Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Are The Cans In The Store “Volume Optimized”? [Mathematics], Bukurie Gjoci

Open Educational Resources

This is one of LaGuardia’s Project Connexion STEM Team’s experiential learning activities. Project Connexion's purpose is to promote creative thinking on how to engage students in the classroom. As part of this, the STEM team developed Experiential/co-curricular activities that demonstrated to students how their work in class connects to the world around them. These activities were embedded into the syllabus to ensure the participation of all students. Each professor designed a Co-curricular activity for their courses, ensuring that the Co-curricular activity directly linked course material to the outside world.

This Calculus I Experiential Learning Project aligns with one of the …

Mathematical Inquiry With Loops, Jeanne Funk

Open Educational Resources

Mathematical Inquiry with Loops is a fun activity designed to introduce students in LMF101 (First Year Seminar for Liberal Arts: Math and Science) to mathematical exploration and hypothesis formation via hands-on exploration with paper loops. It should make students understand that the “facts” that make up mathematics, are not arbitrary, but arise from observation and experience. It should also encourage students to view mathematics as a science rooted in exploration and problem solving, rather than an esoteric exercise in symbol manipulation.

This activity is designed to be very low stakes (ungraded) and to take one hour of class time. There …

Inquiry Into Saving [Mathematics], Jeanne Funk

Open Educational Resources

‘Inquiry Into Saving’ is an assignment originally designed for MAT117, which is a course for students who have been placed in basic skills mathematics and who can apply a college level course in Algebra and Trigonometry to their program. These students should, ideally, be early in their LaGuardia career, though that is frequently not the case. All, however, are novices of mathematics. The assignment was vetted and revised based on feedback from the Inquiry and Problem Solving in STEM CTL seminar and a charrette not affiliated with the seminar. Revisions addressed connections to the Inquiry and Problem Solving/Written competency/ability pair, …

World Population Dynamics: Modeling Involving Polynomial Functions [Mathematics], Mangala Kothari

Open Educational Resources

In this Inquiry and Problem Solving Assignment students are expected to reflect on their analysis and compare their results with the actual population by conducting their own elementary level research such as searching databases, gathering information and interpreting. Students are expected to comment on the scope of the mathematical model and connect their learning in context to the real-world problem. The assignment includes open-ended questions such as: Write a paragraph about the dynamics of population for the world. What could be some of the possible parameters that contribute to the change in population size? Reflect on what you learned by …