WT's College Algebra Course

COLLEGE ALGEBRA SYLLABUS

[35709] MTH 160B.602 for Fall 2002

4 CREDIT HOUR

Instructor: William V. Thayer

St. Louis Community College at Meramec

Section information:
MTH 160B.602 meeting on Tuesday and Thursday from 12:30 to 2:20 P.M. in SO 111

Campus Hours and Office Telephone 314 984 7866 or Home Telephone 821 5299
Office hours Mon., Wed., & Fri. from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in SW 218
Office hours Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in SW 218 (or see MAJOR MAGIC below)
Office hours Tuesday & Thursday from 2:20 to 3:00 p.m. on request near SO 111
or on request by appointment with the exception of department meetings, campus meetings or:
MAJOR MAGIC - MerAmec Juggling ORganization MAGIC
on Thursday from 11:15 A.M.to 12:15 P.M.
Check with the math secretary if I am not in my office
when you are free. You may also use email wt@jug.net
or my Web URL http://www.jug.net/wt
to contact me for help or information.
And for college information try StLCC @ Meramec Web
Pages URL http://www.stlcc.cc.mo.us/mcdocs/

PREQUISITE: MTH 140 with C, B or A or a satisfactory score on the placement test. Students from other institutions must provide appropriate documentation for enrollment to the instructor on or before Aug. 29, 2002.

COLLEGE ALGEBRA COURSE INTENT: This course is intended for students whose choice of academic fields does not require a college level algebra course, i.e., NON-TECHNICAL MAJORS. This section will require the use of a TI-83 or TI-83 PLUS graphing calculator to help learn the topics of this course and on tests.

ALTERNATIVE COURSES: See MTH:160A or MTH:C

MTH 160 TEXTBOOK: COLLEGE ALGEBRA Modeling Our World by Crisler, Froelich, Lege, Mosher, North and Winter

TIME ON COURSE: The four class hours and project time you spend on this course will require about twelve homework hours per week for high grades to around nine hours per week for passing grades. It is best to construct a time schedule for each week of the course and mark out the study time you plan. A plan gives you the needed nine to twelve hours indicated above. This commitment is a pledge you make for yourself to "BE ALL YOU CAN BE" each day for the personal obligation you have undertaken to learn this mathematics. Much of the class time is spent in small groups doing activities so you have an obligation to "BE ALL YOU CAN BE" to your team as well. Your instructor expects you to be prepared to work in your team so homework and study must be done or near done for each class.

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS: You need a TI-83 and the TI-83 "Graphing Calculator Manual", graph paper and poster board material for group presentations.

ADDITIONAL STUDY AIDS: Before the end of the first week take the Skills Test for beginning College Algebra found in the Mathematics Department's Syllabus. You should get 20 to 25 questions right or consider repeating Intermediate Algebra to master necessary skills for College Algebra.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE AND WEB SITE INTERACTION will play a role in the testing and reporting aspects of this course. I will help you with our computer facilities in SW 110 accomplish basic understanding and use of this reporting and mathematics software when needed.

After the first week our mathematics department tutors located in room SW 211 can help you and some library materials are available.

Please consider "How To Be A Successful Math Student" in the Mathematics Department's Syllabus.

Please see me as soon as possible for any personal accommodations you require.

CHAUTAUQUA

TYPICAL CLASS PERIOD: The first part of class time is open for answering student questions about the previous class work. The next part of class is used to introduce new material with examples and discussion.

Some class time is spent with all students working at the chalk board, lots of class time is spent working in teams and some class time is spent in the computer room SW 110.

TEAM ACTIVITIES: Class time that is devoted to team work is aimed at a deeper understanding of course content and/or applications.

Your instructor will assign you to a team and assign team coordinators. Teams may change from chapter to chapter. A grade rubric will be presented and modified in class to reflect the results from team work.

When working on a team, students are to think for themselves treating the instructor as a guide, consultant, coach and evaluator to the team. Always try to approach your team time with a knowledgeable position based on your personal studies. During team activity, you should display a willingness to generate discussion that leads to answers or more refined questions that converge to solutions to your team assignment.

You may be in the dark on some points but being open to change and willing to communicate your points even if mistaken at first helps the team toward the final goals while helping you toward greater clarity. At times we need team work to derive all the answers or computations in some assignments. And other times teams provide a natural background for discussion of the material and presentation of solutions. You are expected to help your team reach reasonable objectives on time and demonstrate to me that you are participating on your team in a meaningful way. Also, teams may wish to work as a study group covering daily assignments. This can be implemented via your telephone or computer networking.

Individual communication is not permitted in class. Please note that individual communication is not very productive while another person is speaking in a group or class room situation.

