Grading and Policies

• Follow directions
• Keep hands to yourself
• No swearing, teasing, or put-downs
• Be in your seat, prepared for class, when the bell rings
• No eating in class unless authorized
• Follow all school rules

George Mason Honor Code

Integrity is an essential component of a just and civilized society and, therefore, of a successful learning environment. Students are expected to demonstrate high standards of academic, personal, and social integrity as members of the George Mason High School community. Students should be aware of the consequences of behaviors and take responsibility for their actions.

All students will be required to write the Honor Pledge on all assignments that are graded.

Weighting

• Daily Work 10%
• Labs 30%
• Tests and Projects 55%
• Participation 5%

The percentages may change slightly depending on the number of labs and tests accomplished in a quarter. Participation points are something that can be lost for coming to class unprepared (no calculator, pencil, notebook, etc.) or for inappropriate behavior.

Late Work

• Late homework is not accepted if we go over answers in class.
• 10% is taken off each day for assignments turned in late.

Grading Scale

Semester Grade

• Quarter 1 grade: 40%
• Quarter 2 grade: 40%
• Final Exam 20%

Collection

• Honors: it is assumed that reading the textbook is done as we go along whether or not it is formally assigned.
• I will give out two kinds of homework, skills practice and projects. In general skills practice (problem sets) will not be collected. They will be checked for completion at the beginning of the class period. You will have the opportunity to ask questions about it before we begin that day's activities and solution sets will be made available for you to check your work independently.
• On all assignments to be turned in make sure the following info can be found easily:
  
  • Name
    
  • Date
    
  • Class Period
    
  • Assignment Name
    
  • Honor Code
    
• On all homework (whether it is collected or not)the following format should be followed:
  • The problem statement should be written out. This does not have to be word for word but shoud have the important information from the problem in it
  • Write your answer in a different color pen/pencil than the problem statement
  • Work MUST be shown on every problem. If you aren't sure what work to show, write what you thought about in solving the problem.
  • Box, circle or double underline answers. If I can't find the answer, I will not count it as complete.

You will keep a Lab Journal and a Lab Portfolio. The journal will be a spiral bound or composition notebook and will be used during lab to record data and observations. Your Lab Portfolio will be a 3 ring binder which will be kept in the classroom to house your graded lab reports.

Lab Write-Ups

• The lab notebook will include the following three kinds of entries
  • Observation Report (Used to record your observations and thoughts during exploration activities and demonstrations)
  • Planning Report (Used for planning experiments that you have designed)
  • Experiment Reports (Used for conducting a formal experiment that either you designed, or I designed)
  • Grading Policy
  • Rubric
• Formal lab write-up
  • Guidelines
  • Grading Policy

Ethics/Honor Code

The work in your lab notebook must be your own work. When working in a group, as you will in most labs, it is likely that you will share hypotheses, procedures, and data in which case they can be copied from each other's notebooks (provided you actually did the lab & worked with the person from whom you are copying). Results and conclusion, however, are pieces that you should work on individually and then compare with others in your group. It is important that you practice interpreting the data and forming a conclusion on your own rather than copying what another person has written. Once you have thought about the lab on your own and written some of the analysis, it is appropriate to talk it over with your group and collaborate with each other on the analysis. There should be no verbatim copying of analysis and conclusions.

Clean-Up

You must obtain a sticker from me at the end of your lab indicating that your lab station has been cleaned up properly. Without a stamp, your lab grade will be reduced by 10%.

Contract

A contract will be handed out that clearly outlines the expected behavior in the lab. It must be signed by both you and your parent and returned to me before you can begin working in the lab.

Contract in Word format

Test corrections can be done for all exams except semester finals. See the guidelines for requirements and grading.

• Required
  • Graphing calculator
  • 2 separate spiral bound notebooks
    • one for notes: college-ruled (I suggest at least 100 pages)
    • one for labs: gridline
  • 2 writing utensils of different colors in class + access to a set of colored pencils or markers at home
• Suggestions (I will have some of these available in class but I encourage you to have your own)
  • Lab kit: Close toed shoes, long pants, t-shirt, hair ties, case for jewelry, contact case and solution. Keep in your locker and change before class.
  • Colored pencils, markers (for organizing notes)
  • Ruler /Straight edge
  • Scissors (for cutting handouts to size to fit in notebook)
  • Glue stick/tape (for attaching handouts/graphs to notebook)
  • Post-its (for marking important tables/handouts in textbook and notebooks and for recording questions to be asked in the next class)
  • 3x5 notecards (flashcards, vocab cards, and when allowed: cheat sheets)

Tardy

First block of the day tardies will be dealt with according to the student handbook.

For other blocks, more than one unexcused tardy will get you detention.

Missed Class

For planned absences: See me before you leave to get homework, etc. You are responsible for turning in all assignments on your return.

For unplanned absences: Students who are absent are responsible for

• finding out what they missed and completing homework before the next class meeting.
• turning in old homework the day they return to class.

Late homework will not be accepted since we go over the answers in class. Also, since we typically build on concepts, it is important that you make up the material you missed before going on.

Missed Labs/Test/Quiz

Please don't miss a lab or test day! But if you must, you have one week from the date of the lab/test/quiz to make it up. Some missed labs may be made up with alternative assignments. Please make an appointment with me.

Bathroom Pass

Ask permission to go (in case of emergency, I will know where you are). Only one person out at a time.

Eating and Drinking

For safety reasons: No eating in class unless authorized by me.

You may have water during class on non-lab days

Brainteasers

I really enjoy brainteasers, so at the beginning of a unit I will introduce a new brainteaser. Those able to solve it get a little prize!

Articles

Scientists are discovering new things everyday! I will be sharing new scientific discoveries with you as I hear of them. If you see an article or hear something science related, please share it with the class!