A collection of class activities and notes are available at Bob's copy shop near campus. Another source of activities is Mathematics for Elementary Teachers via Problem Solving authored by Frank Lester, Jr.

Math 130 classes meet for 3 hours each week; in-class and homework activities are taken from the collection of class activities and notes developed for the course by its instructor. Student evaluations are based on attendance, participation, written homework, and on mid-term and final examinations.

Unit 1   GENERAL PROBLEM SOLVING AND COMMUNICATION (3 weeks).
Students are introduced to cooperative group learning. Students are asked to detail problem solutions or to write essays on what they have done. An assignment might be, "Write a paper in which you detail a strategy for the game POISON." (The students would have played this game in class.)

Unit 2   THE LANGUAGE OF MATHEMATICS: SET THEORY AND LOGIC (2 weeks).
Elementary set theory, Venn diagrams, and solving problems using sets. Propositional logic. Existential and universal quantifiers.

Unit 3   ALGORITHMS, PLACE VALUE AND NUMBER BASES (1-1/2 weeks).
Algorithms for arithmetic operations are explored as is representing numbers in different number bases. An example problem might be: If you have two base 6 numbers, 13 and 24, what is their sum?

Unit 4   NUMBER THEORY, RATIONAL AND IRRATIONAL NUMBERS (2 weeks).
Primes, factorization, GCD's, and LCM's. Euclidean Algorithm. Relatively prime numbers. Sample problem: How many months will it be before Venus and Mars are simultaneously aligned with the earth?

Unit 5   RATIONAL NUMBERS: COMMON AND DECIMAL FRACTIONS (2 weeks).
Rational numbers as ratios, proportions, and parts of a whole; decimals and percents. Is there a simpler expression for the fraction 1.32/2.31 ?

Unit 6   ALGEBRA (2 weeks).
A great deal of algebra is used throughout the course. This unit focuses on explaining the solution of problems using variables and the solutions of algebraic equations and inequalities. A sample problem: 300 feet of fencing is used to fence three sides of a rectangular pen; the fourth side of the pen is a barn. What is the area of the largest pen that can be fenced?

Unit 7   COMBINATORICS AND PROBABILITY (2 weeks).
Simple counting problems. Probabilities. Compound events. A problem might be: What are the chances of winning the Wisconsin MegaBucks lottery?

Revised 31 August 1999 by Frank Sottile.