See also: Main Webpage for MAT 126
R07: Thursday 9:50 - 10:45 am, Earth and Space Sciences 183
R13: Monday 3:50 - 4:45 pm, Physics 124
Recitation leader: James Cook
email: cook at math dot sunysb dot
edu
Office: S-240C,
Office Hours:
Monday 1:00-2:00 pm (Math Learning Center)
Thursday 2:30-3:30 pm (Math Learning
Center)
Friday 2:30-3:30 pm (office)
Announcements
Announcements will be posted here. You will be expected to have read them!
-10/19/06
Thursday students:
1. I forgot to return HW 3 today. You can pick it up at office hours or wait until next week (it may help to remind me if I forget again!).
2. A number of people need to collect their exam papers.
3. I plan to collect both HW 6 (if you didn’t turn it in already) and HW 7 next week. I hope to be able to return HW 4 and 5 at that time also.
-10/06/06
Practice midterm exam available here, with solutions.
Thursday students: HW 4 (sec 5.3) and 5 (sec. 5.4) will be collected next week (Thursday Oct 12). You can pick up HW 3 at office hours on Monday Oct 9.
Monday students: HW 4 (sec. 5.3) will be collected Monday Oct 9; HW 5 (sec. 5.4) will be collected Monday Oct 16. HW 1,2 are now available for pickup.
Overview
As I see things, the main goals of a “recitation” are (1) to review and reinforce the material covered in class, and (2) to provide help to students so that they have a better chance of success on tests (which are largely what determine a student’s grade for the course). In particular, these sessions provide students with the opportunity to:
- obtain answers to their questions about the material being covered in class;
- learn how to solve the homework problems by watching the recitation leader work out similar problems;
- receive feedback on their homework
Since the recitation counts for only 20% of the course grade, I feel that the grading system (particularly with regard to homework) should be rather simple. In particular, it does not need to make the kind of fine distinctions in scores that would be appropriate on an exam. If you show up and make an honest effort, you should expect to do well in this part of the course.
Grading
Specifics
-Attendance: Although I reserve the right to take attendance, I will not ordinarily do so. Nonetheless, students are advised to attend regularly, since homework will be collected at each session (see below for late homework policy) and quizzes may be given (there will be no make-up quizzes for students who miss the recitation, unless documentation can be provided showing that the student’s absence was necessary).
-Homework: Normally, homework will be collected at each session. If you speak with me before the assignment is due (or, in exceptional circumstances, after), I will usually be willing to let you turn it in late. However, this will only work so long as my flexibility is not abused. In case things get to be a problem, I reserve the right not to accept late homework. In other words, use this privilege sparingly, or it will disappear!
There are four possible grades a student may receive on a homework assignment:
-0, if the work merits no credit at all (for example, if nothing is turned in, or the paper is full of irrelevant nonsense);
-Check-minus (1 point), for work that shows minimal effort, or that shows a sincere effort but reveals some fundamental conceptual problems with the material;
-Check (2 points), for work that shows a both a sincere effort and a solid understanding of the material (this is the grade students should ordinarily expect to receive);
-Check-plus (2.5 points), which is reserved for exceptionally good papers (containing anything from textbook-like perfection to a correct solution of the Riemann Hypothesis; any student who receives this grade regularly should probably consider a more advanced course!)
In determining the grade, I will mostly be looking to see that you have grasped the fundamental concepts that the assignment is testing; I may not always check that your final answers are actually correct. In particular, you are responsible for your own arithmetic. If you are worried about your arithmetical skills, I suggest using the back of the textbook (Appendix J) to check your answers to odd-numbered exercises (and doing odd-numbered exercises for your own benefit when they don’t occur on an assignment).
It follows from this that you should carefully show your work
on all problems. The burden of proof is on you to convince me that you
understand the concepts. Any paper that contains only answers will receive a
grade of 0.
-Quizzes: There may be occasional quizzes given. These will be graded on a score of 0 to 100. They will usually involve short answers that test conceptual understanding. A quiz will count as a homework assignment (with the score being interpreted as a percentage of 2 points, the homework grade of “check”).