I see that I didn't make any comments about Fall 2008. The only thing I would have to say there is that I decided that I didn't really like the Math 093 textbook.
Math 093 - I'm probably about 30-40% done with a textbook/workbook for this class. My primary concern is that the content is not well organized in the current textbook, and that it does not emphasize the points that will help students succeed in Math 097. One of the frustrating things about this textbook is that I feel like I'm giving the students something other than what they really need, and consequently propagating a systemic problem with mathematics education out here. I hope to have this textbook completed in the next four weeks so that I can get it to print with some help from the bookstore.
Math 330 - Linear algebra is a notoriously difficult class because it's very easy to mess up in one of two extremes: Too much computation without enough theory or too much theory without enough computation. I don't know how well I did on this balance. The students came to the class underprepared as a majority of the students are ARL students who don't necessarily have a good mathematics background. In particular, the students really lacked several basic notions of proof and had some problems with basic manipulations at the beginning of class that I wasn't expecting to see.
Math 466 - Numerical analysis is a class that I never took as a student, so I was sort of making it up as I went. The book was pretty good, and I put the emphasis more on the computational methods than the theory. The problem (again) is that the students' background is not as strong as it could be. Their calculus and general proof-writing backgrounds were limited, so the emphasis on methods made sense to me. I found the material to be somewhat interesting, though the derivations were somewhat tedious.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Monday, December 15, 2008
Math 093 Boot Camp
I have made it my goal to put together a functional textbook for Math 093 and have it ready for the Fall 2009 semester. I'm quite disappointed with our current book. It's poorly organized and not well presented. It also does not have nearly as many problems as there should be. I ran a draft outline past Russel today, and he likes what I've put together. Now I need to think through the layout and come to a decision about how I'm going to teach presentation through examples.
The plan is to start by developing a workbook. I'm not going to spend a lot of time working on writing up explanations right now because that's not as important as laying out the problems in the right order, having the right number of them, and other such issues.
If I get far enough in the next month, I might even be able to pilot some of the worksheets in my Math 093 classes next semester. The first two chapters (arithmetic and fractions) are likely going to be the most difficult ones to put together.
The plan is to start by developing a workbook. I'm not going to spend a lot of time working on writing up explanations right now because that's not as important as laying out the problems in the right order, having the right number of them, and other such issues.
If I get far enough in the next month, I might even be able to pilot some of the worksheets in my Math 093 classes next semester. The first two chapters (arithmetic and fractions) are likely going to be the most difficult ones to put together.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
To do for/before Spring 2009
1) Presentation matters for Math 093
2) Update images for Interactive Technologies
3) Start work on n-hedral group paper
4) Start outlining a new Math 093 text
5) Timed arithmetic spreadsheet
6) Update homework page template to instruct students to look down if I didn't copy the next assignment to the top
7) Update webpage information
2) Update images for Interactive Technologies
3) Start work on n-hedral group paper
4) Start outlining a new Math 093 text
5) Timed arithmetic spreadsheet
6) Update homework page template to instruct students to look down if I didn't copy the next assignment to the top
7) Update webpage information
Friday, October 3, 2008
JD Smith Middle School
I had the opportunity over the last month to work with some math teachers at JD Smith Middle School. This sort of fell on my lap at the last minute, but it seemed like a good chance for me to try something new and expand my perspective on education in the region.
During the past few weeks, I visited classrooms and made observations of the individual teachers. I then compiled a short list of topics that I felt were relevant to department as a whole, and then presented my findings to them. I also wrote up a short summary of my thoughts on the individual teachers.
My first point was about the careful use of spoken and written mathematics in the classroom. The teachers were using "solve" as a universal instruction for "do what you're supposed to do." This is fine when the students already know what to do, but the ones who don't know get confused because this one word means many different things in different contexts. I suggested to them that there is a clear distinction between solve, compute, simplify, and other word they might use in the future like factor, reduce, expand, and so forth.
The second topic was to look at arithmetic. Arithmetic is really an exercise in bookkeeping, not anything deep or profound (except the fact that we *can* do bookkeeping, which is truly deep and profound). So I talked about doing addition as "big-to-small" instead of "small-to-big" and explained why it works better once students understand the basics of the place value system.
