Writing in a Mathematics Course

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Writing in a Mathematics Course

• By
• Claudia Rizza
• LaGuardia Community College

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Introduction

• Introduction of writing in a Mathematics course
  Elementary Statistics

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Description

• Every time I taught Elementary Statistics, I
  wanted my students to do one to two pages of
  analysis. Unfortunately, my students would write
  one or two paragraphs only. The WID program
  helped me staging a project and students were
  able to write fifteen pages of definitions and
  analysis.

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Examples of samples(minimum sample size is 30)

• 1. Students ages.
• 2. Students hours of sleep.
• 3. How much people spend on holiday gifts.
• 4. Yes/No questions Smoke or not.
• 5. How many cigarettes per day you smoke.
• 6. Expected grades in a certain class.
• 7. Country of origin.
• 8. Movies they like.
• 9. Sports they like.

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The Project

• 1. Finding data
• 2. Expectation from the data
• 3. Definition of terms and analysis of the
  statistics
• 4. Description of graphs and analysis of graphs
  used.
• 5. Definition of Z-score and possible application
  to the project.
• 6. Conclusion

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Examples
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Description

• Many times students have asked me how and when
  they are going to use mathematics in their lives
  after graduation from college. The course
  College Algebra and Trigonometry gave me the
  opportunity to demonstrate students that
  mathematics is useful. The DFL program showed me
  different teaching approaches through technology.
  One of them was the Inquiry Activities. These
  activities use web sites. The students have to
  use this information to find possible formulas.

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Examples of Inquiry Activities

• Linear Functions
• Exponential Functions