A PROJECT BASED APPROACH By Mark Roland Dutchess Community College Animation by Stephanie Arato

Satisfies the mathematics requirement of the Associate in Arts degree program in Humanities and Social Sciences. The historical and social implications of mathematics are developed, as well as mathematical methods.

Using and Understanding Mathematics A Quantitative Approach By Jeffrey Bennett and William Briggs

 Geometry  Mathematics and Politics  Probability, Statistics  Problem Solving.  Financial Mathematics  Number Theory  Mathematics and the Arts  Mathematics and Business  Historical Mathematics  Logic  Systems of Numeration  Mathematical Systems or Graph Theory

 Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making  Mathematics  Reading and Writing  Computers and Technology

 Microsoft Word  Microsoft Excel  Microsoft Power Point  Graphing or Scientific Calculator  Internet Calculators

 Ice Breaker Ice Breaker  Math Autobiography Math Autobiography  Time Management Time Management Student Example 1 Student Example 2

 Area and Perimeter of ◦ Square ◦ Rectangle ◦ Triangle ◦ Trapezoid ◦ Parallelogram ◦ Rhombus  Area and Circumference of the circle  Pythagorean Theorem

Teacher chosen groups of two or three students working together answering word problem questions that are all based upon area, perimeter, circumference, and the Pythagorean theorem.

 Uses and Abuses of Percentages Relative change and Relative Difference  Putting Numbers in Perspective: Spending a Billion Dollars Student Example 1 Student Example 2  Index Numbers: Consumer Price Index and Inflation  How Numbers Deceive: Political Math: True Negatives and False Positives: Does smoking make you live longer?

 Take home written section Take home written section

Student Directions All general education objectives of the course are met with this one project  Working cooperatively with others  Use of technology  Crosses into other disciplines  Student examples ◦ Student 1 Student 1 ◦ Student 2 Student 2 ◦ Student 3 Student 3

 Personal Savings Savings Plans and Investments Retirement Project Time: Friend or Foe

 Student Directions Student Directions  Student Examples ◦ Student 1 Student 1 ◦ Student 2 Student 2

 Loans ◦ Credit Card Debt ◦ Car Loans  Home Ownership ◦ Mortgages ◦ Amortization Schedule  House Project House Project ◦ Student Example Student Example ◦ Student Example Student Example

 Statistical Graphs  Statistical Data  Mean, Median, Mode  Standard Deviation  Normal Distribution

 Student Directions Student Directions All general education objectives of the course are met with this project  Working cooperatively with others  Use of technology  Crosses into other disciplines

 Hard lessons to be learned

“I never liked math so coming into this class I was like here we go again, but I actually left learning something useful.” “When I learned how to calculate how long it would take me to pay off my student loans I had to share it with my parents. They made me calculate how long it would take to pay off their mortgage.”

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