SUNY Geneseo Department of Mathematics
Fall 2020
Prof. Doug Baldwin
Last modified August 21, 2020
Time and Place: MWRF 1:30 - 2:20, Bailey 104
Instructor: Doug Baldwin
Office: South 307
Phone: 245-5659
Email: baldwin@geneseo.edu
Office Hours: Any time Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, when I’m not committed to
something else. See my
Calendar for details and to make appointments electronically. You don’t need
to make appointments to see me, but I recommend it in order to be sure I’ll be
available. Also note that “office” hours for this course will be via video
chat. We can chat at Google
meeting https://meet.google.com/boo-wyaj-hcr, or you can set up another method
(Zoom, Skype, telephone call, etc.) when you make an appointment.
Online Course Materials: course.php
Calculus is the mathematics of change — it’s the math that isn’t so much interested in what the value of some function is for a particular input, but rather in where the value is going as the input changes. Change is an important and ubiquitous lens through which to understand the real world: by now you almost certainly (if unfortunately) understand that “how is the infection rate growing?” and “when will it start shrinking?” are interesting questions to anyone who has to live through a pandemic (not to mention epidemiologists who try to predict and control it). Similarly, physicists, chemists, economists, engineers, computer scientists, and specialists in a host of other fields study how the universe changes as much as or more than they study how it is.
This course introduces the fundamental ideas of calculus as the mathematics of change. We will build on two central questions, namely, what can we say about how a function changes if we know what the function is, and what can we say about a function if we know how it changes. The course gives everyone a basic ability to apply calculus methods both inside and outside of mathematics, and provides a starting point for further study of calculus (and other math) for students who wish to go further.
Prerequisite(s): Math 112 or precalculus with trigonometry or the equivalent.
Learning Outcomes: On completing this course, students who meet expectations will be able to…
This course is designated as “hybrid.” I interpret that to mean online, supplemented with face-to-face meetings when feasible. For each topic we study, I plan to follow a pattern that begins with you reading (or perhaps watching a video, etc.) about the basic ideas of that topic, then having an online discussion intended to solicit (and answer) questions about that topic and to let you practice working with it. If we can, a face-to-face class meeting will continue and summarize the online discussion. After the face-to-face meeting I will produce a summary of the key ideas, and answers to key questions, that emerged from it and the discussion, and post that summary to Canvas. For some topics, this process will involve only one class meeting; for many it will extend over two or even three. In all cases, the schedule of face-to-face class meetings sets the pace for everything else, so you will probably find yourself working at a faster pace in this course than you would in a fully online one.
In the event that we switch to fully online instruction, I will simply produce the topic summaries for Canvas without the benefit of a face-to-face discussion, and will become more active in the online discussions than I otherwise would be. (Although I plan to monitor and guide the online discussions to some extent in any case.)
This design means that the course can switch from hybrid to fully online (and back) on a moment’s notice. This may be necessary if, for example, the College has to switch to online instruction for part of the semester, if I have to quarantine, etc. The course design also means that, apart from it maybe being easier to engage with learning when you do it in-person with an instructor and classmates, there is no real cost to you if you switch back and forth between taking the course as a hybrid versus taking it as purely online.
The (required) textbook for this course is
Baldwin, Towsley, Leary, Reuter, and OpenStax, Calculus Volume 1 for SUNY Geneseo
This is a free open educational resource (OER) book. It is based on a text from Openstax.org, with modifications to correct some typos and clarify wording. You can get a PDF of this book through Canvas. I find the PDF easiest to use, but there is also a web-based version at
https://cnx.org/contents/wCMksE_b@4.3:BUxRn5Hd@19/Preface
One of this course’s goals is to develop your awareness of technological tools for doing calculus and related mathematics. We will use Mathematica, a popular symbolic math system; you will need to install it on your computer. Follow the instructions for doing this at
https://wiki.geneseo.edu/display/cit/Mathematica+Installation+and+Licensing+Instructions
Materials from the last time I taught this course are available at
https://www.geneseo.edu/~baldwin/math221/fall2019/course.php
The following dates are best estimates. They may well change as our actual needs become apparent. Refer to the Web version of this syllabus for the most current information, I will keep it as up-to-date as possible:
| Aug. 31 - Sep. 3 | Introduction |
| Sep. 3 - Sep. 21 | Limits |
| Sep. 21 - Oct. 21 | Derivatives |
| Oct. 21 - Nov. 13 | Applications of Derivatives |
| Nov. 13 - Dec. 4 | Integrals |
| Dec. 4 - Dec. 14 | Applications of Integrals |
| Dec. 14 | Last Day of Regular Class Activities |
| Dec. 15 - Dec. 21 | Wrap-Up |
Grading in this course will be very different from what you are used to. The main reason for the unusual grading is that I am trying to consciously undo some of the small ways in which conventional grading unconsciously disadvantages certain students. But beyond removing disadvantages for some, I believe that what I am doing also offers significant advantages to everyone.
