1. Statistics Liberal Arts Math
Pasadena City College

2. Motivation & History

3. Current Curriculum
CALCULUS
Roger

4. Does the curriculum serve our population?

5. Create a new track for SLAM
Completion
Only 11.7% prealgebra students complete transfer level course in 4 years

6. Backwards Design What math does a SLAM student need?
Statistics
Quantitative
Literacy 1
Quantitative
Literacy 2
Liberal Arts Math
No attempt to accelerate or compress
Just what do we want them to know and how can we teach it.
Real Life

7. SLAM vs. STEM Statistics Quantitative Literacy 2 Liberal Arts Math
Beginning Algebra
Intermediate Algebra
STEM Track
Acceleration not a design goal, but there is a small amount.
Shorter track for non-STEM

8. Creating Learning Experiences
Discovery-based activities
Using Manipulatives to understand mathematical ideas
Excel Labs to both explore concepts and analyze data
Projects
Tracking Expenses
Stock Project
Home Buying Project

9. Created our own course materials
Many hours, many authors
Flipped class (pencasts)
Canvas(again process mirrors classroom)

10. QL2: Course Content

11. Statistics Measures of Center and Weighted Mean Measuring Spread
Graphical Representations of Data
Correlation and Estimating the Best-fit Line

12. Finance Simple vs Compound Interest Payday Loans Credit Cards
Annuities
Amortized Loans
Student Loans
Home Loans
Computer Labs that investigate changing Principal, Loan length, interest rate, and compounding period per year.
Student Loans – subsidized vs unsubsidized
Home loans – 15 year fixed vs 30 year fixed

13. Probability Events, Simple Events, Combining sets
Counting – Fundamental Counting Principle, nPr, nCr
Two Way Frequency Tables
Expected Value
Probability Experiments
Are Males more likely to support marijuana legalization that women?
How do Casinos Make Money?

14. Geometry
Areas of Rectangles, Triangles, Parallelograms, and Trapezoids discovery- based activity
Investigating the effects on Perimeter, Area, and Volume when changing edge length
Fermi Problem (estimation)

15. Fermi Problem

16. Science Solving Literal Equations Units and Dimensional Analysis
Absolute vs Percent Error
Linear, Exponential, and Logarithmic functions & rates of growth
Scientific Notation and Sig Figs
Variation
Logarithmic Scale – pH and Richter

17. Standard Algebra Content Excluded
Quadratics &
Polynomials
Rational
Expressions
Factoring
Matrices &
Linear Systems
Title is Set difference

18. QL1: Content and
Approach

19. Similar Content to a Standard Prealgebra class (but better)
Old and out of date
New and hot!
Roger

20. Content Patterns Integers Fractions Decimals Percent
Graphing and Lines
Roger

21. Contextualized
Baker baker paradox

22. Experiential/Activity-based
Less lecturing
More of students doing math
Pic on left has old white guys
Pic on right has women and students of color
Lots of Manipulatives

23. Lots of Manipulatives

24. Solving Word Problems
Everyday

25. Discovery-based Learning
Discovering areas of parallelograms, triangles, trapezoids
Pattern recognition
Intelligently designed problem sets that lead towards discovery of mathematical principles and ideas

26. Metacognition and Affective Domain Failure is an Option Mindset
Study Skills

27. Critical Thinking Reasonableness of Answers
Money tracker – students did serious soul searching about how they are spending their money – combines metacognition, critical thinking, and life.
Decision making – would you rather have $2000 off or a lower interest rate?
Use quantitative reasoning to answer questions like – “Are ____ more likely to be ____ “ links quantitative reasoning with their other classes

28. Student Comments “This thing is hard, but I love it!”
“It seems like I’m learning the same stuff in a regular class, but I actually see how it’s useful.”
“I’m SOOOOO glad that PCC has finally realized that we are all individuals and that we learn differently.”
“This is more than math, this is real life!”
“F**K ME, I GOT IT!!!”
“Are you teaching me so that my brain gets fat or that my soul gets full?”