A NEW LOOK AT THE 1988-93

PROPOSAL FOR A NEW PHYSICS DEMONSTRATIONAL LECTURE FACILITY

SUBMITTED BY " "

Steve Narf

October 13, 1998

PROPOSAL: NEW PHYSICS LECTURE HALL

1. Division/Department:	Letters and Science, Department of Physics

2. Location:	See Appindex A: Construction of a new physics lecture hall, on the north side of Sterling Hall contiguous to 1301 and 1300. This construction would be best acieved when the remodeling of Sterling Hall takes place.

3. Project Description:	This new hall should be large enough to seat upto 350 students and be equipped with the most modern lecture demonstration capabilities (ie. Year 2000 audio, video, broadcast equipment). This facility will be an integral part of Sterling Hall and must incorporate all of the demonstration features currently found in Rooms 1300 and 1313 Sterling (ie. moving lecture benchs which include, air, natural gas, and AC/DC power, hookups, and a sink). Other features currently found in 1300 and 1313 Sterling are a public address/sound systems, LCD projectors for video and computer displays, system computers with internet, and chalkboards.

(Construction of the lecture hall in the location contemplated, will necessitate changes to Van Vleck's loading dock assess.)

Analysis of need

Courses are taught in a demonstration format;

Demonstrations are an integral part of physics instruction and are particularly invaluable to the introductory physics courses. All the lecture demonstrations are store in rooms 1301 and 2301.

Lecture Halls 1300 and 1313 are the only two rooms in contiguous to1301, (where 1300 seats 334 students and 1313 seats 99). Thus, rooms 1300 and 1313 are the only two room that can be used for teaching physics in a demonstration format.

Room 1313 has not been remodeled for over 30 years. The room contains the original hard wooded chairs, one 30 year old TV and a 15 year old Monitor. We just put in an LCD projector this last school year (1998-99). However this room needs much more work in order to bring it into the '21st century'. It needs a complete audio system for our acoustic course. In addition, the room's walls, ceiling, floor, and seats will all have to adjusted for peek acoustical performance. The room will also need a dedicated computer system to room the audio and video systems .va. touch-screen technology. This room is also in dispirit need for new blackboards, minor lighting changes, and the lecture beanch needs to be moved away from the blackboards an additional 2 feet. Beyond cosmetic changes to this room, that's all one can do. The strucher for Sterling Hall and 1313 prevent any major changes to the room like increasing the seating. The room can simply not be made any larger then it is wright now without alternating 1301 and displacing videl equipment space. Which brings up the major problem that we have with 1313 and that is the Physics Course 109. This course is so large that students set in the isles and we already have two classes with inrollment limits.

Presently room 1300 is used about 29 hours1 and 1313 about 12 hours2 per week per semenster. Rooms in which physics lecture demonstrational courses are taught should be scheduled to provide a intervening of one hour between courses, which alows the time needed to proporly removal and the replacement of demonstrations for the next class. At the present, this time requirement is a luxoury when it does occer and in most cases demonstrations are requiered to be setup and removed at the same time in both rooms all within 15 minutes. The lack of the one hour requirement, limits the number demonstrations the facility can use in there lecture. In turn, the facility are trying to help by redusing the number of setups and in some cases have stoped all together because 15 minutes isn't enought time to setup the desiered demonstration. In other words, this one hour requirement limits the number of hours a demonstration facility can be in actual classroom use to, no more than, 20 hours per week (standard 7:45 - 4:40 classroom day), therefore room 1300 is substantially over-assigned.

The two lecture halls are used to teach a variety of undergraduate courses for students from a number of academic disciplines: General Physics 754-103 and 754-104 provide a non-calculus introduction to physics for students seeking to meet physical science graduation requirements. The courses are also required for students working toward undergraduate degrees in the life sciences and pre- medicine students may enroll in the 103-104 sequence. Spring 1989 enrollments in the two courses were 231 and 354 respectively. Over the past decade, mean fall enrollment in 103 approximated 490 students (high enrollment, 548 in 1985; low, 440 in 1983) and spring enrollment 230 (high, 279 in 1983; low 191 in 1980). During the same period, 104 averaged 130 students in the fall (high, 164 in 1984; low in 1980) and 350 in the spring (high, 398 in 1987; low, 323 in 1983).3

General Physics 745-201 and 745-202, requiring calculus preparation, are designed for pre- engineering students. Class size over the past decade has fluctuated with engineering enrollment: 201 has ranged from a low of 317 students to a peak of 546 and 202 from 321 to 583 students. Spring , 1989 enrollment in the two courses was 382 and 321 respectively.

