Class Time: Wednesday 5:00p - 7:40p, Life Sciences 273.
Instructor: Dr. Corbett Redden. Corbett.Redden [att] liu.edu. Office: Life Sciences 243. Phone: 516-299-3487.
Office Hours: Monday 11:00a - 12:00p and Wednesday 12:30p - 2:00p, 3:30p - 5:00p (or by appointment)
Course webpage: http://myweb.cwpost.liu.edu/dredden/514s14/
Homework/Syllabus: http://myweb.cwpost.liu.edu/dredden/514s14/Homework.html
Textbook: "Geometry: Euclid and Beyond" by Robin Hartshorne (Springer-Verlag, ISBN: 0-387-98650-2) is required.
We will also use portions of the Green Lion publication of Euclid's "Elements", but you are not required to purchase it. A copy will be on reserve in the library.
Requirements: You must bring the following items with you to each class: compass, straight-edge, sharp pencil, eraser, good paper, textbook (Hartshorne), intellectual curiosity, and a willingness to work hard without giving up. You are also required to complete weekly homework assignments and readings, and you will regularly present work during class. A final project will take the place of the final exam.
E-mails: By Monday evening (11:59p) of every week, you must send me an email with one good comment/insight and one good question related to the assigned reading. Please use "514 weekly email" as the subject. Emails sent after the deadline but before the week's class will be receive half-credit.
Homework: Weekly homework will consist of a reading assignment and a written assignment. I will collect the written assignments towards the beginning of class, scan them, and return them immediately. Please do not staple your homework. I will then grade the assignments on completeness, clarity, and correctness.
In-class work: There will be regular "demonstrations of knowledge" in class. When these are done in groups, the same grade will be assigned to all members of the group.
Final Project: Each student will complete a final project for the course. I will give more details later, but you must choose your topic by Wednesday, March 26.
Grading Scheme: (one grade dropped in each of the first four categories)
| Attendance | 10% |
| E-mails | 20% |
| Homework | 20% |
| In-class work | 20% |
| Final project | 30% |
Help: You are welcome to see Prof. Redden in office hours, by appointment, or to ask short questions via email. You are also encouraged to work with others on homework. Explaining concepts and techniques to fellow classmates is an excellent way for you to better understand them yourself.
Course Description: (from the campus course bulletin) This course is a careful study of the foundations of Euclidean geometry contrasting the metric and synthetic approaches. This course includes ruler and compass constructions. Different strategies involving reading, writing, talking and listening will be used to make sense of mathematics and to develop insight into how these strategies can help students of varying ability levels become active participants in learning mathematics. Thus, participating students will not only improve their own abilities at learning with texts, but will also learn how to adapt the techniques to pre-college learning environments. The course will actively engage students in learning mathematics with texts varying in level of content background and difficulty. This course satisfies the literacy requirement in the discipline for the Master of Science in Adolescence Education: Mathematics. (3 credits)
Important Dates:
| Jan 21 | Classes begin. |
| Feb 5 | Last day to add/drop or late register. |
| Mar 10-16 | Spring recess, no classes. |
| Apr 4 | Last day to opt for P/F or withdraw. |
| Apr 29 | Last day of regular classes. |