The materials posted here were brought before the curriculum committee on October 11th and again on October 25th, and they were approved!
There are still some bureaucratic steps to take, but we’re getting closer!
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.
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.
Or if anyone has another way of explaining what a factor is that works for them…
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).
Sorry I missed the meeting. I was in Seatle visiting my daughter. Have a good spring break. See you in April.
Cassandra 9:28 am on April 21, 2011 Permalink
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