NWIC developmental math

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• Cassandra 12:40 pm on May 20, 2011 Permalink  

  Is it possible for someone to fail your… 

  Is it possible for someone to fail your final and pass your class? For our discussion about grading I am posting this snippit from someone’s syllabus for Math 98 in 2002.

  GRADES
  Your grade for Math 98 will determined by the following method:
  • If you want to receive a grade of “C” you need to:
  1. Complete all homework assignments
  2. Complete at least 70% of the weekly quizzes with an average score of 7/10 or higher
  3. Complete all 5 exams and the final with an average score of 60% or higher
  4. Attend at least 70% of lectures

  • If you want to receive a grade of “B” you need to complete the requirements for a “C” plus:
  1. Complete at least 80% of the weekly quizzes with an average score of 7/10 or higher
  2. Complete all 5 exams and the final with an average score of 70% or higher

  • If you want to receive a grade of “A” you need to complete the requirements for a “B” plus:
  1. Complete at least 80% of the weekly quizzes with an average score of 8/10 or higher
  2. Complete all 5 exams and the final with an average score of 85% or higher

  Attendance above 70% will increase your grade and attendance below 70% will decrease your grade. For example, if you attend 90% of the classes and complete the requirements for a B, your grade will be raised to a B+ or higher.

   

• Matteo Tamburini 1:50 pm on May 13, 2011 Permalink  

  An observation about students working in groups 

  http://media.nwic.edu/system/files/private/math-student-videos/video/matteomath.f4v

  The specific times we are interested are from 0 – 1:15 (John’s prompt for the activity) and then again from 20:10 – 38:50 – so skip ahead!

  John has asked us to focus on these questions:

  Do the students seem focused on the problems to be solved?

  Does it seem like they are communicating about the problems with regard to areas of agreement and disagreement? Is their conversation “mathematical”? is their conversation helping them learn?

  Am I (John) refraining from butting into their conversations? Is the teacher’s interaction helping or hindering the mathematics?

  Daniel and Jay Giles are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Jay Giles 7:54 am on May 19, 2011 Permalink

    John – your students (those we could see) were definitely focused and talking the language of mathematics. I personally don’t think that you “butted in” too much at all. If students aren’t use to working in groups, they’re going to need some “prompts” to help them focus. Nicely done!!

  • Daniel 9:52 am on May 19, 2011 Permalink

    Students seem focused on problem. Problem seems to be culturally relevant; yet, students still struggle with the concept of where the variable is…I see this a lot with many students….there is good mathematical conversation between student both agreeing and disagreeing with eachother and looking for rationalization from John…Definatite learning for with any struggle comes learned observation…I think this lesson was a good interaction among the students and acknowledges their need to work together as a team to find solutions to real problems…Good Job John!

• Cassandra 9:03 am on April 21, 2011 Permalink  

  For my CAT this week I asked the student… 

  For my CAT this week I asked the students to answer the following question:

  In which of the following three cases is the variable ‘a’ a factor?

  1) abc
  2) a + b + c
  3) ab + c

  Some of the answers I received were…

  – In all three cases because ‘a’ is being multiplied/added and represents something.

  – 1 and 3 because ‘a’ is being multiplied by something.

  – 2 because ‘a’ is by itself and divides by itself.

  This led to a good discussion where the conclusion was “something is a factor only if it is being multiplied by everything else in the expression”.

  This idea of what a factor is can be hard to pin down. By the above definition someone might say in a(b + c) ‘a’ is not a factor because it is not being multiplied by ‘b’ and ‘c’. I hope this discussion helped alleviate some confusion.

  If anyone tries this question in their class let me know what answers/conclusions are drawn.

  Cassandra is discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Cassandra 1:56 pm on April 22, 2011 Permalink

    Or if anyone has another way of explaining what a factor is that works for them…

• Matteo Tamburini 10:22 am on April 15, 2011 Permalink  

  Teaching and Learning Observation 

  Press Play on both videos to view at the same time.

  Students
  http://media.nwic.edu/system/files/private/math-student-videos/video/math99_radicals_students_2.f4v

  Instructor
  http://media.nwic.edu/system/files/private/math-student-videos/video/math99_radicals_1.f4v

   

  Jay Giles and Matteo Tamburini are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Matteo Tamburini 12:31 pm on April 27, 2011 Permalink

    What evidence is there from what the students say or ask that they are actually learning something?

    I try to ask students to justify their reasoning: how do they do? Is there evidence that they are reasoning mathematically? can you see times when I could probe further into what they are thinking?

    if you make it all the way to the end (it’s a long video!) you’ll see that I give the students an “exit ticket”. What do you think of the problem I pose? Is it a good measure/snapshot of what the students understand or don’t? If you asked that question to your students, what misconceptions would you expect to find in the answers?