The third topics was more exploratory, which was the topic of fractions. This is probably the most difficult topic because of the breadth of pictures we use to discuss them. Unfortunately, these pictures are not all compatible with each other. This leads to students being confused because they think about the same picture in different ways. I didn't have a lot to say in this area, but opened the door for them to discuss it among themselves. I hope they are able to go somewhere with it.
Overall, I think it is a net positive given the amount of time spent with them. I intentionally stayed away from pedagogy specific ideas because I'm not a pedagogist. I'm just a pure mathematician, but I think this is a helpful type of "outsider" perspective for them. I'm done with that project for now, but I left the door open to come back and talk to them about a different topic if they choose to invite me back.
During the past few weeks, I visited classrooms and made observations of the individual teachers. I then compiled a short list of topics that I felt were relevant to department as a whole, and then presented my findings to them. I also wrote up a short summary of my thoughts on the individual teachers.
My first point was about the careful use of spoken and written mathematics in the classroom. The teachers were using "solve" as a universal instruction for "do what you're supposed to do." This is fine when the students already know what to do, but the ones who don't know get confused because this one word means many different things in different contexts. I suggested to them that there is a clear distinction between solve, compute, simplify, and other word they might use in the future like factor, reduce, expand, and so forth.
The second topic was to look at arithmetic. Arithmetic is really an exercise in bookkeeping, not anything deep or profound (except the fact that we *can* do bookkeeping, which is truly deep and profound). So I talked about doing addition as "big-to-small" instead of "small-to-big" and explained why it works better once students understand the basics of the place value system.
The third topics was more exploratory, which was the topic of fractions. This is probably the most difficult topic because of the breadth of pictures we use to discuss them. Unfortunately, these pictures are not all compatible with each other. This leads to students being confused because they think about the same picture in different ways. I didn't have a lot to say in this area, but opened the door for them to discuss it among themselves. I hope they are able to go somewhere with it.
Overall, I think it is a net positive given the amount of time spent with them. I intentionally stayed away from pedagogy specific ideas because I'm not a pedagogist. I'm just a pure mathematician, but I think this is a helpful type of "outsider" perspective for them. I'm done with that project for now, but I left the door open to come back and talk to them about a different topic if they choose to invite me back.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Instant Gratification
Henderson College's Graduation Rate Disappointing
I found this to a surprisingly negative and pointless article. I accept that the numbers are bad and need to be better, but the article's shading is clearly tilted against the institution and puts it in an unfairly negative light.
1) "If no more finish over summer, Nevada’s newest public college will report a six-year graduation rate of just less than 16 percent — one-third of what California’s public state colleges achieve." -- This is comparing completely different types of institutions. In CA, it's a number taken (presumably) as an average over many established institutions. Here, we have a small, growing, start-up institution in a state with already very low academic standards.
2) "Some NSC students discover they are interested in majors the college does not offer, Stewart said. Others leave Nevada or transfer to UNLV. “ ... But NSC was not meant to act as a community college, preparing students to pursue an education elsewhere. A 2001 report supporting establishment of the new school said Nevada needed a state college to produce more college graduates." -- If anyone thought they would have a fully-functioning college offering the full selection of degree programs as a 10,000 student campus within 6 years, they were poorly mistaken. We're happy to finally have our first new building up, with plans to move in shortly.
3) Though only 10 students from NSC’s first full-time freshman class had graduated from the college as of spring, the school has conferred 586 degrees since its inception, with many going to transfer students. -- Thanks for putting this down in the 4th to last paragraph. It really helps to lead with "just 10 had graduated from the institution" and close with "by the way, there are almost 600 degrees that have been conferred."
4) "The California State University system graduates more than 45 percent of its freshmen within six years, a higher percentage than UNLV. The system’s newest campus, at Channel Islands, began accepting freshmen in 2003 and graduated 25 percent of them within four years."
Being from CA, I would guess that 90% of those students are coming straight out of high school and into college, and they are almost all full time students, as this is how most Californians do college. This is likely an unfit comparison as Nevada students are returning from perhaps several years of work and are in need of remediation.
I found this to a surprisingly negative and pointless article. I accept that the numbers are bad and need to be better, but the article's shading is clearly tilted against the institution and puts it in an unfairly negative light.