General Physics 745-207 and 745-208 are calculus level introductory physics courses for physical science students. The courses also attract pre-medicine students and other seeking a rigorous approach to the discipline. Enrollment in 207 over the past 10 years has averaged approximately 170 students in the fall semester (high enrollment, 212 in 1984; low, 119 in 1981). Averages in 208 have approximated 100 students in the fall (high, 117 in 1983; low, 87 in 1985) and 120 in the spring ( high 144, in 1984; low, 96 in 1988 and 1989). Spring,1989 enrollment in the two courses was 106 and 96 respectively.

All of the foregoing courses have regularly been taught in Room 1300. From the spring of 1989 (2-
83) through the spring of 1987 (2-87), Modern Physics (ECE ) 754-244 was also taught in 1300. The room was well suited to the course. It accommodated the substantial 244 enrollment ( from 100 to in excess of 200 students) and it enabled use of a demonstration based teaching format. However, heavy room demand and time constraints combined to force a shift to general assignment classroom space. Room 1300 is also used for public lectures and various other outreach functions and for weekly departmental colloquia. For the past four spring semesters, ILS 202 has been taught in the room.

Until Academic Year 1987-88, Lecture Room 1313 accommodated two courses designed for non- science majors: 754-107, "The Ideas of Modern Physics" and 754-109, "Physics in the Arts".Surging enrollment has forced the transfer of 107 to Room 1300. (The change has reduced pressure on 1313 while increasing it on 1300. The move would not have been possible had not Physics 244 previously been moved form 1300.) With a current enrollment of nearly 200, 107 appears to have permanently outgrown Room 1313. It would have been necessary to cap 107 enrollment had 1300, over committed as it is, not been available.

Physics 109 is still taught in 1313 (seats 90) despite an enrollment that regularly reaches 120 students. (An estimated 20 to 40 students are denied admission each semester, students who could be accommodated if a larger lecture demonstration room were available and if additional TA budget were provided to handle laboratory sections.) The over-scheduled Room 1300 lecture facility cannot be assigned to meet the 109 need.

[In addition to its limited seating, the 1313 facility is deficient in that not all lecture demonstration gear can be used in the room. Some apparatus has too much height for the room's one story. (Room 1300 Provides two stories.) Room 1313 is also considerably narrower than Room 1300, a limitation which restricts the use of any appreciable amount of apparatus during a single lecture period.]

In addition to Physics 109, Room 1313 is regularly employed to teach "Energy in a Physics Perspective" (754-115), "Modern Physics" (754-241), "Electric Circuits and Electronics" (754-321), "Wave Motion and Optics" (754-325), "Acoustics for Musicians" (754-371), and "Applied Optics" (754-625). The room has also been used to teach "Modern Physics for Engineers" (754-205).

Attachment 2 presents a summary of the use made of 1300 and 1313 lecture demonstration facilities over the past decade. The lecture halls also used each summer to teach Eight Week Session general physics courses. The availability of an additional lecture demonstration room would permit use of the demonstration format in other physics courses. As noted, Physics 205 had only irregular access to demonstration space and time constraints have forced Physics 244 into general assignment classrooms. Other courses now taught in general assignment facilities--754-311, "Mechanics," 754- 322, "Electromagnetic Fields," 754-448, "Atomic and Quantum Physics," 754-449, "Atomic and Quantum Physics, II," and 754-623, "Electronic Aids to Measurement,"--would benefit from access to demonstration facilities and computer technology may be expected to increase the potential for demonstrations courses.

(Attachment 3 provides a summary listing of physics courses which would benefit from regular use of a demonstration format. The list includes courses now regularly being taught in either 1300 or 1313, courses which are occasionally taught in one or the other of these facilities, and courses which are now taught in general assignment classrooms.)

SUMMARY: Physics lecture demonstration facilities are regularly employed to provide a variety of general introductory physics courses to students from a wide range of academic disciplines. Construction of a new physics lecture demonstration hall would serve four principal ends: (1) it would relieve the heavy pressure on the Department's large 360 seat 1300 Sterling lecture hall . (2) it would permit reassignment of courses which stretch (and overstretch) the 90 seat capacity of the Department's 1313 lecture facility. (Construction of a new demonstration facility would make it possible to consider use of 1313 as a general assignment classroom if means could be found to protect the room's unique facilities and to insure suitable access for physics instructional purposes.) (3) it would enable use of a demonstration format for other physics courses which would benefit from this instructional approach. (4) it would lay the basis for possible wider lecture/classroom use of emerging technologies.