  • Jay Giles 9:23 am on April 29, 2011 Permalink

    Good discussion of a confusing subject for most students. I could have followed along a bit better had I been able to more clearly see the problems that you were writing on the whiteboard.

• Cassandra 3:55 pm on March 11, 2011 Permalink  

  I was thinking about the way we conducte… 

  I was thinking about the way we conducted our meeting today. I think one thing we could try for next time would be to use the Step Back Consulting method (given that one person is offering up a problem/question and is asking the group to discuss it).

  James Giles is discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • James Giles 10:16 am on March 12, 2011 Permalink

    Sorry I missed the meeting. I was in Seatle visiting my daughter. Have a good spring break. See you in April.

• Matteo Tamburini 5:55 pm on March 5, 2011 Permalink  

  Dan’s classroom: observation 

  Dan has graciously shared with us this video of his classroom:

  

  and he has requested of us to look for the following things:

  -Am I giving the students enough time to question the material?

   

  -Do I give the information too fast?

  With his indulgence, i proposed the following question as well:

  -as the teacher, what evidence is there in this clip to show us that the students have learned? if we were to teach this topic, how could we make sure at the end that each student had learned?

  James Giles and Matteo Tamburini are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Matteo Tamburini 6:04 pm on March 5, 2011 Permalink

    Dan,

    It sounds like this was not the first time you presented this. is that the case? had you explained it before the same day or on another day?

  • James Giles 10:15 am on March 12, 2011 Permalink

    Nicely done, Dan. Nice step by step process. We all factor trinomials with the methods with which we’ve become most comfortable over the years. I did notice that you did seem to answer your own questions a bit quickly. The students may have answered before you but it was hard to hear if they did. I liked your passion and clarity and as long as we stay consistant on how we demonstrate a concept, I think that we’ll be fine.

• 4:54 pm on February 28, 2011 Permalink  

  Any word problems that are pertinent to … 

  Any word problems that are pertinent to our students’ lives may be or are “culturally” relevent. What do you think?

   

• Matteo Tamburini 5:01 pm on February 1, 2011 Permalink  

  You could show this to your students 

  I showed the following video (starting at minute 33) on the first day of class, to provide one possible answer to how algebra in particular is connected to the promotion of indigenous self-determination and knowledge. The speaker is Winona LaDuke:

  
   

• 3:35 pm on October 1, 2010 Permalink  

  culturally relevant math 70 question: Jo… 

  culturally relevant math 70 question:
  John Jr. went fishing with his dads skiff, and hired a deckhand. they caught 400 lbs. of kings and sold out for $2/lb. The tribe takes 6% tax. After taxes, John Jr. keeps 40%, and gives his dad and his deckhand each 30%. How much does John Jr. make? How much do his dad and deckhand make?

  John Frey, Matteo Tamburini, and Angela Picard are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Matteo Tamburini 4:48 pm on October 5, 2010 Permalink

    Awesome

  • Angela Picard 3:07 pm on October 20, 2010 Permalink

    Here is that problem that I was talking to you guys about last week- sorry it took me so long- I have been in and out of office this whole last week.

    I usually make this problem a part of my first of second class lecture (either for Math 98 or 99). You could have them answer their questions according to their own plan or use the fictional character below.

    Jane Smith has just started school and is a freshman at NWIC. She is thirty four years old, has two young children and hasn’t seen a math problem since she was in high school. However, she is at a point in her life where school is a top priority and she is trying to figure out how to get a transfer degree in two years so that she can transfer to larger University and complete her four year.

    To graduate from the Northwest Indian College with a Two-Year Degree a student needs to complete 90 credits. If Jane would like to graduate in two years- How many credits would she need to take per quarter (FALL/WINTER/SPRING)?

    Jane, like many students, took a placement test and was placed into Math 98 (or other 99) and would need to take Math 99 as well before enrolling in the college level Math class. These are both 5 credit classes that do not count toward the 90 credits she needs. So, after re-evaluating her credit load she finds she needs to take 100 credits to graduate. Now, how many credits does she need to take per quarter to get done in two years?

    Jane has financial aid and wants to know how much money she is putting toward this degree. She believes that knowing how much each class costs will help her stay focused by not wanting to have any of her financial aid go down the drain. If each credit cost $95 each how much will her tuition cost for 100 credits?

    (Could also add another part here about how many hours should be spent as study time for each hour in class (two hours of study time per one hour of class)).

  • matteo tamburini 7:54 am on October 21, 2010 Permalink

    Thank you Angela!

  • John Frey 4:21 pm on October 25, 2010 Permalink

    Here is one that I used in Math 98 (chapter 3) last Friday: By 2015, President Crazy Bull wants to increase the number of graduates at Northwest Indian College by 27 students less than twice the number of graduates in 2010. If the difference in the number of graduates between 2015 and 2010 is 24, how many graduates does the president want by 2015? How many were there in 2010?