on the password-protected GRADES page.
-Mr. Reitz
Exam #3 Grades are posted
Reply
Monthly Archives: June 2013
OpenLab #4: Reflecting on the Class
Every college class is planned with certain goals in mind – to convey ideas, to encourage certain kinds of thinking, to provide opportunities for learning, for exploration, for practice. A typical plan consists of a mix of different activities, both in and out of class, and hopefully each activity contributes to achieving the goals of the class. In this assignment, I am going to ask you to think about some of the different things you have done for this class and reflect on their effectiveness.
Some of the activities that make up this class are listed below. This list is not comprehensive (it may be missing things!), and includes both in-class and out-of-class activities.
Partial list of activities:
- lectures
- webwork assignments
- openlab assignments
- exams
- answering questions at the board (often at the start of class)
- doing examples on the board (often during the course of a lecture)
- working on problems individually during class
- group work during class
- asking/answering questions by email
- office hours
- working on your own outside of class (doing homework, review problems, studying, etc)
- working with one or more fellow students outside of class (doing homework, review problems, studying, etc.)
Assignment (Due Tuesday, July 2nd). Respond to at least two of the following questions (1 or 2 sentences each). Feel free to discuss activities that are not listed above, if you wish.
- What activities have been most useful to you in preparing for exams? Why?
- What activities have been most useful to you in making connections between the class material and other areas of your life? Why?
- What activities have been most useful in building community in our class (creating a comfortable atmosphere, getting to know your fellow students, building trust)? Why?
- Are there any activities that you wish you had spent more time on (this includes activities that are not on the list, but you think should be included)? Explain.
OpenLab #3: Math in your future?
Most people go to college because they are trying to build a better future for themselves. What job do you hope to get after college? Imagine you have completed your college degree, and your education and experience have allowed you to obtain the job that you want.
With this job in mind, consider the following list of activities. Which of them are you most likely to be asked to do as part of your new job? Put them in order from most likely to least likely. If you are uncertain, make your best guess based on your current knowledge and experience.
List of activities:
- Use a formula (correctly identify values, substitute them into the formula, and simplify the result to get an answer).
- Learn to use a computer system that is unfamiliar to you, and then complete a task on that system.
- Brainstorm a variety of responses to a problem and decide among several solutions, each of which has plusses and minuses.
- Make a decision based on data (for example: a list of responses to a survey, a list of numbers, a table, or chart)
- Calculate the mean or standard deviation.
- Complete an assignment with a team of several people, including: finding a time and place to meet, dividing responsibilities, making sure everyone is completing their part, delivering the final product on time.
Assignment (due Thursday, June 27):
Respond to the above activity by leaving a comment in response to this post. Your comment should include all of the following:
- What is your major? What job are you hoping to get after graduation?
- From the list of activities above, give your ranking in order from “most likely to be required on your new job” to “least likely”.
- Discuss the first item on your list. Do you think that this class will help prepare you to complete that task? If so, how? If not, what could be done in this class to help prepare you for that task?
- Discuss the last item on your list. Do you think it is important to learn (even if you are not likely to use it at your job)? Why or why not?
Extra Credit. Comment on someone else’s post. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
Exam #1 Grades are posted
You can find them on the password-protected GRADES page.
Regards,
Mr. Reitz
OpenLab Assignment #2: Advice From The Past
Last June I also taught this same course, MAT 1272, in summer school. Just before the final exam, I gave my students the following assignment:
Imagine that you are invited to speak on the first day of MAT 1272, to give advice to entering students. Write a paragraph…describing what you would tell them.
To see the assignment and the students’ responses, follow this link.
Your assignment, due next Thursday, June 20th, is to:
- Read through ALL the responses (there are 38 of them, but some are quite short).
- Write a reply to this post (1 paragraph) responding to all of the following:
- What advice seemed most relevant to you personally? Why? (you can copy/paste a short statement, or put it in your own words)
- Based on this advice, what changes can you make right now to help you with this course?
Extra Credit. For extra credit, write a response to one of your classmates’ comments. Do you have any advice? Be kind.
WeBWorK UPDATE
Hi everyone,
I’ve received a number of emails with questions about WeBWorK — these are emails sent from within the WeBWorK system. I’m happy to answer them, BUT I have no way to do so unless you have entered an email address in the WeBWorK system (after you log in, click on the “Password/Email” link in the menu on the left). So enter an email address, and send your question again, please!
-Mr. Reitz
OpenLab Assignment #1: Mathography
This assignment is due Thursday, June 13th, at the start of class. Late submissions will receive partial credit.
Assignment. Choose ONE of the following two topics. Write a comment in reply to this post (click “Leave a Reply” below), responding to the topic in 1-2 paragraphs. Begin by telling us which topic you chose. Be sure to include your name so I can give you credit.
Topics.
