MATH 599: Mathematics Teaching Techniques

Lectures: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 12 noon-1 PM, room Math 204

Instructor: Greg Martin
Office: Math 212
Phone: (604) 822-4371
E-mail: gerg@math.ubc.ca
Office hours: by appointment, typically from 1-3 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays

Announcement: Remember that there will be Tuesday classes for the rest of the term from 12:30-1:30 PM in room Math 102.


The schedule for the long (40-minute) presentations has been set: Each student should attend these long presentations two days of the week, as indicated in the following table. Please make sure you know the correct room and time if you come on Tuesdays (12:30 PM, Math 102).

MondaysTuesdaysWednesdaysFridays
Alanattendattend
Alexattendattend
Aliattendattend
Christineattendattend
Desmondattendattend
Erezattendattend
Gustavoattendattend
Hardeepattendattend
Jamesattendattend
Jasonattendattend
Jenniferattendattend
Jeremyattendattend
Karstenattendattend
Kristinattendattend
Mahmoudattendattend
Matthiasattendattend
Mcleanattendattend
Natashaattendattend
Shabnamattendattend
Shilpaattendattendattend
Simonattendattend
Terryattendattend
Yujinattendattend


The schedule for the short (15-minute) presentations has been set:
Wednesday, September 14
Mclean: Separable differential equations
Alan: The derivative as a function itself
Friday, September 16
Karsten: The Chain Rule
Shilpa: The second derivative test for local extrema
Monday, September 19
Hardeep: Calculating derivatives from the definition
Matthias: Logarithms
Wednesday, September 21
Jennifer: Continuity
Alex: The first derivative test for local extrema
Friday, September 23
Shabnam: The area between curves
Kristin: The Mean Value Theorem
Monday, September 26
Yujin: Compound interest
Desmond: One-variable optimization problems
Wednesday, September 28
Simon: Improper integrals
Jeremy: Integrating using substitution
Friday, September 30
Terry: Critical points
Monday, October 3
Christine: l'Hôpital's Rule
Jason: The Intermediate Value Theorem
Wednesday, October 5
Ali: Partial derivatives
James: The Quotient Rule
Wednesday, October 12
Gustavo: Asymptotes
Erez: Limits of functions
Friday, October 14
Natasha: Trigonometric functions in calculus
Mahmoud: Integration by parts

Course description: The purpose of this course is to provide students with training to help them become more effective teachers, and also to give the mathematics department a means for evaluating the suitability of students to teach undergraduate courses in mathematics. Virtually everybody is capable of becoming a competent and skillful instructor, but virtually nobody would do well if made to teach a course without preparation or forethought about effective teaching practices. Structuring a course, preparing lectures, delivering information, responding to questions, assigning homework, dealing with problem students, and so on are all areas where a little consideration of certain guidelines can vastly improve a teacher's performance.  Much of what comprises excellent teaching is quite different from individual to individual; most of what comprises bad teaching, on the other hand, is universal yet easily avoided with some experience.

Evaluation: The course is graded on a pass/fail basis. Passing the course is based on the following criteria:

Students will give two presentations during the semester, one of length 15-20 minutes and one of length 40-50 minutes. The first, short presentation will be to critique the students' mechanics and classroom presence, while the long presentations will be to critique their organization of material into a beneficial lecture. Students will teach typical topics from first-year calculus as if the audience were actually a first-year calculus class, after which they will receive feedback from the rest of the class and the instructor.

It might be the case that a very small number of written assignments might be given in the course, for example, writing notes for a one-hour calculus lecture or an outlnie for a one-semester course. Clearly, the focus of the course will be not on the final grade but rather on thinking about issues of teaching and course management and giving and receiving constructive feedback on our skills in the classroom.