There are 3 main ways in which grading in this course will probably differ from what you have seen before.
“Achieving” an outcome has two components: content, i.e., what ideas you know, and depth of understanding, i.e., how thoroughly you understand those ideas. This course’s learning outcomes define both components. Generally speaking, the nouns in the outcomes (e.g., “derivative,” “vector,” etc.) correspond to content, i.e., things you will learn about. Verbs in the outcomes (e.g., “compute,” “prove,” etc.) indicate depth of understanding, i.e., things you will understand the content well enough to do.
The main way to develop and demonstrate mastery of learning outcomes in this course is through assigned exercises. Each exercise will give you a chance to practice one or more outcomes. Most questions will focus on the content and depth of understanding given for that outcome in this syllabus. Occasionally, however, there will be questions that go beyond the content or understanding from the outcome. I intentionally include such questions for people who want more challenge than the basic outcomes demand. However, you do not have to answer them correctly in order to show the mastery that I am looking for.
You will “turn in” each exercise by sharing your solution with me during one of your individual meetings. During that meeting, we’ll go over your solutions and answer any questions you have about them, and we’ll also discuss how you came up with those solutions and how you would approach similar problems.
I will give you a numeric grade for each outcome in an exercise, based mainly on the discussion of solutions and similar problems — in other words, getting the right answers matters, but is not the only, or even the main, determiner of your grade. Grades range from 0 to 5, as follows:
| 5 | Mastery beyond requirements (if the exercise allows it) |
| 4 | Mastery as required by the learning outcome on most questions |
| 3 | Approaching the required mastery; you can describe clearly how to solve most problems and why, but make mistakes in the details of doing it |
| 2 | Partial mastery; you can get correct solutions to most problems but not explain how or why you got them |
| 1 | Initial steps towards mastery; you can begin answering most questions but not carry the solutions to completion or explain how you would do so |
| 0 | No understanding of this outcome yet |
Although I will grade each exercise, mastery grading isn’t about how you do on any specific one. It’s about how well you’ve achieved outcomes by the end of the course. To that end, there are two other important points about exercises and their grades:
Finally, when this course ends I will give you a letter grade for it based on the numeric grades. My approach to this is that B grades (including B- and B+) indicate that you met the expectations of the course, A grades that you distinctly exceeded them, and grades below B- that you fell short to varying degrees. These interpretations provide a guideline for translating numeric grades to letter grades. While I won’t decide the exact cut-offs between grades until the end of the semester (when I can see how this approach to grading worked and how realistic my expectations were), the rubric implies that an 80% average (i.e., an average of 4 out of 5, achieving expectations across the board) pretty much has to be a B or B+, with the B or B- range probably extending down into the 60s. I expect A- and A grades will start somewhere in the 80s, i.e., going only a little beyond the expected level of achievement could earn an A- or A. Notice that numeric grades in this scheme earn much higher letter grades than you expect if you are used to the traditional “90 or higher is an A, 80 to 90 a B, etc.” scale.
In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital that we all do what we can to protect the health and safety of each other. If you are feeling unwell on a day that class meets, do not attend. It is better to stay home if you are not feeling well than to attend class and risk spreading illness to others. I have designed this course so that you can progress through it without some or even all of the in-person class meetings, so not coming to class won’t affect your success in it. However, please do communicate with me about absences, and contact the Dean of Students if you expect to be out for an extended period of time.
Face masks are required in all instructional spaces (including classrooms, lecture halls, and laboratories) and all common areas including residence halls and academic buildings. If you forget your mask, please pick up a disposable one before entering the classroom. Masks must be worn for the duration of class. If you do not have a mask or are unwilling to wear one, do not come to class — I cannot safely hold class unless all students are wearing face masks.
Similarly, seating in the classroom has been arranged to preserve social distancing. Please respect it, and do not rearrange classroom furniture. Try to maintain a 6-foot distance between yourself and others at all times, including when entering and exiting classrooms.