EXPECTATIONS: This syllabus including its Course Schedule (below), the Mathematics Department's Syllabus including Assignment Sheets, College Algebra Objectives and Department Policies combined with the St. Louis Community College Fall 2002 Fact Finder student handbook gives you the relevant course, student academic rights and responsibilities, and study guide information.

Please see me as soon as possible for any personal accommodations you require and please keep in mind that: The quickest way to resolve any difficulty, no matter how small, is to let your instructor know about it as soon as possible.

SPECIFIC EXPECTATIONS: You are expected to read the textbook and take notes from the textbook before the class in which the material is covered. Add to these notes or take separate notes covering the new material and activities in each class. Then, finish each assigned activities and exercises. See the Department's Syllabus for a rough outline schedule. This generally means you need to develop a dogged attitude with more than several hours per day spent on the team activities and presentations, solving exercises, keeping good notes from the text and class, and doing plenty of daily reviewing likely including some daily memorization. Use your personal weekly study schedule sheet to keep track of finished work.

If you need help, I am located in the mathematics department during office hours or you may call my home telephone number before 9:30 P.M.

This course takes lots of gumption. SOME GENERAL GOALS: Learning in this course may be enhanced by your frequent willingness to use some general outline of goals. One list is found on my Web site at URL www.jug.net/wt/mgoals.htm for you.

ASSIGNMENTS and NOTES: Your problem assignments, text notes and class notes are checked during regular test times. Turn in your notebook as you enter the test time and take it with you when you leave the test. All material should be in sequential textbook order. Seven extra credit points = 3 for completely worked homework exercises + 2 points for textbook notes + 2 points for class notes are given via a quick review of the thoroughness and spot checked for accuracy of your work.

TESTS: Half of the course grade is determined by tests. A regular test is given as shown on the Course Schedule and no make up tests may be taken. Regular tests are composed from the ACTIVITIES and EXERCISES in your textbook for 85 to 95% of the test and the rest from material highlighted during class. These tests are graded and returned as soon as possible but certainly less than a week. Ask for help if you need to develop better test taking skills. The final exam counts as two regular tests and is not returned. Test grades correspond to percentages of highest raw scores.

REPORTS: Half of the course grade is determined by activities, presentations and reports. Team assignments are required and a rubric will be discussed in class. EXTRA CREDIT: Extra credit points from you notebook and other extra credit projects are suggested during the course. Each carry the amount of points assigned with the given work. A grade rubric will be discussed in class.

GRADES AND THE GRADE SCALE: The final grade is based on the average of these regular tests and team assignments. Any extra credit points are added to the regular test points at the end of the course. The following scale is used on each unit:
A for 90 points or above,
B for 80 to 89 points,
C for 70 to 79 points,
D for 50 to 69 points, and
F for under 50 points.

I recommend an average of 75 or better from the tests scores (without the extra credit points) before you take any courses for which college algebra is a prerequisite. You may ask about PR or I grades for your individual combination of circumstances.

You may give yourself one point extra credit on the day's attendance for each problem put on the board. You may give yourself one point extra credit for each error you find in the textbook or in the answer key as long as you document what the error is and show the page number next to your one point on that day's attendance sheet.

ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED: more than a week of absences or two weeks of tardiness gives you a course grade of F. Be sure to sign the attendance sheet for each class and if tardy place a "T" on the attendance sheet.

CHANGES: Some additions, substitutions and/or corrections to this syllabus will be made during the course.

COLLEGE ALGEBRA COURSE APPROXIMATE SCHEDULE

Week // Textbook Sections // Schedule comments

AUG. 27 // Intro. & Lab SW 110, Chapter 1 Intro. //
SEPT. 3 // 1.1, 1.2, Group Work //
SEPT. 10 // 1.1, 1.2 Class Work //
SEPT. 17 // 1.2, Lab SW 110, 1.3, 1.4 //
SEPT. 24 // 1.5, 1.6, Test #1 //
OCT. 1 // Chapter 2 Introduction, 2.1, 2.2 //
OCT. 8 // 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 //
OCT. 15 // 2.6, Test #2, Chapter 3 Intro// Mid-semester Wk.
OCT. 24 // 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 // No Classes OCT. 22
OCT. 29 // 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 //
NOV. 5 // Test #3, Chapter 4 Introduction, 4.1, 4.2 //
NOV. 12 // 4.2, 4.3, Test #4 //
NOV. 19 // Chapter 5 Introduction, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 //
NOV. 26 // 5.4, 5.5 // No Classes NOV. 28 and 29
DEC. 3 // 5.6, Test #5, Chapter 6 Introduction, 6.1 //
DEC. 10 // 6.2, 6.3, Test #6 //
FINAL EXAM: Thursday, DEC. 19, 11:00 A.M. to 12:50 P.M.

Group 1