PHYSICS 1C
Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Electrodynamics, Optics, and Special Relativity
Description: Lecture/demonstration, four hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisites: course 1A, 1B, Mathematics 32A, 32B. Enforced corequisite: Mathematics 33A. Magnetic fields, Ampere's law, Faraday's law, inductance, and alternating current circuits. Maxwell's equations, electromagnetic waves, light, geometrical optics, interference and diffraction. Special relativity. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
5 of 6
Most Helpful Review
Professor Schriver is one of the best professors I've taken ever on south campus. Personally, I didn't have a strong physics background so physics classes were especially difficult for me. I had professors before him in the physics department that just derived equations during lectures. This helps to some extent, but professor schriver goes into the concepts which is what really matters. I got a grasp of the material in physics for basically the first time and I managed to pull off an A-. =)
Professor Schriver is one of the best professors I've taken ever on south campus. Personally, I didn't have a strong physics background so physics classes were especially difficult for me. I had professors before him in the physics department that just derived equations during lectures. This helps to some extent, but professor schriver goes into the concepts which is what really matters. I got a grasp of the material in physics for basically the first time and I managed to pull off an A-. =)
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - I've taken Shadkhoo for both physics 1B and 1C and my experiences in these courses were pretty similar. He likes to spend deriving equations, which is all well and good, but you'll wish more examples were gone over in class when exams are approaching. The homework assigned was through Mastering Physics, which wasn't usually unreasonably long and you could use it to study for exams.
Winter 2016 - I've taken Shadkhoo for both physics 1B and 1C and my experiences in these courses were pretty similar. He likes to spend deriving equations, which is all well and good, but you'll wish more examples were gone over in class when exams are approaching. The homework assigned was through Mastering Physics, which wasn't usually unreasonably long and you could use it to study for exams.
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Most Helpful Review
Teaching physics with pointing at powerpoints instead of using a chalkboard? This is not an effective way of teaching. He has us do clicker questions in class, and for most of the time, everybody is confused with his explanation for the right answer. You may end up with an acceptable grade, but you won't learn anything. All you do is self-study.
Teaching physics with pointing at powerpoints instead of using a chalkboard? This is not an effective way of teaching. He has us do clicker questions in class, and for most of the time, everybody is confused with his explanation for the right answer. You may end up with an acceptable grade, but you won't learn anything. All you do is self-study.
Most Helpful Review
Stenzel... haha. I went to every lecture during the first couple of weeks, and they were the biggest wastes of time. Like others have said, he goes off on a lot of tangents about things that will not be tested if you can understand him in lecture. He likes to mumble into the board a lot. If you have to take this professor for 1C, it's going to be manageable to pass the class, but not necessarily easy.
Stenzel... haha. I went to every lecture during the first couple of weeks, and they were the biggest wastes of time. Like others have said, he goes off on a lot of tangents about things that will not be tested if you can understand him in lecture. He likes to mumble into the board a lot. If you have to take this professor for 1C, it's going to be manageable to pass the class, but not necessarily easy.
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Most Helpful Review
I've purposely elected to write this review before grades are out. When I took this class (Spring 2007), it was Professor Wang's first time teaching a class in the US, ever. That said, it was a different experience than would be probable otherwise. The good: He tries really hard to teach the material. The professor went out of his way to put together demonstrations, powerpoints, and other materials for furthering students' understanding. For the part on interference, he even put together a macro'd Excel file and sent it to the students, allowing them to plug in various numbers and see how it affected a graph of the interference. Additionally, exams are graded on time, homework is fair in quantity and quality, and sample exams are given a week in advance (which for the two midterms, were extremely similar to the actual exams). The average in the class was very high (~80s) until the final, which was fairly difficult (albeit doable), and which was definitely a step above the midterms in terms of problem solving and theory. The bad: Having little experience teaching prior to this class often means that the professor is spends an inordinate amount of time on material which is less than useful; deriving equations, answering people's questions about simple material at great length (and wasting a lot of time doing so) which they honestly should just learn on their own, and discussing theory which is beyond the scope of the exams, which no one really understands. This time would be better spent doing a problem of medium difficulty and explaining the theory step by step. I am sure that having been his first time teaching, future quarters will be more effective. Additionally, I leave this class having learned a significant amount more than in my previous physics class (with a certain Astronomy professor), possibly due to the extensive amount of self-teaching I had to do.
I've purposely elected to write this review before grades are out. When I took this class (Spring 2007), it was Professor Wang's first time teaching a class in the US, ever. That said, it was a different experience than would be probable otherwise. The good: He tries really hard to teach the material. The professor went out of his way to put together demonstrations, powerpoints, and other materials for furthering students' understanding. For the part on interference, he even put together a macro'd Excel file and sent it to the students, allowing them to plug in various numbers and see how it affected a graph of the interference. Additionally, exams are graded on time, homework is fair in quantity and quality, and sample exams are given a week in advance (which for the two midterms, were extremely similar to the actual exams). The average in the class was very high (~80s) until the final, which was fairly difficult (albeit doable), and which was definitely a step above the midterms in terms of problem solving and theory. The bad: Having little experience teaching prior to this class often means that the professor is spends an inordinate amount of time on material which is less than useful; deriving equations, answering people's questions about simple material at great length (and wasting a lot of time doing so) which they honestly should just learn on their own, and discussing theory which is beyond the scope of the exams, which no one really understands. This time would be better spent doing a problem of medium difficulty and explaining the theory step by step. I am sure that having been his first time teaching, future quarters will be more effective. Additionally, I leave this class having learned a significant amount more than in my previous physics class (with a certain Astronomy professor), possibly due to the extensive amount of self-teaching I had to do.
Most Helpful Review
Whitten is perfectly harmless. His enthusiasm is infectious, which is nice but not that useful. I ended up going to the physics workshop to ask questions and do examples. The course is quite challenging, but it's not the hardest. Homeworks come straight out of Giancolli (which isn't the most clear textbook ever made). I would recommend asking the TA for help and going to the workshops rather than putting too much effort into de-coding Whitten's lectures.
Whitten is perfectly harmless. His enthusiasm is infectious, which is nice but not that useful. I ended up going to the physics workshop to ask questions and do examples. The course is quite challenging, but it's not the hardest. Homeworks come straight out of Giancolli (which isn't the most clear textbook ever made). I would recommend asking the TA for help and going to the workshops rather than putting too much effort into de-coding Whitten's lectures.
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