|
Cardinal Stritch University is a learning community in which the elements of scholarship and learning -- discovery, application, integration, and teaching -- are embraced by faculty, staff, and students. Stritch graduates are critical thinkers, ethical decision makers, and life-long learners. Our mission is to transform lives. We do this through value-centered education. This is our business. |
This five-credit course offers the student who has had some calculus an intense, fast-paced, one-semester course covering the material in Mt 210 - 211: Calculus I and II. This course is appropriate for students who have taken an Advanced Pacement Calculus course in high school, and do not place into Mt 212: Calculus III. This would be a good course for Post-BA Certification students who need a review of calculus in preparation for Secondary Certification. This course covers limits, difference quotients, a conceptual development and definition of the derivative, Riemann sums, a conceptual development and definition of the definite intgral, antiderivatives, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus, and an introduction to sequences and series. This is an ambitionus course: the intention is to cover the material of two 4-credit courses in one semester. The student will be challenged to grow in mathematical maturity, and to develop and strengthen problem-solving skils while reading, writing, and thinking in the language of mathematics. This course uses a constructivist approach as students work in a computer laboratory.
A primary objective of a course in calculus is to provide a bridge for the student from high-school or lower-division mathematics courses to upper-division mathematics. The student will be challenged to grow in mathematical maturity, and to develop and strengthen problem-solving skills. A student who is successful in this course will be prepared to take courses for which Mt 211 Calculus II is a prerequisite, such as Mt 212 Calculus III, Mt 410 Mathematical Modeling, Mt 470 Theory of Probability & Statistics, and Ch 403 Physical Chemistry.
Beyond the content of individual courses, the major in mathematics is designed to prepare students for the 21st century by helping students to become problem solvers, effective communicators, users of appropriate technology, and team players. In this course, students will be engaged in a variety of activities which will help them to move toward achieving these goals.
As problems solvers, students will be learning to
As effective communicators, students will be learning to
As users of appropriate technology, students will be learning to
As team players, students will be learning to
The course will use a constructivist approach. That is, students will be asked to construct the important ideas of differential and integral calculus by constructing representations of these concepts on the computer. Students will work in a computer laboratory using a symbolic computer system, MapleV. They will be expected to work with functions as expressions, tables of numeric values, computer functions, and graphs, and to move between these different representations of functions.
Back to TOCCardinal Stritch University is a Catholic institution of higher education, founded and sponsored by the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Francis of Assissi. A Stritch education is about more than simply earning a degree. The history of the University is rooted in Franciscan values. You can find out more about Franciscan values by going to the Cardinal Stritch University homepage, and choosing Franciscan Values on the Choose a Topic link.
While neither Saint Francis nor Saint Clare actually taught mathematics (or any other subject) in an established university, their lives do offer for us a model of cooperation, respect for diversity and inclusivity, and reverence for creation that we strive to reflect throughout the university community. Creating a caring community, showing compassion for others, reverencing all of creation, and living lives committed to peace-making are life-long habits of the heart, which -- while not part of the mathematical content of a mathematics course -- shape the atmosphere of this classroom.
The cooperative learning environment of this classroom offers an experience of working with others in a caring community. Students are expected to show respect for each other and to extend ordinary human courtesy to their classmates. The instructor is committed to working with students to foster a safe and comfortable environment in which to engage in intellectual argumentation. Occasional conflicts in the cooperative learning groups offer opportunities for individuals to practice conflict resolution in a real life setting.
Students are asked to exercise responsible stewardship of the equipment in the classroom computer lab, treating the computers, printers, and other equipment with gentle care. By switching to a smaller font size before printing, making use of the Print Preview feature of the software, and recyling paper when this is practical, students are encouraged to avoid excessive paper wastage.
Critical thinking skills, which form an intellectual framework for mathematical problem solving, are necessary skills for persons committed to taking responsible social action and working for justice in our world.
(These paragraphs draw heavily from the booklet, "Franciscan Values at Cardinal Stritch University," (Stritch Publications, 2002), Cardinal Stritch University Archives, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Print versions of this booklet are available through the Franciscan Mission Office. (Phone: 414-410-4151)
Back to TOCChapter 5: Integrals
Chapter 6: Applications of Integration
Chapter 7: Differential Equations
To be successful in this course, a student should have had a previous
course in calculus. This course will be intensive and fast-paced,
and will assume that you have seen limits, derivatives,
antiderivatives, and integrals before.
Students in this course must have a strong background in algebra and
some familiarity with trigonometry. Students must have some
mathematical maturity, and will be challenged to more abstract,
conceptual thinking than they may have been exposed to in a high school
calculus course.
It is not necessary to know
anything about computers at the beginning of this course.
Back to TOCPlease see the instructor if you have any questions about your preparation for this course.
Much of the work of this course will require students to work in cooperative learning groups. For mathematical problem solving, group sizes of about three or four students seem to work best. Students will be expected to work in groups in the lab and during many in-class activities. Students are encouraged to work together on homework problems. While some students enjoy group work more than others, working well in a group is an important skill for life beyond the mathematics classroom. Many of our graduates tell us that skills developed while working in cooperative learning groups in our classes have been very helpful in the workplace.
There are several reasons for working in cooperative learning groups:
Problem-solving is a social activity. One of the primary objectives of any mathematics course is to help students learn to think about problems mathematically and to solve problems independently. Working in small groups, doing the lab activities, and talking about problems with other students are all strategies to assist the student in achieving these objectives. Students will need to work regularly in the computer lab on homework assignments, and are strongly encouraged to meet with their group at least twice each week in addition to class time.