5. Alternatives: There would seem to be two alternatives to construction of a new lecture demonstration facility: (1) continuing with the present arrangement or (2) seeking other suitable lecture demonstration space elsewhere on campus.

The first alternative, maintaining the status qui, would continue the current over commitment of the 1300 lecture hall. Over-crowding of the 1313 lecture room to accommodate Physics 109 would continue along with course enrollment restrictions. There would be no possibility of employing a demonstration format for other physics courses which would benefit from such an approach. The use of new instructional technologies would be difficult and probably more costly.

The second alternative, finding suitable existing space is unlikely. It is not clear that any campus facility with a seating capacity in the range of 250 is available. Whether, if such space were to be found, it would be suitable is more problematical. Lecture room in Sterling Hall have well equipped demonstration benches from which the instructor works. The benches include spacial electrical and plumbing features not always found in a typical lecture hall. Even if a room of suitable size and with the necessary demonstration features could be found, a considerable logistical problem would remain. The present 1300 and 1313 Sterling lecture hall are serviced by a large lecture preparation complex housed in 1301 and 2301 Sterling. These rooms, with a total area of 4,100 sq. ft., are contiguous to 1300 and 131 and provide space in which demonstration gear is housed, set up, and tested prior to use. The difficulties involved in moving lecture demonstration apparatus for even small distances from the support area are substantial-- even in a single building. When it has been attempted the experience has not been good. Apparatus must be moved through the jostle of student traffic and arrive ready for essentially immediate use, no simple task no matter how much care is exercised or how sturdy the gear may be. Difficulties are multiplied many-fold if transportation from one building to another is contemplated. These problems aside, it is clear, under the best of circumstances, that additional lecture room technical assistance would be required were demonstration format courses taught at remote sites. Establishing a lecture preparation room at a demonstration location removed from Sterling Hall is not a feasible option because of the high costs associated with duplicating demonstration gear and with employing additional technical staff to service the facility.

(Alternative locations for a lecture demonstration facility were discussed with representatives of the Space Management Office on March 12, 1985.)

6. Budget Evaluation: The project was discussed in conceptual terms with UW Planning and Construction staff in 1985. An initial and tentative estimate of $2,000,000 was furnished. In 1989, this projection would be higher, in the range of $2.5-$3.0 Million. P&C staff point out that, given the complexity of the proposed undertaking, a well based estimate would require analysis of more developed plans.

7. Previous Action: The project was proposed as a major construction/remodeling project for the 1987-89 and 1989-91 bienniums.

8. Existing Space Assigned to Unit: Lecture demonstration facilities presently available t the Department are located in room 1300 (1,965 sq.ft.) and 1313 (1,037 sq.ft.) Sterling Hall. The two halls ate supported by preparation room 1301Sterling (1,840 sq.ft.) and 2301Sterling (2,306 sq.ft). In addition a service/storage room, 2315 Sterling, (308 sq.ft.) is available to the demonstration activity. Total demonstration space occupies 7,456 sq.ft.

9. Space Requested: The proposed new lecture hall would have an area of approximately 3,000 sq.ft. Ancillary and supporting services space would more than double the total area required.

10. Guideline Requirements: To be furnished as appropriate.

11. Unit Profile: Attachment 2 details use of the 1300 and 1313 lecture halls over the past decade. Attachment 3 lists present physics courses in which demonstrations could be usefully employed. Attachment 4 provides a summary of department enrollment over the interval. In credit hours terms, approximately 80% of physics instructional activity during Academic years 1988-89 is being carried out in the two lecture halls (16,739 credit hours of a total 21,130), a ratio consistent with the experience of the past ten years.

12. Research Programs: This proposal is for an instructional facility designed primarily to meet the needs of undergraduate students.

13. Space Assignment: No space assignment changes would occur as a result of the proposed project. (As indicated, the Department of Physics would consider use of the 1313 lecture demonstration room as general assignment classroom space if appropriate arrangements could be made.) There would be no loss of space of need to relocate another unit because of the project.