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Physics 2210, classical mechanics/math Methods 1, is the first semester of our two-semester sequence of sophomore-level classical mechanics combined with math methods.  The first semester is math heavy, and includes vectors, curvilinear coordinates, ODE's, PDE's, line, surface, and volume, integrals, taylor expansion, complex numbers, fourier series, and delta functions.  Lagrangian and hamiltonian methods are left for the second semester of the sequence.

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About the transformation:

We transformed this course using:

• Explicit learning goals
• Interactive lectures
• Transformed homework problems (including a "bank" of potential HW problems)
• Common student difficulties & in-class group activities/tutorials
• Concept tests ("clicker" questions)

Course effectiveness was investigated through the following assessments:

• Traditional exams
• A new research-based conceptual assessment (the colorado classical mechanics/Math methods Instrument, or CCMI).  This instrument is still under development.  It is not included in the zip files, but please contact Steven Pollock atÌý³§³Ù±ð±¹±ð²Ô.±Ê´Ç±ô±ô´Ç³¦°ì°ª³¦´Ç±ô´Ç°ù²¹»å´Ç.±ð»å³Ü if you would like to use it.

Download course materials

• Download a zipped file containing all course materials except assessments and solutions. (see below) [120 MB]
• Please email us at Steven.Pollock@colorado.edu to obtain a zip file of all course materials including assessments.

Instructors and education researchers are free to use and adapt these materials for non-commercial purposes, according to the Creative Commons license below. We ask for your cooperation in not making any solutions you may create for the homework (and exam problems, clicker questions, etc...) available on the open web, out of respect for instructors and students at other institutions, and for maintaining the integrity of our research.

Are you using these materials?

In exchange for these materials, we would greatly appreciate you filling out one or both of our user surveys:

• Give us feedback on the CCMI assessment instrument

Publications and posters

• See all publications related to this effort.

Other Resources

• Instructor manual of "best practices in clicker use"
• PER at University of Colorado with other posters, talks and research papers on similar topics
• with similar upper-division activities

This material is based upon work supported by the national science foundation under grant No. 0737118.

Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recomendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the national science foundation (NSF).