Back to TOCCalculators and computers are tools for doing mathematics. In this course, the computer will be used primarily as a learning tool, giving the students the opportunity to investigate a concept by solving many more problems than is practical when all the calculations are done by hand. Visualization is an important problem-solving tool. Computer graphing software has made visualization more accessible to undergraduates than it has been in the past. Students will be using a computer algebra system (Maple 9) to explore important concepts of calculus. They will be expected to get course assignments and materials from the web, and to communicate with the instructor and each other using email.
In this course students will often be asked to experiment with an idea before it has been discussed formally in class. This teaching strategy provides students with multiple opportunities to confront and think critically about problems; that is, students will be learning problem solving by solving problems. Research into how people learn has shown that students who learn mathematics using these methods have both deeper understanding and longer retention of what they have studied, and are better able to think about new problems than those taught using traditional methods. This is the pedagogical strategy which is used in most of the mathematics courses taught here at Stritch, and has been found to be very effective in developing students with good problem-solving strategies. If this is the student's first mathematics course taken at Stritch, it will take about three or four weeks for the student to adjust to these methods. Since students who do well in this course may go on to take additional mathematics courses here at Stritch, this adjustment to a new pedagogical style is well worth the investment of time and energy it takes to adapt to this style of learning.
The objective is to learn the mathematics, and to develop effective problem-solving and critical-thinking strategies. Even though students are expected to use the computer regularly in their study, there are certain calculations which they will be expected to learn to do by hand. Ordinarily, in-class tests will focus on mathematical concepts, and will require simpler calculations which the students will be required to do without a calculator.
Back to TOCYou must come to class regularly. The material in this course has a well-deserved reputation for being difficult. If you miss a class, you are expected to find out what happened. The computer lab activities are designed to be an important way for you to learn the mathematical concepts. You are expected to work with the members in your group, and to seriously attempt the lab activities. You will need to meet with your group outside of class. Sometimes you will be asked to turn in individual work; other times you will be asked to turn in your group's response to some questions.
At the end of each class period, I will ask you to fill out a Class Participation Form. I use these forms to check attendance, respond to your self evaluation, and give you a score for class participation.
There may be occasional (unannounced) quizzes which you will be able to do in your small groups; it is not possible to make-up a quiz.
In calculating your final course grade, the first test will be weighted 15%, and the second will be weighted 20%.
Tests are tentatively scheduled for the following dates:Ordinarily, I do not give make-up tests; exceptions to this policy will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
There are many interesting problems which can be studied using the tools of calculus. You will have an opportunity to investigate some of these problems which you may find more challenging than typical textbook exercises. You will be asked to work on these projects in your groups, which will typically be extended assignments, requiring one or two weeks of work. You will be asked to write a three- to five-page paper reporting on your investigations of these problems. See the Weekly Course Assignments for a tentative schedule of project assignments.
There will be three benchmark tests in this course. See the Weekly Course Assignments for a tentative schedule of these benchmark test dates. A study guide for each benchmark outlining the material to be covered by will be posted well in advance of the scheduled test date.
To pass the benchmark test, you must get nine or ten of ten problems completely correct; there will be no partial credits. If you pass on the first attempt, your score will be recorded as 100%. (So, clearly, there is some incentive for passing on the first attempt!)
If you do not pass the benchmark test on your first attempt, you will have a limited opportunity to re-take this test and demonstrate your calculational competency. You must demonstrate that you have done some additional practice, and may make an appointment with me to try the test up to two more times.
If you pass a benchmark test on the first or second re-test, your score will be recorded as the average of the scores made on each attempt.
If you have not passed a benchmark after two re-tests or before the specified date, your score will be recorded as 0%.
Inherent in the mission of Cardinal Stritch College is the strong belief in the principle of academic integrity. Students who cheat violate their own integrity and the integrity of the College by claiming credit for work they have not done and knowledge they do not possess. All students are expected to recognize and to abide by the policy on academic integrity found in the Student Handbook. Because you will be asked to do a lot of work in collaboration with your group members, whenever I give you a take-home assignment or test on which I expect you to work on your own, I will explicitly tell you that you are not to work together.
If you have any special needs for alternative instruction and/or evaluation procedures, please feel free to discuss these needs with me so that appropriate arrangements can be made.
As a matter of courtesy, students are expected to turn off cell phones and pagers during class. If extraordinary circumstances require an exception to this policy, the student is expected to discuss this with the instructor before class begins.
Back to TOCThe Mathematics and Computer Science faculty office is located in BH 44, across the hall from the computer labs in Bonaventure Hall (BH 35). Our classes will be held in the Math-Science Classroom Computer Lab in Clare Hall, CH 31-A. My office is just across the hallway from this classroom, in CH 34. If you are looking for me between classes, I am often in my office or in the Classroom Computer Lab.
The best way to reach me between classes is to send me an email message. I check email regularly (several times a day) when I am on campus. You may leave a voice message for me at 410-4018.
I will be regularly on campus and available for students on most weekdays. Because of committee meetings and other responsibilities, my schedule varies a lot from week to week. You can make an appointment by signing up on the sheets posted on the bulletin board outside my office door.
You are encouraged to make an appointment with me during the first two weeks of classes by signing up on the sheets which are posted on the bulletin board in the hallway just outside my office, which is Clare Hall, CH 34.Back to TOC