Math 104 Syllabus
Course: Mathematics for Elementary Teachers
Term: Fall 2000
Time and Place: T-Th 6:00-7:15, STT314
Instructor: Dr. Ken Monks
Office: STT163A
Phone: (570) 941-6101
Email: monks@scranton.edu
Office Hours:
T-Th 5:15-6:00, 7:15-7:45 and by appointment or email
[Note: Office
hours may be held in either STT314 or STT163A. Check both locations.]
Required Textbooks:
- Musser, Burger, & Peterson; Mathematics for Elementary Teachers, 5th edition, Wiley, ISBN:0-471-36858-x
Prerequisite: You must be an elementary education, special education, or early childhood education major.
Course Objective: To provide the student with an understanding and mastery of the mathematical skills, concepts, processes, theories, and applications needed for teaching mathematics at the elementary level. This will accomplished primarily by covering the topics described in the topical syllabus along any supplementary material provided by the instructor. Students should strive to obtain a mastery of the subject matter by 1) developing both the technical skill necessary to solve problems and 2) demonstrate a deeper understanding of the underlying theory. Exams will attempt to ascertain if each of these objectives have been met.
Attendance Policy: You will be expected to both attend and participate in every scheduled meeting of this course. Class participation is an essential component of this course and therefore you MUST come to class on a regular basis. Should you miss a class for any reason, you are still responsible for all announcements made and all material presented during that class.
Class Preparation: When you come to class you should
- Bring your current homework assignment that is due to hand in.
- Bring the homework assignment that is due the following class in order to ask questions about it.
- Have read the reading assignment for that day and be prepared to ask questions and discuss the material.
- Bring the instructor's lecture notes with you.
Email and the Web: All students in this course are required to have a university email account and are expected to check their email frequently for announcements and other information I may send to you. If you prefer to read your email using your home/personal account instead of your university email account you can forward your university email to you home account by following these instructions. I will not change your email address in my email address book from its default university address so you must either read your university email or forward it to your home account. Each student is also expected to be able to access any information that I post on the world wide web which is related to your course. You may access this information from the mathematics department computer lab in STT162. Contact the Help Desk in the computer center if you need assistance.
Homework: I will post your homework assignments here. Due to the large volume of homework I assign and the large number of students in all of my courses, I must insist that all written assignments satisfy the following criteria:
- All homework must be done on 8.5"x11" paper. The paper must have straight smooth edges, not the jagged edges that are obtained when paper is removed from a "spiral bound" notebook. The paper should not be folded.
- All homework that consists of more than a single sheet of paper must be stapled in the upper left hand corner. Corners should not be folded or "dog eared".
- All homework must have the following information written legibly in
the upper right hand corner of the first page:
- Name
- Course and time
- Assignment number (this is the assignment number given on the assignment sheet, not the number of assignments you handed in).
Thus, the first page of every homework assignment should look like this:
Any homework that does not conform to the above format will be discarded!
The homework that you hand in will not be returned to you until the end of
the semester, so if you want to keep a copy for yourself you should make a
photocopy before handing it in. If you are handing in more than one Assignment Number on a single day, each assignment must be stapled and labeled separately.
Failure to follow these procedures may result in a reduced homework grade.
Late Assignments: Don't even think about it. I have yet to accept one and
don't want to spoil my record. You will receive no credit for late
assignments. I also will not accept EARLY assignments. Assignments must be
handed in, in class, on the day they are due, during the first ten minutes of class. There
are NO exceptions. You may not place a homework assignment under my office door or
give it to me in the halls or mail it to me or have an uncle deliver it to my house.
Make up exams: If you miss an exam for a valid reason I will discuss make-ups with you at that point. The determination of whether a reason is valid or not will be made by me on a case by case basis. If I determine the reason is not valid you will receive a 0 for that exam. Thus you should check with me BEFORE missing an exam if possible to determine if your reason is valid or not.
Cheating: All exams and quizzes are to be completed individually. Homework assignments can be done in collaboration with others but must be written up individually. In other words you can help each other figure things out, but the actual write-up that you hand in must be entirely your own. Simply changing the variable names or making other cosmetic changes on your friend's assignment is not allowed. In cases where the solution to a homework problem is in the solutions manual or the back of the book you may not simply copy that solution, but should write your own solution in your own words and symbols, even if you need to look at the solution to see how it is done. Any acts of cheating which come to my attention will be dealt with in the most severe manner possible under University guidelines. Plus I will be really upset.
