SYLLABUS Math 50/54 INSTRUCTOR: Roya Sabeti EMAIL: rsabeti@pierce.ctc.edu Office Hours: 10 am 12 noon M Th Phone: 253-840-8361 COURSE DESCRIPTION: Regardless of where you enter this series knowledge of the prerequisite course material is expected. MA 50: Operations and applications with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and integers. Order of operations. Converting among number representations; placing numbers in order. Basic applications, including use of percent and geometry. Study strategies. MA 54: Operations with fractions, decimals, percents, and signed numbers. Simplify algebraic expressions. Solve linear equations. Solve a variety of application problems. Square roots, exponents, and coordinate graphing. Determine area, perimeter, and volume. Calculate statistical measures of center and interpret graphs. Study strategies. REQUIRED MATERIALS: Web access Internet & Email (that you check regularly) You must use the Textbook website frequently and for extended periods to learn the material and to submit practice problems and assessments online. An appropriate internet browser and high speed access will be needed. You may use computers at school or any computer with internet access, but please be aware that online access is REQUIRED. The primary method of communication in any online course is through email so you MUST check your email regularly. Access to ALEKS online: Online text & Learning System We will use an online, interactive textbook through the ALEKS learning system. Directions to get into ALEKS can be found in Canvas. Technical & Organizational Skills You will need to navigate web sites, download files from websites, use email, and learn how to type mathematical expressions and equations. You will also need to keep neat and organized notes (notebook/binder/folder) whatever system you like to keep your papers organized. You must have a neat system for keeping your notes, weekly assignments and any classroom information. Even though this is an online class and I may never see your notebook it is very important to develop the habit to keep organized notes. This will help you in your other classes as well. Failure to log on to Canvas and ALEKS within the 100% refund window may result in being administratively withdrawn from the course.
IMPORTANT DATES: Check the Pierce College Academic Calendar at http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/studentlife/calendars/academic for important dates including when 50% and 100% refunds END and for the last day to withdraw from a course so no grade will be posted on your transcript. COURSE STRUCTURE: This class is a web-based lab format course using ALEKS. You will be taking most of the responsibility for your own learning. Your time is spent working topics in your pie, reading the text, watching videos, asking for help, and taking assessments. All of this will be available online. You may work on all available parts of your pie in ALEKS anywhere that you have internet access however THE FINAL EXAM MUST BE PROCTORED AND MUST BE TAKEN IN AN AUTHORIZED LOCATION. See the Canvas module on the proctored final for more details. Students often try to learn how to do a problem by simply trying it over and over again. ALEKS gives you many tools to learn the material and you should take advantage of all the resources if you miss a topic more than once or have never seen a question like it before. Ask for help before you get to the frustration level. Email is the best way to contact me for help. This course is specifically tailored to your needs: The first time you log onto ALEKS you will take an initial assessment to determine what you already know. If you know how to do a problem great, if not, simply click I Don t Know and move on. If you do not get any items correct you will start from the beginning. If you do get some of the topics correct then you will not have to redo them, although they can still show up on your assessments or final exams. Be honest and do not cheat yourself by guessing if you are not sure how to do a problem. No study aids, books or notes allowed. Once your initial assessment is done you start learning mode in ALEKS. If you get the topic right several times you will be prompted to move on to a new topic. If you get the topic wrong it will offer you an explanation, a reference/ reading assignment in the book, and for most topics a video will be available. You can also ask me questions through email, or call me during office hours. You will be allowed to take the Practice final exams early if you reach 90% or better on a weekly assessment. You may take the Final Exam early at your instructor s discretion. If you are in Math 50 and wish to complete both Math 50 and Math 54 your instructor will not officially register you unless sufficient mastery is reached to ensure you can pass the course.