1) "If no more finish over summer, Nevada’s newest public college will report a six-year graduation rate of just less than 16 percent — one-third of what California’s public state colleges achieve." -- This is comparing completely different types of institutions. In CA, it's a number taken (presumably) as an average over many established institutions. Here, we have a small, growing, start-up institution in a state with already very low academic standards.
2) "Some NSC students discover they are interested in majors the college does not offer, Stewart said. Others leave Nevada or transfer to UNLV. “ ... But NSC was not meant to act as a community college, preparing students to pursue an education elsewhere. A 2001 report supporting establishment of the new school said Nevada needed a state college to produce more college graduates." -- If anyone thought they would have a fully-functioning college offering the full selection of degree programs as a 10,000 student campus within 6 years, they were poorly mistaken. We're happy to finally have our first new building up, with plans to move in shortly.
3) Though only 10 students from NSC’s first full-time freshman class had graduated from the college as of spring, the school has conferred 586 degrees since its inception, with many going to transfer students. -- Thanks for putting this down in the 4th to last paragraph. It really helps to lead with "just 10 had graduated from the institution" and close with "by the way, there are almost 600 degrees that have been conferred."
4) "The California State University system graduates more than 45 percent of its freshmen within six years, a higher percentage than UNLV. The system’s newest campus, at Channel Islands, began accepting freshmen in 2003 and graduated 25 percent of them within four years."
Being from CA, I would guess that 90% of those students are coming straight out of high school and into college, and they are almost all full time students, as this is how most Californians do college. This is likely an unfit comparison as Nevada students are returning from perhaps several years of work and are in need of remediation.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Spring 2008 reflections
I don't think I put thoughts in this blog nearly as often as I did in the first semester, but now that the semester is over, I have the time and energy to put a lot of thought into how things went this semester.
First of all, Math 124 went a lot better this time around. I still don't think I connect quite as well with that class as I do with the Math 097 students. It is true that I go into the classes with different mentalities. Since Math 124 is a college level class, I treat them more like how I think college math students should be treated. I do less hand-holding and I let the students work on their own more.
Math 097 went very well this time around. I think I found the right level at which to try to meet the students and the introduction of more worksheets seems to have had the effect of helping the students to understand the material.
The homework cover sheet was a pretty good addition. Some students didn't really take to them, but I'm going to keep using them anyway. I changed them slightly so that they interact with the course content more, so that should be a positive change. I also need to write a more defined homework policy and let the students know much more clearly what I am really expecting from them in the homework.
There were a number of interesting comments that I received on the unofficial evaluations I handed out to the students, and even though the probability of them actually seeing them here is very small, I believe it is a useful exercise to reflect on them, and then to take my thoughts from here and put them into the next syllabus and work them into the class content. (Side comment: I'm always amused by the level contradiction from different students about how things have gone in a class.)
"I do not think quizzes you be a part of attendence." The same student also wrote "I like participation credit for [the] test." This is the type of comment that I feel deserve little attention. I know that Jason gives credit for attendence (he also has 'detention' where he forces students to show up to the tutoring center for specified periods of time to make up for missed classes), but it seems like extra paperwork to me. This is a college level course in which the emphasis is on learning content. What part of that description implies that credit should be given for simply showing up? It's very much like a work environment. Do you expect to get paid simply because you show up for work, and not because you actually perform your job competently?
"Quizzes should be at the beginning of class." Over the course of the last year, I have started to agree more and more with this, and will probably implement it during the summer session. This will also be used to make sure class actually starts close to 'on time' and only punish the students who show up late to class.
"Too much homework." No student actually used that phrase this time around, but a couple students commented on it. Students who say this are usually the ones who aren't very good at math, and they often spend far too much time on their homework because they spend all their time being lost and making zero progress. These also tend to be the students who don't come to office hours or ask questions to get help. Even though students will probably make this comment as long as I'm teaching math, unless the response is overwhelmingly stating that the assignments are too long, I will tend not to give much weight to these comments. (There was another comment from another student: "The amount actually helped me to learn the material." That's the whole point of the homework!)
