Instructor. Eric Hsu (erichsu@math.sfsu.edu), 932 Thornton Hall, 415-338-1104. AOL IM: EricHsuSFSU
Office Hours. Tu 12:00 - 2:00, and by appointment.

Class Home Page. http://betterfilecabinet.com/565.html. Announcements, homework assignments, test schedules, grades and this syllabus are all posted here.

Course Objectives.

• Learn and explore the measurement, geometry and probability strands for the elementary curriculum.
• Help you see math as interesting and relevant.
• Help you see yourself as capable of learning mathematics and solving mathematical problems on your own.
• Introduce you to materials to teach content in the measurement, geometry and probability strands to elementary school students.
• Convince you that math is not just a bunch of formulas to be memorized but problems to solve and patterns to find.

Textbook. None. There will be handouts in class.

Teaching Style and Attendance. About two-thirds of the time will be spent on activities in small groups. The other third will be whole class discussion and lecture. Because of the emphasis on in-class activity, attendance is mandatory. Missing class without prior notice will cause damage to your academic experience, your grade, and may cause you to be dropped from the class roster.

Earning Grades. The work you do in class will contribute to your final grade in the following proportions:

• Midterm (15%)
• Final Exam (15%)
• 10 best Homework grades (50%)
• 2 Projects (20%)

Homework. Assignments will be given out on Thursdays and are due the next Thursday at the start of class. No late homework will accepted in any case. Don't worry, I know things happen and will only count your best 10 homework grades, allowing you to drop at least one.

You are allowed and encouraged to work on the homework in groups, but you must write up the solutions in your own words or it will be considered cheating.

Every HW will end with a Challenge problem. These are meant to give you practice thinking creatively and sticking with a problem you don't see right away. It is not okay to skip the Challenge. In fact, you will get a zero on the entire HW unless you try three times to do the problem before giving up. On the other hand, you will get partial credit if you tried clever things even if you didn't finish the problem.

Tests. There will be one midterm and a comprehensive final exam. No makeups will be given without prior permission.

Projects. Your projects will be investigations of topics in mathematics. We'll discuss these in more detail later, but you will work in groups to create a report and a mathematical construction that will be shared with others. You are encouraged to work with one or two other people on your project. You will all receive the same grade, unless the whole group feels that is unfair. I will give you more guidance and ideas during the semester.

Students with Disabilities. Students with disabilities needing reasonable accommodations must bring an official written request to their instructor from the Disability Programs and Resource Center (Student Services Building, Room 110, (415) 338-1041, drc@sfsu.edu). The DPRC is available to facilitate the reasonable accommodations process.

Religious Holidays. I will make reasonable accommodations for you to observe religious holidays when such observances require you to be absent from class activities. It is your responsibility to inform me during the first two weeks of the class each semester, in writing, about such holidays.

CR/NCR, Incompletes, Withdrawing. Most Mathematics classes allow CR/NCR grading, but many majors, including Mathematics, do not count CR/NCR grades towards the major. Mathematics majors should not take their Mathematics classes CR/NCR. All other majors should check with their academic advisors before deciding to take a Mathematics class CR/NCR. If--after checking with your advisor--you want to apply for CR/NCR grading, you must log onto the web site www.sfsu.edu/student and sign up for CR/NCR grading before the April 1 deadline. I will not pass out a CR/NCR sheet in class.

The Incomplete grade ( I ) is assigned only to students doing satisfactory work until the last few weeks of a course, when events beyond the students' control prevented them from completing the course. If this happens to you, discuss with me the possibility of taking an Incomplete rather than withdrawing from a class that you cannot finish. Incompletes must be made up within twelve months of the date they are assigned. I will tell you how to make up your incomplete. Do not enroll in the same course again. You can only take a course once.

Petitions for withdrawal from a class after the April 29th deadline, either before the end of the semester (late withdrawal) or after the semester ends (retroactive withdrawal) must be justified by events that occurred after the deadline. In general, only petitions for withdrawal from all courses will be approved. Late withdrawal from your math course alone is usually not approved.