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| Teacher: Prof. Julian Fleron, Ph.D. | Office: 422 Wilson Hall |
| Email: J_FLERON@FOMA.WSC.MASS.EDU | Telephone: 572-5716(w) & 568-5701(h) |
| Class Meets: MWF 10:30 - 11:20 W412 | Office Hours: M 2:30-4:00, T 1:00-2:00 W 1:30-3:00, R 1:00-2:00 |
| Text: Excerpts from Mathematics: A Human Endeavor, 3rd edition, by H.R. Jacobs |
Required Supplies: 3-ring, loose-leaf binder |
Course Overview: As noted in the new course description, the goal of this course is to provide liberal arts students "with an opportunity to develop a broader appreciation of mathematics by exploring ways in which the artistic, aesthetic, intellectual, and humanistic aspects of mathematics are as important as its utility." This exploration will be carried out in a supportive, student centered environment. During the first part of the course cooperative learning and guided discovery are the underlying pedagogical vehicles. In the later part of the course students will work collaboratively with the teacher in exploring selected topics in mathematics and developing materials that aid other students in their exploration of these topics. Written student work is the dominant vehicle for assessment throughout the course.
Course Content: We shall explore mathematical reasoning and mathematical ways of thinking via the material in the excerpted chapter of the text by Jacobs. We will cover a significant portion of this chapter. We will briefly explore the infinite via a chapter on this topic by Fleron, only a small portion of which we will cover. The remaining two-thirds of the course will focus on an exploration of dimension theory, fractals, chaos, and topics in geometry. Handouts and drafts of a book chapter by Fleron on some of these topics will be supplemented by articles and papers that students collect in the course of their research on these topics.
Class Structure: As noted in the course title, we will be exploring mathematics. This course is an honors version of MA0110, described extensively in my Mathematics for Liberal Arts Information Page, where the text and supplemental chapters have been designed to guide students' discovery and exploration of mathematics in a variant of the Socratic teaching style. That is, the materials provide those students with a series of leading questions that allow them to (re-)discover and explore specific mathematical topics for themselves. In that course the majority of class time is devoted to cooperative group work on the questions posed in those materials. During the first third of this course we will approach the course in the same manner, working through parts of the chapters by Jacobs and Fleron. In the remainder of the course our focus will be on developing our own materials like those of Jacobs and Fleron in the areas of dimension theory, fractals, chaos, and topics in geometry. We will work together collaboratively on this task, collecting resources, finding interesting problems and examples, finding historical and humanistic vignettes, writing expository papers and reviews on these topics, and developing batteries of questions that can be used for guided discovery learning.
Solution Sets, Journals, and Written Assignments: During the first part of the course you will be required to submit solution sets for each of the sections we cover in the chapters by Jacobs and Fleron. These solution sets must provide detailed, complete, coherent, mathematically correct, and well written solutions, as further described in the Mathematics section of the Westfield State College Writer's Guide, to each of the assigned problems from that lesson. Your work in class in groups and individually at home on these problems should only serve as rough drafts for your final solution sets. The solution sets you hand in should be final drafts.
During the later part of the course you will be required to complete a variety of different written assignments. These may include: mathematical reviews, expository mathematical papers, and mathematical teaching resources. Again, details on these different types of mathematical writing can be found in the Mathematics section of the Westfield State College Writer's Guide.
You will be required to keep a journal throughout the course of the semester and you will be required to submit these journals on a regular basis. The types of journals will vary throughout the course of the semester; they are also described in the Mathematics section of the Westfield State College Writer's Guide.
Student Responsibilities: Attendance in this class and active participation in every facet of this course is required. During the first part of the course it is critical that you work through the problems in the chapters by Jacobs and Fleron in groups so you obtain a clear picture of how the non-honors version of this course is run. During the later part of the course it is critical that you work with others as we will be exploring topics for which appropriate curricular material at the level of our course is rare. Every absence beyond a maximum of four will decrease your final course grade by one third of a letter grade.
Grading: As noted above, absenteeism will adversely effect your grade in this course. Final grades will be based on the following:
Academic Honesty: We will work cooperatively in groups during class, I invite people to work together outside of class. Some of our assignments will be completed cooperatively. However, all final written work that is to be completed individually must be your own work which is written in your own words. Assignments that have been copied from another student or another source will result in failing grades for all students involved. Moreover, such dishonesty will be considered a violation of the college policy on academic honesty and will be dealt with severely.
This and other documents related to this course can be found at the Mathematics for Liberal Arts Information Page available at the URL