This policy applies to me as well as to you. If there is a day when I am feeling ill, I will switch the class to online activities instead of holding an in-person class. Similarly, I will wear a mask throughout class and other meetings, and try to always keep an appropriate distance between myself and others.
To support social distancing during the pandemic, Geneseo is limiting classrooms to about one third of their normal occupancies. Fitting classes into the reduced-capacity classrooms often requires splitting classes into “cohorts” of students, with each cohort attending some classes and not attending others.
I have split this class into 2 cohorts, one that will attend class on Mondays and Thursdays, and one that will attend on Wednesdays and Fridays.
I will send a separate announcement telling you which cohort you are in. Note that to respect occupancy limits, you may only attend classes on your cohort’s day(s). On other days, you will use the online components of the course to keep up.
Assignments in this course are fundamentally learning exercises. You are therefore welcome to help each other with them, unless specifically told otherwise in the assignment handout. However, solutions that you turn in must represent your own understanding of the solution and must be written in your own words, even if you got or gave help on the assignment.
If you use sources other than this class’s textbook or notes in order to do an assignment, you must include a comment or footnote citing those sources in your solution. Similarly, if you get help from anyone other than me you must acknowledge the helper(s) somewhere in your solution. (But note that I generally think learning from outside sources and people is a good thing, not a bad one.)
I will penalize violations of this policy. The severity of the penalty will depend on the severity of the violation.
“Supplemental instruction” (SI) is the name for a system of review and practice sessions held outside normal class hours. A trained student leads these sessions, and a number of colleges (including Geneseo) have found that they help students who use them do well in courses. We are fortunate to have an SI leader, Emiliana Martinez-Nobrega (em40@geneseo.edu), working with this course. She will introduce herself and let you know when sessions will be and how she plans to run them.
Mathematica, calculators, and similar automatic tools for doing math may not be used on homework exercises except where explicitly permitted.
(Since this may seem like a strange, or even backwards, rule, here is the reason for it: as math students you face a dilemma concerning calculators. On the one hand, no-one in the “real world” does math by hand that a machine can do instead, and one of the goals of this course is even to introduce you to a “machine” tool for math; on the other hand doing math by hand does, over time, build intuition for how and why it works the way it does. So I think you should both learn to use calculators — or, for this course, Mathematica — and at the same time practice doing without them. So some homework exercises will explicitly let you practice with Mathematica, but those that don’t are deliberately places to practice doing without its help.)
Mathematical notation and terminology matter. Even though they may seem arcane, each symbol and technical term has a specific meaning, and misusing symbols or terms (including not using them when you should) confuses people reading or listening to your work. Therefore, correct use of mathematical terms and notations will be a factor (albeit probably a small one) in grading assignments in this course.
(The same applies to me, by the way: if you think I’m not using terms or notations correctly, or you just aren’t sure why I’m using them the way I do, please question me on it.)
The college provides a range of support services to help students thrive in their classes. Of these services, the one best suited to this course is the Math Learning Center. For more information, including hours and procedures for scheduling a visit, see the MLC website at https://www.geneseo.edu/math/mlc.
Other on-campus tutoring services include the Writing Learning Center (https://www.geneseo.edu/english/writing_center) and a range of department-based tutoring centers.
The SUNY-wide STAR-NY system (www.starny.org/tutoring_schedule) provides online tutoring in a wide variety of subjects.
For more information on these and other academic support services, see the Center for Academic Excellence website at www.geneseo.edu/library/center-academic-excellence.
SUNY Geneseo is dedicated to providing an equitable and inclusive educational experience for all students. The Office of Accessibility Services will coordinate reasonable accommodations for persons with documented physical, emotional, or cognitive disabilities, as well as medical conditions related to pregnancy or parenting. Students with letters of accommodation should submit a letter to each faculty member at the beginning of the semester and discuss specific arrangements. Please contact the Office of Accessibility Services for questions related to access and accommodations:
Office of Accessibility Services
Erwin Hall 22
(585) 245-5112
access@geneseo.edu
https://www.geneseo.edu/accessibility-office
In addition, if there is anything I can do to make this class or its materials easier for you to access or use, please let me know.
Geneseo offers many other services to help students succeed. For a list of some, see https://wiki.geneseo.edu/display/PROVOST/Syllabus+Resources+Related+to+Student+Success.