Math 150
Foundations: Mathematical Reasoning
Section 501

Syllabus

Summer II 2005



Time
MW 6:00 - 9:15 PM
Place
Wilson 412
Instructor
Professor Philip Hotchkiss
Office
Wilson 419
Office Phone
572-5575
Home Phone
562-1658 No calls after 10 pm, please.
E-mail
photchkiss @ wsc.ma.edu
            This is a great way to get in touch with me.
Office Hours
   
Monday, Wednesday 5:30 - 6:00 pm
and by appointment




THE COURSE
This course is a content course for pre-service elementary school teachers. The main goal of this course is to develop a deeper understanding of some of the mathematical topics you will be expected to teach in your classrooms. This course focuses on mathematical reasoning, and in particular on sets and mathematical logic, two of the foundations of mathematics. While this is a core course, it was designed for pre-service elementary teachers. As such, I will conduct this course as if you are all pre-service teachers and I will require that even those of you just taking it for core credit approach the course as if you were pre-service teachers.
This course approaches the learning of mathematics from a constructivist viewpoint. That is, the point of view that each student must build up their own understanding of mathematics in such a way that it fits into their understanding of previous mathematics they have learned. One of the best ways to allow students to construct their own understanding is through discovery based activities, and so we will do a lot of these types of activities. Although we will consider the topics in these activities at a deeper level than would be appropriate for elementary students, many of the activities we will do can be adapted for an elementary school class.
GOALS
   
WORK GROUPS
Group work will be an important part of this course. You should sit with your groups every day as we will be doing group work quite often. The purpose of this is twofold. First, working in groups is essential in any job and second, working in groups is excellent opportunity to stop and think (and therefore learn) about what we are doing- with the added benefit of having someone to help work out those things you are not clear about.
TECHNOLOGY
You will need regular access, during class and at home, to a standard scientific calculator. In addition you will need to have regular access to the internet.
HOMEWORK
The problems that are assigned for each topic are meant to be representative of what you should be learning. It is extremely critical that you work on the homework problems when they are assigned, as they will help you understand the concepts and techniques that we are studying. Putting them off will cause you to fall behind and can lead to a failing grade! Many of these problems are non-routine and may take a while to solve; you should not be discouraged by this. If you are struggling with a problem, sometimes it is helpful to put it aside for a while and then come back to it later. If you can not solve a problem you need to ask about it, either in class or during office hours. When you ask a question about a problem it will be most helpful if you can indicate what progress you have made and where exactly your difficulties lie. You should keep neat detailed solutions in a section of your notebook. These solutions will be helpful when studying for exams. I urge you to regularly study and work on the homework together.
POSTERS
Several of the in class activities we will do will require a each group to make a poster describing their results and conclusions. These posters will be due one week after the in class portion of the exploration has been completed. These posters will be graded by the entire class and me. I will then combine these grades into a final grade for the group.
EXAMS
There will be two in class exams during the semester. These exams will be 75 minute exams and will be open book and open notes. If there is any conflict with any exam please notify me ahead of time, at least a week if possible. There will be no make-ups given except in extenuating circumstances. The exams are tentatively set for July 27, and August 15. There will be no final exam but your final poster and project will be due on the last day of class which is August 17. You are required to come to class that day.
PROJECT
As mentioned above there will be a final project due the last day of class. The details of this project will be discussed in more detail later.
PORTFOLIO
You are responsible for creating a Mathematics Portfolio that documents your experience in this course. In addition to your exams, and all course materials that are distributed throughout the semester, you will need to keep a journal section where you will record your thoughts, experiences associated with this class. I will collect these several times throughout the semester and also the last day of class.
ATTENDANCE
You are expected to attend class each day and are responsible for all material covered in class (most of the time this will include material not covered in the texts). I will take attendance every day and you are allowed no more than two unexcused absences.
TIPS
   
GRADES
Course grades will be determined using the following percentages:

Exams 40%
Posters 25%
Project 25%
Portfolio 10%
A "borderline grade" may be raised to account for class attendance and participation.
SCALE
The minimum scale on all graded material will be the following straight scale.

95-100 A
90-94 A-
87-89 B+
84-86 B
80-83 B-
77-79 C+
74-76 C
70-73 C-
67-69 D+
64-66 D
60-63 D-
below 60 F

Curves are generally not used and will not be considered until the course grades are being assigned.
ADDENDUM
This syllabus is subject to change with prior notification.
There is a copy of this syllabus and other course materials at the URL
http://www.wsc.ma.edu/math/faculty/hotchkiss/MA150/MA150.asp


File translated from TEX by TTH, version 3.38.
On 11 Jul 2005, 13:22.