REQUIREMENTS / % OF FINAL GRADE 1. PIE MASTERY 5% of your overall grade You must make steady progress in learning the topics required in the course. Your goal is to reach 100% mastery by the end of the quarter. 2. TIME EXPECTATIONS 5% of your overall grade You must log a minimum of 10 hours in ALEKS every week. I will drop the lowest 4 scores to compensate for any unusual situations that come up and prevent you from putting in the required number of hours per week. Most students should spend 2 hours studying outside of class for every 1 hour spent in lecture for a regular math class. According to this theory you should spend 15 hours per week working on this online course even though the graded requirement is for 10 hours a week. If you do not spend this much time working on a regular basis you may find yourself ill prepared for college level math requirements and expectations. The more you put into your learning the more you will get out of it. Students that finish their course before finals week will be granted full credit for this category. 3. Knowledge Checks 20% of your overall grade Initial assessment + Every week, you will have an assessment in ALEKS. The initial assessment will be given the first time you log onto ALEKS. The weekly assessments will be available Sunday through Monday. Only the highest percent mastery shown by a Knowledge Check will be kept for the final grade calculation. 4. QuickTables / Study Skills / Check-Ins 10% of your overall grade ALEKS QuickTables is a research-based, math fact mastery program for multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. Through math fact fluency you will improve your ability to learn advanced skills more quickly. There will be two quizzes per QuickTable in each course. I will drop the lowest score in this category. You will get points for the preparatory work you do in Canvas. You will also watch a few videos and answer questions on study skills and check in with me about your progress. 5. FINAL EXAM 60% of your overall grade The final exam is comprehensive and proctored. You must take the final in an approved supervised location. You must get at least a 60% on the final exam to pass this class. No calculators, notes, or books will be allowed on the Final Exam. There will be required practice tests for the final exam that will help you study. *This represents 100% of your grade and you must have at least a 2.0 / 75% to move on to the next course
Determining your grade Your grade will be calculated based on the points you earn on the Progress Checks, Time Expectations, Pie Mastery, QuickTables, and Final Exam. The percentage of points earned out of the number of possible points will be calculated. The percentage grade is translated to a decimal grade as follows: 95-100% = 4.0 A 89% = 3.4 B 83% = 2.8 B 77% = 2.2 C 71% = 1.6 C 65% = 1.0 D 94% = 3.9 A 88% = 3.3 B 82% = 2.7 B 76% = 2.1 C 70% = 1.5 C 0 64%= 0.0 F 93% = 3.8 A 87% = 3.2 B 81% = 2.6 B 75% = 2.0 C 69% = 1.4 D 92% = 3.7 A 86% = 3.1 B 80% = 2.5 B 74% = 1.9 C 68% = 1.3 D 91% = 3.6 A 85% = 3.0 B 79% = 2.4 C 73% = 1.8 C 67% = 1.2 D 90% = 3.5 A 84% = 2.9 B 78% = 2.3 C 72% = 1.7 C 66% = 1.1 D Note about Grades: 2.0 is the minimum requirement to advance to the next math course. Withdrawals: Withdrawals are student initiated. Please talk with your instructor before you initiate the withdrawal process. If you should "disappear" without a formal withdrawal by the withdraw date you will receive a 0.0. NO incomplete grades will be issued for this class. (NC are only used for unforeseen circumstances- contact your instructor) Special Needs: Your experience in this class is important to me, and it is the policy and practice of Pierce College to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law. If you experience barriers based on disability, please seek a meeting with the Access and Disability Services (ADS) manager to discuss and address them. If you have already established accommodations with the ADS manager, please bring your approved accommodations (green sheet) to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course. ADS offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you and the ADS manager, and I am available to help facilitate them in this class. If you have not yet established services through ADS, but have a temporary or permanent disability that requires accommodations (this can include but not be limited to; mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are encouraged to contact ADS at 253-964-6526 (Fort Steilacoom) or 253-840-8335 (Puyallup).
Math Anxiety: Math Anxiety is real for some. I assure you that everyone in this class has the ability to learn the material for this course if they spend enough time working on it. That doesn t mean it will be easy or that every test answer will be correct. It means that you can learn math well if you give it enough quality time. If you think you have math anxiety seek help and don t give up. Tutoring Information: * Tutoring is available during open lab and at the tutoring centers at both campuses. Please see http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/dist/tutoring/ for more information. Note that ONLINE Tutoring is available at this website. Academic Integrity: You are on your honor to take all assessments without calculators (unless provided in ALEKS), notes, books, or help for others. It is your responsibility to be familiar with Pierce College s Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities. Class will be conducted adhering to this code. Any person caught cheating (ex. use of notes, calculator) on a test will receive a 0.0 grade for the test and may fail the class. * Information in this syllabus is subject to change. Any changes will be announced to the student via email or posted in the Course Forum in ALEKS.
