First Year Mathematics: Course Syllabus

Instructor:

Dr. John R. Wicks, email: jwicks@northpark.edu, weekly schedule

 

Office:

W10B (basement of Carlson Tower, across from Lounge Area)

 

Office Hours:

See weekly schedule for current hours, and by appointment. It is best to email me or leave me a voice-mail message to suggest a meeting time, and I will return your message to confirm; if I do not have a clear conflict on my schedule, I am more than happy to see you at any time during the day Monday through Friday. Please be sure to come to see me before you start to have real difficulties.

 

Phone:

(773) 244-5652 office

(773) 262-7621 home (before 10 pm.)

 

Class Schedule:

See weekly schedule for current location and hours.

Text:

There is no assigned text. All material will be presented in lecture, handouts, and Web-based tutorial materials.  Note: They are currently under development, so I would really appreciate as many constructive comments as possible (e.g., what you found particularly helpful, wording that seemed unclear, spelling errors, incorrect hyperlinks, etc.).

Goals:

This is a college level class. Not only will you be expected to learn how to solve problems, but you should be conscious of what you are doing and why. The course focuses mainly on the function concept and its uses. The course can be separated into four different components.

• Introduction to functions and graphing. This is covered in Part 1 of the text.
• Exponential, logarithmic functions. This is covered in the first two chapters of  of the text..
• Trigonometric functions. This is covered in the last chapter of Part 2.
• Algebraic functions. This is covered in Part 3 of the text.  We will only cover as much of this section as we have time.

Each topic will be viewed graphically, numerically, algebraically, and in words. To facilitate graphing, we will use the program XFunctions:

extensively.  Important: The text will often use Java applets to display mathematical equations.  The computers in the labs (SCL, B1, C21) will be equipped, in advance, to display these applets.  If you are accessing the text from home or your dorm room, make sure to follow the simple instructions at the end of the Introduction to have the necessary software installed on your computer.  They probably won't show up properly on the machines in the lobbies, since these machines are not intended for serious work.

Homework:

Here is a tentative schedule for the course. The standard rule-of-thumb for a college-level course is that, on average, one should spend two hours outside of class for every hour spent in class. This means that you should expect to average 9 hours per week on this course, divided between classroom discussion, reading, and problem-solving.

 

You should read each section at least one day before it appears in the schedule and attempt the problems in the upcoming assignment, so that you will be able to participate in class discussion and ask questions on what you do not understand.  Questions, as well as insights, should be recorded in your math journal.

 

You should work in pairs on the homework problems.  Often, exercises will involve you working by yourself or with your partner to create and grade your own exercises.  All responses should include an explanation, and not simply a formula or numerical value.  Complete solutions to most homework assignments will be posted, but you should write up solutions in your journal in your own words.  Journals will be graded on the quality of your work (i.e., not on your ability to accurate copy published solutions).

 

Feel free to work ahead. This way you can allow more time to focus on your other courses, which may have end-of-semester projects and papers. As a college student, it is important that you learn to take control of your own learning process and to schedule your time efficiently.

 

Grading:

Grades will be computed as follows:

In class exams (3)	60 %
Final	40 %
Journal: replaces lowest exam score	20 %

 

Summary sheets indicating the material to appear on Exam 1, Exam 2, and Exam 3 will be made available. If you cannot take an exam at the scheduled time, you must make arrangements with me to take the exam at an alternate time before the scheduled exam time, or you will forfeit a letter grade on the exam.

Grades will be available for each student via WebAssign.

Help:

As long as you are putting in the effort to come to class, read the text, and attempt the problems, I am happy to meet with you to help as much as I can, during my office hours or any other time that we can arrange.

 

There are also tutors available free of charge, through the Center for Academic Services.

Classroom Behavior:

In order to show respect for one another and the educational process, and to promote a classroom environment with a minimum of distractions, we will adhere to the following rules of conduct:

• We will arrive on time for class, in proper attire, and focus only on classroom activities for the full 50 minutes -- in particular, computers will only be used at specified times for appropriate classroom activities; this demonstrates respect for the educational process.
• No talking while anyone is addressing the class, whether it is Dr. Wicks or another student; this is a basic sign of respect for one another.
• Other than during specified group activities, all questions should be directed only to Dr. Wicks; if one person has a question, it is likely that many people have the same question.
• No personal conversations during class; besides showing consideration to other class members who may be distracted by such conversations, we have a limited amount (43 fifty minute periods) of class time and it must be used as efficiently as possible.

If you violate these rules of behavior, you may be asked to leave class for the remainder of the period. If you are expelled from the class on three separate occasions, you will be dropped from the class roster.