Each of you is enrolled in a particular lab section, and you are expected to attend that lab section. Permission to attend a lab section other than that in which you are enrolled must be obtained in advance. Permission will only be granted for significant reasons: participation in varsity athletic games, or meets (NOT practices), illness on the day of your regular lab, etc. Permission will NOT be granted for trivial reasons, including lack of planning, hangovers, exams or papers due the next day, necessity to catch a ride home for the weekend, skiing, etc. In general you can expect that I will grant permission for temporary lab changes for those reasons that are recognized as justifiable excuses for missing classes altogether. However, any labs to be made up must be done during another regularly scheduled lab period during the same week.

Lab exercises must be turned in at the end of each lab period, unless announced otherwise. If announced otherwise, they must be turned in at the next lab session for full credit. A grade will be deducted for the first three weeks that the lab is late, and after that, no credit will be given. Labs turned in late without permission obtained in advance will be returned ungraded and no credit will be given. It is in your best interest to attend lab and turn in the assignment for each lab session. Excused lab absences will be accepted only within seven calendar days (holidays and weekends included).

You cannot be urged too strongly to attend all field trips as they are scheduled, since these are by far the most difficult labs to make up. Any field trips you miss and wish to make up must be done on your own time and at your own expense. The one week time limit for excused absences applies to the field trips as well. To obtain full credit for labs and field trips attendance is mandatory.

Grading on labs will follow the format below:

= 15.0 points Lab well done, neatly presented, correct or accurate.

+ = 12.5 points Lab OK, some mistakes, possibly sloppy presentation.

= 10.5 points Lab completed with a number of mistakes, possibly incomplete or incomprehensible.

- = 9.0 points I recognize that you made an effort, but there's little here that indicates you understand what was going on.
 
 

Although this may appear to be a harsh, cut-and-dried approach, please understand that I am trying to lay out the ground rules in advance so you know what is expected and I won't have to make up rules as we go. At the same time, I am trying to avoid as much chaos as possible from my point of view; it is simply impossible to try to run a class with as many individual schedules as there are students. If any problems or questions arise please feel free to come and discuss them with me.

Finally, the bottom line -- to pass the laboratory part of the course you must satisfactorily complete all the lab exercises and earn a minimum grade of 60 % on the laboratory final. To pass the GE 142 you must pass both parts of the course, the lecture and the laboratory.