Applied Abstractions

For this week I have a fairly basic in-class trigonometry activity, having students develop a deep understanding of these ratios, and to use them in application questions. During lecture I completed a number of 'naked' examples, without an authentic context. Here I have them start solving application questions using trigonometry with some fairly basic questions. I do include one question that increases the difficulty, but with a few hints dropped students seemed to get the basic idea. As students work on in-class activities I usually go around the room and answer any questions they have. I do so using the Socratic Method , answering their questions with questions. They usually find this annoying, me answering their questions with questions, but over time I have noticed that students become more thoughtful with their questions. They anticipate how I will answer their questions, and so modify their phrasing so they are not just asking for numbers of values, but for methods. Nea

This is the inaugural post of Worksheet Wednesdays where I will post some of the worksheets, in-class activities, quizzes, and other assessment items I have develop in teaching college mathematics courses. Today will be a twofer, two in-class activities for my Calculus III course. I have students start in-class activities during class, but they are free to complete them afterwards. In order to receive credit for completing them I have them show it to me before the next test. When they do I usually go over it with them, providing for some 1-on-1 feedback and developing a repertoire with them. So far this has worked out well for three of my classes, but as I write this it is only Week 2 so that may change. Anyway, on to the worksheets! Monotonic and Bounded - This activity walks students through a variety of sequences and introduces the idea of monotonic and bounded sequences. They then classify each of those sequences as monotonic and bounded and then see if these sequences are con

This term I am utilizing in-class activities in all four of my classes in various ways. Previously I've used them only in special cases where the topic is best understood by a hands-on demonstration of the concept. After teaching with a flipped classroom model developed by another faculty member, I am becoming more comfortable with students discovering the material in-class, as opposed to me telling students what the ideas are. College Mathematics - This is the course I taught last term that utilized a flipped classroom model. Students are to print out handouts before class, take a pre-quiz, come to class, work on the handouts in groups, complete the handouts at home, and take a post-quiz within 24 hours after class. They repeat this for a number of handouts, and also have group tests, tests, and homework. Initially I was worried about, well, everything. Students not showing up, not understanding, waiting for me to tell them what to do, etc. It all happened, but those students wh