Official Title. Math 475: Capstone Course for Secondary Teachers
Instructor. Eric Hsu, TH 932, erichsu@math.sfsu.edu, AOL IM: DrEricHsu
Class Meetings. TuTh 2:10-3:25 in HH 667.
Office Hours. Tu 1:00-2:00
Web Page. Link at http://math.sfsu.edu/hsu
Prerequisites. Be on track to complete a Math BA by Fall 2009. Officially: Math 335 and concurrent enrollment in Math 370, or consent of instructor.
Bulletin Description. This course builds on students’ work in upper division mathematics to deepen their understanding of the mathematics taught in secondary school. Students will actively explore topics in algebra, analysis, geometry and statistics.
Informal Description. Much research shows that amount of coursework in mathematics does not correlate to teaching effectiveness. One issue is that the undergraduate curriculum usually is not explicitly linked to high school mathematics. This course is a chance for us to return to high school mathematics with advanced mathematical tools and maturity. We will look at key questions that come up in high school classrooms, and consider rigorous answers as well as explanations accessible to students.
Learning Objectives. Students will be able to (1) analyze and prioritize key big ideas from the high school curriculum, (2)analyze high school mathematics content both with rigor and in a way accessible to students and (3) see the use of mathematical reasoning in the work of teaching (for instance, in understanding student thinking, connecting student creativity to class content, making connections across the curriculum, finding extensions to the standard content)
Evaluation of Students. Students will demonstrate their mastery of the objectives by doing weekly graded homework assignments and one longer graded written project. Assignments will be weighted: Homework (50%), Big Problems (25%), Final Projects (15%), Class Contributions (10%).
Homework. Small assignments will be given each class and are to be submitted once a week on the following Monday by 11:59pm over e-mail.
Big Problems. There will be at least twelve Big Problems assignments along the way. To pass the course, you will need to do try at least six Big Problems. Don’t worry, they aren’t that Big.
Midterms and Finals. There are no timed tests in this course. Instead, at the midpoint of the semester, you will need to have 3 of your Big Problems submitted. At the end of the semester, you will need to have 6 of your Big Problems submitted. There will be some kind of small final project, involving a presentation.
Submitting Work. Except in rare cases, all assignments should be typeset by computer and submitted over e-mail.
Final Project. This will be due by the end of the official final exam time, Friday May 23, 8:00-10:30. Details to come.
Textbooks and Software. None, but you need to typeset your mathematics. LaTeX is best.