MAE 447 Fall 2006 Course Outline

Instructor: Bernard Maskit

Office: Math 5-112

Telephone: 632-8257

e-mail: bernie@math.sunysb.edu

Office Hours: Monday, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. - by appointment

Tuesday, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Class meeting time and place: Math 5-112, 11:00 - 11:40 p.m.

This course is predominantly a writing course, but it will also include classroom discussions of relevant issues, particularly issues related to dispositions. Each student will write essay on one of the two topics below.

Course Objectives:

1. Students will write in a manner that is grammatically correct and clearly expresses their ideas.

2. Students will write essays with clear and cogent arguments based on reliably obtained facts.

3. Students will develop dispositions that are appropriate for teachers.

TIMELINE:

First draft of paper due: 10/30/06

Final draft of paper due: 12/20/06

GRADING:

Timeliness of first draft 10%

Presentation of first draft 10%

Participation in discussion of first draft of others 10%

Importance and relevance of quoted facts in final draft 10%

Cogency of arguments 15%

English usage, including spelling and grammatical structure 15%

Expressions of awareness of the sensibilities of others, and expressions of appropriate dispositions 30%

Paper topic: Choose one of the two scenarios below, and write a 10 page paper presenting both sides of the issue as fairly as you can. You must include some number of relevant facts, obtained from reliable sources, and you must reference your sources.

1. Your high school algebra class has about ten reasonably bright students, who are all doing well in mathematics class and who all hang out together; the class also contains about ten other students who also all hang out together, but these students all have difficulty learning math. The parents of the first group are loud in their insistence that their children be grouped together and be given extra advanced work, while the parents of the second group are loud in their insistence that their children be placed in heterogeneous groups, and not be grouped together in the "dumb" group.

2. Your class is learning about 3-dimensional shapes and volumes, and you have some models of these shapes for your students to handle, measure, etc. There is a "special" student in your class whose tactile senses work differently; this student is learning about these shapes etc. visually, using a special computer program. The other students are fascinated by the computerized special effects; the parents of the "special" student complain that the other students are distracting their child, and that the special equipment is for the use of their child only; the parents of the other children complain that their children are being deprived because their children do not have access to this expensive piece of equipment.

NOTE: If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact on your ability to carry out assigned course work, I urge that you contact the staff in the Disability Support Services office (DSS), 128 Educational Communications Center, 632-6748/TDD 632-6548. DSS will review your concerns and determine, with you, what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation of disability is confidential. Note that we cannot make special arrangements for students with disabilities except for those determined by DSS.