MATHEMATICS FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS MATH 170 SYLLABUS AUTUMN, 2006

Instructor: Dr. Virginia M. Warfield (a.k.a. Ginger Warfield)

Office: Padelford C-437

Phone: 543-7445 (office);

E-mail address: warfield@math.washington.edu

Office Hours: Mondays, 2:15 - 3:15; Wednesdays after class.

TA: Antonio Kirson

Office: Padelford C-541

E-mail address: aakirson@math.washington.edu

Office hours: Mondays after class and Thursdays 2:00 – 3:45

General comment on office hours: If none of these times works for you, e-mail us, or see us briefly after class, and we will set up another time. We’re happy to do that.

Textbook: Reasoning about Numbers and Quantities, by Sowder, Sowder and Nickerson, available from Professional Copy at 4200 University Way.

NOTE: 1) We are piloting a pre-publication version of a book I am looking forward to working with. You’ll be answering a (brief!) survey about it towards the end of the quarter.

2) I would like for you to have the current chapter with you throughout the quarter, and I don’t want to break your backs, so the book is punched for a regular binder. Please get a binder suitable for carrying a chapter at a time.

Course goals: I operate on the hypothesis that if you enrolled for this course, you are either definitely or potentially interested in becoming an Elementary School teacher. If that is the case, then you are heading out into a world where a tremendous amount of change is in the process of occurring. To me, the most exciting aspect of the change is that elementary mathematics is no longer being regarded as a collection of computational skills, but rather as a rich body of intellectual content which includes computation as a tool, but focuses far more on understanding and communication and reasoning. Obviously, such a change has deep implications for all present and future teachers. Essentially everything we do in this course—the content, the format and the assessment—is designed to help you get your bearings in this new scene.

Note: What we do in class is an essential constituent of what you are learning, since communication and understanding each other's reasoning can only happen here. Regular attendance is an indispensable element of classroom participation. Please do not take this constituent lightly.

Homework: There will be homework to be turned in most days. If you have taken it seriously and written it up neatly and turned it in on time or at most one class day late, you will receive full credit. Otherwise you will receive at most half credit.

Exams: There will be a midterm on Monday, October 30, and a final exam on Monday, December 11. There is some ambiguity in the official exam schedule, since we occupy portions of both the 3:30 and the 4:30 class hours. I am assuming that most of you would prefer the Monday afternoon slot allocated to 4:30 classes to the Thursday afternoon slot allocated to 3:30 classes, and am planning accordingly.

Projects: There will also be two projects. Details will be on the course web page, but the bare-bones description is

Project 1 version A: Attend “Mathematics and our Children’s Future” on Monday, October 16 from 7:00 to 9:00 at Roosevelt High School and write a short report on it.

Version B: Read some selections that I will give you and report on them.

Project 2 version A: Tutor for the Pipeline Project (service learning) and keep a journal

Version B: Help with a Math Fair at Leschi Elementary School and report

Version C: get together with at least one classmate and watch some videos that I will give you and report.

Grade distribution: The constituent parts of your grade are

A) Homework B) Classwork and attendance C) Midterm D) Projects E) Final exam

Credit: THIS IS A CREDIT/NO CREDIT COURSE. To receive credit you must have credit for each of the parts above. For A and B, that means receiving at least 80% of the possible credits according to the policy described above in "Homework". For C and D, if you do not receive credit, you will be given instructions for doing extra work in order to receive it.

Website note: In an effort to reduce profligacy in paper use, I am setting up a course web site, on which all assignments and various notes will appear. I will generally show them on the overhead projector and/or discuss them in class, but I will usually not make hard copies. The web page URL is

http://faculty.washington.edu/warfield/Math_170/

SUMMARY OF TIMELINE FOR THE QUARTER:

Wednesday, October 4 (or before, if possible)

Tell me which option you wish to choose for Project 2

Monday, October 16, “Mathematics and Our Children’s Future” at 7 PM at Roosevelt High School

Wednesday, October 18, Project 1 reports due.

Tuesdays, October 17, 24 and 31 and November 7, Math Fair preparation at Leschi Elementary School (Option B for Project 2)

Thursday, November 9 Math Fair at Leschi

Monday, November 13 Reports due for versions B and C of Project 2.

Monday, October 30 Midterm in class

Monday, December 6 Journals due if you are doing Pipeline tutoring (Option A for Project 2)

Monday, December 11 Final Examination at 4:30 in the regular classroom

FIRST ASSIGNMENT:

I BY SUNDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 1: E-mail me a brief mathematical autobiography. It needn't be particularly thorough or detailed—what I would like to know is roughly your current level and roughly your current feelings about mathematics and, insofar as you can trace them, how you arrived at those feelings. Put on the subject line: "Math autobio for [your name]" and send it to warfield@math.washington.edu, with a cc. to aakirson@math.washington.edu.

II F OR MONDAY, OCTOBER 3: In the textbook, read the Message to Prospective and Practicing Teachers and §1 of Chapter 1. Turn in (on paper!) the answers to the following questions:

1) What (if anything) surprised you in the reading?

2) What that they describe (if anything) do you particularly look forward to working on?

3) What that they describe (if anything) makes you a little uneasy?

III By way of encouraging you to find and bookmark the course page, there will be one more question there.