INTERMATH
Instructor:
Elliot C. Gootman
Department of Mathematics
Room 502, Boyd Graduate Studies Building, UGA
Teaching Assistants:
Chad Galloway, cgallowa@coe.uga.edu
Evan Glazer, eglazer@coe.uga.edu
Summer Brown, sumtime27@hotmail.com
Office telephone: 706-542-2637
Math. Dept. Fax: 706-542-2573
Email: gootman@math.uga.edu
COURSE OBJECTIVES
- To deepen your conceptual understanding of the principles
of middle school mathematics by means of problem-solving, investigation
and exploration.
- To become familiar with the use of software as a tool for
facilitating problem-solving, investigation and exploration.
- To use general tools(word processing, paint and draw programs,
spreadsheets and the Internet) as well as mathematical software,
to write up your investigations and explorations, and to post
them on the Web.
- To write up and post lesson plans and mathematical problems
and explorations suitable for middle school students to investigate
with technology.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course will meet its objectives by modeling the use of technologyas
a tool for mathematical problem-solving, exploration, investigationand
communication. Group work is encourages so that students canmodel
for each other. All materials for the course are maintainedon
an Internet Web page site and students will create and useweb
documents in the course. Students will post the results oftheir
explorations and investigations, and will also post explorationsand
investigations suitable for use by middle school students.
The following technologies will be used in the course:
Hand Held Calculators such as TI-81, TI-82, or TI-83
Graphing Calculator 3.0 (from http://www.pacifict.com)
Geometers Sketchpad (from http://www.keypress.com)
Spreadsheets (Excel recommended)
Web Page Browser (Netscape 4.76 recommended)
Web Page Authoring Tool (Netscape 4.76 recommended)
No prior knowledge of any of the above technologies is assumed.However,
it is assumed that you have access to computers and tothe above
tools outside of the Intermath class. The usual expectationof
two hours of study outside class for every hour in class isprobably
a minimum.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS:
There is no textbook. All assignments will be given and turnedin
via the Web.
GRADES AND REQUIREMENTS:
Grades will be based upon attendance, participation (on the computer,working
with others, in class discussions and on investigations),write-ups
and lessons.
- There will be 13 assignments, each corresonding with a different
unit on the InterMath Web site. There will be a "write-up"
for each assignment.
- Each person will develop a personal Web Page for the course.
Each write-up will be an HTML document (i.e., a Web page document)
and linked to your personal Web Page.
- Lessons for middle school students. These will be a part
of your personal web site, but eventually will be placed or linked
to a library of lessons available to all InterMath participants.
- What is a "write-up"? The write-ups represent your
synthesis and presentation of a mathematics investigation you
have done usually under the direction of one of the assignments.
The major point is that it convincingly communicates what you
have found to be important from the investigation. A write-up
should communicate the essential material you have synthesized
from your investigation. The format could be entirely in a word-processing
document. After all, an HTML is basically a word-processing document
with links. The HTML format, however, can combine narrative,
pictures, and program applications in a dynamic document. Write-ups
should be posted to your personal web page. If you work as a
team on a write-up, post the write-up into each team member's
Web Page but label collaborative effort. Criteria should include
correct mathematics, use of technology, and how well you communicate.
"Solution" might be another word for "write-up".
- What is a lesson? The "lessons" are to be your
creations of material to incorporate technology into your classroom
lessons. The material can be individual lessons or a unit of
material. Your criteria should be on its usability in your classroom
or in other peoples' classroom and something you feel good enough
about to share with colleagues over the Web. You can also look at the criteria of factors and strategies to ask questions developed by the students in the class. While not a complete
lesson with directions for the teacher, this miniature
golf activity is an example that has been created by an InterMath
participant and used in her sixth grade math class after exploring
the investigation All
Swimmed Out. She has also created activities about: jogging
and millionaires (Excel), salary and
soccer (Excel), properties of angles
(GSP), the gymnast (Excel) ratio
of areas and perimeters of similar triangles (GSP), maximizing
area with a fence (GSP), surface area
and volume of packages (GSP), and mystery
quadrilaterals (GSP).
CLASS PARTICIPANTS
Karen Caporino
Joy Sapp
Jodie McMichael
Judy Powell
Mike Callinan
Peggy Reigle
Dr. Elliott Gootman
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE
February 26 -- Orientation and Overview
March 5 -- Getting Started
March 12 -- Algebra Patterns
March 19 -- Geometry -- Triangles
March 26-- Number Concepts -- Fractions & Decimals
April 2 -- Spring Break - No Class
April 9-- Data Analysis -- Statistics
April 16 -- Algebra -- Graphing
April 23 -- Geometry -- Circles
April 30 -- Number Concepts -- Ratio, Proportions, & Percent
May 7-- Geometry -- Quadrilaterals
May 14 -- Number Concepts -- Integers
May 21 -- Geometry -- Polygons
May 28 -- Data Analysis -- Probability
June 4-- Algebra -- Functions & Equations
June 11 -- Final Session & Wrap-Up