Patterning the World: Connecting Mathematics and Science – Winter 2014

Several of you did not keep your responses to the essay prompts for past Reflections. At least one of you proposed rewriting all the responses from scratch. Your dedication is appreciated, but that does not seem a productive use of your time. If you don’t have a record of your past Reflections, email Krishna and he’ll see what he can find to send you (it might take a while).

You can find the week 7 Reflection form here. The prompts for this week’s essay responses are from the program syllabus, and direct you to provide examples with specific details about how you have:

• Improved habits for achieving success in future work especially in math and science,
• Developed increasingly sophisticated skills for learning from text and a variety of other resources.

Here are copies of the handouts from Week 7’s Wrap. Please complete and submit by the first class on Mon. Feb. 24.

• Program Activities Log
• Portfolio Checklist

You can find the Week 6 Physics Problem Set solutions posted at the Week 6 Calendar page. When you click on the link, you may be prompted to log-in. Use your standard my.evergreen.edu log-in information.

• The Week 7 Calendar page is posted
• Week 6 Reflection due online by noon, Sun. Feb. 16
• No class meetings on Mon. Feb. 17 due to President’s (“Catch-up”) Day
• Quiz on week 6 material, 8:30 am Tue. Feb. 18
• Tuesday open workshop in Lab 2 room 2242 from 1:00 – 2:30. Wednesday open workshop in Sem 2 E2105 from 9:30 – 11:00.
• Physics Lab on Wed. Feb. 19 meets in CAL. If convenient, bring any personal musical instruments and/or empty plastic or glass beverage bottles (juice, soda, etc. – the kind that if you blow across the opening, you hear a note).
• The winter quarter All-Campus Mentoring Day is on Wed. Feb. 19. Look over the schedule and see if there any sessions you are interested in attending or any faculty you are interested in meeting.

• You can find a version of the polygons handout from Thursday’s Wrap here.
• There were a number of great questions generated in that session. You should investigate whichever strike your interest.
• In particular, you should play around, make some measurements, do some calculations, etc. to investigate whether you can find:
  1. a pattern in the total enclosed angle (or the angle per side) as related to the number of sides; in other words find a(n), the angle a as a function of side number n
  2. a pattern in the area of the polygon as related to the number of sides, in other words, find A(n), the area A as a function of side number n.

You can find the week 6 Reflection form here. The prompts (taken from the CCSS Standards for Mathematical Practice) handed out in Thursday’s Wrap were:

• Look for and make use of structure/express regularity in repeated reasoning. Students work to improve their ability to look closely to discern a pattern or structure in natural phenomena or mathematical relationships. As they work to solve a problem, students maintain oversight of the process, while attending to the details. They continually evaluate the reasonableness of their intermediate results. They notice if reasoning and calculations are repeated, and look both for general methods and for shortcuts. They can step back for an overview and to shift perspective. They can see complicated things as single objects or as being composed of several objects.
• Construct viable explanations from evidence and discuss (with an eye to improving) the reasoning of others. Students work to justify their explanations, formulate evidence based on a solid foundation of data, examine their own understanding in light of evidence and comments offered by others, and collaborate with peers in searching for the best explanation for the natural or mathematical phenomenon being investigated. They work to understand and use stated assumptions, definitions, and previously established results in constructing explanations. They justify their conclusions, communicate them to others, and respond to the explanations of others. They reason inductively about data, making plausible explanations that take into account the context from which the data arose. They are also able to compare the effectiveness of two plausible explanations, distinguish correct logic or reasoning from that which is flawed, and—if there is a flaw in an explanation—explain what it is. They can listen or read the explanations of others, decide whether they make sense, and ask useful questions to clarify or improve the explanation.

• The Open Workshop on Tue. Feb. 11 will be held in Lab 2 room 2242 (not Sem 2 E2105) from 1:00 – 2:30.
• Wednesday’s Open Workshop will still be held in Sem 2 E2105 from 9:30 – 11:00.

The Week 6 Calendar page is posted. Some highlights:

• Week 5 Reflection is due Sun. Feb. 9 by noon
• Note the addition of Ch. 6.1 to the physics reading. This connects well with the precalculus material in Ch. 5.2.
• Bring your ruler and protractor with you to all class sessions next week.
• Bring versions of the readings which you can actually annotate for Monday’s Lecture/Seminar.
• We pick up with Resource Postings & Reviews this week. Here’s the assignment as a reminder.