I had a spot on the evaluation where I ask the students to write themselves a short note to themselves at the beginning of the semester. I find this quite amusing and I will definitely have to talk about this on the first day of class for the upcoming semesters. I added my own comments in parentheses:
First of all, Math 124 went a lot better this time around. I still don't think I connect quite as well with that class as I do with the Math 097 students. It is true that I go into the classes with different mentalities. Since Math 124 is a college level class, I treat them more like how I think college math students should be treated. I do less hand-holding and I let the students work on their own more.
Math 097 went very well this time around. I think I found the right level at which to try to meet the students and the introduction of more worksheets seems to have had the effect of helping the students to understand the material.
The homework cover sheet was a pretty good addition. Some students didn't really take to them, but I'm going to keep using them anyway. I changed them slightly so that they interact with the course content more, so that should be a positive change. I also need to write a more defined homework policy and let the students know much more clearly what I am really expecting from them in the homework.
There were a number of interesting comments that I received on the unofficial evaluations I handed out to the students, and even though the probability of them actually seeing them here is very small, I believe it is a useful exercise to reflect on them, and then to take my thoughts from here and put them into the next syllabus and work them into the class content. (Side comment: I'm always amused by the level contradiction from different students about how things have gone in a class.)
"I do not think quizzes you be a part of attendence." The same student also wrote "I like participation credit for [the] test." This is the type of comment that I feel deserve little attention. I know that Jason gives credit for attendence (he also has 'detention' where he forces students to show up to the tutoring center for specified periods of time to make up for missed classes), but it seems like extra paperwork to me. This is a college level course in which the emphasis is on learning content. What part of that description implies that credit should be given for simply showing up? It's very much like a work environment. Do you expect to get paid simply because you show up for work, and not because you actually perform your job competently?
"Quizzes should be at the beginning of class." Over the course of the last year, I have started to agree more and more with this, and will probably implement it during the summer session. This will also be used to make sure class actually starts close to 'on time' and only punish the students who show up late to class.
"Too much homework." No student actually used that phrase this time around, but a couple students commented on it. Students who say this are usually the ones who aren't very good at math, and they often spend far too much time on their homework because they spend all their time being lost and making zero progress. These also tend to be the students who don't come to office hours or ask questions to get help. Even though students will probably make this comment as long as I'm teaching math, unless the response is overwhelmingly stating that the assignments are too long, I will tend not to give much weight to these comments. (There was another comment from another student: "The amount actually helped me to learn the material." That's the whole point of the homework!)
I had a spot on the evaluation where I ask the students to write themselves a short note to themselves at the beginning of the semester. I find this quite amusing and I will definitely have to talk about this on the first day of class for the upcoming semesters. I added my own comments in parentheses:
- "Do your homework." (This was the most frequent comment)
- "Stop slacking!" (Do I need to say more?)
- "Do not miss any classes, you will get behind."
- "Be prepared for the quizzes." (If you spend the 5 minutes before class glancing over the homework, the quizzes will be significantly easier because the ideas will all be fresh in your head.)
- "Don't take this class if you are taking other hard classes." (Straight-forward, reasonable advice. Math classes take up a lot of time if you're not as natural with it, and this is worth considering at the start of the semester.)
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
90% Failure
Here are a couple articles from the local paper:
Math Tests Carry Shock Factor
Preliminary Math Test Failure Rates
Basically, 90% of the high school students are failing middle school algebra. There seems to be some controversy about how those tests were administered, but 90% is simply too large to be merely a statistical outlier. As a department, we agree that this is pathetic and that we want to do something about it, but we have no plans yet (we also have no funds -- but there's some work being done on that side). Our plan is to address this issue at the middle school level because we think high school is too late. Elementary school level would be better for getting students interested in math in general, but we don't think it will have as much of a lasting effect. I think we're going to target some middle school teachers, but this has to be thought out more carefully.
Math Tests Carry Shock Factor
Preliminary Math Test Failure Rates
Basically, 90% of the high school students are failing middle school algebra. There seems to be some controversy about how those tests were administered, but 90% is simply too large to be merely a statistical outlier. As a department, we agree that this is pathetic and that we want to do something about it, but we have no plans yet (we also have no funds -- but there's some work being done on that side). Our plan is to address this issue at the middle school level because we think high school is too late. Elementary school level would be better for getting students interested in math in general, but we don't think it will have as much of a lasting effect. I think we're going to target some middle school teachers, but this has to be thought out more carefully.
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