SYLLABUS for EMAT 4680/6680 Technology and Secondary School Mathematics

 

Instructor:

James W. Wilson
105 Aderhold Hall, (Office in Rm 110-F)
Telephone: 542-4552
Internet Address: http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu
E-mail address: jwilson@coe.uga.edu


Office hours: I maintain an open door policy for office hours. I come to the office early each morning and if I am not tied up in a meeting or talking to another student I am available to you.

EMAT 4680: Under our program guidelines, students should enroll concurrently in EMAT 468 and EMAT 3500. If you are going to follow our undergraduate program and have not already taken EMAT 3500, discuss this situation with me.

Prerequisites for EMAT 4680/6680: MATH 2210. If you have not studied inferential and differential calculus, discuss the situation with me.


OBJECTIVES

  • To become familiar with and operational with using technology tools in doing mathematics.
  • To use application software to solve mathematics problems.
  • To use application software to create mathematics demonstrations.
  • To use application software to construct new ideas of mathematics for yourself.
  • To engage in mathematical investigations using software applications.
  • To engage in some independent investigations of mathematics topics from the secondary school curriculum or appropriate for that level.
  • To communicate mathematics ideas that arise from mathematics applications on the MacIntosh.
  • To communicate mathematics ideas using various technology tools.
  • To use general tools such as word processing, paint and draw programs, spreadsheets, and the Internet to facilitate mathematics investigations and communication about mathematics investigations.

Course Description. This course will concentrate on using various software applications to solve mathematics problems, to organize pedagogical demonstrations, and to set up problem explorations. Students on campus will use application software owned by the Department of Mathematics Education and will carry out the course using primarily Macintosh computers. All materials for the course are maintained by an Internet Web page site and students will create and use web documents in the course. Students off campus who have access to their own server have an option put their web productions on their own server and link to the course page. The emphasis is on exploration of various mathematics contexts to learn mathematics, to pose problems and problem extensions, to solve problems, and to communicate mathematical demonstrations.


GRADES & REQUIREMENTS

Grading is a necessary part of what we do and it is my intention to base grades on performance in meeting the requirements of the course. This performance includes the following:

1. Attendance

2. Participation on the computer working with others class discussions investigations

3. Write-ups

4. Final Projects

I think # 1 and # 2 are rather obvious. We will have repeated opportunities to discuss #3 and # 4. But for the terminally anxious. . .

A. There will be 13 Assignments. These are guides or suggestions for explorations and participation arranged around a variety of topics. There will be a "Write-up" for each assignments except Assignment 0. No. You do not need to "hand in" each assignment. You do not even have to do them. It is hard to imagine how you could benefit from the class if you avoid them . . .

B. Each person will develop a personal Web Page for the course.

C. There will be a set of "Write-up" projects. These are the "homework" for the course. The Write-ups will be prepared as an HTML document (i.e. a Web Page document) and linked to your personal web page.

D. The Final Projects are in lieu of a final examination, will take considerably longer than an examination, and is due on the day of our scheduled final examination.


EMAT 6680 DOCUMENTATION

Please Click Here for EMAT 6680 Documentation.


An example investigation for Contextual Teaching & Learning in Mathematics

The Spreadsheet in Mathematics Explorations

 

 
     

 

The Department of Mathematics Education
University of Georgia
©2001