Grading: We will have two hourly exams and a cumulative final exam. We will also have homework assignments, quizzes, and possibly other projects. You will also be required to participate in class, discuss the material and make presentations if necessary.
The course grade will be determined as follows.
Final Exam - 30%
Hourly Exam #1 - 25%
Hourly Exam #2 - 25%
Other Grades - 20%
Your numerical grade it will then be converted to a letter grade based on
the following table.
| If your numeric grade is greater than or equal to.. |
Your letter grade will be... |
| 93 | A |
| 89 | A- |
| 85 | B+ |
| 82 | B |
| 78 | B- |
| 74 | C+ |
| 70 | C |
| 67 | C- |
| 63 | D+ |
| 60 | D |
| 0 | F |
This will be the grade you receive for the course.
Remember that the only way to really learn mathematics is by doing it yourself. This is the best way to prepare for your exams.
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand
- Chinese Proverb
Schedule: We will attempt to follow the schedule below. This
schedule is not cast in stone. We will adjust the pace of the course as we proceed.
For example the dates of the exams may change based upon how long it takes us to cover the
material. However, we must cover the essential material you will need to pass the exams.
| Class | Date | Day | Activity |
| 1 | Aug 29 | T | 0,1 |
| 2 | 31 | Th | 2 |
| 3 | Sep 5 | T | 3 |
| 4 | 7 | Th | 4 |
| 5 | 12 | T | 5 |
| 6 | 14 | Th | 6 |
| 7 | 19 | T | 7 |
| 8 | 21 | Th | 8 |
| 9 | 26 | T | Hourly Exam #1 |
| 10 | 28 | Th | 9 |
| 11 | Oct 3 | T | 10 |
| 12 | 5 | Th | 11 |
| - | - | - | Fall Break! |
| 13 | 12 | Th | 12 |
| 14 | 17 | T | 13 |
| 15 | 19 | Th | 14 |
| 16 | 24 | T | 15 |
| 17 | 26 | Th | 16 |
| 18 | 31 | T | Hourly Exam #2 |
| 19 | Nov 2 | Th | 17-18 |
| 20 | 7 | T | 19 |
| 21 | 9 | Th | 20 |
| 22 | 14 | T | 21-22 |
| 23 | 16 | Th | 23 |
| 24 | 21 | T | 24-25 |
| - | - | - | Thanksgiving break! |
| 25 | 28 | T | 26 |
| 26 | 30 | Th | 27 |
| 27 | Dec 5 | T | 28 |
| 28 | 7 | Th | review |
| Class | Activity |
| 0 | Introduction |
| 1 | Patterns and Sequences |
| 2 | Sets and set operations |
| 3 | Functions |
| 4 | Logic |
| 5 | Natural Numbers |
| 6 | Addition and Subtraction of Natural Numbers |
| 7 | Multiplication of Natural Numbers |
| 8 | Division and Exponents for Natural Numbers |
| 9 | Divisibility |
| 10 | Primes, GCD, LCM |
| 11 | Integers |
| 12 | Rational Numbers |
| 13 | Rational Arithmetic |
| 14 | Decimal Notation |
| 15 | Ratio, Percent, Scientific Notation |
| 16 | Real Numbers and Irrational Numbers |
| 17 | Algebraic Expressions, Equations, Inequalities |
| 18 | Functions and their Graphs |
| 19 | Probability - Single Stage Experiments |
| 20 | Probability - Multistage Experiments |
| 21 | Plane Geometry |
| 22 | Polygons and Tessellations |
| 23 | Three Dimensional Geometry |
| 24 | Symmetry, Rotation, Reflection |
| 25 | Measurements and Units |
| 26 | Area and Perimeter |
| 27 | Volume and Surface Area |
| 28 | Congruence and Constructions |
Adaptability: I retain the right to modify or change any of the policies stated in this syllabus during the term if I feel it is in the best interests of the students and the course.
