Haynes Scholars EXPLORATORY MATHEMATICS

Math 297 Spring 2023     MW 12:40-1:30 Roop 208

Instructors:
Dr. Minah Oh Dr. Roger Thelwell
ohmx@jmu.edu thelwerj@jmu.edu
Office: Roop 109 Office: Roop 106
540-568-4929 (office) 540-568-5103 (office)
OFFICE HRS: We want you to succeed, so please feel free to drop by in-person, send an email, or give a call. We'll set office hours based on what works for you.

Course URL: http://educ.jmu.edu/~thelwerj/167/index.html and on Canvas

Course Goals:
There are five

  1. We want you to learn about resources to help you thrive at JMU. We will be taking field trips and inviting speakers to talk about a variety of offerings at JMU.
  2. We want you to build your reasoning skills. You will be problem solving and developing the important skills needed to design, fabricate, program and control robots.
  3. Sharpen your presentation skills. You will be part of a presenation team and will need to develope techniques to effectively communicate technical knowledge.
  4. Start your exploratory STEM research career with as you create biologically inspired robots!
  5. Grow our community!

Weekly team check-ins (60 points):
Team projects will be assigned throughout the semester, with a weekly written log and a quick team presentaton each week so you can tell everyone what you learned. We will try to use a "Agile Scrum" management style this semester.

Presentations (20 points):
You will have a chance to speak at a conference and give a JMU presentation to show off what you've learned. We will tell you more about this as it gets closer.

Final Report (20 points):
Each teams will write individual reports (15 pts) and collaborate to produce a unified final report (5 pts).

Grading:
We will add up the points you get in each category up to the max of 100 points. Grades will be assigned using the standard scale -- 100-90: A to A- range; 89-80: B+ to B- range; 79-70: C+ to C- range; 69-60: D+ to D range; 59 and below: F.

Diversity and Inclusion
James Madison University is a community dedicated to diversity and inclusivity. As faculty, we believe that learning environments should support a diversity of thoughts, perspectives, experiences, and identities. We invite you to share anything with us that might help create a more inclusive and welcoming learning environment.

Common JMU Academic Policies
Visit http://www.jmu.edu/syllabus/ for information about: Attendance, Academic Honesty, Adding/Dropping Courses, Disability Accommodations, Disruptive Behavior, Inclement Weather, and Religious Accommodations.

Nature of the Course Content
MATH 267. Topics in Mathematics (Haynes Scholars EXPLORATORY MATHEMATICS) 2 credits. Offered Spring. Topics or projects in mathematics designed for Haynes Scholars.