College Algebra for Science, Math 112, Spring 2005

Topics include: review of algebra; the real number line and the cartesian plane;  functions, including lines, quadratic functions, exponential functions and logarithmic functions; and modeling with functions and equations.

Required Course Materials: 

Text:  College Algebra, by Stewart, Redlin and Watson.  4th Edition.

Assignments::

It is my philosophy that:

This means that you can expect to spend time thinking about mathematics both in and out of class.  As is standard for a college course, you should expect to spend two hours outside class per credit.  This is a 3 credit course; adjust your schedule so that you have 6 hours outside of class to work on college algebra each week!

You will have three types of graded homework.  This course requires you to regularly access the internet.

• WeBWork (10% of your course grade).

WebWork assignments will probably include about 18 problems per week, divided into three sets of about 6 problems.

An excerpt from a web site at University of Rochester, where WeBWork was developed:

WeBWorK is an instrument for delivering homework problems to students over the internet. It gives students instant feedback as to whether or not their answers are correct. Each WeBWorK problem set is individualized (each student has a different version of each problem, for example the numerical values in the formulas may be slightly different. The student completes the assignment, logs onto the internet, and enters their answers into a web browser. The WeBWorK system responds telling the student whether an answer (or set of answers) is correct or incorrect and also records whether the student answered the question correctly or incorrectly . The student is free to try a problem as many times as he or she wishes until the due date. A key educational benefit of this system is that if a student gets a wrong answer, the student gets immediate feedback while the problem is still fresh in their mind. The student can then correct a careless mistake, review the relevant material before attacking the problem again.

Tutorials links:

• A brief introduction to WeBWork: On-line Tour 
• Student Guide (MS Word file): Student Guide 
• How to enter Answers into WeBWork (MS Word file): Syntax Guide

• Calibrated Peer Review (10% of your course grade).

Click here to login to CPR.

You will have 3 CPR assignments during the course of the semester.

An excerpt from a web site at UCLA, where CPR was developed: 

Calibrated Peer Review(TM) (CPR) is an Internet-based instructional tool that enables students to learn by writing. In a CPR assignment, students write short essays on a specific topic. Guiding questions encourage critical thinking and help students organize thoughts for the essay. After electronic submission of essays, students read and assign a score to three “calibration” essays. When students demonstrate they are competent reviewers, they read and assign a score to three anonymous peer essays, and finally, to their own essay. Regular use of CPR assignments teaches students to articulate ideas coherently and to critically evaluate both their peers’ and their own work.

Tutorial link:

• CPR Tour

• Hand-graded Work (15% of your grade). 

You can expect to write up a couple of problems to be hand-graded each week.  In addition, you may have mini-quizzes from time to time.    

You can expect to write up a few of problems to be hand-graded each week. These problems will almost always include answers that are not numbers or formulas. You may be asked to explain how you approach certain problems, or to explain something in words about what you are learning.  These assignments are like little take home tests: they are not drill to help you prepare for exams, rather they are a way I can see to what degree you have learned the material.  Note that the hand graded homework is worth the same amount as one midterm. 

Exams:

 

Thursday,  February 24	Math Exam 1
Thursday, April 7	Math Exam 2
Tuesday, May 3	Math Exam 3
TBA (Verify on CSULB Web site)	Cumulative Final Exam

 

Grade Distributions. Attendance 5% WeBWork Homework 10% CPR Homework 10% Hand-graded Assignments 15% Exam 1 15% Exam 2 15% Exam 3 15% Final Exam 15%

Cut-offs for letter grades.   Attendance  WeBWork CPR Hand- graded HW Exam 1 Exam 2 Exam 3 Final  Weighted average A 90 90  90       B  80 80 80     C  70 70 70      D  50 50 50