- Was math ever your favorite subject? If so, when was it? What about math made it your favorite? If math has never been your favorite subject, what about it do you not like?
- Sometimes people can recognize a time when their opinion of math dramatically changed either for the better or the worse. If such a time happened for you, tell about it. If you did not experience such a thing, tell about your steady feelings about mathematics.
Extra Credit. For extra credit, write a response to one of your classmates’ comments. Do you feel the same? Did you learn anything? Do you have any advice? Be kind.
Why are we doing this, anyway? Having progressed this far in your school career, you are familiar with many of the tools for learning math: studying, practicing by doing problems, asking questions when you need help, and so on. I’d like to talk about two activities that may NOT seem related to learning math — but research shows that engaging in these activities can dramatically increase the amount that you learn, and change the way you learn it. The first is writing – something not typically associated with mathematics. When you express your ideas in words, it forces you to think them through very carefully, detail by detail. A great way to check and see if you really understand something is to try to explain it to someone else, either out loud or in writing. Example: if you know how to add fractions, try teaching it someone who doesn’t know how. The second is called metacognition, or “thinking about thinking.” This happens when you think about what was going on in your head while you were working on a problem or trying to learn a new idea. What train of thought did you follow? Where did you get stuck, and what did you do next? What were you feeling at the time? and so on. Combining writing and metacognition can be a tremendously powerful tool in identifying the ways we learn best and the ways we make mistakes, and learning to improve. However, like any skill, it takes practice. That’s why we’re getting started by writing a little about our past experiences with mathematics.
Getting Started with WeBWorK
WeBWorK is accessible from on and off campus (anywhere you have access to the internet). Your first 3 assignments are due on Monday, June 10th, at midnight, and will cover the material from the first week of the course. Here’s what you have to do:
Assignment. You must complete the following three steps.
Step 1. Log in to WeBWorK here: http://mathww.citytech.cuny.edu/webwork2/MAT1272-Reitz/. I have created Usernames and Passwords for each student registered for my class.
Username. Your username for WeBWorK consists of your first initial plus your last name, all lowercase (for example, John Smith would have username ‘jsmith’).
Password. Your temporary password is the same as your username (if your username is ‘jsmith’, your password is currently ‘jsmith’).
Step 2. Change your password and update your email address. To do this, select “Password/Email” from the main menu on the left. Use whatever email address you like (I suggest using one that you check often).
Step 3. Complete the first assignment, titled Assignment1 – Sec 2.1, by clicking on it in the main screen.
If you have any trouble – either with logging in, or with completing the assignment, post a comment here or send me an email and I will get back to you.
WeBWorK Tips:
- Click on a problem to see the details (the list of problems appears in the menu on the left). Enter an answer and hit “Submit Answers”. Don’t worry, if you get it wrong you can try it again.
- If the answer is a number: you can enter it either as a decimal, like 3.57143 (round your answer), or as an exact answer, like 25/7.
- You can work on the problems in any order you wish. You can do some problems now, and come back and do the rest another day (your work will be saved, as long as you submit your answers).
- If you want to print out a copy of the assignment, click on the assignment name in the main menu on the left, and then click the link in the main screen area that reads “Download a hardcopy of this homework set.”
Welcome and Getting Started
This course is MAT 1272, Statistics, taking place in the Summer 2013 semester with Professor Reitz. We will be using this website in a variety of ways this semester – as a central location for information about the course (assignments, review sheets, policies, and so on), a place to ask and answer questions, to post examples of our work, and to talk about statistics, mathematics, education, reality and imagination.
Getting Started on the OpenLab
Anyone on the internet can look around the site and see what we are doing, and even leave a comment on one of the pages. However, only registered users can create new posts and participate in the discussion boards.
How do I register?
You will need to do two things:
- If you have not used the openlab before, you must first create an account. You will need access to your citytech email address (LIVE@CityTech) for this. Detailed instructions for signing up on the OpenLab can be found here.
- Once you have created an account on the OpenLab, log in and then join this particular course, 2013 Summer – MAT 1272 Statistics – Reitz. To do this, first click the “Course Profile” link at the top left of this page (just under the picture). Then click the “Join Now” button, which should appear just underneath the picture of the blackboard.
Problems with the OpenLab or with your CityTech email:
Please let me know if you run into any problems registering or joining our course (send me an email, jreitz@citytech.cuny.edu). I also wanted to give you two resources to help out in the process:
1. For problems with your citytech email account, contact the Student Computing Helpdesk, either in person, by phone, or by email:
Student Computing Helpdesk
Location: Namm First Floor – Information Booth
Hours: Monday, Wednesday & Friday: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Tuesday & Thursday: 9:00am – 6:00pm
Phone: 718.260.4900
E-mail: studenthelpdesk@citytech.cuny.edu
2. For problems registering for the OpenLab, contact the OpenLab admin team, either by email at openlab@citytech.cuny.edu, or by following this link.
