MAA Assignment
Freshman Math Program
Fort Lewis College
Mary Kay, Amy, Kathy & Leslie
Vision for College Algebra at FLC

Helping students along the path to
thinking critically about the
quantitative relationships in the
world around them and their chosen
professions.
Goals for College Algebra at FLC
 CONTENT
& APPLICATION
 ALGEBRAIC SENSE/ANALYTIC SENSE
 COMMUNICATION SKILLS
 PROBLEM SOLVING
 DEVELOPING STUDENT AND
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS (how to be a
college student).
Goals for College Algebra at FLC

Communication skills -- students will be
able to:
– Interpret solutions and parts of the problem in
context and an abstract algebraic form (ie:
zeros of a quadratic)
– Verbally express (and listen) ideas to their
peers and negotiate/debate solutions and
methodology.
– Follow standards for technical writing and
communicate their ideas through writing.
– Be open to different styles of learning.
Goals for College Algebra at FLC
CONTENT SERVES THE GOAL OF
APPLICATION, NOT DRIVES THE
CURRICULUM.
 Content and application – students will be
able to:

– See learning objectives which are not here…
– Moving more towards thinking problems like
those done in MAA in Tucson (Tuesday).
– Algebraically vs technology (creation of
standards for this).
– Creating models
Goals for College Algebra at FLC

Problem Solving – students will be able to:
– Pick out useful information from the problem.
– Perseverance (trying different strategies, walk away and
come back).
– Take the initiative to try it out and take risks.
– Able to use multiple strategies and feel free to create
their own
– Work collaboratively with their peers to brainstorm and
consider strategies of others
– Think about what they can do instead of what they’re
“supposed to” do.
– CONFIDENCE: The confidence to look at a quantitative
problem and have the tools and resources to approach
the problem (even if they initially do not know how to do
it).
Goals for College Algebra at FLC

Algebraic sense/ analytic sense – students will be able to:
– Predict how the changing of parameters will change the
relationships between two variables.
– Interpret the meaning of the symbolic algebraic expressions in
contextual situations – understanding what the variables
represent.
– Understand the behavior and characteristics of families of
functions.
– Estimate and determine if the answers they get are
reasonable.
– Recognize equivalent algebraic expressions
– Recognize the connections between different representations
of functions (verbal, table, equation, graph)
– Determining which form of an algebraic expression is most
appropriate for a given purpose.
Goals for College Algebra at FLC
 Developing
student and professional
skills– students will be able to:
– Organize their work
– Use the graphing calculator
– Regularly attend class
– Use resources appropriately (support
resources)
– Actively participate in class (individually
and in groups)