Oakton Community College

Course Syllabus

 

Instructor: Carol Murphy                        Semester: Spring, 2006

Phone: (847)  635-1961 Voice Mail     Office Hours: RHC M/W 8:00 am-9:00 am

Room: 2604 Des Plaines                                                                 M/W 1:00 pm-1:30 pm

               B200 RHC                                                                       Tues. 10:00 am-10:50am  

                                                                                                              

Email: murphy@oakton.edu

 

            Course                      Course                      Course

            Prefix             Number         Name                                 Credit    Lecture    Lab

 

               MAT                047              Prealgebra                             4              3             1

 

Prerequisite: Appropriate score on Oakton’s Mathematics Assessment Test.

 

Course (Catalog) Description:

           

            This course covers fundamental operations and applications with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percents measurement and introduction to signed numbers.

 

Learning Objectives:

 

  1. Perform the fundamental operations with whole numbers.
  2. Perform the fundamental operations with integers.
  3. Perform the fundamental operations with rational numbers.
  4. Perform the fundamental operations with decimals and percents.
  5. Use the techniques of arithmetic to solve application problems.
  6. Graph and interpret points on a Cartesian coordinate system.
  7. Calculate measurements of geometric figures.
  8. Solve simple linear equations using rational numbers.
  9. Interpret and apply simple statistical concepts such as the mean, median and mode.
  10. Calculate square roots and apply them to formulas such as the Pythagorean Theorem.
  11. Evaluate one-variable polynomials.

 

Academic Integrity:

           

Students and employees at Oakton Community College are required to demonstrate academic integrity and follow Oakton’s Code of Academic Conduct. This code prohibits:

 

 

There are serious consequences to violations of the academic integrity policy. Oakton’s policies and procedures provide students a fair hearing if a complaint is made against you.  If you are found to have violated the policy, the minimum penalty is failure on the assignment and, a disciplinary record will be established and kept on file in the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs for a period of 3 years.

 

Details of the Code of Academic Conduct can be found in the Student Handbook.

 

Methods of Instruction:

           

            Methods of instruction include lecture, class participation, discussion and demonstration, in-class problems, class handouts and in-class use of MyMathLab.

 

Course Practices Required:

           

            Students will be expected to attend class, do homework and be prepared to work on material in class. They will also be expected to take part in the computer lab section of the course which will comprise their online homework.  After the lecture part of class, students will take a non-graded quiz to determine which online exercises they will do for homework and then work on them in the lab session of the class. Students will do homework for only those sections which MyMathLab online software tells them they need to work on.  When students complete a chapter they will take a chapter quiz to help them prepare for the test.

 

Attendance:

           

            Attendance will be taken and recorded daily. Students who miss three or fewer classes will have their lowest grade dropped when grades are calculated.  Students who regularly choose not to come to class will be expected to learn the material elsewhere.  Instructor office hours are to aid students who regularly attend class and non-attendees cannot expect to use the office hours for a rerun of missed material.

           

            A good part of the educational experience is classroom attendance. If you miss a class, you must learn that material on your own, which is usually much more difficult. You are responsible for all announcements made and work covered during your absence.  It is important to understand that one of the main causes of failure in this course is poor attendance.

 

Tests:

            There will be six tests plus a final.  The lowest grade will be dropped when computing final grades only for those students covered by the attendance policy above.  Tests are un-timed and calculators will be allowed where appropriate. Students who do not finish tests in class will be given the option of completing the test in the testing center at the end of the class period.

           

            All work must be shown for each problem on tests.  Credit will be awarded only for those problems where student’s work is clearly shown.

 

            Makeup Tests: One makeup test is allowed per semester. To obtain a makeup test, a student must call or email the instructor before the start of the test.  The test will then be put in the testing center where the student must take it before the start of the next class period.           

 

Tardiness:

            Students who miss more than 30 minutes of class by arriving late or leaving early will be counted as absent for that day. Students who arrive late on a test day will have their time to complete the exam limited by the instructor.

 

 

Instructional Materials:

           

            Prealgebra, 4th Edition, by K. Elayn Martin-Gay, Prentice Hall, 2004. 

               

                Videos which correspond to the text and other helpful tools can also be found at the text’s website.

           

            Instructional videos are available from Instructional Media (Room 1815, DP and A 221, RH). 

 

            Tutoring is available in the Learning Center (Room A135, RH and Room 2415, DP).

 

Method of Evaluating a Student’s Progress:

           

            1.    There will be five tests plus a comprehensive final.  Students who miss three or fewer classes will have their lowest grade dropped when grades are calculated.

 

2.      There will be online homework for each chapter (unless a student tests out of the homework) which will become the student’s the lab grade.  

If a student tests out of a homework section, they will receive 100% on that section.

                   

                   

            3.    This is a pass - fail course and a 70% average is needed to pass.  However, since this course is a prerequisite for the next algebra class, students must aim beyond simply passing.  A student with less than a B (80%) average may encounter difficulty in the next course in spite of receiving a passing grade in this one.

                   

                    Final course grades will be determined by the following scale:

                   

                    Pass:  70%-100%                 Fail: below 70%

 

Other Course Information:

 

Cell Phones:

All cell phones must be turned off and put away during class and exams. Repeated violation during class time could result in student being asked to leave. Violation during a test will result in student being asked to forfeit the phone for the remainder of the exam.