MATH 50- COURSE OUTCOMES Whole numbers 1. Read and write whole numbers and identify place value. Convert from English words to numbers and from numbers to English words. 2. Perform the four basic operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide) with whole numbers. 3. Calculate squares and cubes, and square roots of perfect squares. 4. Perform multistep calculations with whole numbers using the correct order of operations. 5. Perform techniques of rounding with whole numbers. 6. Demonstrate math fact fluency (aka automaticity) in number skills by recalling basic math facts of single-digit addition, single-digit products, and subtraction and division resulting in a single digit with speed and accuracy. Student must meet the department established minimum standard. Fractions 7. Perform the four basic operations with positive fractions. 8. Convert between improper fraction and mixed numbers. Decimals 9. Read and write decimal numbers and identify place value. Convert from English words to numbers and from numbers to English words. 10. Perform the four basic operations with positive decimals. 11. Perform techniques of rounding with decimal numbers. 12. Convert between decimal and percent representations. Integers 13. Perform the four basic operations with integers. Inter-classification 14. Convert numbers between decimal, fraction, and percent representations. 15. Place whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and integers in numerical order. Applications 16. Solve a variety of application problems. 17. Solve basic applications with percents. 18. Determine the perimeter and area of rectangles and triangles. Determine the volume of a rectangular box. Express these solutions with the correct units. Determine these solutions with no outside references (that is, memorize these geometric formulas).
Study Strategies 19. Create a study plan incorporating a variety of study techniques that can contribute to success in learning mathematics. 20. Describe a variety of techniques and strategies for reducing math or test anxiety, and reflect on which techniques might be of personal benefit. General Skills 21. Perform all arithmetic operations without use of a calculator. 22. Use correct order of operations for calculations. 23. Estimate solutions to problems, and apply estimation to judge the reasonableness of calculated solutions. 24. Use appropriate units when answering application problems. Express solutions to problems correctly in phrases when appropriate. Use mathematical terms and vocabulary correctly. 25. Clearly communicate solution processes. 26. Use a computer to engage in some of the course activities.
MATH 54- COURSE OUTCOMES Numbers and operations 1. Perform the four basic operations with rational numbers, in fractional and decimal form, and place them in order. 2. Perform the four basic operations with signed numbers. 3. Compute with percents and ratios, and interpret results. 4. Find square roots of perfect squares without a calculator, and use a calculator to find approximate square roots. Algebraic expressions simplification and evaluation 5. Manipulate basic algebraic expressions, using correct order of operations and combining like terms. 6. Perform the four basic operations with algebraic fractions (monomial numerator and denominator). 7. Simplify algebraic exponential expressions involving positive integer exponents. 8. Evaluate algebraic expressions and formulas without a calculator. 9. Use a calculator to evaluate expressions by performing the order of operations correctly. Solving linear equations 10. Distinguish between algebraic expressions and equations. 11. Solve one-variable linear equations, including those with grouping symbols and with the variable on both sides. Applications 12. Analyze word expressions and translate them into algebraic expressions. 13. Solve a variety of application problems, including the following: Solve application problems involving percents including percent increase/decrease problems and simple interest formula. Solve application problems involving proportions, such as scale drawings or geometric similarity. Geometry 14. Determine the area and perimeter of rectangles, triangles, and circles. Determine the volume of rectangular boxes. Express these solutions with the correct units. Determine these solutions with no outside references 15. Measure lengths using units of the metric system and the U.S. system. 16. Convert between units of measure within the metric system and the U.S. system. Statistics 17. Given data, calculate the mean, median, and mode. 18. Create graphs to represent data and interpret data represented in statistical graphs.
Coordinate Graphs 19. Graph & identify points on a coordinate axes system, including axes intercepts. 20. Graph linear equations by plotting points. Writing & General Skills 21. Use appropriate units when answering application problems. Express solutions to problems correctly in phrases, when appropriate. Use mathematical terms and vocabulary correctly. 22. Estimate solutions to a variety of problems, and apply estimation to judge the reasonableness of solutions. 23. Communicate methods of solution and solutions to problems for the clarity of the receiver. 24. Participate actively and responsibly in course activities.