle course site was empty, and the assignment pages did not have any either.
Set up your lab reports using an academic formatting style. Make a template first and then copy that for each activity. Your report needs to have the following sections:
Introduction: 2-3 sentences about the purpose of the lab activity and the work that will be done
Methods: 1-3 sentences about the materials/tools/equipment needed, 1-3 paragraphs going over the steps and procedures in your own words, and 1-3 photos of the experimental setup
Results: Copy all of the questions from the lab instructions and answer them with at least one sentence. Copy all of the tables from the instructions and fill them out. Also, include photos and/or graphs of the results if applicable. Label all figures and tables appropriately.
Conclusion: 2-4 sentences explaining what you learned in the lab, any difficulties you encountered, comments on the lab, and how the lab relates to physics coursework.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2-3, a few labs briefly tripped me up, but overall the course is pretty straightforward once you understand how things work and have a system. Don't be afraid to get hands-on and dive in. Only a moderate level of math and science understanding is required. I ended up with a 100% A.
Course: PHY-1290 Physics II Lab 1CR
Instructor: Dr. Albert Lozano-Nieto. Note that this course has zero mentor interaction besides grading, unless you need to ask for help.
Course content: This is a standalone 1-credit physics II lab for students who have already completed the 3-credit physics II course but need a laboratory component for their degree program. The course consists of six lab activities. There are no discussions, assessments, projects, or papers.
You must purchase a lab kit from the university's approved supplier at a cost of $138. Do not delay your order, as it may take up to a week for the kit to be packed and another week to arrive. Although the kit is expensive and many items in it don't get used during this course, finding the essential materials independently would likely take a lot of time and not save much money.
The course syllabus has a recommended but completely optional textbook. Used copies of it are available extremely inexpensively. However, everything in this course is easily Googleable if you're stuck.
You are provided with a long lab instruction document, which is a bit confusing. It references a lab manual that doesn't exist. There isn't a clear listing of the materials and prep you need for every lab activity, and I had to read the instructions several times before I understood what was actually required.
Time taken on course: I finished the entire course in just over a week. You could probably do everything in a single weekend if motivated and focused.
Familiarity with subject before course: Just before taking this course, I rushed through Physics I and II on Study.com to save money. Surprisingly, that largely provided me with an adequate understanding of physics to get through the course. In the past, I've also taken the CLEP Natural Sciences and a few ASU ULC courses that touched on physics.
Pitfalls, high points, things others should know: This course is MUCH easier than StraighterLine's standalone physics I lab. Not taking the physics I lab at TESU as well was a major mistake. The SL lab activities are 3x longer and more complex, there's much more of them, and the grading is very harsh.
Unusually for TESU, no rubrics were provided in this course. The evaluation rubrics section of the Moodle course site was empty, and the assignment pages did not have any either.
Set up your lab reports using an academic formatting style. Make a template first and then copy that for each activity. Your report needs to have the following sections:
Introduction: 2-3 sentences about the purpose of the lab activity and the work that will be done
Methods: 1-3 sentences about the materials/tools/equipment needed, 1-3 paragraphs going over the steps and procedures in your own words, and 1-3 photos of the experimental setup
Results: Copy all of the questions from the lab instructions and answer them with at least one sentence. Copy all of the tables from the instructions and fill them out. Also, include photos and/or graphs of the results if applicable. Label all figures and tables appropriately.
Conclusion: 2-4 sentences explaining what you learned in the lab, any difficulties you encountered, comments on the lab, and how the lab relates to physics coursework.
1-10 Difficulty level: 2-3, a few labs briefly tripped me up, but overall the course is pretty straightforward once you understand how things work and have a system. Don't be afraid to get hands-on and dive in. Only a moderate level of math and science understanding is required. I ended up with a 100% A.
TESU Class of 2024 BSBA-CIS+GM, BSIT, ASNSM-CS+Math, AAS-GEN
Earned credits from Sophia, SDC, ASU ULC, TEEX, Microsoft, Strayer, TESU, Saylor, DSST, CLEP, CompTIA, StraighterLine, and others since starting in April 2020
Earned credits from Sophia, SDC, ASU ULC, TEEX, Microsoft, Strayer, TESU, Saylor, DSST, CLEP, CompTIA, StraighterLine, and others since starting in April 2020
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