Section 2 Essential course information
This section covers essential course information, including the meeting times, textbook, and grading scheme.
Subsection 2.1 Course website
The primary course website is Moodle. On Moodle, you can expect to find everything you need to navigate the course, including weekly topics, homework assignments, and other resources.
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moodle.uleth.caIn case there’s a day when Moodle isn’t working properly and you need access to course materials, you can find some of them (like this syllabus) on my personal website.
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www.cs.uleth.ca/~fitzpat/teaching.htmlSubsection 2.2 Scheduled classes
Our class meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in SA7202. Section A meets at 11 a.m., and Section B meets at 9 a.m.
Friday classes will be basic lecture-style classes, where I give an overview of the material we’ll be working on in the following week.
The Friday lectures will not be comprehensive. You will be responsible for filling in the gaps by reading the textbook.
Monday and Wednesday classes will be hands-on. Some classes will involve lab assignments; these are computer-based assignments where we’ll learn some computational tools. A few classes will be used for tests. The rest will involve working in groups at a whiteboard to solve problems.
Lab assignments will be completed using GeoGebra. GeoGebra can be used online via their website. You do not need to install GeoGebra on your computer (although you can), but it is a good idea to create an account on GeoGebra so you can save your work.
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geogebra.orgFor most students, the biggest challenge in Math 3200 is learning to write proofs. The only way to learn to write proofs is by trying to write proofs, so we will try to spend a lot of class time on working together to write proofs, and comparing our results.
Subsection 2.3 Course textbook
Our course textbook is The Four Pillars of Geometry, by John Stillwell. You can access the book for free via Springer Link. The PDF now appears to be freely available; if not, you can access the book on campus, or by logging in via the University of Lethbridge.
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link.springer.com/book/10.1007/0-387-29052-4Subsection 2.4 Grading
The various graded components of the course are explained below.
- “Lab” Assignments (30%)
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Lab assignments will involve using GeoGebra to produce geometric constructions. There will be 6 labs in total.There will be class time set aside for work on the labs. You will be expected to work in groups on the lab assignments.
- Written Assignments (40%)
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Written assignments will involve proofs of theorems, and other problem-solving tasks. There will be 4 assignments in total.Assignments will be completed outside of class. They can be done in groups, although this is not required.
- Tests (30%)
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There will be three tests, written during class, on the following dates:
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Test 1, on Chapters 1 and 2: January 31.
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Test 2, on Chapters 3 and 4: February 28.
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Test 3, on Chapters 5 and 6: March 27.
The tests will be reflective of the problems worked on during class time. -
Each of the grade components above will be assigned a numerical score. These will be added to get a score out of 100. Your score out of 100 is converted into a letter grade according to the following table.
| A+ | A | A- | B+ | B | B- |
| 96-100 | 91-95 | 87-90 | 83-86 | 78-82 | 74-77 |
| C+ | C | C- | D+ | D | F |
| 70-73 | 65-69 | 61-64 | 57-60 | 50-56 | 0-49 |
Subsection 2.5 Other grading policies
- A note on due dates
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Most due dates are flexible, and provided primarily for your benefit, to help with planning. (A course without deadlines can be a disaster for those who procrastinate.) One exception is the workshop activity before each test. Because we can’t begin the peer review portion of the workshop until the submission deadline passes, we have to have a deadline for the activity to proceed.A due date extension request form will be available via Moodle. If you need more time to complete an assessment, simply fill out the form. Unless you are contacted to say otherwise, you can assume that your request has been granted.
- Revisions
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For tests, labs, and assignments, you will be invited to submit revisions for any incorrect work. Revisions must be submitted within one week of receiving your feedback.There will be resubmission forms available on Moodle. You may either:
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Submit a revision for one problem, in which case your revised grade will replace the original score, or
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Submit revisions for all problems, in which case each correct revision will earn you back 50% of the points originally lost.
You may not use revisions to submit work for a question you initially skipped. For a revision to be accepted, you must first attempt the problem. You are also not allowed to submit revisions to make up for a grade of zero assigned due to academic misconduct. -
- Dropping lowest grades
- I will drop your lowest grade in each grade category. Missing grades will be counted as zero, so (for example) if you miss a test, the grade for your missed test will be dropped.
